Glossary

OpenDSC uses several terms that might have different definitions elsewhere. This document lists the terms, their meanings, and shows how they're formatted in the documentation.

Platform terms

OpenDSC: The open-source configuration management platform that provides DSC Resources, a Local Configuration Manager, and a Pull Server built on Microsoft DSC v3.
DSC v3: Microsoft's Desired State Configuration platform, version 3. OpenDSC builds on DSC v3 and uses the dsc CLI as its engine.

Resource terms

Resource: A DSC Resource provided by OpenDSC. Resources are organized by platform area: Windows, SQL Server, FileSystem, JSON, XML, Archive, and POSIX.
Type: The fully qualified identifier for a resource, using the syntax OpenDsc.<Area>/<Name>. The type name uniquely identifies a resource in configuration documents and CLI commands.

LCM terms

Local Configuration Manager (LCM): The background service that monitors and optionally remediates DSC configurations on a managed node. The LCM periodically evaluates whether a system matches its desired state.
Monitor mode: The LCM operational mode that detects configuration drift without making changes. The LCM runs dsc config test and reports compliance status.
Remediate mode: The LCM operational mode that detects and corrects configuration drift. The LCM runs dsc config test and, when drift is detected, runs dsc config set.

Configuration source

Where the LCM retrieves its configuration document. The LCM supports two sources:

Local — reads the configuration from a file path on the local system.

Pull — downloads the configuration from a Pull Server.

Pull Server terms

Pull Server: The ASP.NET Core application that provides centralized configuration management through a REST API and Blazor web UI.
Node: A managed system registered with the Pull Server. Each node is identified by its fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and authenticates using mutual TLS (mTLS).
Registration key: A shared secret used for initial node registration with the Pull Server. After registration, nodes authenticate using client certificates.
Composite configuration: A deployment unit that combines multiple versioned configurations into a single ordered set. Nodes receive their assigned composite configuration as a bundle.
Scope type: A category for organizing parameter overrides in the Pull Server's hierarchical parameter merging system. Built-in scope types include Default and Node. Custom scope types (such as Region or Environment) can be created by administrators.
Scope value: A specific instance of a scope type. For example, if the scope type is "Region", scope values might be "US-West" and "EU-Central".
Parameter merging: The process by which the Pull Server combines parameter files across scope types into a single resolved parameter set for each node. Parameters flow from broad scope to narrow, with narrower scopes overriding broader ones.
Compliance report: A report submitted by the LCM to the Pull Server after evaluating a configuration. The report contains the test results for each resource instance and the overall compliance status.
mTLS (mutual TLS): The authentication mechanism used between managed nodes and the Pull Server. Both the server and client present certificates during the TLS handshake.

Configuration document terms

Configuration document: A YAML or JSON file that declares the desired state of a system using DSC resource instances. OpenDSC uses the same configuration document format as DSC v3.
Entry point: The primary file in a configuration bundle. When a configuration contains multiple files, the entry point is the file that DSC processes first.