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Displaying the Store file usage Trends via Script using the Event log

Continuing on from some of my previous scripts last month around mail store file usage and backup results this script expands on this idea a little. As I’ve mentioned previously when the backup runs on an Exchange server (as long as it’s using the Exchange backup API eg Brightstore, Veritas etc). It logs to the event log a whole lot of useful information about when it started when it stopped and how much data (the size of each database file) that is going to be backed up. Because the event log is a historical record depending on how you have your eventlogs setup you will have a record that goes back of a number of weeks or months of how large the database store files where when each of the backups occurred. All this information is stored in the eventid 220.

So what this script does is like the others scripts before it is query AD for all the mail and public folder stores in your domain. Then query the exchange server’s event log for all the 220 events for a configured time period. I’ve set the period to 60 days in the script but you can increase or decrease this amount depending on your needs. Increasing the number of days will slow the script down because it will have more entries to filter though (the real limitation is going to be your actually event log size). The information about each day’s backup is stored in a multi dimensional array which stores the date of the event, the size of the data file and the usage between this backup and the last backup. Once the array has been fully populated with all the available events a report is then displayed to the command line showing the full usage for the number of days measured (just compares the lower array entry and the upper array entry). After this trend information is shown by looping though the array and showing the amount of usage in groups of 7 days as well as a daily average at the end. This allows you to see the amount of growth your experience each week and see where your spikes and troughs are.

Ive posted a downloaded copy of the code here

The script looks like

set conn = createobject("ADODB.Connection")
set com = createobject("ADODB.Command")
Set iAdRootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE")
strNameingContext = iAdRootDSE.Get("configurationNamingContext")
rangeStep = 999
lowRange = 0
highRange = lowRange + rangeStep
Conn.Provider = "ADsDSOObject"
Conn.Open "ADs Provider"
mbQuery = ";(objectCategory=msExchPrivateMDB);name,distinguishedName;subtree"
pfQuery = ";(objectCategory=msExchPublicMDB);name,distinguishedName;subtree"
Com.ActiveConnection = Conn
Com.CommandText = mbQuery
Set Rs = Com.Execute
Wscript.echo "Mailbox Stores"
wscript.echo
While Not Rs.EOF
objmailstorename = "LDAP://" & Rs.Fields("distinguishedName")
set objmailstore = getObject(objmailstorename)
servername = mid(objmailstore.msExchOwningServer,4,instr(objmailstore.msExchOwningServer,",")-4)
wscript.echo Rs.Fields("name")
wscript.echo
getbackupdata = queryeventlog(servername,objmailstore.msExchEDBFile,objmailstore.msExchSLVFile)
Rs.MoveNext

Wend
Wscript.echo "Public Folder Stores"
Wscript.echo
Com.CommandText = pfQuery
Set Rs1 = Com.Execute
While Not Rs1.EOF
objmailstorename = "LDAP://" & Rs1.Fields("distinguishedName")
set objmailstore = getObject(objmailstorename)
servername = mid(objmailstore.msExchOwningServer,4,instr(objmailstore.msExchOwningServer,",")-4)
wscript.echo Rs1.Fields("name")
wscript.echo
getbackupdata = queryeventlog(servername,objmailstore.msExchEDBFile,objmailstore.msExchSLVFile)
Rs1.MoveNext

Wend
Rs.Close
Rs1.close
Conn.Close
Set Rs = Nothing
Set Rs1 = Nothing
Set Com = Nothing
Set Conn = Nothing


