Note: As of PRTG 20.4.64, PRTG comes with a native Veeam Backup Job Status Sensor out of the box.

PRTG – Veeam B & R Monitoring

Although Veeam Backup & Replication includes extensive email reporting, I’d like to take it a step further, to include:

• Multiple Veeam Backup & Replication servers
• Detailed statistics
• Detailed alerting

And that’s where the Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager comes into play. With this additional component you can get central reporting on multiple Veeam Backup & Replication servers.

And if you add the Veeam Enterprise Plus Edition, you get a powerful RESTful API for the Backup Enterprise Manager.

Using Powershell scripts and the Veeam API you can build comprehensive PRTG sensors, including real-time alerting and reporting on historical data (e.g. for license reports).

Veeam B & R Monitoring with PRTG – How it Works

To create a custom script sensor in PRTG you need to save a script (preferably Powershell) in the following directory on the machine where the script will run (on the core server or on the remote probe):

%programfiles(x86)%\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML or %programfiles%\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML

Preparation:

1. Give the script user rights in Backup Enterprise Manager
2. Disable IE First-Run (because of “Invoke-WebReques” and “Invoke-RestMethod”)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain] „DisableFirstRunCustomize“=dword:00000001

The Script:

The latest version of the script can be downloaded from the Github Gist link below:

• GitHub Gist PRTG Advanced Custom Sensor for VEEAM v9

You can also run the script manually to test it:

Creating the Sensor:

Add an “EXE/Script Advanced” sensor to a device

Settings for the EXE/Script Advanced Sensor

Note!! Using the option “Write EXE result to disk” can be very helpful for debugging. The logs will be saved here: %programdata%\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor\\Logs\sensors

Special Thanks:

This article was inspired by Mike Roberts’ (@gngrninja) article Powershell: NetApp LUN monitoring with a PRTG custom sensor. Thanks, Mike!

Hello,

I am having troubles with this Sensor. The core server is running on Windows 2012 R2, so the steps of the section "Preparation:" differ a bit (there is no Policies path...).

So instead this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"DisableFirstRunCustomize"=dword:00000001

I have done this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"DisableFirstRunCustomize"=dword:00000001

Since it is not working, I enabled the option "Write EXE result to disk" and I get this:

Invoke-WebRequest : The response content cannot be parsed because the Internet 
Explorer engine is not available, or Internet Explorer's first-launch configura
tion is not complete. Specify the UseBasicParsing parameter and try again. 
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\custom sensors\EXEXML\PRTG-Veeam
-SessionStats.ps1:11 char:12
+ $AuthXML = Invoke-WebRequest @Auth
+            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotImplemented: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], NotSupp 
   ortedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletIEDomNotSupportedException,Microsoft.Po 
   werShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand
 
Cannot index into a null array.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\custom sensors\EXEXML\PRTG-Veeam
-SessionStats.ps1:14 char:1

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Eneko

Yep, you need to start IE on the PRTG server at least once in order to make the sensor work :)

Yes, now it is working. I had to login first with the user that is configured in the Powershell script to access to Veeam Enterprise Manager and start IE once to accept the First run prompt.

So thank you and regards,

Eneko

Hi,

after re-enabling the sensor I get a bit weird dashboards, showing messages like:

"38,4487 % (Demo Disk Free) is above the warning limit of 37 % in Demo Disk Free. My custom note for warnings (Demo values. OS: Windows_NT)"

and in the logs I see this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252" ?>
<prtg>
   <result>
       <channel>Demo Minimum Example</channel>
       <value>3</value>
   </result>
   <result>
       <channel>Demo Disk Free</channel>
       <unit>Percent</unit>
       <mode>Absolute</mode>
       <showChart>1</showChart>
       <showTable>1</showTable>
       <warning>0</warning>
       <float>1</float>
       <value>38.4487</value>
       <LimitMaxError>80</LimitMaxError>
       <LimitMaxWarning>37</LimitMaxWarning>
       <LimitWarningMsg>My custom note for warnings</LimitWarningMsg>
       <LimitErrorMsg>My custom note for errors</LimitErrorMsg>
       <LimitMode>1</LimitMode>
   </result>
   <result>
       <channel>Demo Network Speed</channel>
       <unit>SpeedNet</unit>
       <volumeSize>MegaBit</volumeSize>
       <mode>Absolute</mode>
       <showChart>1</showChart>
       <showTable>1</showTable>
       <warning>0</warning>
       <float>0</float>
       <value>124487000</value>
   </result>
   <result>
       <channel>Demo Custom</channel>
       <unit>Custom</unit>
       <customUnit>Pieces</customUnit>
       <mode>Absolute</mode>
       <showChart>1</showChart>
       <showTable>1</showTable>
       <warning>0</warning>
       <float>0</float>
       <value>855</value>
   </result>
   <text>Demo values. OS: Windows_NT</text>
</prtg>

