Azure Automation Job runs fine manually but fails when triggered by webhook

Question

I've got an Automation Account in Azure that runs a Powershell runbook. It runs perfectly fine when I trigger it via the portal, manually specifying the inputs

I've created a webhook with the same input settings. I call it from CURL like

curl -d '' https://800b2bec-b1ae-4fa1-ba30-8c7d32096828.webhook.ae.azure-automation.net/webhooks?[redactedtoken]

The webhook shows as triggered successfully in the portal, however the job fails with no visible error.

There is no output, even though the first line in my powershell function is Write-Output "Hello"

There are no exception messages, no logs at all.

Any idea how I might get more information as to what might be going wrong?

I've updated the Az modules and enabled verbose logging in the runbook.

Full source below, if it helps.

Param(
 [string]$resourceGroup,
 [string]$VMName,
 [string]$method,
 [string]$UAMI 
)
Write-Output "Hello"
$automationAccount = "AlsAutomation"

# Ensures you do not inherit an AzContext in your runbook
Disable-AzContextAutosave -Scope Process | Out-Null

# Connect using a Managed Service Identity
try {
        $AzureContext = (Connect-AzAccount -Identity).context
    }
catch{
        Write-Output "There is no system-assigned user identity. Aborting."; 
        exit
    }

# set and store context
$AzureContext = Set-AzContext -SubscriptionName $AzureContext.Subscription `
    -DefaultProfile $AzureContext

if ($method -eq "SA")
    {
        Write-Output "Using system-assigned managed identity"
    }
elseif ($method -eq "UA")
    {
        Write-Output "Using user-assigned managed identity"

        # Connects using the Managed Service Identity of the named user-assigned managed identity
        $identity = Get-AzUserAssignedIdentity -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup `
            -Name $UAMI -DefaultProfile $AzureContext

        # validates assignment only, not perms
        if ((Get-AzAutomationAccount -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup `
                -Name $automationAccount `
                -DefaultProfile $AzureContext).Identity.UserAssignedIdentities.Values.PrincipalId.Contains($identity.PrincipalId))
            {
                $AzureContext = (Connect-AzAccount -Identity -AccountId $identity.ClientId).context

                # set and store context
                $AzureContext = Set-AzContext -SubscriptionName $AzureContext.Subscription -DefaultProfile $AzureContext
            }
        else {
                Write-Output "Invalid or unassigned user-assigned managed identity"
                exit
            }
    }
else {
        Write-Output "Invalid method. Choose UA or SA."
        exit
     }

# Get current state of VM
$status = (Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Name $VMName `
    -Status -DefaultProfile $AzureContext).Statuses[1].Code

Write-Output "`r`n Beginning VM status: $status `r`n"

# Start or stop VM based on current state
if($status -eq "Powerstate/deallocated")
    {
        Start-AzVM -Name $VMName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -DefaultProfile $AzureContext
    }
elseif ($status -eq "Powerstate/running")
    {
        Stop-AzVM -Name $VMName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -DefaultProfile $AzureContext -Force
    }

# Get new state of VM
$status = (Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroup -Name $VMName -Status `
    -DefaultProfile $AzureContext).Statuses[1].Code  

Write-Output "`r`n Ending VM status: $status `r`n `r`n"

Write-Output "Account ID of current context: " $AzureContext.Account.Id

Answer 1

We have tested this in our local environment it is working fine, Below statements are based on the analysis.

In our local environment, We have created a Powershell runbook running with different PowerShell Versions 7.1 & Version 5.1.

• Using the above share Script & webhook URI, when we are trying to invoke the runbook (PowerShell version 7.1) using the `Invoke-webRequest method it is continuously failing.

Alternatively, We have tried to invoke the runbook (PowerShell version 5.1) using the Invoke-webRequest method it is working fine.

We would suggest you to use Powershell Version 5.1 instead of 7.1 in your Runbook.

Here is the sample Output for reference: