33 replies to this topic

[Ron Levenberg]

I would love to be able to get a daily e-mail that confirms to me that all my PCs connected to my home server have been backed up successfully and, if not, which PCs don't have current backups. It could be something like the Computers & Backups page data. I don't want to login to the server to verify this, and I certainly don't want to View Details for each PC to make sure all of yesterday's backups are good.

Does anyone know of an add-in that can provide this?

I tried Remote Notification, but it only informs of warnings and errors. Since it doesn't send messages saying an error condition (like a failed backup) has been cleared, it doesn't really meet my need.

Thanks, all!

Ron

[Sam Wood]

Hi Ron,

I just whipped this console app up, because I thought it was an interesting problem.

You'll need to extract both files to C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\ and then edit the config file in Notepad to add your SMTP details. The configuration should be self-explanatory.

http://www.tentacles...tBackupNotifier

Then you can add a Scheduled Task on the server to run WhsClientBackupNotifier.exe once a day (or however often you want), and you'll get emailed the current backup status of each client (if a backup is running, you'll see that too).

Output looks like this at the moment (let me know if you want to see other details):

NYARLATHOTEP (192.168.xx.xx)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 31/07/2010 2:58:01 a.m.
Last Backup Status: Complete
Current Health Status: Normal

SULACO (192.168.xx.xx)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 31/07/2010 2:31:10 a.m.
Last Backup Status: Complete
Current Health Status: Normal

CTHULHU (192.168.xx.xx)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 30/07/2010 8:33:03 p.m.
Last Backup Status: Cancelled
Current Health Status: Normal

DEEPONE (192.168..xx.xx)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 30/07/2010 4:35:27 p.m.
Last Backup Status: Complete
Current Health Status: Normal

[DieHard]

It worked for me, Thanks Sam.

I also have Brent Friedman's WHSAlert.exe installed, so I added a scheduled task to display in the Console a warning that the "WHS Backup Notification has been emailed". It's a nice way of knowing that your notification app ran.

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[jerryw]

Absolutely wonderful! I cannot wait to see what Sam or another decides to do with this. This adds a little piece of mind. I am always at work when my clients get backed up and I am always having to log into the console to check them, that is unless I see the nice little task tray icon when I get home. Now, I don't even have to check, if I don't want to.


Thank you, Sam!

JerryW

P.S. I think it is very refreshing to see a developer listen to a need from a user and fill that request. Truly what it is all about.

[Howard Frazier]

After modifying the configuration file with the details for my SMTP (google apps with custom domain), I ran the application and it coughed up this message:

Unhandled Exception: System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is
not implemented.
at Microsoft.HomeServer.SDK.Interop.v1.WHSInfoClass.GetClientComputerInfo()
at TentacleSoftware.WhsClientBackupNotifier.Program.Main(String[] args)

Any idea the cause of this? The only configuration oddity I saw was the my SMTP provider requires TLS on the outbound server.

[Sam Wood]

Howard Frazier, on 31 July 2010 - 05:38 PM, said:

After modifying the configuration file with the details for my SMTP (google apps with custom domain), I ran the application and it coughed up this message:

Unhandled Exception: System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is
not implemented.
at Microsoft.HomeServer.SDK.Interop.v1.WHSInfoClass.GetClientComputerInfo()
at TentacleSoftware.WhsClientBackupNotifier.Program.Main(String[] args)

Any idea the cause of this? The only configuration oddity I saw was the my SMTP provider requires TLS on the outbound server.

Hi Howard,

TLS isn't implemented yet (I woke up last night and realised I hadn't put that in yet ), I'll do that soon.

The error message basically says that the app can't communicate with WHS. Are you sure you've extracted the the files to C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\ on the server (and not on your workstation)?

[Sam Wood]

Judging by the number of downloads, people are finding this more useful than I expected! I'll do a bit more cleanup on the code, and add some more configuration options, and post it on http://www.tentaclesoftware.com/.

[Dave]

Thanks Sam for this add-in....makes life easier

Dave

[LockwoodBrewing]

Sam Wood, on 31 July 2010 - 07:43 PM, said:

Hi Howard,

TLS isn't implemented yet (I woke up last night and realised I hadn't put that in yet ), I'll do that soon.

The error message basically says that the app can't communicate with WHS. Are you sure you've extracted the the files to C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\ on the server (and not on your workstation)?

