Test-MRSHealth Exchange cmdlet issued (25501) how to monitor with email alert

[bob]

You ever notice how Event Viewer in Windows Server logs all these quirky happenings? That 25501 event, the one saying "Test-MRSHealth Exchange cmdlet issued," pops up when someone runs a health check on the Mailbox Replication Service in Exchange. It means the system just fired off this cmdlet to poke around and see if everything's humming along with mailbox moves or database stuff. I mean, it's not an error or anything dramatic, just a heads-up that the test ran successfully, logging the start time and maybe some details on what it checked. But if it fails or something goes wonky, you'd see other events tied to it, like replication hiccups. You can filter for this in Event Viewer under Applications and Services Logs, specifically in the Microsoft-Exchange-MailboxReplication path. I always squint at those logs first thing in the morning.

And monitoring it for alerts? You don't need fancy scripts. Just hop into Event Viewer, right-click on the Custom Views folder, and whip up a new one filtering for Event ID 25501. Save that view so it sticks around. Then, to get email pings, set up a scheduled task that triggers on this event. I do this by going to Task Scheduler, creating a basic task linked to the event log query you just made. Pick the XML tab for the trigger, paste in your filter for 25501, and have it launch a simple program to shoot off an email. You know, something like using the mailto command or a batch file calling your SMTP setup. It keeps you in the loop without babysitting the server all day.

Or, if you want it even smoother, tweak the action in that task to notify via email right when it hits. I set mine to run every time the event logs, and it blasts a quick message to my inbox with the details. Pretty straightforward once you play with it a bit. You might fiddle with the frequency so it doesn't spam you during busy hours.

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