DBA survival BLOG

Some DBA stuff and lots of Oracle Data Guard

SQLServer centralized backup monitoring with PowerShell and TSQL (2/2)

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Ludovico

In my previous post I’ve shown how to collect data and insert it into a database table using PowerShell. Now it’s time to get some information from that data, and I’ve used TSQL for this purpose.

The backup exceptions

Every environment has some backup rules and backup exceptions. For example, you don’t want to check for failures on the model, northwind, adventureworks or distribution databases.

I’ve got the rid of this problem by using the “exception table” created in the previous post. The rules are defined by pattern matching. First we need to define a generic rule for our default backup schedules:

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]
           ([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]
           ,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])
     VALUES
           ('%','%',36,12,'Default delays for all databases',NULL)
GO

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]

([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]

,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])

VALUES

('%','%',36,12,'Default delays for all databases',NULL)

In the previous example, we’ll check that all databases (‘%’) on all instances (again ‘%’) have been backed up at least every 36 hours, and a backup log have occurred in the last 12 hours. The description is useful to remember why such rule exists.

The “BestBefore” column allows to define the time limit of the rule. For example, if you do some maintenance and you are skipping some schedules, you can safely insert a rule that expires after X days, so you can avoid some alerts while avoiding also to forget to delete the rule.

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]
           ([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]
           ,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])
     VALUES
           ('SERVER1','%',1000000,1000000,'Maintenance until 012.05.2013', '2013-05-12 00:00:00')
GO

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]

([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]

,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])

VALUES

('SERVER1','%',1000000,1000000,'Maintenance until 012.05.2013', '2013-05-12 00:00:00')

The previous rule will skip backup reports on SERVER1 until May 12th.

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]
           ([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]
           ,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])
     VALUES
           ('%','Northwind',1000000,1000000,'Don''t care about northwind',NULL)
GO

INSERT INTO [Tools].[dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions]

([InstanceName],[DatabaseName],[LastFullHours]

,[LastLogHours],[Description],[BestBefore])

VALUES

('%','Northwind',1000000,1000000,'Don''t care about northwind',NULL)

The previous rule will skip all reports on all Northwind databases.

Important: If multiple rules apply to the same database, the rule with a higher time threshold wins.

The queries

The following query lists the databases with the last backup full older than the defined threshold:

select     s.InstanceName,    s.DatabaseName,
        s.LastFull,
        floor(convert(float,GETDATE()-LastFull)*24) as LastFullAge
from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e
    where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName
    and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())
    and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE'
group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastFull
having LastFull < GETDATE()-(max(e.LastFullHours)/24.0)
order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName
GO

select s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName,

s.LastFull,

floor(convert(float,GETDATE()-LastFull)*24) as LastFullAge

from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e

where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName

and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())

and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE'

group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastFull

having LastFull < GETDATE()-(max(e.LastFullHours)/24.0)

order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName

And the following will do the same for the transaction logs:

select     s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName,
         s.LastLog,
         floor(convert(float,GETDATE()-LastLog)*24)  as LastLogAge
    from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e
        where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName
    and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())
    and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE' and s.RecoveryMode='FULL'
    group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastLog
    having LastLog < GETDATE()-(max(e.LastLogHours)/24.0)
    order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName
GO

select s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName,

s.LastLog,

floor(convert(float,GETDATE()-LastLog)*24) as LastLogAge

from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e

where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName

and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())

and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE' and s.RecoveryMode='FULL'

group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastLog

having LastLog < GETDATE()-(max(e.LastLogHours)/24.0)

order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName

Putting all together

Copy and paste the following to a new Transact-SQL job step in SQLAgent:

declare @tableHTML varchar(max),
        @Email varchar(255),
        @Subject varchar(255);

SET @Email = 'your_mail@yourdomain.com'
SET @Subject = 'Report backup SQL Server'

/*
######################
# REPORT BACKUP FULL #
######################
*/
set @tableHTML =
    N'<html><body><h1>Backup full not completed within the defined threshold</h1>
    <table border="1" width="100%">
      <tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastFull</th><th>Hours since Last Full</th></tr>
'

