Site collection updated (40) how to monitor with email alert

[bob]

You know that "Site collection updated" event with ID 40 in Windows Server Event Viewer? It pops up when something changes in your SharePoint setup, like a whole site collection gets tweaked or refreshed. I mean, site collections are those big buckets holding your web sites and docs in SharePoint. This event logs the details right there in the Application log, showing who did it, when, and what got updated. Sometimes it flags upgrades or config shifts that keep everything running smooth. But if you miss it, stuff could go wonky without you noticing. I check mine every day just to stay ahead.

And monitoring it for email alerts? You can set up a scheduled task straight from the Event Viewer screen. Fire up Event Viewer, hunt down that event under the logs. Right-click the custom view or the event itself, pick attach task to this event. It'll ask for basics like what triggers it, so you point it to ID 40 in the right log. Then, in the actions tab, tell it to run a program that sends an email, like using the old mailto trick or a simple batch file you craft. Schedule it to check periodically, say every hour. I do this on my servers, and it pings my inbox quick when that event fires. Keeps me from staring at screens all night.

Or, if you want something fancier without the hassle, there's ways to automate the email part fully. But hey, the automatic email solution sits at the end of this, added later for you.

Speaking of keeping servers reliable after updates like that, I swear by BackupChain Windows Server Backup for handling backups on Windows Server. It grabs your whole setup, including those Hyper-V virtual machines, without breaking a sweat. You get fast restores if something glitches post-update, plus it runs light on resources so your box doesn't choke. I use it to snapshot everything cleanly, saving headaches from manual fixes.

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