Open a Socket!

A little while back I posted a Powershell 1.0 script to backup all the GPOs in a domain.  Now that Powershell 2.0 is available together with the Group Policy module it is much easier to script Group Policy tasks.  The attached script is basically a re-write of my previous script, but now using the Powershell 2.0 cmdlets. 

The script is intended for use with the Windows Task Scheduler.  For example, by backing up the GPOs to disk on a daily basis you have a simple method for restoring accidentally deleted (or badly modified) GPOs.  In my customers’ environments I combine this task with a scheduled full volume snapshot to disk, so that a number of days worth of backups are available.

#########################################################
#
# Name: BackupGPOsV2.ps1
# Author: Tony Murray
# Version: 1.0
# Date: 25/02/2010
# Comment: PowerShell 2.0 script to backup all
# GPOs within a domain
#
######################################################### 

 

# Import the modules that we need
import-module activedirectory
import-module grouppolicy 

# Specify the location for the backups
$BackupPath = "C:\Backup\GPO\" 

# Create the backup folder if it doesn’t exist
if(test-path -path $BackupPath)
{write-host “The folder” $BackupPath “already exists”}
else
{New-Item $BackupPath -type directory} 

 

# Remove any previous backups from the folder
##  Note: You will need to move the backups off to tape/disk
##  archive daily if you need access to older GPO versions
Remove-Item $BackupPath\* -Recurse -Force 

# Find out what domain this computer is in
$mydomain = get-ADDomain -current LocalComputer 

# Get all the GPOs in the specified domain
$AllDomGPOs = get-gpo -domain $mydomain.DNSRoot -all 

# Loop through the array
Foreach ($GPO in $AllDomGPOs)
{
    # Backup the GPO to the specified path
    backup-GPO $GPO.DisplayName -path $BackupPath
} 

#End 

The Get-MailboxStatistics cmdlet is great for showing a range of detailed information about the mailboxes in your organisation.  Sometimes you need to pare down the information to just the really useful stuff (such as mailbox size, item count, etc.) and push it to a CSV file.  Here’s one that I find helpful:

get-exchangeserver | where-object {$_.IsMailboxServer -eq $true } | `

Get-MailboxStatistics | Sort-Object TotalItemSize -Descending | `

Select-Object DisplayName,@{label="TotalItemSize(MB)";`

expression={$_.TotalItemSize.Value.ToMB()}},`

ItemCount,ServerName,StorageGroupName,DatabaseName | `

export-csv c:\stats.csv –NoTypeInformation