Monitoring Services on an Azure VM using an Azure Runbook - powershell

Question

I have a Powershell script that enumerates running services and their current state using Get-WmiObject Win32_Service. Initial version based on this one and then modified for Azure. When I run the script in Powershell (without the azure automation parts) on my location machine it works fine and I can connect to all the machines of interest, but when I port it to a runbook i get the following error: "Get-WmiObject : The RPC server is unavailable."
Q: Is the problem with permissions for the automation account? If so, what account should I add to the local machines to resolve the issue?
Q: Is Get-WmiObject not a valid way to initiate the connection? If not, what should I try instead?
The code I'm using is below:
[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess = $true)]
param(
# Servers to check
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string[]]$ServerList,
# Services to check for
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string[]]$includeService
)
# Following modifies the Write-Verbose behavior to turn the messages on globally for this session
$VerbosePreference = "Continue"
$connectionName = "AzureRunAsConnection"
# retry
$retry = 6
$syncOk = $false
$servicePrincipalConnection = Get-AutomationConnection -Name $connectionName
do
{
try
{
Add-AzureRmAccount -ServicePrincipal -TenantId $servicePrincipalConnection.TenantId -ApplicationId $servicePrincipalConnection.ApplicationId -CertificateThumbprint $servicePrincipalConnection.CertificateThumbprint
$syncOk = $true
}
catch
{
$ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.Message
$StackTrace = $_.Exception.StackTrace
Write-Warning "Error during sync: $ErrorMessage, stack: $StackTrace. Retry attempts left: $retry"
$retry = $retry - 1
Start-Sleep -s 60
}
} while (-not $syncOk -and $retry -ge 0)
Select-AzureRMSubscription -SubscriptionId $SubscriptionId -TenantId $servicePrincipalConnection.TenantId
$currentSubscription = Get-AzureRMSubscription -SubscriptionId $SubscriptionId -TenantId $servicePrincipalConnection.TenantId
Set-AzureRmContext -SubscriptionId $SubscriptionId;
$props=#()
[System.Collections.ArrayList]$unreachableServers = #()
Foreach($ServerName in ($ServerList))
{
try
{
$service = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $servername
}
catch
{}
if ($Service -ne $NULL)
{
foreach ($item in $service)
{
#$item.DisplayName
Foreach($include in $includeService)
{
#write-host $include
if(($item.name).Contains($include) -eq $TRUE)
{
$props += [pscustomobject]#{
servername = $ServerName
name = $item.name
Status = $item.Status
startmode = $item.startmode
state = $item.state
serviceaccount=$item.startname
DisplayName =$item.displayname}
}
}
}
}
else
{
Write-host "Failed to contact server: "$ServerName
$unreachableServers.Add($ServerName)
}
}
$props | Format-Table Servername,Name,startmode,state,serviceaccount,displayname -AutoSize

Answer 1

I am assuming that you are using the Azure Automation Hybrid Worker functionality. Be default it runs under the System account. However you can use a different account to run the runbook under. This is documented here: Azure Automation Hybrid Worker; Look under the RunAs account section. Use the same account that works when you try it directly.

Answer 2

have you considered using OMS? this sounds like a better thing to do.
Anyway, to answer your questions, I would probably create a local user and create a PS configuration endpoint for that user to connect to, and connect impersonating that user from the Automation Account, but again, I wouldn't even go this route, I'd rather use OMS.