Andys scripting corner - Post job command remote repository

[Andreas Neufert]

Hi all,

On a project it took use some time to figure out how to run a post job script remote on the repository server (Backup to tape - h in this case IBM TSM).

Preparations:
1. Backup & Replication Management Server and Repository Server (Win) in the same AD Domain.
2. Backup & Replication Service Account as a Domain User Account which has Local Administrator rights at Management and Repository Server.
3. Follow the steps at this microsoft article to enable remote PowerShell > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/maga ... 00227.aspx

Command to start from Veeam Job "post job command"

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C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noninteractive -file "C:\scripts\job1_post.ps1" 

job1_post.ps1 on Management Server at C:\scripts\

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Invoke-Command -comp RepositoryFQDN -scriptblock {C:\scripts\TSM\job1.ps1} 

At Repository Server under C:\scripts\TSM\job1.ps1

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C:\products\ibm\tsm\baclient\dsmc.exe incremental -optfile=C:\Scripts\TSM\veeamtest01_job1.opt >>c:\scripts\log\j1.txt 

If the job didn´t start remote, you can check if the job1_post.ps1 works with a test command "mkdir c:\test" for example.

If you have any questions feel free to ask here.

CU Andy

[bmeyer99]

This may be a good feature request to have an option under the Post Job script to choose where to run the script. Either on the management backup server, a proxy server or the repository. The local agent could then run the script instead of the script having to run through the network.

[mwant]

I got this to work, many thanks. I just need to work out how to send a notification when its done now!

Brandon - Yes a good feature to have in the product as BR is usually separate from the management server.

[Andreas Neufert]

Hi mwant,

try this:
http://www.colorconsole.de/PS_Windows/e ... essage.htm

[mwant]

Thanks very much Andreas.

[zak2011]

Hi Andy,,
Have been trying to find out the best possible way to be able to copy only my vbk files from my exisiting backup repo to an external USB drive as Veeam post job activity. Have gone through the forums and have been trying out the scripts posted by different users. However for some reason it isnt working for me. Raised up this issue with support and they directed me to this forum.
My setup is basically simple. My Veeam server is a VM and the backup repo is a physical server. Once Veeam puts the vbks and vrbs on the backup server , i just need to copy them automatically to one external drive every month. I am not doing any rotation at the moment as I will be installing another dedup repo after a while. But for the time being need to copy just the vbks to the external drive.
Could you help me get a proper power shell script inorder to run it without any issues.
Thanks

[veremin]

Unfortunately, I don’t a have a chance to take a look at a console closer right now. However, I believe first of all you should follow preparations steps mentioned by Andy, such as enabling remote PowerShell, placing VB&R server and Repository in the same AD domain, etc.

After having done it, you’ll be able to use invoke-command responsible for running command on local and remote computers.

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Invoke-Command -comp RepositoryFQDN -scriptblock {ScriptBlock} 

Note: ScriptBlock is part of the script that will be implemented on remote machine.

If you’re willing just to copy corresponding backup files from local disks of your remote computer to external USB mounted to this server, then you can probably put into use Copy-Item method in ScriptBlock.

In order to use this method, you’ll have to specify source and target path. In the following examples the role of the souce path is played by D:\Repo\JobName and the role of target path (external USB) by E:\Test.

This example will copy all the items (including subfolders) from D:\Repo\JobName to E:\Test

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Copy-Item D:\Repo\JobName\* E:\test

This one only *vbk-files:

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Copy-Item D:\Repo\JobName\*.vbk E:\test

And in this example only the last created vbk will be copied to external USB:

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$LastVBK = Get-ChildItem D:\Repo\JobName\*.* -include *.vbk| Sort-Object CreationTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
Copy-Item $LastVBK E:\test

Feel free to play with the last parameter. E.g., if in the end of the month according to your retention policy you have two *vbk-files that need to be copied to external USB, you should use -First 2, instead of 1, etc.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[zak2011]

Thanks Vladimir for the options. Basically my requirement is to copy the vbks for now. So as you mentioned i need to try the last option.
I will check this out now and let you know the results.
Thanks again for the help.

[zak2011]

Tried the script..but got this error

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PS C:\> Invoke-Command -comp backupsrv03 -scriptblock {Copy-Item B:\Veeam Backup
s\TIDBANK\*.vbk F:\TIDBANKSRV}
A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'F:\TIDBANKSRV'.
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Copy-Item], ParameterBindi
   ngException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell
   .Commands.CopyItemCommand

The target has the folder TIDBANKSRV.

[veremin]

Try to put the source path into quotation marks and see whether it works. In fact, It's typical problem with the pathes that include spaces.

So, it shoud look like this:

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Invoke-Command -comp backupsrv03 -scriptblock {Copy-Item "B:\Veeam Backup
s\TIDBANK\*.vbk" F:\TIDBANKSRV}

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[zak2011]

Thankyou very much Vladmir. You are right..the quotations marks were missing and therefore didnt work.
can i save this as a .ps1 file and run it as a post job activity directly?
Thanks

[Sethbartlett]

You could do that, just make sure you invoke powershell.exe with that script and you should be good.

[veremin]

Providing you have followed all the aforesaid steps, there should be no issues related to this process.