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + isnull(CAST((
        select
        td = s.InstanceName, '',
        td = s.DatabaseName,  '',
        td = s.LastFull,  '',
        td = floor(convert(int,convert(float,GETDATE()-LastFull)*24,0)), '
        '
from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e
    where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName
    and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())
    and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE'
group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastFull
having LastFull < (GETDATE()-max(e.LastFullHours)/24.0)
order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName
for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),'');

/*
######################
# REPORT BACKUP LOG  #
######################
*/
SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'
    </table>
    <BR/><BR/>
    <h1>Backup log not completed within the defined threshold</h1>
    <table border="1" width="100%">
            <tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastLog</th><th>Hours since Last Log</th></tr>
';

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + isnull(CAST((
    select
        td = s.InstanceName, '',
        td = s.DatabaseName, '',
        td = s.LastLog, '',
        td = floor(convert(int,convert(float,GETDATE()-LastLog)*24,0)), '
        '
    from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e
        where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName
    and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())
    and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE' and s.RecoveryMode='FULL'
    group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastLog
    having LastLog < (GETDATE()-max(e.LastLogHours)/24.0)
    order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName
for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),'');

/*
###################
# LIST EXEPTIONS  #
###################
*/
SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'
    </table>
    <BR/><BR/>
    <h1>List of exceptions currently defined</h1>
    <table border="1" width="100%">
            <tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastFullHours</th><th>LastLogHours</th><th>Description</th><th>BestBefore</th></tr>
';

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + CAST((
    select
        td = InstanceName, '',
        td = DatabaseName, '',
        td = LastFullHours, '',
        td = LastLogHours, '',
        td = Description, '',
        td = ISNULL(convert(varchar,bestbefore,127), 'never'), ''
    from DB_Backup_Exceptions
    where (bestbefore is null or bestbefore > GETDATE())
    order by InstanceName, DatabaseName
for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX));

SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'
    </table>
<br/><br/>
<font size="3">Information message. Please do not reply to this email.</h1></body></html>';

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@recipients        = @Email,
@subject        = @Subject,
@body            = @tableHTML,
@body_format    = 'HTML',
@profile_name    = 'DBA'

100

declare @tableHTML varchar(max),

@Email varchar(255),

@Subject varchar(255);

SET @Email = 'your_mail@yourdomain.com'

SET @Subject = 'Report backup SQL Server'

######################

# REPORT BACKUP FULL #

######################

set @tableHTML =

N'<html><body><h1>Backup full not completed within the defined threshold</h1>

<tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastFull</th><th>Hours since Last Full</th></tr>

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + isnull(CAST((

select

td = s.InstanceName, '',

td = s.DatabaseName, '',

td = s.LastFull, '',

td = floor(convert(int,convert(float,GETDATE()-LastFull)*24,0)), '

from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e

where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName

and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())

and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE'

group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastFull

having LastFull < (GETDATE()-max(e.LastFullHours)/24.0)

order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName

for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),'');

######################

# REPORT BACKUP LOG #

######################

SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'

</table>

<h1>Backup log not completed within the defined threshold</h1>

<tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastLog</th><th>Hours since Last Log</th></tr>

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + isnull(CAST((

select

td = s.InstanceName, '',

td = s.DatabaseName, '',

td = s.LastLog, '',

td = floor(convert(int,convert(float,GETDATE()-LastLog)*24,0)), '

from db_status s, DB_Backup_Exceptions e

where s.InstanceName like e.InstanceName and s.DatabaseName like e.DatabaseName

and (e.bestbefore is null or e.bestbefore > GETDATE())

and s.DatabaseStatus!='OFFLINE' and s.RecoveryMode='FULL'

group by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName, s.LastLog

having LastLog < (GETDATE()-max(e.LastLogHours)/24.0)

order by s.InstanceName, s.DatabaseName

for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX)),'');

