The Veeam, MARS, WSB and VB365 collectors each carried identical copies of logging, ISO time conversion, property lookup, posting to the API, config loading, TLS setup, the sent-runs state file and the 401 check, and their installers repeated the same key prompt, locked-down config, file copy and scheduled-task registration. These now live in collectors/common/BackupDashboard.Collector.psm1: - Initialize-Collector / Test-RunSent / Send-JobReport / Test-AuthRejected / Complete-Collector for collector runs - Write-Log, Get-ErrorText, ConvertTo-IsoTime, Get-FirstValue - Install-CollectorTask for the shared half of each installer Collectors find the module next to themselves (installed) or in ..\common (repo); installers copy it into Program Files beside the collector. The diagnostic scripts stay standalone single files. No behavior change: a harness ran each collector against its mock (12 scenarios: dry run, two real runs against a stub API, state file, logs, exit codes, rejected key, en-GB, backfill) before and after, and all 84 outputs are identical. Installers, run with stand-ins for the Windows-only commands, write identical configs and tasks; the only differences are the module being copied and the summary line naming the shell's path. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
Windows Server Backup collector
A PowerShell script that runs on each server using Windows Server Backup (WSB) and reports its
backups to the dashboard. Each server appears as one job, named <SERVER> - Windows Server Backup
by default.
Checked against: Server 2019 Hyper-V host backing up VMs, successful backups only. Not yet seen on a real server: a failed backup, a failed VM or volume, or a backup in progress. Those paths are written to the same object model, but if one looks wrong, run
Get-WsbCollectorDiagnostics.ps1while it's in that state and send the output.
Install (on the server, as an administrator)
Requires the Windows Server Backup feature with its PowerShell module
(Install-WindowsFeature Windows-Server-Backup). Runs under Windows PowerShell 5.1
(powershell.exe), which that module targets.
- On the dashboard host, create a key for this server:
python manage.py create-key wsb-acme-dc01 - Copy the whole
collectorsfolder to the server (the installer needscommonas well as this folder), then fromcollectors\wsbrun:Add.\Install-WsbCollector.ps1 -ApiUrl https://backups.example.com -Tenant "Acme Corp"-JobName "Domain Controller"to choose the name shown on the dashboard. It prompts for the key, then:- writes
C:\ProgramData\BackupDashboard\wsb-collector.json(readable only by SYSTEM and Administrators) - copies the script to
C:\Program Files\BackupDashboard\ - registers the scheduled task Backup Dashboard - WSB collector (SYSTEM, every 60 minutes)
- writes
- Preview the payloads, then backfill 30 days so the history view is populated straight away:
powershell.exe -File 'C:\Program Files\BackupDashboard\Send-WsbBackupStatus.ps1' -DryRun powershell.exe -File 'C:\Program Files\BackupDashboard\Send-WsbBackupStatus.ps1' -LookbackHours 720
It can be installed alongside the other collectors: it uses its own config, state, log and task.
Re-run the installer to change settings or update the script. It also installs
BackupDashboard.Collector.psm1, the code shared by all collectors, next to the script.
What it sends
| Dashboard | Windows Server Backup |
|---|---|
| Company | Tenant from the config |
| Job | One per server, ID wsb:<computer name>, so changing JobName renames rather than duplicates it |
| Run | One per backup job from Get-WBJob, identified by its start time (WSB jobs have no ID). Restores are ignored. details.items lists what was backed up: the VMs for a Hyper-V backup, otherwise volumes |
| Status | Error HRESULT → Failed. Success, but a detailed error or a failed item (e.g. one volume) → Warning. Cancelled or unrecognised → Warning. In progress → Running |
| Started / finished | Job start / end time. WSB gives these as local-time text to the minute, in the server's date format; the collector parses them with that format |
| Next scheduled | Get-WBSummary's NextBackupTime. Empty when there's no scheduled backup |
| Message | Error description, error codes (as 0x8XXXXXXX), failed VMs/volumes, and the failure log path |
| Size | Bytes processed across the backup's items |
Each run covers the last 48 hours (LookbackHours). Runs already delivered are recorded in
wsb-collector.state.json.
Troubleshooting
- Log:
C:\ProgramData\BackupDashboard\wsb-collector.log. Exit codes:0OK,1some runs failed to send (retried next run),2setup failed (config or WindowsServerBackup module). - Wrong status, times or messages: run
.\Get-WsbCollectorDiagnostics.ps1(read-only). It prints the real structure of what the cmdlets return, plus recentMicrosoft-Windows-Backupevents to compare times against.
Testing without Windows Server Backup
. ./tests/MockWsb.ps1 # or: . ./tests/MockWsb.ps1 -WithRunningJob
./Send-WsbBackupStatus.ps1 -ConfigPath ./my-test-config.json -DryRun