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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?
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Monday May 11 2015, @09:56PM
I have a subversion repository with a headless puppet configuration. All puppet configuration scripts are in version control, and cron jobs apply the scripts. With this setup, I never have to hand edit config files.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Monday May 11 2015, @10:24PM
I have a subversion repository with a headless puppet configuration. All puppet configuration scripts are in version control, and cron jobs apply the scripts.
Yes. we were ALL making do without powershell on linux.
That doesn't make it a bad thing to have, in mixed environments or predominantly windows environments.
With this setup, I never have to hand edit config files.
Because the config files write and edit themselves? I can still see a use-case for tools like powershell for writing and editing and testing them before they go into version control and deployment, even in your scenario.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @10:38PM
You see a use case for powershell? Excuse me? Have you seen the clusterfuck that is powershell?
The idea of DSC is cool heading towards awesome.
Powershell is an excellent example of Microsoft software engineering. It is the CLI equivalent to.. no, wait, it is shit. Complete and utter shit. Some nice concepts, but if you had to script or code with it you would claw your eyes out.
The Microsoft response to the unix shell. Yeesh.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @11:34PM
Batch files
VBScript
Windows Scripting Language
PowerShell
How long till PowerShell is deprecated?
.
Contrast that with bash:
backward-compatible and forward-compatible since 1978.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:16AM
Uhh, you can still use all of those.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:34AM
Bourne shell (sh) standardized since 1977 without the confusions of Linux.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday May 12 2015, @02:37AM
Batch files still work, and if you were the real gewg_ you'd know that.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @06:03AM
Did that ever get the && operator?
...or is it still stuck in the dark ages--not even able to do what you could do with any *n?x shell decades ago?
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:30PM
Did that ever get the && operator?
yes, yes it did
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday May 12 2015, @10:54PM
You see a use case for powershell? Excuse me? Have you seen the clusterfuck that is powershell?
I didn't say "powershell", I said "Tools like powershell" and I stand by that.
The Microsoft response to the unix shell. Yeesh.
Meh... there are things i do like about powershell; and I like it more than, say, AppleScript.
As for the unix shell; it's stuck in the 60s -- there are a lot of things that are harder to do than they really should be in 2015... like work with dates and times, because while text might be universal, but its still a PITA to process compared to more structured data.
I like the unix shell, but there's a lot of things I think we could do better. They got powershell... I guess we got systemd :)
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:17AM
Gross. I set up puppet for a product support test lab containing about 50 boxes between physical hardware and vm machines. It was certainly not the most pleasant thing I've ever done, though I did a lot with our software as well as linux system files, so maybe my perception is skewed.
Still, competitors are never bad. That's what drives innovation. Maybe the MS option won't suck. Maybe it'll drive puppet to become better.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!