###################

# LIST EXEPTIONS #

###################

SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'

</table>

<h1>List of exceptions currently defined</h1>

<tr><b><th>Instance</th><th>Database</th><th>LastFullHours</th><th>LastLogHours</th><th>Description</th><th>BestBefore</th></tr>

set @tableHTML = @tableHTML + CAST((

select

td = InstanceName, '',

td = DatabaseName, '',

td = LastFullHours, '',

td = LastLogHours, '',

td = Description, '',

td = ISNULL(convert(varchar,bestbefore,127), 'never'), ''

from DB_Backup_Exceptions

where (bestbefore is null or bestbefore > GETDATE())

order by InstanceName, DatabaseName

for XML path ('tr'), TYPE) AS NVARCHAR(MAX));

SET @tableHTML = @tableHTML + N'

</table>

<font size="3">Information message. Please do not reply to this email.</h1></body></html>';

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail

@recipients = @Email,

@subject = @Subject,

@body = @tableHTML,

@body_format = 'HTML',

@profile_name = 'DBA'

Any comment appreciated!

Previous: SQLServer centralized backup monitoring with PowerShell and TSQL (1/2)

🙂

—

Ludovico

SQLServer centralized backup monitoring with PowerShell and TSQL (1/2)

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Ludovico

Checking database backups has always been one of the main concerns of DBAs. With Oracle is quite easy with a central RMAN catalog, but with other databases doing it with few effort can be a great challenge.

Some years ago I developed a little framework to control all SQLServer databases. This framework was based on Linux (strange but true!), bash, freetds, sqsh and flat configuration files. It’s still doing well its work, but not all SQLServer DBAs can deal with complex bash scripting, so a customer of mines asked me if I was able to rewrite it with a language Microsoft-like.

So I decided to go for a PowerShell script in conjunction with a couple of tables for the configuration and the data, and a simple TSQL script to provide HTML reporting. I have to say, I’m not an expert on PowerShell, but it’s far from being as flexible as other programming languages (damn, comparing to perl, python or php they have in common only the initial ‘P’). However I managed to do something usable.

The principle

This is quite simple: the PowerShell script looks up for the list of instance in a reference table, then it sequentially connect to and retrieves the data:

recovery mode
status
creation time
last full backup
last log backup

This data is merged into a table on the central repository. Finally, a TSQL script do some reporting.

Custom classes in powershell

One of the big messes with PowerShell is the lack of the definition for custom classes, this is a special mess if we consider that PowerShell is higly object-oriented. To define your own classes to work with, you have to define them in another language (C# in this example):

Add-Type @'

using System;

public class DatabaseBackup
{
    public string instanceName;
    public string databaseName;
    public string recoveryMode;
    public string status;
    public DateTime creationTime;
    public DateTime lastFull;
    public DateTime lastLog;

    private TimeSpan diff;

    public double lastFullTotalHours () {
		diff = DateTime.Now - lastFull;
		return Math.Round(diff.TotalHours,2);
    }

    public double lastLogTotalHours () {
		diff = DateTime.Now - lastLog;
		return Math.Round(diff.TotalHours,2);
    }

}
'@

Add-Type @'

using System;

public class DatabaseBackup

{

public string instanceName;

public string databaseName;

public string recoveryMode;

public string status;

public DateTime creationTime;

public DateTime lastFull;

public DateTime lastLog;

private TimeSpan diff;

public double lastFullTotalHours () {

diff = DateTime.Now - lastFull;

return Math.Round(diff.TotalHours,2);

}

public double lastLogTotalHours () {

diff = DateTime.Now - lastLog;

return Math.Round(diff.TotalHours,2);

}

For better code reading, I’ve put this definition in a separate file (DatabaseBackup.ps1).