function queryeventlog(servername,edbfilename,stmfilename)
days = 60
SB = 0
edbarraycnt = 0
stmarraycnt = 0
dtmStartDate = CDate(Date) - days
dtmStartDate = Year(dtmStartDate) & Right( "00" & Month(dtmStartDate), 2) & Right( "00" & Day(dtmStartDate), 2)
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & servername & "\root\cimv2")
Set colLoggedEvents = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_NTLogEvent Where Logfile='Application' and Eventcode = '220' and TimeWritten >= '" & dtmStartDate & "'",,48)
For Each objEvent in colLoggedEvents
SB = 1
Time_Written = objEvent.TimeWritten
Time_Written = left(Time_Written,(instr(Time_written,".")-1))
if instr(objEvent.Message,edbfilename) then
redim Preserve edbarray(3,edbarraycnt)
if edbarraycnt = 0 then
edbarray(0,edbarraycnt) = 0
edbarray(1,edbarraycnt) = dateserial(mid(Time_Written,1,4),mid(Time_Written,5,2),mid(Time_Written,7,2))
edbarray(2,edbarraycnt) = Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
else
edbarray(0,(edbarraycnt-1)) = edbarray(2,(edbarraycnt-1)) - Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
edbarray(1,edbarraycnt) = dateserial(mid(Time_Written,1,4),mid(Time_Written,5,2),mid(Time_Written,7,2))
edbarray(2,edbarraycnt) = Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
edbarraysum = edbarray(0,(edbarraycnt-1)) + edbarraysum
end if
queryeventlog = dateserial(mid(Time_Written,1,4),mid(Time_Written,5,2),mid(Time_Written,7,2))
edbarraycnt = edbarraycnt + 1
else
if instr(objEvent.Message,stmfilename) then
redim Preserve stmarray(3,stmarraycnt)
if stmarraycnt = 0 then
stmarray(0,stmarraycnt) = 0
stmarray(1,stmarraycnt) = dateserial(mid(Time_Written,1,4),mid(Time_Written,5,2),mid(Time_Written,7,2))
stmarray(2,stmarraycnt) = Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
else
stmarray(0,(stmarraycnt-1)) = stmarray(2,(stmarraycnt-1)) - Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
stmarray(1,stmarraycnt) = dateserial(mid(Time_Written,1,4),mid(Time_Written,5,2),mid(Time_Written,7,2))
stmarray(2,stmarraycnt) = Mid(objEvent.Message,(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6),(InStr(objEvent.Message,"Mb)")-1)-(InStr(objEvent.Message,"(size")+6))
stmarraysum = stmarray(0,(stmarraycnt-1)) + stmarraysum
end if
stmarraycnt = stmarraycnt + 1
end if
end if
next
if SB = 0 then queryeventlog = "No Backup recorded in the last 7 Days"
if edbarraycnt > 1 then
Wscript.echo "EDB Mailstore file Size on " & edbarray(1,(edbarraycnt-1)) & " Size :" & edbarray(2,(edbarraycnt-1)) &" MB"
Wscript.echo "EDB Mailstore file Size on " & edbarray(1,0) & " Size :" & edbarray(2,0) &" MB"
Wscript.echo "EDB Mailstore file size Growth over " & datediff("d",edbarray(1,(edbarraycnt-1)),edbarray(1,0)) & " Days " & edbarray(2,0) - edbarray(2,(edbarraycnt-1)) & " MB"
wscript.echo
Wscript.echo "STM Mailstore file Size on " & stmarray(1,(stmarraycnt-1)) & " Size :" & stmarray(2,(stmarraycnt-1)) &" MB"
Wscript.echo "STM Mailstore file Size on " & stmarray(1,0) & " Size :" & stmarray(2,0) &" MB"
Wscript.echo "STM Mailstore File Size Growth over " & datediff("d",stmarray(1,(stmarraycnt-1)),stmarray(1,0)) & " Days " & stmarray(2,0) - stmarray(2,(stmarraycnt-1)) & " MB"
wscript.echo
Wscript.echo "Weekly Growth Trends EDB File"
wscript.echo
sdate = edbarray(1,0)
ssize = edbarray(2,0)
for i = 0 to (edbarraycnt-1)
if datediff("d",edbarray(1,i),sdate) > 6 then
wscript.echo "Growth on " & edbarray(1,i) & " to " & sdate & ": " & ssize-edbarray(2,i) & " MB"
sdate = edbarray(1,i)
ssize = edbarray(2,i)
end if
next
wscript.echo "Daily Average : " & formatnumber(edbarraysum/(datediff("d",edbarray(1,(edbarraycnt-1)),edbarray(1,0))),2) & " MB"
wscript.echo
Wscript.echo "Weekly Growth Trends STM File"
wscript.echo
sdate = stmarray(1,0)
ssize = stmarray(2,0)
for i = 0 to (stmarraycnt-1)
if datediff("d",stmarray(1,i),sdate) > 6 then
wscript.echo "Growth on " & stmarray(1,i) & " to " & sdate & ": " & ssize-stmarray(2,i) & " MB"
sdate = stmarray(1,i)
ssize = stmarray(2,i)
end if
next
wscript.echo "Daily Average : " & formatnumber(stmarraysum/(datediff("d",stmarray(1,(stmarraycnt-1)),stmarray(1,0))),2) & " MB"
wscript.echo
end if
end function

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All sample scripts and source code is provided by for illustrative purposes only. All examples are untested in different environments and therefore, I cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

All code contained herein is provided to you "AS IS" without any warranties of any kind. The implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are expressly disclaimed.