In addition, be aware that you can only specify *cmd,*exe or *bat files as the job post-activity. So, there are three possible options for you in this case:

1. Convert you powershell script into a batch file (as described in the this article).

2.1. Create the bat file responsible for execution your PowerShell script, using the following command as a bat-file body:

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Powershell.exe -File C:\YourScript.ps1

2.2. Just follow Andy’s advice:

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C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -noninteractive -file "C:\scripts\job1_post.ps1" 

Either way you’ll be able to meet your expectations.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[zak2011]

Thanks a lot Vladimir. It was very straight forward to follow the steps you provided.Its working well now.
From the different threads i went through regarding copying veeam backup files offsite, Vladmir's post and Andys was the best
Thanks again.

[veremin]

Thank you, Arun, for kind words.
Should any other questions arise, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks again.

[zak2011]

Your welcome..
Unfortunately ran into some errors today again

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PS C:\> Invoke-Command -comp backupsrv03 -scriptblock {Copy-Item "B:\Veeam Backu
ps\Terminal Server Backups\*.vbk" F:\Terminal Server Backups}
A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'Server'.
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Copy-Item], ParameterBindi
   ngException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell
   .Commands.CopyItemCommand

Cant seem to find why this is failing. Is this because the job name has spaces in between or with the way the jobs are named?

Thanks

[veremin]

In the way I see it, It happens due to the fact that your target path does have spaces, and meanwhile isn't put into quotation marks.

Proper example should look this:

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PS C:\> Invoke-Command -comp backupsrv03 -scriptblock {Copy-Item "B:\Veeam Backu
ps\Terminal Server Backups\*.vbk" "F:\Terminal Server Backups"}

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[zak2011]

Thanks Vladmir. I will try this out and update you.

[zak2011]

The vbks are getting copied..however for some jobs only one vbk gets copied when there are two vbks in the source , and for some jobs each time the job runs the same vbks get copied again..and for the other jobs both the vbks at the source and target are exact.
Any particular reason for this?

Thanks again.

[veremin]

In fact, copy-item method can’t be noticeable for very thoughtful approach of copying file. Each time it just copies existing files, as is, rewriting files with identical names.

In order to answer your requirements you should slightly modify your code, adding verification means responsible for checking names and dates of modification.

Otherwise, you can put into use Robocopy utility which is a command-line directory replication command. By default, Robocopy will only copy a file if the source and destination have different time stamps or different file sizes.

Syntax should be as the following:

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Invoke-Command -comp backupsrv03 -scriptblock {robocopy “Source path” *.vbk “Target path”;}

Furthermore, it’s much more preferable to use Robocopy in this case.

More information about Robocopy parameters can be found here.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[zak2011]

I have used Robocopy earlier however..if i would be able to acheive the same thing using copy-item method..i would prefer using that.
How do you add the verification part to this?
Thanks.

[veremin]

I believe something like this should work in case of using Copy-Item method:

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$SourcePath = "Your source path"
$TargetPath = "Your target path"
$filessource = Get-ChildItem $SourcePath\*.vbk
$filesdestination = Get-ChildItem $TargetPath\*.vbk
$DontCopy = $False
If($filesdestination.count -eq "0")
{
 Copy-Item $filessource $TargetPath
}
else
{
  foreach($FilestoCopySource in $filessource)
  {
    foreach($FilestoCopyDestination in $Filesdestination)
    {
     If ($FilestoCopySource.Name -eq $FilestoCopyDestination.Name) 
     {
       if($FilestoCopySource.LastWriteTime -eq $FilestoCopyDestination.LastWriteTime) 
       {$DontCopy = $True}
     }
    }
    If($DontCopy -ne $True) {Copy-Item $FilestoCopySource $TargetPath}
    $DontCopy = $False
  }
}

Firstly it checks if there are some *.vbk-files on your target already. If no, all .vbks are copied from source to the target.

If yes, it takes existing .vbk-files one by one from your source location and starts comparing their names and modification dates with the .vbk-files residing on target location. If there is no .vbk files with such name, or, modification dates of files with identical names don’t coincide, corresponding .vbk-files will be copied. The only exception is a case of full coincidence (name=name, LastWriteTime=LastWriteTime).

Be aware that It’s nothing but a rough example with a lot of space for improvement (some kind of size check can be added, for instance). Thus, feel free to modify it however you want.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t stand to any good reason to perform all of necessary actions manually, since Robocopy utility was deliberately created to meet such requirements. Furthermore, it does provide much more functionality along with flexibility, comparing with abovementioned script. Hence, I’m still wondering what your motivation is for not using it.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.

[Martin9700]

I concur, this is what Robocopy was built for. Microsoft is even bundling it with Windows 2008R2 and higher now so they're good with it

[zak2011]

Thanks Vladmir for the code. Thats true Robocopy has much functionality also.
Previously i have had to use Robocopy in situations where it was not possible to install backup agents on the some customized servers. It came in handy then..however i ran into some issues.
I can try Robocopy and see.

Thanks

[Andreas Neufert]

Thanks for the help and feedback

[eantonio]

I'm trying to execute a Veeam backup job from a remote server. When I run the Invoke-Command, it is saying the "Start-VBRJob" is not recognized as the name of the cmdlet. Can you please advise what I'm doing wrong here?

I have winRM already running and enabled remotesign.

[veremin]

Is Veeam PS snap-in installed on the remote machine? Do you have "asnp VeeamPSSnapin" portion inside invoke-expression? Thanks.