The query that retrieves the data…

Actually I use this query to get the information:

$query_bck_database = "select 
  [Database]=d.name,LastFull,LastTran,GetDate=getdate(), 
  RecoveryMode=DATABASEPROPERTYEX(d.name, 'Recovery'),
  CreationTime=d.crdate, Status=DATABASEPROPERTYEX(d.name, 'Status')
from master.dbo.sysdatabases d
left outer join
 (select database_name, LastFull=max(backup_finish_date)
        from msdb.dbo.backupset
        where type = 'D' and backup_finish_date <= getdate()
        group by database_name
 ) b
on d.name = b.database_name
left outer join
 (select database_name, LastTran=max(backup_finish_date)
        from msdb.dbo.backupset
        where type ='L' and backup_finish_date <= getdate()
        group by database_name
 ) c
on d.name = c.database_name
 where d.name <> 'Tempdb'
order by [LastFull]";

$query_bck_database = "select

[Database]=d.name,LastFull,LastTran,GetDate=getdate(),

RecoveryMode=DATABASEPROPERTYEX(d.name, 'Recovery'),

CreationTime=d.crdate, Status=DATABASEPROPERTYEX(d.name, 'Status')

from master.dbo.sysdatabases d

left outer join

(select database_name, LastFull=max(backup_finish_date)

from msdb.dbo.backupset

where type = 'D' and backup_finish_date <= getdate()

group by database_name

) b

on d.name = b.database_name

left outer join

(select database_name, LastTran=max(backup_finish_date)

from msdb.dbo.backupset

where type ='L' and backup_finish_date <= getdate()

group by database_name

) c

on d.name = c.database_name

where d.name <> 'Tempdb'

order by [LastFull]";

I’ve also put this snippet in a separate file queries.ps1 to improve readability.

The tables

The first table (DB_Servers) can be as simple as a single column containing the instances to check. This can be any other kind of source like a corporate CMDB or similar.

The second table will contain the data collected. Off course it can be expanded!

The third table will contain some rules for managing exceptions. Such exceptions can be useful if you have situations like “all databases named northwind should not be checked”. I’ll show some examples in the next post.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Servers] (
    [DB_Instance] [nvarchar](40) NOT NULL,
    CONSTRAINT [PK_DB_Servers] PRIMARY KEY (DB_Instance)
)
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Status](
	[InstanceName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,
	[DatabaseName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,
	[RecoveryMode] [varchar](12) NULL,
	[DatabaseStatus] [varchar](15) NULL,
	[CreationTime] [datetime] NULL,
	[LastFull] [datetime] NULL,
	[LastLog] [datetime] NULL,
	[LastUpdate] [datetime] NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([InstanceName] ASC,[DatabaseName] ASC)
)
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions](
	[InstanceName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,
	[DatabaseName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,
	[LastFullHours] [int] NULL,
	[LastLogHours] [int] NULL,
	[Description] [varchar](250) NULL,
	[BestBefore] [datetime] NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([InstanceName] ASC,[DatabaseName] ASC)
)
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Servers] (

[DB_Instance] [nvarchar](40) NOT NULL,

CONSTRAINT [PK_DB_Servers] PRIMARY KEY (DB_Instance)

)

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Status](

[InstanceName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,

[DatabaseName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,

[RecoveryMode] [varchar](12) NULL,

[DatabaseStatus] [varchar](15) NULL,

[CreationTime] [datetime] NULL,

[LastFull] [datetime] NULL,

[LastLog] [datetime] NULL,

[LastUpdate] [datetime] NULL,

PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([InstanceName] ASC,[DatabaseName] ASC)

)

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[DB_Backup_Exceptions](

[InstanceName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,

[DatabaseName] [varchar](50) NOT NULL,

[LastFullHours] [int] NULL,

[LastLogHours] [int] NULL,

[Description] [varchar](250) NULL,

[BestBefore] [datetime] NULL,

PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([InstanceName] ASC,[DatabaseName] ASC)

)

The main code

Change this to whatever you want…

 set-location "K:\TOOLS\CHECK_SQL\"

### environment to insert results/get lists
$serverName = "SERVER01\MSSQL01"
$databaseName = "Tools"

set-location "K:\TOOLS\CHECK_SQL\"

### environment to insert results/get lists

$serverName = "SERVER01\MSSQL01"

