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posted by CoolHand on Monday May 11 2015, @08:37PM   Printer-friendly

The Register reports that Microsoft has released a new Powershell DSC tool to manage configuration of Linux boxes from the powershell interface. This would be similar to Puppet and friends that are used for this task today.

In yet another sign that Microsoft is a very different animal these days, the company has released PowerShell DSC (desired state configuration) for Linux.

PowerShell DSC is a server configuration tool that has hitherto driven Windows Server boxen. But Microsoft's now decided it has a “commitment to common management of heterogeneous assets in your datacenter or the public cloud”, so has added Linux-wrangling features to the tool.

The new code can cope with CentOS, Debian GNU/Linux, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Ubuntu Server.

The github site for the project says:

Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) provides a configuration platform built into Windows that is based on open standards. DSC is flexible enough to function reliably and consistently in each stage of the deployment lifecycle (development, test, pre-production, production), as well as during scale-out, which is required in the cloud world.

It looks like this Powershell DSC is actually built with Python and will run on Linux, not just Windows systems with Powershell.

There have been a few signs recently that Microsoft may be becoming a bit more open and less of the MS we knew in the Gates/Ballmer eras. Is this another sign that MS is actually pursuing that trend? Or is it a bid to gain more control over the Linux-sphere? Would any Soylentils think about using this for configuration management over Puppet, Chef, cfengine, or Ansible?

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Monday May 11 2015, @09:35PM

    by jmorris (4844) on Monday May 11 2015, @09:35PM (#181657)

    Microsoft has always admitted the existence of other systems and sought to interop with them to the extent it drives sales of their products. From Office on the Mac to .ASP support on Linux/UNIX + Apache when most hosting providers were exclusive *NIX shops. They will support non-microsoft networking protocols until they attain dominance with their own, or embrace and extend Kerberos and LDAP to build Active Directory because they decide they can get away with it. They support Linux VM loads on Azure and contribute the Linux kernel patches to make sure Windows Server runs well on KVM/libvirt because either scenario involves Microsoft product being licensed. None of this is praiseworthy or something to condemn, it is just business.

    It is the fruitshop that tends to operate in a totally enclosed ecosystem.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday May 11 2015, @09:38PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday May 11 2015, @09:38PM (#181658)

    They support Linux VM loads on Azure and contribute the Linux kernel patches to make sure Windows Server runs well on KVM/libvirt because either scenario involves Microsoft product being licensed. None of this is praiseworthy or something to condemn, it is just business.

    Yet there's a bunch of shills who will come out of the woodwork to highly praise MS for "contributing so much code" to the Linux kernel because of those patches.

    • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday May 11 2015, @10:38PM

      by Nerdfest (80) on Monday May 11 2015, @10:38PM (#181682)

      This is *purely* because of Azure. Of course, if it's from Microsoft and not open source, you'd be a very silly person to install it. Not just because of the traditional lock-in, but because of Microsoft's 'special friends' from three letter agencies. Of course, Azure3 down't support current (or any) open standards either.

  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:46AM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:46AM (#181732)

    I'm not sure who's modding you Flamebait, except perhaps the 'Apple Faithful'.

    As long as Microsoft stays within the bounds of the law, you're correct, it is just business. I will add though, that being open to competition and just putting out the best product you can *is* praiseworthy, while merely merely staying within the bounds of the law and doing all you can to subvert your competition *is* worthy of condemnation. Both Microsoft and Apple (and many others) should do better, considering the advantages they have.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @06:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @06:32AM (#181820)

      It is I, Anonymous Coward, that doth thus mod jmorris as flamebait, for verily flamebait he be-eth. Law? Do you think the Lords of Microsoft care for the Laws? They can bend the minds of the governments to their will, mostly since the government, particularly the legislative branch, has so little to bend, or what is the same thing, so much that is so easy to bend. And if the justices get in the way? Just wait until a "friendly" executive comes in office (opps, blue dress typo!@) and directs the Department formerly known as Justice to drop charges. So you see, jmorris is flamebait, always flamebait, and can never be anything other than flamebait because either, he is not too bright, or he is intentionally flamebaitish, or he is a Micro$oft shill, and it is within the realm of possibility that he is in all actuality all three!