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How can I write a Windows Powershell script to search the Windows event logs for occurrences of a certain string?

Hi all,

I'm currently converting some old VB scripts to Windows Powershell. The one I'm working on now looks at the event logs for a remote computer and searches the logs for all occurrences of a certain string then grabs information from the events when it finds a match. My script's syntax looks ok but I keep getting an error saying "Quota violation" when I run the script. Here's the script I'm using. Can someone take a look at it and see if it looks ok? The script is intended to be used to give back information regarding the time people connected to our Cisco VPN. The server being searched is the IAS server for the Cisco VPN hence why I'm searching the Windows event logs for this stuff.

I'm totally open to the script being completely hacked to pieces if I'm doing this wrong. The end result is that I want to look in the application log for a remote server for occurrences of a certain string then grab information from the events when a match is found (yes I know I'm repeating myself!). The current script searches ALL the event logs - can it be restricted to the application log only?

*** script start ***

$strComputer = "server01.mydomain.local"

$colItems = get-wmiobject -class "Win32_NTLogEvent" -namespace "root\CIMV2" -computername $strComputer -credential "mydomain.local\myaccount"

foreach ($objItem in $colItems)
{
      if ($objItem.LogFile = "System")
      {
            if ($objItem.Message -ne $null)
            {
                  if ($objItem.Message.Contains("cisco_router_name"))
                  {
                        $userLocationStart = $objItem.Message.IndexOf("User") + 5
                        $userLocationFinish = $objItem.Message.IndexOf("was granted") - 1
                        $userStr = $objItem.Message.SubString($userLocationStart, $userLocationFinish - $userLocationStart)
                        $strVPNAccess = "$strVPNAccess $userStr - objItem.TimeWritten`r`n"
                  }
            }
      }
}

*** script end ***

Thanks in advance!

BSonPosh

I can definately tweak your code, but I think the "Quota violation" is entirely different issue. Your code is a tad bloated, but it looks functional.

Some thoughts:
1) Use Get-Credential and store it in a variable to pass to Get-WMIOBject
$creds = Get-Credential
2) $objItem.LogFile = "System" : "=" is an assignment operator not a comparison. Use "-eq"
($objItem.LogFile -eq "System")
3) This "if ($objItem.Message -ne $null)" can be changed to "if ($objItem.Message)"
4) The biggest benefit to Powershell is the pipeline... live it, love it, use it.

I will post some more in a moment

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

BSonPosh

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See answer

BSonPosh

- Notice the use of the WMI Filter: This reduces what the Server sends back instead of client side parsing.
- Notice the use of the pipe to filter out the Type of messages we want.

Number5ix

ASKER

Great reply, thanks. I'll have to wait until Monday before I can try it though so I'll update the question then.

BSonPosh

cool.. also if you post the "string" your parsing. Perhaps I can help with that.

Number5ix

ASKER

Hi there BSonPosh,

I've had a hack at your answers above and, with a couple of modifications, it works beautifully, e.g. foreach ($entry in $Log) should be foreach ($objItem in $Log) because $objItem is referred to later, not $entry. I also couldn't find a way of converting $objItem.TimeWritten to a nice human-readable format - that's why I ended up using all the SubString stuff below - is there a way of doing this quickly that you're aware of? I've done heaps of .NET development outside of PS so feel free to throw in .NET stuff if you want.

However, the complete script as it stands now, with internal server names changed, is:

$strComputer = "myserver.mydomain.local"
$creds = Get-Credential
$strVPNAccess = @()

# Use a WMI filter to allow the Server to reduce the data sent back. Only return entries with Message you want
$Log = Get-WMIObject "Win32_NTLogEvent" -computername $strComputer -filter "LogFile='System'" -cred $creds | ?{$_.Message -match "cisco_router_name"}

foreach ($objItem in $Log)
{
      if ($objItem.Message)
      {
            $userLocationStart = $objItem.Message.IndexOf("User") + 5
            $userLocationFinish = $objItem.Message.IndexOf("was granted") - 1
            if ($userLocationFinish -ge 5)
            {

                  $timeWritten = $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(6,2) + "/" `
                  + $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(4,2) + "/" `
                  + $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(0,4) + " " `
                  + $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(8,2) + ":" `
                  + $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(10,2) + ":" `
                  + $objItem.TimeWritten.SubString(12,2)

                  $userStr = $objItem.Message.SubString($userLocationStart, $userLocationFinish - $userLocationStart)
                  $userStr = $userStr.Trim()
                  $strVPNAccess += "<p class='content'>{0} - {1}</p>`r`n" -f $userStr,$timeWritten

            }
}
}

$strVPNAccessEmail += "<html>`r`n`r`n<head>`r`n<style type='text/css'>.title { font-family: 'Verdana'; font-size: 14px; } .content { font-family: 'Verdana'; font-size: 11px; }</style>`r`n</head>`r`n`r`n<body><p class='title'>VPN Access Summary</p>`r`n" + $strVPNAccess + "</body>`r`n`r`n</html>"

$mailer = new-object Net.Mail.SMTPclient("smtp.mydomain.local")
$mailer.port = 25
$msg = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage("me@me.com","me@me.com","VPN Access Summary",$strVPNAccessEmail)
$msg.IsBodyHTML = $true
$mailer.send($msg)

THANKS! :)

BSonPosh

The $entry thing was intential.. I am trying to get you away from vbscript syntaxed Powershell :)

For the time string... I am not sure this is easier, but it definately more useful

This will return a datetime object instead
[System.DateTime]::ParseExact($objItem.TimeWritten,Split(".")[0],"yyyyMMddHHmmss",$null)

Number5ix

ASKER

LOL yes I can see your point now re the $entry thing being intentional! Thank you very much for your help though, it solved my PowerShell problem and is worth the 500 points & A grade rating. :)