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Changelog

All notable changes to Dummy.Lab are documented here. Format follows Keep a Changelog. Versioning follows Semantic Versioning.

[1.0.0] - 2026-04-14

First public release. Dummy.Lab is a Hyper-V lab automation platform for building, inspecting, and monitoring isolated Windows Server AD lab environments.

Headline

Single-line end-to-end composition:

Get-DLabGoldenImage -OSKey WS2025_DC |
    New-DLab -LabName Demo |
    Add-DLabVM -Role Server |
    Add-DLabVM -Role Server

Every operation is recorded as a DLab.Operation document with per-step durations. Every narrative line is a DLab.Event in a JSONL log. Both are central, survive lab teardown, and are queryable via Get-DLabOperation / Get-DLabEventLog.

Cmdlet surface (52 public)

Configuration and discovery (6): Get-DLabConfig, Set-DLabConfig, Test-DLabConfig, Get-DLabCatalog, Find-DLabISO, Get-DLabISOCatalog

Inventory (4): Get-DLab, Get-DLabVM, Get-DLabNetwork, Get-DLabGoldenImage

State primitives (5): Get-DLabState, Update-DLabState, New-DLabVMSlot, Complete-DLabVMSlot, Remove-DLabVMSlot

Network primitives (7): Get-DLabNetworkConfig, Get-DLabNAT, Find-DLabFreeSubnet, New-DLabSwitch, Remove-DLabSwitch, Set-DLabNAT, Remove-DLabNAT

Storage primitives (3): New-DLabVHDX, Optimize-DLabVHDX, New-DLabDifferencingDisk

Host preflight (2): Test-DLabHost, Invoke-DLabPreflight

VM primitives (6): New-DLabVM, Start-DLabVM, Stop-DLabVM, Wait-DLabVM, New-DLabCheckpoint, Test-DLabVM

Guest execution (2): Send-DLabGuestFile, Invoke-DLabGuestScript

Golden images (6): New-DLabGoldenImage, Remove-DLabGoldenImage, Protect-DLabGoldenImage, Test-DLabGoldenImage, Import-DLabGoldenImage, Export-DLabGoldenImage

Composition (6): New-DLab, Add-DLabVM, Remove-DLabVM, Remove-DLab, Test-DLab, Set-DLabInternet

Observability (5): Get-DLabOperation, Get-DLabEventLog, Watch-DLabOperation, Get-DLabMetrics, Export-DLabReport

Architecture principles

  1. Live off the land. Every Tier 2/3 primitive wraps a Microsoft cmdlet (New-VM, New-VMSwitch, New-VHD, Checkpoint-VM, Optimize-VHD, etc.), enriching with lab context, event emission, and typed output. Nothing is reimplemented.
  2. Composition, not duplication. High-level actions (New-DLab, Add-DLabVM, New-DLabGoldenImage) are scripts that call primitives. One thing per cmdlet.
  3. Data delivery, not live API. Events and operations written to disk as JSONL / JSON. SIEMs, log shippers, dashboards pull on their own schedule.
  4. Central audit trail. Operations and events stored in <storage>/Operations/ and <storage>/Events/ respectively. Survives lab teardown. Failed builds, destroyed labs, and orphaned state all leave a retrievable record.
  5. One module. No peer modules, no NestedModules. Everything inside DummyLab.

User-facing entry points

  • Module (Import-Module DummyLab) is the API. 52 public cmdlets, automation-friendly.
  • DLab.ps1 is an in-terminal reference / cheat-sheet printer. Shows the actual DLab cmdlets users should run for each workflow; does not execute them. Topics: quickstart (default), build, lab, health, teardown, report, all.

Defaults worth knowing

  • DomainSuffix default is internal (IANA-reserved 2024 private-use TLD).
  • LabName defaults to Dummy. New-DLab, Add-DLabVM, and Test-DLab all fall back to the configured LabName when neither the parameter nor a pipeline input is supplied. Remove-DLab and Remove-DLabVM keep their mandatory -Name / -LabName by design - destructive operations must always name their target explicitly.
  • Event log at <storage>/Events/dlab-events-<yyyy-MM>.jsonl (local-time ISO 8601).
  • Operations at <storage>/Operations/*.json (central, one file per run).
  • Override bundled config via %APPDATA%\DummyLab\config.psd1 or the DUMMYLAB_CONFIG environment variable.

Known limitations

  • Multi-host / cluster deployment is out of scope.
  • Non-Windows guests are out of scope.
  • No retention policy on the Operations folder yet. Manually archive old files if the folder grows beyond your audit window.

Requirements

  • Windows Server or Windows with the Hyper-V role and the Hyper-V PowerShell module.
  • PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7.
  • Administrator elevation.
  • Minimum 4 GB RAM on the host (8 GB+ recommended for running multi-VM labs).