Some feature requests

[TripleNico]

First of all let me say i really like you're way of scripting and love to see your enthusiasm in your work.

Last year i've made my own version of you script then because i needed to be more lightweight and there were a few things not available then like the -LowDisk switch. But today i've check what you've been working at and i'm impressed, it almost fits my need and i know it's a lot to ask (since i can do it myself) but could you consider to add these features?

• [x] Switch called -SendStatusUpdate: this features send after every VM a email with the status of that VM export. For example, in my case i have a few VM's that are TB's and the script runs at night. When it's morning i can see due to the emails where the backup script is in the process. I simply put a SendEmail at the end of the ForEach VM (Check second code block below)

• [x] Switch calles -OptimizeVHD: this features uses the Optimize-VHD function before copying it to the backup destination. Example of the code i use inside the ForEach VM:

  #Optimze the VHDX
  Try {
  Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Optimizing VHD(s)..."
  $VMVHDS = Get-VHD -Path $($Vm | Get-VMHardDiskDrive | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "Path")
  #Loop through each VHD(X) file of an VM an optimize it
  ForEach ($VHD in $VMVHDS) {
      #Now optimize the VHD to save space and therefore shorten the copy time
      Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Used space before optimizing VHD [$($VHD.Path)] = $([math]::ceiling((Get-VHD -Path $VHD.Path).FileSize / 1GB )) GB"
      Optimize-VHD -Path "$($VHD.Path)" -Mode Full
      Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Used space after optimizing VHD [$($VHD.Path)] = $([math]::ceiling((Get-VHD -Path $VHD.Path).FileSize / 1GB )) GB"
      $intTotalDisksSize += (Get-VHD -Path $VHD.Path).FileSize
  }
  Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Done optimizing VHD(s)"
  }
  Catch {
  Write-Log -Type Err -Evt "Error during Optimize-VHD: $($_.Exception.Message)"
  }

• [x] Print the duration of how long it took per VM to back. In my script i simply compare time from the beginning of the ForEach VM and in one of the last lines print the duration. This gives me a pretty good idea how long it takes per VM. For example:

  
  Write-Log -Type Info ""
  Write-Log -Type Info "-------------------------- Processing VM: $Vm --------------------------------"
  $StartTime = $(get-date)

... do stuff ...

$elapsedTime = $(get-date) - $StartTime $totalTime = "{0:HH:mm:ss}" -f ([datetime]$elapsedTime.Ticks) SendMail "VM $Vm done" "Processed VM: $Vm in $totalTime" Write-Log -Type Info "-------------------------- Done processing VM: $Vm in $totalTime --------------------------------" Write-Log -Type Info ""

