Azure Runbook Commands

Question

So I have a runbook which automates the shutdown and start-up of my Azure VM during the weekends. This then sends a transactional email confirming that the VPS is shut down/started up.

I have set up my parameters as illustrated. Is there a reason as to why it correctly states the name of my virtual machine (highlighted) in the subject line but in the body of the email (highlighted), it comes up with a completely different name.

Logic would dictate that $VM.NAME would be the name of the VPS and not some random command line, so why is this? It's displayed correctly in the subject line but not the email body.

   param (

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] 
    [String] $VMName ="ITAMTRADINGVPS",

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] 
    [String] $ResourceGroupName
)

$connectionName = "AzureRunAsConnection"
try
{
    # Get the connection "AzureRunAsConnection "
    $servicePrincipalConnection=Get-AutomationConnection -Name $connectionName         

    "Logging in to Azure..."
    Add-AzureRmAccount `
        -ServicePrincipal `
        -TenantId $servicePrincipalConnection.TenantId `
        -ApplicationId $servicePrincipalConnection.ApplicationId `
        -CertificateThumbprint $servicePrincipalConnection.CertificateThumbprint 
}
catch {
    if (!$servicePrincipalConnection)
    {
        $ErrorMessage = "Connection $connectionName not found."
        throw $ErrorMessage
    } else{
        Write-Error -Message $_.Exception
        throw $_.Exception
    }
}


# If there is a specific resource group, then get all VMs in the resource group,
# otherwise get all VMs in the subscription.
if ($ResourceGroupName -And $VMName) 
{ 
    $VMs = Get-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -Name $VMName
}
elseif ($ResourceGroupName)
{
    $VMs = Get-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName

}
else 
{ 
    $VMs = Get-AzureRmVM
}

$vms
# Start each of the VMs
# Stop each of the VMs
foreach ($VM in $VMs)
{
    $StopRtn = $VM | Stop-AzureRmVM -Force -ErrorAction Continue
    $StopRtn
    Write-Output " this is $StopRtn "

    if ($StopRtn.IsSuccessStatusCode -eq 'True')
    {
        # The VM stopped, so send notice
        Write-Output ($VM.Name + " has been stopped")
        $Username ="xxx"

        $Password = ConvertTo-SecureString "xxx" -AsPlainText -Force

        $credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential $Username, $Password

        $SMTPServer = "xxx"

        $EmailFrom = "xxxx

        [string[]]$EmailTo = "xxx"
        $Subject = $VM.NAME + " notification of scheduled deallocation"

        $Body = "We'd like to let you know that your Virtual Machine $VM.NAME has successfully deallocated.
        <br>This could either be due to maintenance or a scheduled shutdown. If you were expecting this notification, please disregard this email.
        <br><br>If you need any further assistance, please contact the system administrator on xxx<br><br>Yours Sincerely<br><br>The Technical Design Team<br>xxx<br><br>"

        Send-MailMessage -smtpServer $SMTPServer -Credential $credential -Usessl -Port 587 -from $EmailFrom -to $EmailTo -subject $Subject -Body $Body -BodyAsHtml
        Write-Output "Email sent succesfully."

    }
    else
    {
        # The VM failed to stop, so send notice
        Write-Output ($VM.Name + " failed to stop")
    }
}

Illustration

Answer 1

The variable reference (e.g. $VM.Name) into the email body which by default will just return the object type where the output in PowerShell is a special pipeline activity which will render the content either as a listing or as a table. In order to include content in an email, we would have to reference the properties

[string]$EmailBody = (“VMNAME IS = [{0}]” -f $VM.Name)

which is similar to string.format in C#

Refer this SO