In Chapter 1, Introduction to PowerShell DSC, we covered a high-level overview of DSC and introduced the three phases of DSC use. We also covered the MOF file and its importance in the grand scheme of DSC usage. Since we have already established the why of these concepts, we will now dive into the details of each phase.

What follows won't be a step-by-step process; that will be handled in Chapter 3, DSC Configuration Files. Instead, what we discuss here will be more explanatory and might jump around a bit. Concepts that are introduced may not be fully explained until later, when supporting concepts are fleshed out. DSC is a very modular product, each module a separate entity that is also interdependent on other entities. This makes explaining some concepts a chicken and egg scenario, so we will try our best to reference other sections as they apply.

The following diagram shows the authoring, staging, and execution phases of the DSC workflow. You will notice that it does...