Any ideas?

Thank you,

Eneko

What about it, it's the limit on the channel causing the actual error :) Once you remove it (or modify it according to your needs), it will be green again.

Sorry my bad, when recreating the sensor I choose the wrong "EXE/Script"...

No, it is not working.

I have logged in to the PRTG Core Server as the user which is configured to access to Veeam Enterprise Manager, I have fired up IE and access the website after accepting the First Run prompt.

Then I have recreated the sensor choosing this time the right "EXE/Script": PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1

But when the logs are written to the system I still get:

Invoke-WebRequest : The response content cannot be parsed because the Internet Explorer engine is not available, or Internet Explorer's first-launch configura tion is not complete. Specify the UseBasicParsing parameter and try again.

Am I missing something?

Thank you,

Eneko

Are you using a specific user for that? You might want login with that account and start IE again.

Not sure if the following would do the trick as well:

$AuthXML = Invoke-WebRequest @Auth -UseBasicParsing

Worth a shot though :)

Now yes, adding the UseBasicParsing parameter did the trick!!

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Eneko

My Veeam access uses HTTPS and testing the Veeam monitoring with powershell I get the error below. How can I use HTTPS with it.

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML> .\PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1
Invoke-WebRequest : The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS
secure channel.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1:11 char:12
+ $AuthXML = Invoke-WebRequest @Auth
+            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-WebRequest], WebExc
   eption
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

Cannot index into a null array.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1:14 char:1

Please check out my post above and try it as well :)

Do you you mean adding "-UseBasicParsing" to line 11, if yes I attempted that as well before sending the update and had the same result. I do notice that on my Windows server 2012 R2 I do not see the "DisableFirstRunCustomize" in the specified folder below. Do I need to create it?

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"DisableFirstRunCustomize"=dword:00000001

Could it have anything to do with the SL/TLS error below ? I see github repo and PRTG script above uses HTTP and not HTTPS

"Invoke-WebRequest : The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel."

Okay then. Could you add the following above the invoke-webrequest line:

[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::ServerCertificateValidationCallback = {$true}

This should cause PowerShell to ignore the invalid ssl certificate...

Here is the new error I saw after placing thee new line above the invoke-webrequest line

PS C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML> .\PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1
Invoke-WebRequest : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\PRTG-Veeam-SessionStats.ps1:12 char:12
+ $AuthXML = Invoke-WebRequest @Auth -UseBasicParsing
+            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-WebRequest], WebExc
   eption
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

Cannot index into a null array.

Just out of curiosity, you're using a self signed certificate on your Veeam, correct?
Would it be possible to get a signed one onto it?

Hi,

I had the same problem. The invoke-webrequest - command is part of PowerShell 3. You hav to install Management Framework 3 then the script runs quite well.

KR

Hi,

Your script doesn't work on my PRTG (Windows Server 2016 R2) linked with my Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5.

Veeam port : 9392 (Port used by the Veeam Backup & Replication console to connect to the backup server).

If i put 9392 port, my script given nothing.

But if i put your port i gett some error.

Any idea ?

Best regards,

Hi there,

There is no 2016 R2 (yet) - do you mean 2016? You might want to open up an Issue on the github repository for this :)

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Hi

I am getting this error:

Invoke-WebRequest : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\veeam.ps1:14 char:12
+ $AuthXML = Invoke-WebRequest @Auth  -UseBasicParsing
+            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-WebRequest], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand
 
invoke-restmethod : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\veeam.ps1:23 char:21
+ [xml]$SessionsXML = invoke-restmethod @Sessions
+                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-RestMethod], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeRestMethodCommand
 
invoke-restmethod : The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
At C:\Program Files (x86)\PRTG Network Monitor\Custom Sensors\EXEXML\veeam.ps1:36 char:16
+ [xml]$VMsXML = invoke-restmethod @VMs
+                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-RestMethod], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeRestMethodCommand

Any ideas?

