DSC changes in Windows Management Framework 5.0 Preview November 2014 release

If you’ve missed Windows PowerShell team’s announcement, WMF 5.0 Preview November 2014 release is out.

This Windows Management Framework (WMF) preview includes everything from WMF 5.0 Preview September 2014 plus some new improvements. You’ll find improvements in:

• OneGet
• PowerShellGet
• Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration
• Classes for Windows PowerShell
• Debugging in Windows PowerShell

Changes to Desired State Configuration

In addition to the major new features in last WMF 5.0 preview release such as Partial Configurations, class-defined DSC resources, new LCM configuration method, and several new DSC cmdlets, DSC in WMF 5.0 Preview November 2014 release includes the following enhancements.

32-bit support

DSC configurations can now be defined and compiled within a 32-bit process. This means you can use a 32-bit PowerShell host to write configuration on a x64 computer.

Reporting Configuration Status to Central Location

You can configuration Local Configuration Manager (LCM) to send the status of the configuration to a central location. This applies to both Push and Pull clients.

The GetErrorReport method of the DSC service OData endpoint provides the status of all target systems.

Start-DscConfiguration supports verbose output after target system restart

If a configuration requires a computer restart, Start-DscConfiguration continues streaming information after the target node restarts.