Hyper-V VM Backup using Powershell (VM-Export)

One of the many things I've been working on is an automated script to do VM backups.  I've been doing a lot of work automating processes with PowerShell recently so I thought I would just sit down and finish hammering out this little script I was working on.

This PowerShell script exports Hyper-V VM's to a directory; and sends an email notification when the export completes or if there is an error.  I am not 100% there with the backup as there are still a few bugs like sending an email when the entire script finished but I am confident enough of this working that I am going to pass this along for anyone to use if they wish.

##########BACKUP VM SCRIPT##########

#Set Variables for count, date and VM's you want to backup

$BackupNum = 0;

$TimeStart = Get-Date;

#Set the names of the computers you want to backup

$ComputerNameArray = '$VM1','$VM2','$VM3','$VM4','$VM5','$VM6','$VM7','$VM8','$VM9';

#Get the Number of Computers you want to backup

$BackupTotal = ($ComputerNameArray.count -1);

#Set the Path to save the backups

$SavePath = "$PATH TO FOLDER";

#Run the backup while the backup number is less then the backup total

while($BackupNum -le $BackupTotal){

#Set the first computer to be backed up

$ComputerName = $ComputerNameArray[$BackupNum];

#Check to see if there are previous backups

if (Test-Path -Path $SavePath\$ComputerName) {

#if the computer name is not blank remove the previous backup

if ($ComputerName -ne ""){

Remove-Item -Path "$SavePath\$ComputerName" -Force -Recurse

}

}

#Get the start time of the backup

$TimeStart = Get-Date;

#Export Backup

$ExportJob = Export-VM -Name $ComputerName -Path $SavePath;

#After the export runs get the time finished and send an email notification

$TimeFinished = Get-Date;

Send-MailMessage -From '$MAILFROM' -To '$EMAIL' -Subject "VM Backup for $ComputerName was Successful" -Body "The VM $ComputerName was successfully backed up. It started at $TimeStart and Finished at $TimeFinished" -smtpserver '$SMTP_SERVER'

#Auto Increment the export so we can get the next computer name

$BackupNum++

}

#While the jobstate is running or not started; get the progress

while( $ExportJob.State -eq "Running" -or $ExportJob.State -eq "NotStarted"){ 

$progress = $ExportJob.Progress.PercentComplete;

Write-Output ("[Export] " + $($ExportJob.Progress.PercentComplete) + "% complete"); 

} 

#If the backup state is not Completed and errors out

if($ExportJob.State -ne "Completed") { 

#Get the time finished

$TimeFinished = Get-Date;

#Send an email that the export did not finish

Send-MailMessage -From '$MAILFROM' -To '$MAILTO' -Subject "Backup For $ComputerName Failed at $progress % complete" -smtpserver '$SMTPSERVER'

Write-Error ("Export Job did not complete: " +$ExportJob.State);

throw $ExportJob.Error;

}

##########END SCRIPT###########

Resources

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell-community/determine-if-a-folder-exists/

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/34674.powershell-troubleshooting-ne-operator-in-active-directory-cmdlets.aspx

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7909167/how-to-quietly-remove-a-directory-with-content-in-powershell

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/powershell/if_else_statement_in_powershell.htm

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24645113/increment-a-variable-in-powershell-in-functions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn/deep-dives/everything-about-arrays?view=powershell-7.2

https://adamtheautomator.com/powershell-escape-double-quotes/

https://ss64.com/ps/substring.html

https://www.itprotoday.com/powershell/windows-powershell-operators#:~:text=Equality%20operators.,used%20for%20the%20assignment%20operator.

https://www.nakivo.com/blog/essential-hyper-v-powershell-commands/

Resetting Papercut's com port with ITC 5400 Coinop

 

Over the last few months I've been having an issue with a papercut print release system.  What had been happening is over a few days of running the papercut software would no longer read the coin op.  (This is happening even with rebooting the system).  Now a major caveat here is the print release system is running on a machine with VPRO which automatically removes the use of one com port typically Com 3.  Before you start your com port for Vpro should be something else so I've set the com port for VPro to COM 14.  

Inside the door of the coinop is a circuit board with 4 buttons: menu, enter, up, down.

To begin to modify the settings on the coinop you need to unlock the back of the coinop and run the machine in bypass mode.

Step 1 - Unlock the device, and leave the back open

Step 2 - Put the machine in bypass mode

Step 3 - Pressing the menu button go to Print Setup Mode

Step 4 - Go to Print Type

Step 5 - using the up or down button go to print protocol 1

Step 6 - Setup the com port

Step 7 - You get an option of COM1 or USB select Com 1

Step 8 - you will then be asked if you want to disable relay print.  Select No.

Step 9 - Reboot the coinop.  Once rebooted so long as the com cable on the computer is set to COM1 then you should be getting coin info from the Coinop.