Export SharePoint Configuration

SharePoint Farms have multiple components on every server which contain configuration. At a very high level this could be:

• Web Applications
• Databases
• Servers
• Services
• Service Applications

PowerShell Desired State Configuration has the ability to make sure these components are compliant with a desired state. Unfortunately it is not possible to create a desired state configuration based off an existing server/farm.

That is why Nik Charlebois created ReverseDsc. This module offers generic functionalities to generate DSC configurations and requires a technology specific orchestrator script to export the data.

For a Full list of what can be extracted have a look at our Included Resources section.

Since SharePointDsc v4.5, this orchestrator script (and therefore ReverseDsc support) has been natively integrated into SharePointDsc.

NOTE: Running an export does require the module "ReverseDsc" to be installed. Do this by running the following cmdlet:

Install-Module ReverseDsc

To run an export you have to use the Export-SPConfiguration cmdlet. When running an export, you need to specify which resources you want to export. If you don't specify any parameters, the cmdlet shows a GUI in which you can select the resources you want to export and specify the credentials.

For more information and examples, check the info below.

Parameters

Parameter	Attribute	DataType	Description	Allowed Values
ComponentsToExtract	Optional	String[]	Names of the resources to export
Credentials	Optional	PSCredential	The credentials to connect to SharePoint with
Mode	Optional	String	Predefined sets of exported resources	Lite, Default, Full
OutputPath	Optional	String	Specifies the file name to which to export the exported configuration
SkipSitesAndWebs	Optional	Switch	Include Sites and Webs in the output (Default = True)
Standalone	Optional	Switch	Create export as if the farm is using a single server
Quiet	Optional	Switch	(Deprecated) Run the export without showing the GUI

Examples

Example 1

Run an export by using the GUI

Export-SPConfiguration

Example 2

Run an unattended export by specifying the resources

$credential = Get-Credential domain\farmadministrator
Export-SPConfiguration -ComponentsToExport "SPInstall", "SPFarm", "SPManagedAccount" -Credentials $credential -OutputPath 'C:\DscExport'

Example 3

Run a full export by specifying the export mode

$credential = Get-Credential domain\farmadministrator
Export-SPConfiguration -Mode 'Full' -Credentials $credential -OutputPath 'C:\DscExport'