Exchange servers can accumulate a lot of IIS log files over time. Some administrators configure IIS to store logs on a different disk to avoid problems, while others just wait for free disk space alerts and manually remove old logs from time to time.
I found a number of PowerShell scripts online for automating the cleanup of IIS log files, but none were an exact match for what I wanted. I had a few objectives for this script:
- No external dependencies (many scripts rely on command line versions of zip utilities like 7-Zip)
- Must compress log files into monthly archive zip files, not just delete them
- Must have the ability to store the zip files in a central archive location
So I wrote IISLogsCleanup.ps1, which I am making available for download here.
Download the script file here: IISLogsCleanup.ps1 (downloaded 157 times so far)
How to Run IISLogsCleanup.ps1
Please test the script on a non-production server first or at least make sure you have backed up your IIS log files before trying this script for the first time.
The script takes two parameters:
- Logpath – this is a mandatory parameter to specify the path to the IIS logs you want to clean up, such as “D:\IIS Logs\W3SVC1″
- ArchivePath – this is an optional parameter to specify the path to the central archive location, such as “\\nas01\archives\iislogs”
When you run IISLogsCleanup.ps1 it performs the following:
- Calculates the first day of the previous month (so there will always be at least 1 month of retained logs)
- Zips up log files from before the first day of the previous month into zip files per month
- Verifies the results of the zip action and removing the log files if safe to do so
- Optionally, moves the zip file to the central archive location
- Writes a log file of progress and actions taken
Examples:
.\IISLogsCleanup.ps1 -Logpath "D:\IIS Logs\W3SVC1" .\IISLogsCleanup.ps1 -Logpath "D:\IIS Logs\W3SVC1" -ArchivePath "\\nas01\archives\iislogs"
Scheduling IISLogsCleanup.ps1
To run the script as a scheduled task use the following task settings (replace server names and file paths as necessary):
- Run whether user is logged on or not
- Triggers: I recommend the first day of each month
- Action: Start a program
- Program: powershell.exe
- Arguments: -command “C:\Scripts\IISLogsCleanup.ps1 -LogPath ‘C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1′ -ArchivePath ‘\\ho-mgt\iislogbackups’”
To run the task with a least privilege service account the account needs:
- Rights to “Log on as a batch job” for the local server
- Read/write access to the IIS logs directory
- Write access to the archive location
- Read/write/execute to the location where the script is running from
Download the script file here: IISLogsCleanup.ps1 (downloaded 157 times so far)
As always if you have any questions or feedback please leave a comment below.
This article PowerShell Script: IIS Log File Cleanup and Archive is © 2014 ExchangeServerPro.com
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