Hi,

Are you using an unsigned HTTPS certificate in your PRTG installation by any chance?

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

For Veeam Enterprise Manager it was changed to a signed one in IIS. This was fine. I have noticed this isn't changed for the API but can't see where to change this. I have also added the unsigned certificate on the PRTG server and it can get to the api site without certificate errors.

Okay, please check if this makes a difference.

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Hi

This works very nicely, finally making it easy to monitor veeam backups.

A quick tip:

Veeam reports a backupjob as failed in FailedJobRuns even if the retry is successful, which can lead to false positives. I've added a sensor for "FailedVmLastestStates" which will report if backup of a single VM failed. You could also edit FailedJobRuns to only give warnings.

Add this to your script to get FailedVmLastestStates

# GET - Overview
$VMsOverview = @{uri = "http://veeam.lindbak.no:9399/api/reports/summary/overview";
                   Method = 'GET';
				   Headers = @{'X-RestSvcSessionId' = $AuthXML.Headers['X-RestSvcSessionId'];
           } #end headers hash table
	}

[xml]$VMsOverviewXML = invoke-restmethod @VMsOverview
$FailedVmLastestStates = $VMsOverviewXML.OverviewReportFrame.FailedVmLastestStates

Write-Host "<result>"
               "<channel>FailedVmLastestStates</channel>"
               "<value>$FailedVmLastestStates</value>"
               "<showChart>1</showChart>"
               "<showTable>1</showTable>"
               "<LimitMaxError>1</LimitMaxError>"
               "<LimitMode>1</LimitMode>"
               "</result>"

Hi, Script is working fine in powershell but i get in PRTG :

Response not well-formed: "(<prtg> <result> <channel>SuccessfulJobRuns</channel> <value>4</value> <showChart>1</showChart> etc..

Any idea ?

Are you using the Advanced variant of the sensor? That'll be required for XML based output.

PRTGapi | Feature Requests | WMI Issues | SNMP Issues

Kind regards,
Stephan Linke, Tech Support Team

Thanks. Yes, was that.. New to PRTG , didnt know of the 2 separated EXE sensors XML or not..

The GitHub Link

https://gist.github.com/mycloudrevolution/713b2e4aa767257f84cc#file-prtg-veeam-sessionstats-ps1

Is not working any longer , that can happen any time as the Content is probably frequently downloaded when linked by a major Company like PRTG ?

If you refer to "none" officiell PRTG GitHub Content please make it a little bit more clear , as it is a potential Thread !

• gist.github.com* is probably not related to Paessler in any content ?

the Link is now broken , and current VEEAM Version is v11

If the Support validated the Script from gist, maybe they could fork it an Link it to there GitHub Profile ?

At Least on GitHub I couldnt find it :

https://github.com/PRTG

I would recommend a review of the Articel .

Hi and thank you for the hint.
I reported this to the corresponding team and we will take a look at the link & article.

Hi since our Veeam Backup was removed from the AD domain for security reasons I cannot use the sensor anymore. I saved the local admin credentials in the device setting and credentials in the veeam section. The error is:

Failed to connect to Veeam BR Host '%veeam-server%' with user '%prtg-probe-hostname%$'

Can I save the veeam credentials with a Veeam read-only user directly in the PowerShell script?

Thanks

Hi there,

Did you already tried to add the user credentials directly in the script?

Thank you!

Hi this was my question, where can I save it in the script? And is this only in clear-text possible? Thank you

Did you already checked the article on which this post is based on: https://www.gngrninja.com/script-ninja/2016/2/24/powershell-netapp-lun-monitoring-into-prtg
In the script there, you can see how to import the password username without PRTG.

Hi Moritz,
I tried to store the credentials but since the Veeam Server is not the domain the authentication still fails. I've installed a remote probe on the veeam server where the sensor can now run with local system rights. This workaround solved the issue for me. Thanks