AWS Cloudformation and Windows PowerShell DSC Better Together

AWS CloudFormation and Windows

PowerShell DSC- Better Together -

Joe GrenierSenior Software Engineer

BlueMetal Architectsjgrenier@bluemetal.com

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What is PowerShell DSC?“Desired State Configuration”Configuration management platform built into Windows

Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 (Windows Management Framework 4.0)

Express the desired state of your systems using declarative language syntax

Compiled into .mof files (Managed Object Format) Standard from Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)

DSC uses “Resources” to put a node into the desired state Resources are PowerShell script modules Built into DSC Microsoft releases new resources in out-of-band “waves” PowerShell DSC community

How Does Deployment Work With DSC?

Calls

MOF onTarget Node

DSC Resourcesspecialized

Windows PowerShell modules

Push

ed

Compiled

Push ModeConfiguration Script

MyConfig.ps1

MOFSERVER2.mof

Authoring Deployment

Config script onTarget Node

DSC Resourcesspecialized

Windows PowerShell modules

Pushed

Or…Configuration Script

MyConfig.ps1

MOFSERVER2.mof

Authoring Deployment

Compiled

Calls

Calls

Target Node

DSC Resourcesspecialized

Windows PowerShell modules

Compiled

Pull ModeConfiguration Script

MyConfig.ps1

MOFSERVER2.mof

Authoring Deployment

PullServer

Staging

Poll

MOF

What About CloudFormation?We’ll use CloudFormation to:

Set up AWS VPC Address range Subnets IGW Route tables

Bootstrap DSC for individual servers Download resource modules Download and run helper scripts (reset Admin p-word,

rename server, unzip DSC resource modules, etc.) Run DSC configuration script

Example: AWS Quickstart https://s3.amazonaws.com/quickstart-reference/microsoft/powershelldsc/latest/

doc/Windows_PowerShell_DSC_on_AWS.pdf

Where we end up…

How we get there: CloudFormation

How we’ll get there: PowerShell DSC

ResourcesAWS Quick Start Doc:https://s3.amazonaws.com/quickstart-reference/microsoft/powershelldsc/latest/doc/Windows_PowerShell_DSC_on_AWS.pdf

Powershell.org “The DSC Book”:https://www.penflip.com/powershellorg/the-dsc-book

DSC Resource Kit (All Modules)https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/DSC-Resource-Kit-All-c449312d