SPJeff

All scheduled PowerShell files should generate LOGs.  “Start-Transcript” is a great cmdlet for this.  Adding a few more features can boost operations support.   LOGs answer essentials support questions like:

• Which parent PS1 generated this LOG?
• Did script perform needed functions?
• Any errors?
• How long did it take?
• Which user and computer ran the script?

Below is code template I recommend to for scheduled PowerShell jobs to generate a LOG. Key features include:

• Auto detect current folder and script PS1
• Create  \LOG\ subfolder
• Prefix to match parent PS1
• Suffix with unique date time stamp
• Elapsed run duration (Days, Hours, Minutes)

Thank you to @ToddKlindt for improvements to formula and elapsed time.  Cheers. 

Video

Code

function Main() {
    ### YOUR CODE HERE
}
# Open Log
$prefix = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name
$host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle = $prefix
$stamp = Get-Date -UFormat "%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S"
Start-Transcript "$PSScriptRoot\log\$prefix-$stamp.log"
$start = Get-Date
Main
# Close Log
$end = Get-Date
$totaltime = $end - $start
Write-Host "`nTime Elapsed: $($totaltime.tostring("hh\:mm\:ss"))"
Stop-Transcript

Download

https://github.com/spjeff/spadmin/blob/master/Practical-PowerShell-LOGs.ps1