Hope you can help me out with a question. I’m currently managing 20+ DSC configurations in Azure Automation DSC and when a change needs to happen to all the configurations (e.g. new version of Agent XYZ.msi) we need to manually edit, upload and compile the configurations. For the last 2 steps I’ve already created a script that automates that, but I’m wondering if there is a more efficient way to edit 20+ configurations.
It would be great if there was something like ‘Nested DSC Configurations’ so we can have one master DSC configuration with general settings for all servers and server-specific settings in a separate DSC configuration.
I think Composite Resources are a good solution for what you want to achieve. Create a composite resource for all your shared settings, and reference it in your configs. Then you’ll be able to make future changes in that one place. You will still have to re-compile all the configs that reference that composite resource after you make a change, but it sounds like you’ve already got that automated.
Yes that’s exactly right. I’m a PM on DSC and the DSC service, and I would love to chat about this to make sure you have everything you need. You are welcome to send a direct message to me, or reach out on Twitter (@migreene).
Thanks Eric, that’s interesting. Let me describe a scenario: “Customer X bought Anti-Virus Software Y with agent Z - which needs to be deployed with DSC to all servers.” AFAIK, I need to customize 20 DSC configs for agent Z and upload/compile them. In the end, IT Ops will just deploy a GPO that does this far more quicker - without the benefits of DSC.