PowerShell 2.0: One Cmdlet at a Time #65 New-EventLog

Continuing the series looking at new cmdlets available in PowerShell 2.0. This time we look at the New-EventLog cmdlet.

What can I do with it?

Create a custom Event Log.

Example:

Create a custom Event Log named App1 with an event source of AppEvent. Use the Get-EventLog cmdlet to confirm it has been created. Tip: New-EventLog requires a PowerShell session with elevated privileges.

New-EventLog -LogName App1 -Source AppEvent
Get-EventLog -List

You can see that the App1 Event Log has been created.

You can create entries in this log using the Write-EventLog cmdlet, e.g.

Write-EventLog -LogName App1 -Source AppEvent -ID 1020
-Message "Error 1020 has occured"

Here’s confirmation in Event Viewer that the App1 Event Log exists and we have created the above entry in it.

How could I have done this in PowerShell 1.0?

You could have used the .NET System.Diagnostics.EventLog class and the CreateEventSource method to create a custom event log.

$LogDetails = 
New-Object System.Diagnostics.EventSourceCreationData "AppEvent", "App1"
[System.Diagnostics.EventLog]::CreateEventSource($LogDetails)

1000 things 1% better!