Usage

Usage

This page describes how to run, schedule and troubleshoot SPSWeather.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
-ConfigFile	string	Path to the environment configuration .psd1 file. Mandatory.
-EnableSmtp	switch	Send the HTML report by email over SMTP.
-Install	switch	Register SPSWeather as a scheduled task and store the service credential in secrets.psd1.
-InstallAccount	PSCredential	The service account that runs the scheduled task (required with -Install).
-Uninstall	switch	Remove the SPSWeather scheduled task and the stored secret.

Basic run

.\SPSWeather.ps1 -ConfigFile 'Config\contoso-PROD.psd1'

Run and email the report

.\SPSWeather.ps1 -ConfigFile 'Config\contoso-PROD.psd1' -EnableSmtp

Install the scheduled task

Run this as the service account so the stored credential is decryptable at run time:

.\SPSWeather.ps1 -ConfigFile 'Config\contoso-PROD.psd1' -Install -InstallAccount (Get-Credential)

Uninstall

.\SPSWeather.ps1 -ConfigFile 'Config\contoso-PROD.psd1' -Uninstall

Output

Each run writes, next to SPSWeather.ps1:

• Results\<app>-<env>-<date>.html — the HTML report (also used as the email body).
• Results\<app>-<env>-<date>.json — a JSON snapshot of the collected data.
• Logs\<app>-<env>-<date>.log — the PowerShell transcript. Logs older than the retention window are pruned automatically.

The email subject is prefixed with the overall status, e.g. [ALERT]contoso_PROD - Meteo SharePoint <date>. The priority is raised to High when an alert is detected. See Health Checks for the list of checks and how an ALERT is raised.

Scheduling

-Install registers a scheduled task named SPSWeather-<app>-<env> that runs the script with -EnableSMTP as the service account. A typical setup:

Field	Value
Run as	Service account (member of local Administrators on the run server)
Trigger	Daily, e.g. every morning at 06:00
Action	powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "D:\SCRIPT\SPSWeather\SPSWeather.ps1" -ConfigFile "D:\SCRIPT\SPSWeather\Config\contoso-PROD.psd1" -EnableSMTP
Run whether user is logged on or not	Yes
Run with highest privileges	Yes

Important

The scheduled task action must run via powershell.exe (Windows PowerShell 5.1), not pwsh.exe: SPSWeather relies on the Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell snap-in and CredSSP remoting.

Windows Event Log

SPSWeather writes lifecycle entries to a dedicated SPSWeather Windows Event Log, created on first use (the run must be elevated):

Event Viewer → Applications and Services Logs → SPSWeather

Event ID	Type	Meaning
1000	Information	A health-check run started.
1001	Information	The run completed with no alert.
2000	Warning	The run completed with ALERT conditions.
3000	Error	The report email could not be sent.
3001	Error	A farm server was unreachable over CredSSP and was skipped.

Each event header records the SPSWeather version, the user and the computer name:

SPSWeather Version: 2.0.0
User: CONTOSO\svc_spsweather
ComputerName: SPS-APP-01

Recommended Event Viewer filters:

• EntryType = Warning or Error to surface runs that need attention (alerts and email failures).
• Event ID = 2000 to focus on farms that reported an alert.
• Text contains Version: 2.0.0 to spot servers running an outdated build.

Query the log from PowerShell with:

Get-WinEvent -LogName SPSWeather -MaxEvents 20

Troubleshooting

Module fails to import

Failed to import function file '...\SPSWeather.Common\...'

• Confirm the Modules\SPSWeather.Common\ folder lives next to SPSWeather.ps1.
• Confirm the running account has read access to that folder.
• Run Test-ModuleManifest .\Modules\SPSWeather.Common\SPSWeather.Common.psd1 to confirm the manifest is valid.

Configuration file not found

Missing <path>

The -ConfigFile path does not exist. Pass the full path to your .psd1 config (copied from Config\CONTOSO-PROD.example.psd1).

Credential not found in secrets.psd1

Credential 'PROD-ADM' was not found in Config\secrets.psd1. Run SPSWeather.ps1 -Install
as the service account, or populate secrets.psd1 manually.

secrets.psd1 has no entry for the CredentialKey declared in your config. Run -Install as the service account, or add the entry by hand (see Configuration).

Failed to decode SecureString

Failed to decode SecureString for secret 'PROD-ADM'. The value must be the output of
ConvertFrom-SecureString on the current user account and machine.

The value in secrets.psd1 was generated by a different account or on a different server. DPAPI binds the encrypted value to the account + machine that created it. Regenerate it under the account that runs the scheduled task, on this server.

Not running as Administrator

You do not have Administrator rights to run this script!

SPSWeather needs elevation to create its Event Log source on first use and to call SharePoint cmdlets. Re-run the console (or the scheduled task) as Administrator.

CredSSP / remoting errors

Remoting into the farm servers uses CredSSP. Confirm CredSSP is configured on both the client and the target servers (see Getting Started → Configure CredSSP) and that the service account can open a New-PSSession to each farm server.

Next step

See the Health Checks reference, or the Release Process for maintainers.