DSC for Linux nxEnvironment Resource

Article
03/09/2024

The nxEnvironment resource in PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) provides a mechanism to manage system environment variables on a Linux node.

Syntax

nxEnvironment <string> #ResourceName
{
    Name = <string>
    [ Value = <string>
    [ Path = <bool> }
    [ DependsOn = <string[]> ]
    [ Ensure = <string> { Absent | Present }  ]
}

Properties

Property	Description
Name	Indicates the name of the environment variable for which you want to ensure a specific state.
Value	The value to assign to the environment variable.
Path	Defines the environment variable that is being configured. Set this property to `$true` if the variable is the Path variable; otherwise, set it to `$false`. The default is `$false`. If the variable being configured is the Path variable, the value provided through the Value property will be appended to the existing value.

Common properties

Property	Description
DependsOn	Indicates that the configuration of another resource must run before this resource is configured. For example, if the ID of the resource configuration script block that you want to run first is ResourceName and its type is ResourceType, the syntax for using this property is `DependsOn = "[ResourceType]ResourceName"`.
Ensure	Determines whether to check if the variable exists. Set this property to Present to ensure the variable exists. Set it to Absent to ensure the variable does not exist. The default value is Present.

Additional Information

If Path is absent or set to $false, environment variables are managed in /etc/environment. Your programs or scripts may require configuration to source the /etc/environment file to access the managed environment variables.
If Path is set to $true, the environment variable is managed in the file /etc/profile.d/DSCenvironment.sh. This file will be created if it does not exist. If Ensure is set to Absent and Path is set to $true, an existing environment variable will only be removed from /etc/profile.d/DSCenvironment.sh and not from other files.

Example

The following example shows how to use the nxEnvironment resource to ensure that TestEnvironmentVariable is present and has the value "Test-Value". If TestEnvironmentVariable is not present, it will be created.

Import-DSCResource -ModuleName nx

nxEnvironment EnvironmentExample
{
    Ensure = "Present"
    Name = "TestEnvironmentVariable"
    Value = "TestValue"
}

Share via