I’ve spent a fair amount of time recently working on getting some of my DSC Resources (SystemLocaleDsc, WSManDsc, iSCSIDsc and FSRMDsc) accepted into the Microsoft DSC Community Resource Kit. Some are nearly there (SystemLocaleDsc and WSManDsc), whereas others have a way to go yet.
I’ve had one resource already accepted (xDFS) into the DSC Community Resource kit, but this was before the High Quality Resource Module (HQRM) guidelines became available. The HQRM guidelines are a set of standards that DSC modules must meet and maintain to be considered a High Quality Resource Module.
So, pretty much the first thing I did when the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition was installed onto my primary development machine was to installer the Windows Container Service and Docker on it.
I used the Windows Containers on Windows 10 Quick start guide to perform the installation. This is the same method I’d been using on my secondary development machine (running Insider Preview builds) since it was first available in build 14372.
One of the first things I like to do when setting up my development machine in a new environment is to update PowerShell help with the update-help cmdlet. After that, I will then go and download a slew of modules from the PowerShell Gallery.
However, recently I needed to set up my development machine on an environment that is behind an internet proxy that requires authentication. This meant that a lot of PowerShell cmdlets can’t be used because they don’t have support for traversing a proxy - or at least, not one that requires authentication.
To make it easier for reviewers and other programmers to read PowerShell code it is recommended that lines of PowerShell code don’t exceed 100 characters. If you run past this limit you should usually split the line using a backtick (`). I also find that this limit prompts me to rethink my code logic if the line gets too long. Besides, no one wants to have to scroll several pages horizontally to be able to read your whole line of code.
The latest DSC Resource Kit (all your favorite DSC Resources in one handy pack) is available now. It is one mighty release with all sorts of awesomeness included! I strongly recommend picking it up if you’re doing DSC automation, as it has something for everyone.
Happy automating!
