Using Azure DSC automation
The examples we've seen so far in this chapter have all involved us pushing a configuration out to a server. Every time the configuration changes, we have to manually apply the configuration to the server again. By using Microsoft Azure to manage the DSC for us, we get a lot more flexibility and options for DSC. For one, we don't need to push the configurations out any more—each server will reach out to Azure and pull its configuration down, so when a configuration changes, you don't need to touch each server to apply the new configuration. Also, if you have a simple configuration, you can apply that configuration to hundreds of servers by just compiling it once. Another neat feature is that you can assign a configuration to a server with the click of a button—no more needing to know our full list of servers beforehand.
As a bonus, Azure provides us with a neat dashboard that we can use to see whether our servers are up to...