Desired State Configuration (DSC) was introduced with Windows Management Framework 4, and up until today is a Windows-only component. DSC will, like PowerShell, eventually be accompanied by DSC Core, but more on that later.
DSC is a configuration management framework that is delivered with its own keeper of consistency, the Local Configuration Manager (LCM). With Windows Management Framework 4, the LCM will be enabled and waiting for requests.
Desired State Configuration has the same requirements as each Windows Management Framework, and is available through Windows Update or as a separate download. Installing a Windows Management Framework version of 4.0 or higher will register additional Common Information Model (CIM) namespaces that the LCM uses. All operations targeting the LCM remotely rely on CIM remoting working.
