DSC: How to stop and start a windows service

Question

I want to do a very simple thing with DSC (Desired State Configuration):

Stop a windows service, deploy files and finally start the service again. Thus I had the following:

Service ServicesStop
{
    Name = "TheTestService"
    State = "Stopped"
}

File CopyDeploymentBits
{  
  Ensure = "Present"
  Type = "Directory"
  Recurse = $true
  SourcePath = $applicationPath
  DestinationPath = $deployOutputPath
}

Service ServicesStart
{
    Name = "TheTestService"
    StartupType = "Automatic"
    State = "Running"
}

But unfortunately this is not working as it is not allowed to have the same name (Name = "TheTestService") in a configuration twice (Why? In this case it would totally make sense) as a workaround I tried something like this

Configuration MyTestConfig {
    Node $env:COMPUTERNAME {
        Service ServicesStop
        {
            Name = "TheTestService"
            State = "Stopped"
        }

        File CopyDeploymentBits
        {  
          Ensure = "Present"
          Type = "Directory"
          Recurse = $true
          SourcePath = $applicationPath
          DestinationPath = $deployOutputPath
        }
    }
}

Configuration MyTestConfig2 {
    Node $env:COMPUTERNAME {
        Service ServicesStart
        {
            Name = "TheTestService"
            StartupType = "Automatic"
            State = "Running"
        }
    }
}

MyTestConfig
MyTestConfig2

Looks insane - but it works!

Unfortunately, I am not using plain DSC I am using it with Microsoft Release Management and here, it seems that the 'MyTestConfig2' is not executed anymore (or something else goes wrong that is not mentioned in the logs).

How can I realize this simple scenario with dsc within the context of release management? Or is there even a better way to do something like this?

See this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/35302781/how-to-upgrade-windows-service-using-powershell-desired-state-configuration — Daniel Mann, Feb 16 '16 at 15:45
That is bad news! Perhaps it is than better to use Chef. I think to remember that it works well with their solution. But thanks a lot for your input and the link (If the link ever gets broken, the 'solution' seems to be: Write your own custom DSC resource). — timtos, Feb 17 '16 at 08:00
@DanielMann - perhaps you would like to post an answer that I can accept? You pointed me to the right direction. :) — timtos, Feb 25 '16 at 10:01

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 25 '16 at 08:05

2

The simplest way is to create a service resource that takes both Name and State as key. Feel free to extend this simple service resource (I will try to get to it when I find time) https://github.com/nanalakshmanan/nServiceManager

answered Feb 25 '16 at 08:05

Nana Lakshmanan

741
3
6

Thanks for your input. Looks very good. After Daniel Mann's post I came up with the reduced solution I just posted so I would love to give the credits to him but your answer is at least an up vote! :) Thanks again. – timtos Feb 25 '16 at 10:00

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 25 '16 at 09:53

Afer Daniel Mann's post I came up with this minimal solution:

[DscResource()]
class InstallStopCopyStartServiceResource {
    [DscProperty(Key)]
    [string]$ServiceName

    [DscProperty(Mandatory)]
    [string] $SourcePath

    [DscProperty(Mandatory)]
    [string] $DestinationPath

    [void] Set()
    {
        $needsInstallation = $false;

        $testService = Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $this.ServiceName}
        if ($testService -eq $null) 
        {
            $needsInstallation = $true;
        } elseif ($testService.Status -eq "Running") 
        {
            Stop-Service $this.ServiceName
        } 

        # Due to stupid Copy-Item behavior we first delete all old files
        # (https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/20b9d259-90d9-4e51-a125-c0f3dafb498c/copyitem-not-overwriting-exising-files-but-creating-additional-subfolder?forum=winserverpowershell)
        Remove-Item -Path $this.DestinationPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

        # Copy files
        Copy-Item -Path $this.SourcePath -Destination $this.DestinationPath -Recurse -Force

        if ($needsInstallation -eq $true) 
        {
            # Install service
            $param = 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\installUtil ' + $this.DestinationPath  + '\service.exe'
            Invoke-Expression $param
        }

        # Start the service
        Start-Service $this.ServiceName

        # Configure service
        Set-Service $this.ServiceName -StartupType "Automatic"
    }

    [bool] Test()
    {
        # Always perform all steps
        return $false
    }

    [InstallStopCopyStartServiceResource] Get()
    {
        return $this
    }

}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 29 '17 at 14:52

At least for me the following works best:

# Configure the Service 1st
Service Servicewuauserv {
    Name = 'wuauserv'
    BuiltInAccount = 'LocalSystem'
    State = 'Running'
}

And then:

# Ensure it is running
ServiceSet wuauserv {
     Name = 'wuauserv'
     BuiltInAccount = 'LocalSystem'
     State = 'Running'
}

Yep, makes it more complex, but the split seems to work best with some services.

DSC: How to stop and start a windows service

3 Answers3