PowerShell + SCCM 2012 : Add setting to a CI using PowerShell

Working with Peter van der Woude on how to add settings to a Configuration Items using PowerShell. I went with the manipulating the SDMPackageXML approach and Peter is working on a WQL Query way of doing this (can't wait to see his code).

Hoping that you know how to create a Configuration Item (CI) in ConfigMgr and how to add settings to a CI. This post is only on how to add a folder setting to a CI. Based on this methodology will try to add few more settings in the upcoming posts.

Let's get the ball rolling :

First get the prerequisites out of the way

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#Load the ConfigurationManager Module Import-Module -Name "$(split-path $Env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH)\ConfigurationManager.psd1" #Change location to my CMSite Provider Cd DEX: #Add the Assembly Reference to the DCM DLL Add-Type -Path "$(Split-Path $env:SMS_ADMIN_UI_PATH)\Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.DesiredConfiguration.dll" -Verbose

To begin with let's create a Configuration Item using the Cmdlet New-CMConfigurationItem and then load the xml into a variable $oldxml :

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#create the CI and store it in a variable $testCI = New-CMConfigurationItem -CreationType WindowsOS -Name "DexterPStest" -Description "Testing PS automation" -Verbose #load the XML $oldxml  = New-Object -TypeName xml $oldxml.LoadXml($($testCI.SDMPackageXML))

After the above you should see a CI in the console (Note it's empty, no settings and the Revision is 1):

Now let's create a test Folder Setting

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#now create a Folder setting $foldersetting = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.DesiredConfiguration.Settings.FolderSetting -ArgumentList "File_$([guid]::NewGuid())",'test','PS Automation' $foldersetting.path = "C:\temp\test" $foldersetting.FolderName = "Dexter"

The Settings you create have a method named SerializetoXML on them which can be used to get the XML, it needs an XMLWriter Object to be passed to it. So we create an XMLWriter Object with required settings and write the XML to a file (as I wanted to see the XML) but this can be done entirely using streams too:

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#create the XML Writer Settings $settings = New-Object system.Xml.XmlWriterSettings  $settings.Indent = $true  $settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = $false  $settings.NewLineOnAttributes = $true  # Create a new Writer $writer = [system.xml.XmlWriter]::Create("C:\Temp\FolderSetting.xml", $settings)  #Now let's serialize the XML and let it be written to our XML Writer $foldersetting.SerializeToXml($writer) #Flush the contents to the file $writer.Flush() #disposr the Writer Object $writer.Dispose()

You would get a similar XML file :

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Folder   LogicalName="File_49225e34-6398-4f90-8a93-17a203195784"   Is64Bit="false"   Depth="Base" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SystemsCenterConfigurationManager/2009/07/10/DesiredConfiguration">   <Annotation xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SystemsCenterConfigurationManager/2009/06/14/Rules">     <DisplayName       Text="test"       ResourceId="ID-b36d34e8-2ac1-4a02-90bb-be17cd5e8b10" />     <Description       Text="PS Automation"       ResourceId="ID-8f57bc35-a94b-4a6c-9e50-ddebcb549e60" />   </Annotation>   <Path>C:\temp\test</Path>   <Filter>Dexter</Filter> </Folder>

As I wrote the XML to a file I have to load it back. After that I need to Import the new FolderXML using the ImportNode method on the $OldXML object. Once it is imported you can append the child. But how do we know the node where we append the imported node ?

You can tackle this in 2 ways:

1. Create a sample CI and study the SDMPackageXML property on it.
2. If you have ConfigMgr SDK then go to the Samples>DesiredConfigurationManagement>Schema , there is a doc which shows how to author the XML digest using Visual Studio.

I was feeling a bit lazy so I went with the first approach ;)

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#let's load the XML now $FolderXML = New-Object -TypeName xml $FolderXML.Load("C:\Temp\FolderSetting.xml") #import the new Folder XML node to the old xml $import = $oldxml.ImportNode($FolderXML.folder,$true) #now add the above imported XML node $oldxml.DesiredConfigurationDigest.OperatingSystem.Parts.AppendChild($import) #save the new xml $oldxml.Save("C:\temp\newxml.xml")

Now we have our XML ready, time to push this up to the CI instance.

We have a cmdlet by the name Set-CMConfigurationItem which allows us to specify the XML digest file to the parameter -DesiredConfigurationDigestPath. Let's give it a shot.

Note - I tried using the Put() method on the WMI instance of the CI it returns no error but it seems to do nothing. I will have to check on this later.

001	Set-CMConfigurationItem -DesiredConfigurationDigestPath C:\temp\newxml.xml -Name $testCI.Localizeddisplayname -Verbose

Oh Yeah ! it does work and I see the changes reflect in the CI settings tab:

I tried to keep things simple for now as there are lots of moving pieces and I want to tackle them one at a time.

001	Write-Output -InputObject "Cya till next post"