Restart Action Preference

Summary of the new feature / enhancement

As a user I want the ability to specify that DSC should stop executing a config doc when a restart requested is returned from a resource.

In DSC v1 LCM the resources executed one at a time and if a reboot is requested the LCM will initiate and then continue. I do not expect DSC to recreate this feature but it should have the ability to stop executing so a higher order tool can reboot and then continue.

Some use cases where I have ran into this particular issue:

• Installing Windows components/features
• Installing/Upgrading software

For resource blocks that require the reboot/restart to happen before the resource can properly test or configure the system.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

A new config doc property called restartRequiredAction with a default value of continue (the current behavior) and stop. The property should

restartRequiredAction:
  process: continue
  service: stop
  system: stop

Start by tracing how DSC config document properties are parsed and how resource restart requests are processed. Define the behavior for the proposed process, service, and system values, including the default continue behavior, then verify that stop prevents further execution until a higher-order tool can reboot and resume.