How-To: Detailed Logging of PowerShell in the SDK v2
This article is for the PowerShell SDK version 2.
Almost all PowerShell cmdlets include a common parameter called -Verbose. This parameter allows for the detailed console output of a command as it is issued and processed. The issue with this parameter is that it does not allow for saving the detailed out to a log file for later viewing and parsing. There are a few way to create a session log within a PowerShell session or script, such as using the Start-Transcript cmdlet or utilizing the PSFramework objects. Pure has created its own PowerShell logging cmdlet called Set-Pfa2Logging that is provides a simple single parameter implementation to facilitate the creation of a session log.
Verbose PowerShell session logging with Set-Pfa2Logging
When the Set-Pfa2Logging cmdlet is used, all commands executed in the current PowerShell session will be written in verbose format to a log file. The cmdlet only accepts a single primary parameter of -LogFilename. The example below will start session logging to a file called session.log.
PS >Set-Pfa2Logging -LogFilename session.log
You can then view the log as you would any other text file.
For the debugging of commands as they are sent to the array, you could use a utility that shows log file entries that happen in real time. With PowerShell, you could use the Get-Content cmdlet as shown here. Using the -Wait parameter will show a continuous live output of the file. To view other options for the Get-Content cmdlet, please refer to this Microsoft article.
PS >Get-Content session.log -Wait
To view only the last 50 lines of a file, use the -Tail parameter.
PS >Get-Content session.log -Tail 50
Using Set-Pfa2Logging will create a continuous log of the entire PowerShell session. There currently is no cmdlet or parameter to stop the logging.