The latest release of the ReverseDSC Orchestrator Script for SharePoint is the biggest release we’ve had so far and it is packed with new features that will make it even easier for users to migrate their on-premises SharePoint 2013 or 2016 Farms from their on-premises data centers to the cloud. This release drastically changes the way the orchestrator script does its extraction. The following is a complete list of all improvements that have been included in the latest release.
New Features
- Configuration Data: A new ConfigurationData.psd1 file will be generated with all extractions. This external .psd1 file exposes all parameters that are specific to the source SharePoint environment. If you are planning on deploying a copy of the extracted SharePoint Farm into a new environment (Azure, on-premises, etc.), all you need to do is update the values contained in that file to reflect the destination environment. For more information regarding what parameters are now exposed in the Configuration Data, please refer to the Configuration Data wiki Page.
- Extraction Modes: Previous versions of the Orchestrator Script would expose a -Lite switch, which allow the extraction process to skip certain DSC Resources such as the Timer Job States, Features, SPWeb, etc. In version 1.9.0.0, we introduce the concept of Extraction Modes, where each mode will capture a different set of DSC resources. to learn more about what set of DSC Resource will be extracted in each mode, please refer to Extraction Mode wiki page.
- Full Installation: Previous versions of the Orchestrator Script extracted resources starting at the SPFarm level, meaning that the machines you were trying to replicate your environment on had to have the SharePoint bits installed on them already for the configuration to get applied. With the new version, the SPInstallPrereqs and SPInstall resources are automatically included in the configuration file. The Configuration Data files drives whether or not these are included in the compiled MOF file using the FullInstallation. parameter. If this parameter is set to $True in the configuration data, then the compiled MOF instances will attempt to install the SharePoint Prerequisites (using the Online Mode) and the binaries on the servers being configured.
New Resources Supported
SharePointDSC.Reverse 1.9.0.0 introduces support for the following Resources:
- SPInstallPrereqs
- SPInstall
- SPMachineTranslationServiceApp
Deprecated Features
the following switches have been deprecated with the 1.9.0.0 Release. The equivalent result can now be achieved 9in most part) by using the -Mode Lite parameter.
- -Lite
- -SkipFeatures
- -SkipWebs
- -SkipHealthRules
- -SkipSearchFileType
- -SkipTimerJobState
- -SkipUserProfile
