Practical Desired State Configuration (DSC)

By Josh Duffney
Desired State Configuration is the future of administering Windows servers. This course will teach you how to get started using DSC by providing you with practical real world examples of DSC in action.
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Course info
Rating
(24)
Level
Advanced
Updated
Aug 10, 2016
Duration
3h 1m
Table of contents
Course Overview
Course Overview 1m
Introduction and Lab Setup
Introduction and Prerequisites 1m Questions This Course Answers and Outline 1m Lab Setup and Minimum Requirements 1m
Using Custom Resources in Your Configurations
Introduction 3m Discovering Custom Resources 8m Installing Custom Resources 3m Exploring Custom Resources 11m Writing and Deploying Configurations with Custom Resources 15m
Securing DSC: Credentials
Introduction 1m Mof File Locations 2m Demo Outline 1m Clear Text and Encrypted Mof Files 3m Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS) DSC Configuration 3m Generating and Exporting Self-signed Certificates 2m Configuring the LCM with Self-signed Certificates 4m Deploy Active Directory Certificate Services DSC Configuration 2m Issuing Active Directory Certificate Services Templates 4m Using Group Policy for Certificate Auto-enrollment 3m Exporting Certificates 4m Configuring the LCM with Certificate Thumbprints 4m Deploying Encrypted DSC Configurations Push Mode 2m Deploying Encrypted DSC Configurations Pull Mode 2m
Securing DSC: The Pull Server
Introduction 3m Demo Overview 1m Issuing the Pull Server Web Certificate 4m Preparing the Pull Server 2m Writing and Deploying the HTTPS Pull Server DSC Configuration 6m Testing the Pull Server 1m Configuring Client Local Configuration Managers 5m Generating the Client DSC Configurations 6m Deploying Secure DSC Configurations for an HTTPS Pull Server 4m Summary 1m
Building and Administering Active Directory with DSC
Introduction 1m xActiveDirectory DSC Resources 2m Demo Overview 1m Building an Active Directory Domain with PowerShell 2m Building an Active Directory Domain with DSC 7m Creating Active Directory Users with DSC 4m Creating Active Directory Groups with DSC 3m Creating Active Directory Organizational Units with DSC 3m Pre-staging Active Directory Computers with DSC 3m Building a Highly Available Domain Prep Work 1m Promoting Domain Controllers and Building an HA Domain 7m Demoting Domain Controllers 2m Summary 1m
Setting up Windows Event Forwarding with DSC
Introduction 2m Demo Overview 1m Configure Log Access and Enabling Auditing 5m Write and Deploy Windows Event Forwarding Collector Configuration 7m Validate Windows Event Forwarding 5m Promote New Domain Controller with DSC 2m Making the Collector DSC Configuration Dynamic 5m Module Summary 2m Course Summary 2m
Description
Course info
Rating
(24)
Level
Advanced
Updated
Aug 10, 2016
Duration
3h 1m
Description

The way you are expected to manage and administer Windows servers is changing. In this course, Practical Desired State Configuration (DSC), you'll learn how to use Desired State Configuration by applying it to several real-world scenarios. First, you'll learn how to expand DSC beyond its built-in resources by learning about custom DSC resources. Next, you'll learn how to secure DSC. Then, you'll learn how to build and administer Active Directory with DSC. Lastly, you'll learn how to set up and configure Windows Event forwarding with DSC. When you've finished this course, you'll have the skills and knowledge required to securely bring DSC into your environments.

About the author
Josh Duffney
About the author

Josh Duffney is an IT Professional turned PowerShell Developer who is fascinated by all things DevOps and automation. He is a Pluralsight author, speaker, blogger, technical writer, and an automation engineer.

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Section Introduction Transcripts
Section Introduction Transcripts

Course Overview
Hi, I'm Josh Duffney, and welcome to my course Practical Desired State Configuration. If you haven't already noticed, the way that you manage Windows Server is radically changing. It has shifted from point click GUI tools to defining your infrastructure as code. Desired State Configuration is the future of managing and administering Windows Server. In this course, you'll learn how to apply DCS to real world scenarios. You start off by learning how to expand DSC beyond its built-in resources. Next you learn how to secure DSC followed by two real world examples of using DSC, building and administering Active Directory and setting up Windows Event Forwarding with DSC. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and knowledge necessary to start using DSC in your environments. Before beginning the course, you should be familiar with Windows PowerShell and have some fundamental knowledge of what Desired State Configuration is and how to write DSC configurations. Join me in saying goodbye to server build checklists and hello to DSC configurations that define the instate of your infrastructure.

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