>启用或禁用服务器角色和功能
>管理注册表设置
>管理文件和目录
>启动,停止和管理流程和服务
>管理组和用户帐户
>部署新软件
>管理环境变量
>运行Windows PowerShell脚本
>修复已偏离所需状态的配置
>发现给定节点上的实际配置状态

下面是一个示例配置文件,它将启用IIS,确保网站文件位于正确的文件夹中,如果没有安装或丢失任何这些内容,请根据需要安装或复制它们(请注意,$websitefilepath被认为是预定义为网站文件的来源)：

Configuration MyWebConfig
    {
       # A Configuration block can have zero or more Node blocks
       Node "Myservername"
       {
          # Next,specify one or more resource blocks

          # WindowsFeature is one of the built-in resources you can use in a Node block
          # This example ensures the Web Server (IIS) role is installed
          WindowsFeature MyRoleExample
          {
              Ensure = "Present" # To uninstall the role,set Ensure to "Absent"
              Name = "Web-Server"
          }

          # File is a built-in resource you can use to manage files and directories
          # This example ensures files from the source directory are present in the destination directory
          File MyFileExample
          {
             Ensure = "Present"  # You can also set Ensure to "Absent"
             Type = "Directory“ # Default is “File”
             Recurse = $true
             # This is a path that has web files
             SourcePath = $WebsiteFilePath
             # The path where we want to ensure the web files are present
             DestinationPath = "C:\inetpub\wwwroot"
   # This ensures that MyRoleExample completes successfully before this block runs
            DependsOn = "[WindowsFeature]MyRoleExample"
          }
       }
    }

有关详细信息,请参阅Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration Overview和Get Started with Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration.

那么为什么要使用它而不仅仅是install-windowsfeature cmdlet呢？使用DSC而不是脚本的真正强大之处在于我可以定义一个位置,我可以存储要推送或拉出的配置(相对于目标机器),参见Push and Pull Configuration Modes.配置并不关心机器是否是物理的或虚拟的,但我相信至少需要2012年才能让服务器启动以提取DSC.