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How to alert if a file exists in a folder/subfolder for longer than X mins

Been picking my brain here for a bit on this issue and don't seem to be getting anywhere. We have an image import application that is monitoring 100+ folders on our network. Each one of those folders corresponds to a specific branch that's uploading documents for our application to process. This auto import should run every 5 minutes. I'm trying to set up polling and an alert that will monitor those folders and let me know if any .tif file in the folder exists for longer than 15 minutes. This will let me know the import failed on that specific document.

I currently am looking at trying to modify Custom Windows File Age and Count Monitor.apm-template however am unfamiliar with vbscript. The failing I have is it's only looking at 1 folder and none of its subfolders. I could create a template and have individual monitors looking at each specific folder on the share. However in interest of speed would rather not spend a weekend creating individual monitors.

Is it possible to either use this, or the file age monitor to look at a directory AND all sub-folders? Or has anyone implemented something different for the same end game?

Thanks in advance!

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Accepted answers

scott.wheeler

Thank you!

You got me pointed in the right direction. I ended up using the following:

	$path = '\\file-path'
	$stats = 0
	$msg = ''
	$days = 0
	$hours = 0
	$minutes = 15


	$files = @(Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path $path -Include '.' \| ?{ $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days).AddHours(-$hours).AddMinutes(-$minutes) -and $_.psIsContainer -eq $false})


	if ($files -ne $null) {
	$f_names = [System.String]::Join('\|',$files)
	$msg = 'Message: ' + $f_names
	$stats = $files.Count
	} else {
	$msg = 'Message: 0 files exceed defined age'
	}


	Write-Host $msg
	Write-Host "Statistic: $stats"

All comments

orioncrack

I found a powershell script on Thwack I've been using successfully. I don't recall the original link to the post about this, but here is the code. If anyone knows the post this came from I'd like to give credit where it due.

$path = "\\path-goes-here"

$stats = 0

$msg = ''

$days = 0

$hours = 0

$mins = 15

$files = @(Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path $path -Include '*.eml' | ?{ $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days).AddHours(-$hours).AddMinutes(-$mins) -and $_.psIsContainer -eq $false})

if ($files -ne $null) {

$f_names = [System.String]::Join('|',$files)

$msg = 'Message: ' + $f_names

$stats = $files.Count

} else {

$msg = 'Message: 0 files exceed defined age'

}

Write-Host $msg

Write-Host "Statistic: $stats"

scott.wheeler

Thank you!

You got me pointed in the right direction. I ended up using the following:

	$path = '\\file-path'
	$stats = 0
	$msg = ''
	$days = 0
	$hours = 0
	$minutes = 15


	$files = @(Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path $path -Include '.' \| ?{ $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days).AddHours(-$hours).AddMinutes(-$minutes) -and $_.psIsContainer -eq $false})


	if ($files -ne $null) {
	$f_names = [System.String]::Join('\|',$files)
	$msg = 'Message: ' + $f_names
	$stats = $files.Count
	} else {
	$msg = 'Message: 0 files exceed defined age'
	}


	Write-Host $msg
	Write-Host "Statistic: $stats"

salvi_moxie

This isn't working for me if I change the path from C:temp as in the script to something that I want to monitor. It keeps saying "0 files exceed defined age" even though there are more than 1000 files.

Basically I'm trying to monitor mail queue in C:\inetpub\mailroot\Queue path, to alert if us if a mail is stuck there for more than 30 minutes.

$path = C:\inetpub\mailroot\Queue

$stats = 0

$msg = ''

$days = 0

$hours = 0

$mins = 30

$files = @(Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path $path -Include '*.*' | ?{ $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$days).AddHours(-$hours).AddMinutes(-$mins) -and $_.psIsContainer -eq $false})

if ($files -ne $null) {

#$f_names = [System.String]::Join('|',$files)

#$msg = 'Message: ' + $f_names

$stats = $files.Count

} else {

$msg = 'Message: 0 files exceed defined age'

}

Write-Host $msg

Write-Host "Statistic: $stats"

Note: I have commented file names portion as I don't need to know the file names.

scott.wheeler

Hi,

Please check the file path you've got. Remember that the powershell is being run from your polling server. I had to use something similar to $path = \\[server]\C$\logs\email

From what I can tell, what you have above would be looking at that folder on your polling server. Also, try running the PS outside of SolarWinds and verify that you actually get a result.

Edit... Just realized your post was from 2018. Still not used to this year... Hope you figured it out!