$databaseName = "Tools"

This initializes the files explained earlier:

## initialise a file with some variables containing queries (to offload the script)
. .\queries.ps1

## initialise a class to better manage database backups as objects
. .\DatabaseBackup.ps1

## initialise a file with some variables containing queries (to offload the script)

. .\queries.ps1

## initialise a class to better manage database backups as objects

. .\DatabaseBackup.ps1

This adds the required snap-in to query sqlserver

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name sqlserverprovidersnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) {
    Add-PsSnapin sqlserverprovidersnapin100
}
if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name sqlservercmdletsnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) {
    Add-PsSnapin sqlservercmdletsnapin100
}

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name sqlserverprovidersnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) {

Add-PsSnapin sqlserverprovidersnapin100

}

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name sqlservercmdletsnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) {

Add-PsSnapin sqlservercmdletsnapin100

}

The following function will, given the instance, do the following:

Get the data in a ResultSet
Instantiate an instance of the DatabaseBackup class (the one we defined in the external file) for each row
Return an array of DatabaseBackup objects with all the data ready to be processed

function getDatabaseBackups ([String]$instance) {

  Write-Output "    Instance: $instance"
  $databases = invoke-sqlcmd -Query  $query_bck_database -Server $instance

  $i = 0
  foreach ( $database in $databases ) {
    $dbbck = new-object DatabaseBackup
    $dbbck.instanceName = $instance
    $dbbck.databaseName = $database.Database
    $dbbck.recoveryMode = $database.RecoveryMode
    $dbbck.creationTime = $database.CreationTime
    $dbbck.status = $database.Status
    if ( -not ( $database.IsNull("LastFull") ) ) {
      $dbbck.lastFull = $database.LastFull
    } else {
      $dbbck.lastFull = "01.01.1900 00:00:00"
    }
    if ( -not ( $database.IsNull("LastTran") ) ) {
      $dbbck.lastLog = $database.LastTran
    } else {
      $dbbck.lastLog = "01.01.1900 00:00:00"
    }

    [DatabaseBackup[]]$databasebackups += $dbbck
  }
  return $databasebackups
}

function getDatabaseBackups ([String]$instance) {

Write-Output " Instance: $instance"

$databases = invoke-sqlcmd -Query $query_bck_database -Server $instance

$i = 0

foreach ( $database in $databases ) {

$dbbck = new-object DatabaseBackup

$dbbck.instanceName = $instance

$dbbck.databaseName = $database.Database

$dbbck.recoveryMode = $database.RecoveryMode

$dbbck.creationTime = $database.CreationTime

$dbbck.status = $database.Status

if ( -not ( $database.IsNull("LastFull") ) ) {

$dbbck.lastFull = $database.LastFull

} else {

$dbbck.lastFull = "01.01.1900 00:00:00"

}

if ( -not ( $database.IsNull("LastTran") ) ) {

$dbbck.lastLog = $database.LastTran

} else {

$dbbck.lastLog = "01.01.1900 00:00:00"

}

[DatabaseBackup[]]$databasebackups += $dbbck

}

return $databasebackups

}

This is the real “main” of the script, connecting to the central instance and getting the list of the instances to check:

$Connection = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLConnection
$Connection.ConnectionString ="Server=$serverName;Database=$databaseName;trusted_connection=true;"
$Connection.Open()

$Command = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLCommand
$Command.Connection = $Connection

$instances = invoke-sqlcmd -Query "select [name]=db_instance from db_servers" -ServerInstance $serverName -Database $databasename

$Connection = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLConnection

$Connection.ConnectionString ="Server=$serverName;Database=$databaseName;trusted_connection=true;"

$Connection.Open()

$Command = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLCommand

$Command.Connection = $Connection

$instances = invoke-sqlcmd -Query "select [name]=db_instance from db_servers" -ServerInstance $serverName -Database $databasename

Finally, for each instance we have to check, we trigger the function that collects the data and we insert the results in the central repository (I’m using a merge to update the existent records).

