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Nesting DSC configurations

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A nested configuration (also called composite configuration) is a configuration that's called within another configuration as if it were a resource. Both configurations must be defined in the same file.

Let's look at a simple example:

Configuration FileConfig
{
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
        [String] $CopyFrom,

        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
        [String] $CopyTo
    )

    Import-DscResource -ModuleName PSDesiredStateConfiguration

    File FileTest
    {
        SourcePath = $CopyFrom
        DestinationPath = $CopyTo
        Ensure = 'Present'
    }
}

Configuration NestedFileConfig
{
    Node localhost
    {
        FileConfig NestedConfig
        {
            CopyFrom = 'C:\Test\TestFile.txt'
            CopyTo = 'C:\Test2'
        }
    }
}

In this example, FileConfig takes two mandatory parameters, CopyFrom and CopyTo, which are used as the values for the SourcePath and DestinationPath properties in the File resource block. The NestedConfig configuration calls FileConfig as if it were a resource. The properties in the NestedConfig resource block (CopyFrom and CopyTo) are the parameters of the FileConfig configuration.

DSC doesn't currently support nesting configurations within nested configurations. You can only nest a configuration one layer deep.

See Also