We use TDP for Exchange for our backup program. It's an interesting program and I will save my opinion of it for another time, but one of the things we've learned to do it to check the last 20 lines of the log file on each Exchange server daily for success/failure/issue of the backups. This process will work for checking multiple text files across several servers assuming the files are located in the same path.

I figured that the Get-Content cmdlet was the starting point I was looking for. Sure enough it got the log.

I read in one of the "Hey, Scriptiing Guy! columns about filtering output using range operators like [1 .. 10] which would get the first through 10th line of text). After a review of the log files, I need the last 20 lines so [-1 .. -20] which turns out to be not the order I want. End result, start with the 20th line from the bottom and get to the last line [-20 .. -1]

We need the information to check for success then put in a status email to the team so let's toss a first run together in what I view as the brute force approach. Just add lines for each different server..

In the end, the concept worked. Now the file path is all the same for all the servers. Also, you have to add several formatting lines each time, so let's try a more elegant solution. (Note: There is a difference between the ForEach-Object cmdlet and the foreach statement. Don't forget this like I did for a while) Due to some confusion on my part regarding the difference between the cmdlet and the foreach operator I spent some time beating my head on the desk. ForEach-Object != foreach, lesson learned. On the bright side, I learned trick to pipe the output of an array into the ForEach-Object cmdlet so all was not lost.