The last days I was troubleshooting an issue where I was unable to deploy modules to Azure Automation via Powershell… What did I want to do? Add the xActiveDirectory module to my Automation Account.
So let’s look at the documentation of the “New-AzureRmAutomationModule” cmdlet ;
-ContentLink<Uri>
Specifies the URL of the .zip file that contains a module that this cmdlet imports.
Which would give something like…
$dscActiveDirectoryLink = "<a class="linkified" href="https://github.com/PowerShell/xActiveDirectory/archive/2.10.0.0-PSGallery.zip" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/PowerShell/xActiveDirectory/archive/2.10.0.0-PSGallery.zip</a>" New-AzureRmAutomationModule -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupNameAutomationAccount -AutomationAccountName $automationAccountName -Name xActiveDirectory -ContentLink $dscActiveDirectoryLink
So what was my logic here? I went to the project website and took the latest release (bundled as a zip file). Sounds great? It failed… Everytime I got the following error ;
Error extracting the activities from module xActiveDirectory-2.10.0.0-PSGallery. Extraction failed with the following error: Orchestrator.Shared.AsyncModuleImport.ModuleImportException: Cannot import the module of name xActiveDirectory-2.10.0.0-PSGallery, as the module structure was invalid.
After a hint by Joe Levy, it struck me… The command was expecting a nuget package! Underneath, this is also a zipfile. So when obtaining that package and using it for the -ContentLink, all went smooth!
Update with Code Sniplet (with help from Joe Levy!) ;
# Requires that authentication to Azure is already established before running
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[String] $ResourceGroupName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[String] $AutomationAccountName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[String] $ModuleName,
# if not specified latest version will be imported
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[String] $ModuleVersion
)
$Url = "https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/Search()?`$filter=IsLatestVersion&searchTerm=%27$ModuleName $ModuleVersion%27&targetFramework=%27%27&includePrerelease=false&`$skip=0&`$top=40"
$SearchResult = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri $Url
if(!$SearchResult) {
Write-Error "Could not find module '$ModuleName' on PowerShell Gallery."
}
elseif($SearchResult.C -and $SearchResult.Length -gt 1) {
Write-Error "Module name '$ModuleName' returned multiple results. Please specify an exact module name."
}
else {
$PackageDetails = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri $SearchResult.id
if(!$ModuleVersion) {
$ModuleVersion = $PackageDetails.entry.properties.version
}
$ModuleContentUrl = "https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/$ModuleName/$ModuleVersion"
# Test if the module/version combination exists
try {
Invoke-RestMethod $ModuleContentUrl -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
$Stop = $False
}
catch {
Write-Error "Module with name '$ModuleName' of version '$ModuleVersion' does not exist. Are you sure the version specified is correct?"
$Stop = $True
}
if(!$Stop) {
# Find the actual blob storage location of the module
do {
$ActualUrl = $ModuleContentUrl
$ModuleContentUrl = (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $ModuleContentUrl -MaximumRedirection 0 -ErrorAction Ignore).Headers.Location
} while($ModuleContentUrl -ne $Null)
New-AzureRmAutomationModule `
-ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName `
-AutomationAccountName $AutomationAccountName `
-Name $ModuleName `
-ContentLink $ActualUrl
}
}
