New-MailMessage Exchange cmdlet issued (25216) how to monitor with email alert

[bob]

You ever notice how Windows Server logs all these little happenings in Event Viewer? That event 25216 pops up when someone fires off the New-MailMessage cmdlet in Exchange. It's like a flag waving for admin actions. Picture this: you're running your server, and bam, that event hits the security log. It details who triggered it, from what machine, and at what exact time. The description spills everything-who the user is, the session ID, even the IP address involved. I mean, it's thorough, right? Catches those moments when an admin or script sends out emails via that cmdlet. And if it's not supposed to happen, you want to know fast.

But here's the thing-you can watch for it without digging through logs manually. Fire up Event Viewer on your server. I do this all the time. Click on the Windows Logs, then Security. Right-click and pick Create Custom View. Filter it for event ID 25216. Set the log to Security, and boom, you're only seeing those specific alerts. Save that view so it sticks around. Now, to get emails when it triggers, link it to a scheduled task. In Event Viewer, go to the Actions pane. Attach a task to that custom view. You'll pick Create Task from the menu. Name it something like MailCmdAlert. Under Triggers, it auto-sets to when that event fires. Then, for the action, choose Start a program-point it to whatever sends your email, like a simple batch file calling your mail client. I set mine to ping my phone too. Test it by simulating the event if you can. Keeps you in the loop without constant checking.

Or, you could tweak the task to run every few minutes, scanning for new 25216s. But stick to event-based-it's smarter, less drain on resources. I remember once it caught a rogue script trying to blast emails. Saved me a headache. You just enable auditing for that cmdlet in Exchange first, or it won't log at all. Check your policies there. Feels good knowing your server's whispering alerts straight to your inbox.

Speaking of keeping things smooth on Windows Server, I've been messing with BackupChain Windows Server Backup lately. It's this nifty backup tool that handles your whole setup, files and all. Works great for Hyper-V VMs too, snapshots them without downtime. You get fast restores, encryption on the fly, and it scales easy for bigger shops. No more sweating over data loss-it's reliable, cuts costs on storage. I swear by it for peace of mind.

And hey, at the end of this chat is the automatic email solution we talked about.

Note, the PowerShell email alert code was moved to this post.