Azure Automation Troubles

A recent venture into Azure Automation threw up some unexpected problems.

A simple script, run locally, that called Get-AzureRmVM was working to my subscription, but the same script did not work within an Azure Runbook.

I'd created the AzureRunAsConnection by default with the Azure Automation account and followed the same code as given in the AzureAutomationTutorialScript powershell runbook to login to the subscription and execute Cmdlets.

The problem came when executing the Get-AzureRmVM Cmdlet in the runbook, receiving the error:

Get-AzureRmVM : Run Login-AzureRmAccount to login.
+     $VM = Get-AzureRmVM | ? {$_.Name -eq $VMName}
+           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Get-AzureRmVM], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.Azure.Commands.Compute.GetAzureVMCommand

After several googles I found this post...
https://feedback.azure.com/forums/246290-automation/suggestions/16590229-get-azurermvm-failing-in-azure-automation

Therefore, if anyone else sees errors when running basic Cmdlets in a runbook (that work fine from PowerShell), try updating all the modules in the Automation account using a script like this one...
https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Update-ModulesInAutomationToLatestVersion/1.03/DisplayScript
(Note that the deploy to Azure button didn't work for me, so I had to import the script and run manually.)

Note also that (depending on when you created your Automation Account) the above may, or may not work, and you may have to create a new Automation Account and update the modules before starting to use the account. Microsoft suggest setting the script to run on a schedule in the automation account to keep the modules up to date.