- [x] Switch -PrintVMInfo: this features simply printout all info it could find. For example what i use:
```powershell
## Print info per VM.
ForEach ($Vm in $Vms) {
    #Get SystemInfo
    Try {
        #Log VM specs
        $VhdSize = Get-VHD -Path $($Vm | Get-VMHardDiskDrive | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "Path") | Select-Object @{Name = "FileSizeGB"; Expression = { [math]::ceiling( $_.FileSize / 1GB ) } }, @{Name = "M
        Write-Output "VM [$Vm] has [$((Get-VMProcessor $Vm).Count)] CPU cores, [$([math]::ceiling((Get-VMMemory $Vm).Startup / 1gb))GB] RAM and Storage [CurrentFileSizeGB = $($VhdSize.FileSizeGB)GB - MaxSizeG
    }
    Catch {
        Write-Error "Error during Systeminfo: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    }
}   

• [ ] Extra funtions start Start and Stop a backupserver. This is something i have in my script because when the backuopserver isn't needed it is shutdown. (For security and power reasons). Snippit of the code:

  
  function Invoke-WakeOnLan {
  param
  (
      # one or more MACAddresses
      [Parameter(Mandatory, ValueFromPipeline, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName)]
      # mac address must be a following this regex pattern:
      [ValidatePattern('^([0-9A-F]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-F]{2})$')]
      [string[]]
      $MacAddress 
  )
  
  begin {
      # instantiate a UDP client:
      # Support from PowerShell V5.X $UDPclient = [System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient]::new()
      $UDPclient = New-Object -TypeName System.Net.Sockets.UdpClient
  }
  process {
      foreach ($_ in $MacAddress) {
          try {
              $currentMacAddress = $_
  
              # get byte array from mac address:
              $mac = $currentMacAddress -split '[:-]' |
              # convert the hex number into byte:
              ForEach-Object {
                  [System.Convert]::ToByte($_, 16)
              }
  
              #region compose the "magic packet"
  
              # create a byte array with 102 bytes initialized to 255 each:
              $packet = [byte[]](, 0xFF * 102)
  
              # leave the first 6 bytes untouched, and
              # repeat the target mac address bytes in bytes 7 through 102:
              6..101 | Foreach-Object { 
                  # $_ is indexing in the byte array,
                  # $_ % 6 produces repeating indices between 0 and 5
                  # (modulo operator)
                  $packet[$_] = $mac[($_ % 6)]
              }
  
              #endregion
  
              # connect to port 400 on broadcast address:
              $UDPclient.Connect(([System.Net.IPAddress]::Broadcast), 4000)
  
              # send the magic packet to the broadcast address:
              $null = $UDPclient.Send($packet, $packet.Length)
              Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Sent magic packet to $currentMacAddress..."
          }
          catch {
              Write-Log -Type Err -Evt "Unable to send ${mac}: $_"
          }
      }
  }
  end {
      # release the UDF client and free its memory:
      $UDPclient.Close()
      $UDPclient.Dispose()
  }
  }

... later on ...

Let's start the BackupServer if it's not running

If (Test-Connection -ComputerName "IP/Hostname" -Count 2 -Delay 5 -Quiet ) {

Backup server responded meaning it's already online.

Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "BackupServer is online, waiting 30 seconds just to be sure..."
Start-Sleep 30

} else { Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Sending magic packet to BackupServer [$BackupServerMacAddress]" Invoke-WakeOnLan -MacAddress "$BackupServerMacAddress" -Verbose

Now wait until backupserver is online

Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Waiting for BackupServer to come online..."
If (Test-Connection -ComputerName "IP/Hostname" -Count 12 -Delay 10 -Quiet ) {
    #Backupserver responded now give some extra time for Windows to fully be up and running
    Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "BackupServer is online, waiting 2 more minutes for Windows to complete..."
    Start-Sleep 120
}
else {
    Write-Log -Type Err -Evt "Backupserver failed to respond within 2 minutes. BACkUP SCRIPT WILL NOT CONTINUE"
    $MailBody = Get-Content -Path $Log | Out-String
    SendMail "VM Backup: Failed to start backupserver" $MailBody
    Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Log finished"
    Exit
}

}

... When done, shutdown ...

Now shutdown the backup server

Try { Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "Waiting for BackupServer to shutdown..." Stop-Computer -ComputerName "IP/Hostname" -Credential $credObject -Force

Wait until backupserver is down

While ( Test-Connection "IP/Hostname" -Quiet -Count 1) {
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
    #Check if we are waiting more than two minutes
    if ($timer.Elapsed.TotalSeconds -gt 120) {
        Write-Log -Type Err -Evt "Backupserver shutdown did not complete before timeout period."
        Break
    }
}
#Double check if server is down or Watchdog has kicked in
if (-Not (Test-Connection "IP/Hostname" -Quiet -Count 2)) {
    Write-Log -Type Info -Evt "BackupServer succesfully shutdown"
}

} catch { Write-Log -Type Err -Evt "Error backup shutdown: $($_.Exception.Message)" }

Those are the points i have, not to bad right ;-)

Again, thanks for all your effort so far!

[Digressive]

Thank you for this, very interesting! I'll work on getting these enhancements implemented in future.

[Digressive]

I'm adding all the suggestions here except for the Wake On Lan option for the time being. WOL feels a little out of scope but I'm willing to add it if there's a demand.