Wow - just saw this on the WGS main page and things it's a GREAT idea. Of course, my email service also requires TLS, so I'll be looking forward to the updated version. Thanks a ton!

[andrewr]

Hi Sam,

Many thanks for this nifty little peice of coding.

One question if I may - where does it get it's reporting time from?? I guessing that it is reporting in UTC not local time??

For example:

SERINA (192.168.67.2)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 31/07/2010 11:23:49 PM Last Backup Status: Complete Current Health Status: Normal

Now I know this machine backed up successfully this morning (01/08/2010) at 09:18am. The backups on this machine typically take around 4-5 minutes which means it finished at around 09:23am Sydney time (UTC + 10) or 11:23 pm UTC.

Have I missed a config somewhere or do you just have it reporting in UTC?

Thanks

Andrew

[Sam Wood]

andrewr, on 01 August 2010 - 04:10 AM, said:

Hi Sam,

Many thanks for this nifty little peice of coding.

One question if I may - where does it get it's reporting time from?? I guessing that it is reporting in UTC not local time??

For example:

SERINA (192.168.67.2)
---------------------------------
Last Good Backup: 31/07/2010 11:23:49 PM Last Backup Status: Complete Current Health Status: Normal

Now I know this machine backed up successfully this morning (01/08/2010) at 09:18am. The backups on this machine typically take around 4-5 minutes which means it finished at around 09:23am Sydney time (UTC + 10) or 11:23 pm UTC.

Have I missed a config somewhere or do you just have it reporting in UTC?

Thanks

Andrew

Good spotting, Andrew.

To answer your question, the app is just displaying the time that WHS says the last successful backup occured. It looks like WHS returns that as UTC, yes. I'll add in a config variable for switching that.

SSL/TLS coming in a few minutes, just to have to do some final testing.

[Sam Wood]

Alright, v1.0.0.12 is ready. Grab it here: http://www.tentacles...tBackupNotifier

Changes in v1.0.0.12:

• Added SSL/TLS support (for smtp.gmail.com)
  
• Added XML documentation to config file
  
• Added conversion from UTC to local time for Last Good Backup
  
• Added exit codes for success and failure conditions
  
• Improved error handling

Note: Make sure you overwrite your existing config file; this means you will need to re-configure your SMTP settings, but is necessary due to the configuration options that have been added.

[malkie]

Sam Wood, on 01 August 2010 - 05:42 AM, said:

Alright, v1.0.0.12 is ready. Grab it here: http://www.tentacles...tBackupNotifier

Changes in v1.0.0.12:

• Added SSL/TLS support (for smtp.gmail.com)
  
• Added XML documentation to config file
  
• Added conversion from UTC to local time for Last Good Backup
  
• Added exit codes for success and failure conditions
  
• Improved error handling

Note: Make sure you overwrite your existing config file; this means you will need to re-configure your SMTP settings, but is necessary due to the configuration options that have been added.

Awesome little add-on Sam, will save me a lot of logging into my server. Many thanks for sorting out the gmail settings too.

[autodrivel]

Hi Sam,

Any idea whether this would work with the Vail beta?

I'm trialling Add-ins so I know exactly what I need to install when Vista goes Golden.

[Sam Wood]

autodrivel, on 01 August 2010 - 09:26 AM, said:

Any idea whether this would work with the Vail beta?

Nope, this won't work with Vail.

[LockwoodBrewing]

Thanks for the updated version - working like a charm.

[Howard Frazier]

Sam Wood, on 31 July 2010 - 07:43 PM, said:

Hi Howard,

TLS isn't implemented yet (I woke up last night and realised I hadn't put that in yet ), I'll do that soon.

The error message basically says that the app can't communicate with WHS. Are you sure you've extracted the the files to C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server\ on the server (and not on your workstation)?

Sam,

I just installed the new version and it's working fine with my gmail account. Thanks for your efforts!

Howard

[Etoa]

This is one of the most useful (and simple) addins ever. I would even pay money for this one. Thanks Sam!

[Terry (WGS)]

Thread moved to a new forum for the add-in.

[dvb]

Many thanks Sam for a great piece of software, I look forward to future releases.

Just one comment I have had it installed for a week now and regularly received my emails, then all of a sudden they stopped.
The reson was that I use Lights Out to shut down my server and I had changed the time when I used my laptop so of course the scheduled task could not run.

Is there any posibility that it can be triggered by the successful completion of all backups? That way the message will be sent whilst the server is still live.

Once again many thanks

Regards
David