foreach ( $instance in $instances ) {

  $databasebackups = getDatabaseBackups ($instance.name);

  $databasebackups[1..($databasebackups.length-1)] | foreach {

    $_ | select-object instanceName,databaseName

    $Command.CommandText = "MERGE DB_Status as target USING (
  select '$($_.instanceName )','$($_.databaseName )','$($_.recoveryMode )','$($_.status )','$($_.creationTime)','$($_.lastFull)','$($_.lastLog)')
  as source (InstanceName, DatabaseName, RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus, CreationTime, LastFull, LastLog)
ON (source.InstanceName=target.InstanceName and source.DatabaseName=target.DatabaseName)
 WHEN MATCHED THEN
  UPDATE SET RecoveryMode = source.RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus = source.DatabaseStatus, CreationTime = source.CreationTime,
   LastFull = source.LastFull, LastLog = source.LastLog, LastUpdate=getdate()
 WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
  INSERT (InstanceName, DatabaseName, RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus, CreationTime, LastFull, LastLog, LastUpdate)
   VALUES (source.InstanceName, source.DatabaseName,source.RecoveryMode,source.DatabaseStatus, source.CreationTime, source.LastFull,source.LastLog,getdate() );
"
    $Command.ExecuteNonQuery() | out-null
  }
  Remove-Variable databasebackups
}
$Connection.Close()

foreach ( $instance in $instances ) {

$databasebackups = getDatabaseBackups ($instance.name);

$databasebackups[1..($databasebackups.length-1)] | foreach {

$_ | select-object instanceName,databaseName

$Command.CommandText = "MERGE DB_Status as target USING (

select '$($_.instanceName )','$($_.databaseName )','$($_.recoveryMode )','$($_.status )','$($_.creationTime)','$($_.lastFull)','$($_.lastLog)')

as source (InstanceName, DatabaseName, RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus, CreationTime, LastFull, LastLog)

ON (source.InstanceName=target.InstanceName and source.DatabaseName=target.DatabaseName)

WHEN MATCHED THEN

UPDATE SET RecoveryMode = source.RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus = source.DatabaseStatus, CreationTime = source.CreationTime,

LastFull = source.LastFull, LastLog = source.LastLog, LastUpdate=getdate()

WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN

INSERT (InstanceName, DatabaseName, RecoveryMode, DatabaseStatus, CreationTime, LastFull, LastLog, LastUpdate)

VALUES (source.InstanceName, source.DatabaseName,source.RecoveryMode,source.DatabaseStatus, source.CreationTime, source.LastFull,source.LastLog,getdate() );

$Command.ExecuteNonQuery() | out-null

}

Remove-Variable databasebackups

}

$Connection.Close()

How to use it

Create the tables and insert your instances in the table db_servers.
Put the three files (Collect_Backup_Data.ps1,queries.ps1 and DatabaseBackup.ps1) in a directory, modify the instance name and db name in Collect_Backup_Data.ps1
Schedule the main script using the SQLAgent as a Operating system (CmdExec):

powershell.exe -file "K:\TOOLS\CHECK_SQL\Collect_Backup_Data.ps1"

1	powershell.exe -file "K:\TOOLS\CHECK_SQL\Collect_Backup_Data.ps1"

You can’t use the internal powershell of SQLServer because it’s not full compatible with powershell 2.0.
Check that the table db_status is getting populated

Limitations

The script use Windows authentication, assuming you are working with a centralized domain user. If you want to use the SQL authentication (example if you are a multi-tenant managed services provider) you need to store your passwords somewhere…
This script is intended to be used with single instances. It should works on clusters but I haven’t tested it.
Check the backup chain up to the tape library. Relying on the information contained in the msdb is not a reliable monitoring solution!!

In my next post we’ll see how to generate HTML reports via email and manage exceptions.

Hope you’ll find it useful.

Again PLEASE, if you improve it, kindly send me back a copy or blog it and post the link in the comments!

Next: SQLServer centralized backup monitoring with PowerShell and TSQL (2/2)

Cheers

—

Ludo