In order to tell DSC what state the target node should be in, you have to describe that state in the DSC DSL syntax. The end goal of the DSL syntax is to create an MOF file. This listing and compilation process comprises the entirety of the authoring phase. Even so, you will not be creating the MOF files directly yourself. The MOF syntax and format is very verbose and detailed, too much for a human to reliably produce it. You can create an MOF file using a number of different methods―anything from Notepad to third-party tools, not just DSC tooling. Third-party vendors other than Microsoft will eventually implement their own compilers, as the operations to compile MOF are standardized and open for all to use, enabling authoring DSC files on any operating system.

For the purposes of this book, we will concentrate on how to create MOF files using PowerShell tooling. We will assume you are using a Windows 8.1 or Windows 2012 R2 OS with at least PowerShell V4 installed. If you are targeting the use of PowerShell V5, then we assume you are using Windows 10 or one of the production releases of WMF 5 on your platform of choice.