In 2016 I never thought that almost four years later I would still be working on my PowerShell script for a PRTG Veeam Sensor. But even shortly after the release of the two blog posts there was a surprise, Paessler, the Vendor behind PRTG, asked me if they could translate my article and publish it on their site. I was then as now surprised by this attention. And against all expectations, the PRTG Veeam Sensor has continued until today.

The first version of the PRTG Veeam Sensor (Translated version: Monitoring Veeam Backup & Replication using Veeam Enterprise Manager) was designed to use the RESTful API of Veeam Enterprise Manager to gather basic backup statistics. However, it quickly became apparent that this was not the optimal solution. Thanks to extensive feedback and the Veeam Reports from Shawn Masterson I was able the create the first version of the new PRTG Veeam Sensor. The new version was based on the PowerShell Snap-In for Veeam Backup & Replication. The Veeam Enterprise Manager was n longer required.

Basically, the PRTG concept for Advanced Sensors is quite ingenious. The EXE/Script Advanced sensor runs an executable file (.exe, .dll) or a script (batch file, VBScript, PowerShell) on the probe system. The return value of this sensor must be valid Extensible Markup Language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). In the case of the Veeam PRTG Sensor Reloaded PowerShell script, an XML is returned.

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<prtg>
<result>
  <channel>REPO - Default Backup Repository</channel>
  <value>64</value>
  <unit>Percent</unit>
  <showChart>1</showChart>
  <showTable>1</showTable>
  <LimitMinWarning>20</LimitMinWarning>
  <LimitMinError>10</LimitMinError>
  <LimitMode>1</LimitMode>
</result>
</prtg>

PRTG Veeam Sensor - Blog Statistics

Even in 2019 both Veeam PRTG blog posts still generated a lot of traffic on my small blog.

But even more amazing are the 290 comments on the Veeam PRTG Sensor Reloaded article. In my opinion that is a crazy number, even when 102 comments are created by myself as answers to questions.

PRTG Veeam Sensor - GitHub Statistics

Already in an early phase of the script, I had decided to start a GitHub Repository for the PRTG Advanced Sensors I have created by myself. This GitHub Repository has evolved into one of my most active projects over the years.

Issues: 7 Open / 26 Closed
Pull Requests: 0 Open / 16 Closed
Forks: 15
Stars: 28
Contributors: 4 (Thanks to Guy Zuercher, Eren Kemer, and Viktor Frelikh )

Contributions to the master branch, excluding merge commits:

PowerShell Script - What’s new

Over the last few years, the Veeam PRTG Sensor Reloaded script has evolved due to the many impulses and contributions from users of the sensor. This list highlights the major enhancement since the initial release.

Sep 11, 2017

The ability to monitor Scale-Out Backup Repositories was added and SAN Snapshot Repositories excluded.

Dec 3, 2017

Guy Zuercher added the ability to monitor Endpoint Backup Sessions and introduced the ability to select the monitoring scope (Backup, Replication, Agent, etc.).

Dec 17, 2018

Viktor Frelikh came to me with a great idea to adapt the Script for PowerShell Remoting. His modification males it possible to execute the script on the PRTG Probe but the Veeam PowerShell SnapIn is only required on the Veeam Backup & Replication Server. This solves two problems: No additional maintenance of the Veeam PowerShell SnapIn needs to be done after an upgrade and this a workaround for the problem that PRTG only uses PowerShell 32Bit which is not supported by the Veeam PowerShell SnapIn.

Dec 10, 2019

I have implemented a long-overdue improvement with the help of Chris Arceneaux. The script is now able to report Veeam Cloud repositories hosted by a Veeam Cloud Connect Service Provider.

PowerShell Script - What’s next

One major enhancement is 2020 might be the use of methods instead of Get-* Cmdlets. I already pushed a commit regarding this topic and then reverted it, because I am currently not able to test all cases that affect this change.

By the use of the methods, I expect an increase in performance but also a lot of testing needs to be done because the results of the method differ from the comparable Cmdlet.

Further, I expect some additional requests and required fixes as soon as Veaam Backup & Replication v10 GA is released:

• New Backup types like NAS Backup will certainly also be monitored.

• Endpoint Backup Cmdlets seems to be changed