Configuring the Local Configuration Manager

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 5.0

The Local Configuration Manager (LCM) is the engine of Desired State Configuration (DSC). The LCM runs on every target node, and is responsible for parsing and enacting configurations that are sent to the node. It is also responsible for a number of other aspects of DSC, including the following.

• Determining refresh mode (push or pull).
• Specifying how often a node pulls and enacts configurations.
• Associating the node with pull service.
• Specifying partial configurations.

You use a special type of configuration to configure the LCM to specify each of these behaviors. The following sections describe how to configure the LCM.

Windows PowerShell 5.0 introduced new settings for managing Local Configuration Manager. For information about configuring the LCM in Windows PowerShell 4.0, see Configuring the Local Configuration Manager in Previous Versions of Windows PowerShell.

Writing and enacting an LCM configuration

To configure the LCM, you create and run a special type of configuration that applies LCM settings. To specify an LCM configuration, you use the DscLocalConfigurationManager attribute. The following shows a simple configuration that sets the LCM to push mode.

[DSCLocalConfigurationManager()]
configuration LCMConfig
{
    Node localhost
    {
        Settings
        {
            RefreshMode = 'Push'
        }
    }
}

The process of applying settings to LCM is similar to applying a DSC configuration. You will create an LCM configuration, compile it to a MOF file, and apply it to the node. Unlike DSC configurations, you do not enact an LCM configuration by calling the Start-DscConfiguration cmdlet. Instead, you call Set-DscLocalConfigurationManager, supplying the path to the LCM configuration MOF as a parameter. After you enact the LCM configuration, you can see the properties of the LCM by calling the Get-DscLocalConfigurationManager cmdlet.

An LCM configuration can contain blocks only for a limited set of resources. In the previous example, the only resource called is Settings. The other available resources are:

• ConfigurationRepositoryWeb: specifies an HTTP pull service for configurations.
• ConfigurationRepositoryShare: specifies an SMB share for configurations.
• ResourceRepositoryWeb: specifies an HTTP pull service for modules.
• ResourceRepositoryShare: specifies an SMB share for modules.
• ReportServerWeb: specifies an HTTP pull service to which reports are sent.
• PartialConfiguration: provides data to enable partial configurations.

Basic settings

Other than specifying pull service endpoints/paths and partial configurations, all of the properties of the LCM are configured in a Settings block. The following properties are available in a Settings block.

Pull service

LCM configuration supports defining the following types of pull service endpoints:

• Configuration server: A repository for DSC configurations. Define configuration servers by using ConfigurationRepositoryWeb (for web-based servers) and ConfigurationRepositoryShare (for SMB-based servers) blocks.
• Resource server: A repository for DSC resources, packaged as PowerShell modules. Define resource servers by using ResourceRepositoryWeb (for web-based servers) and ResourceRepositoryShare (for SMB-based servers) blocks.
• Report server: A service that DSC sends report data to. Define report servers by using ReportServerWeb blocks. A report server must be a web service.

For more details on pull service see, Desired State Configuration Pull Service.

Configuration server blocks

To define a web-based configuration server, you create a ConfigurationRepositoryWeb block. A ConfigurationRepositoryWeb defines the following properties.

An example script to simplify configuring the ConfigurationRepositoryWeb value for on-premises nodes is available - see Generating DSC metaconfigurations

To define an SMB-based configuration server, you create a ConfigurationRepositoryShare block. A ConfigurationRepositoryShare defines the following properties.

Resource server blocks

To define a web-based resource server, you create a ResourceRepositoryWeb block. A ResourceRepositoryWeb defines the following properties.

An example script to simplify configuring the ResourceRepositoryWeb value for on-premises nodes is available - see Generating DSC metaconfigurations

To define an SMB-based resource server, you create a ResourceRepositoryShare block. ResourceRepositoryShare defines the following properties.

Report server blocks

To define a report server, you create a ReportServerWeb block. The report server role is not compatible with SMB based pull service. ReportServerWeb defines the following properties.

An example script to simplify configuring the ReportServerWeb value for on-premises nodes is available - see Generating DSC metaconfigurations

Partial configurations

To define a partial configuration, you create a PartialConfiguration block. For more information about partial configurations, see DSC Partial configurations. PartialConfiguration defines the following properties.

See Also

Concepts

Desired State Configuration Overview

Getting started with Azure Automation DSC

Other Resources

Set-DscLocalConfigurationManager

Setting up a pull client with configuration names