Article
09/09/2016

Connections

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator

An Automation Connection contains the information required to connect to a service or application from a runbook. This information is defined in the module for the application and typically includes such information as the username and password and the computer to connect to. Other information may also be required such as a certificate or a subscription Id. The properties for a connection are stored securely in the Automation database and can be accessed in the runbook with the Get-AutomationConnection activity.

Windows PowerShell Cmdlets

The cmdlets in the following table are used to create and manage credentials with Windows PowerShell in Service Management Automation.

Cmdlets	Description
Get-SmaConnection	Retrieves the values for each field in a particular connection.
Get-SmaConnectionField	Retrieves the field definitions for a particular connection type.
Get-SmaConnectionType	Retrieves the available connection types.
New-SmaConnection	Creates a new connection.
Remove-SmaConnection	Remove an existing connection.
Set-SmaConnectionFieldValue	Sets the value of a particular field for an existing connection.

Runbook Activities

The activities in the following table are used to access connections in a runbook.

Activities	Description
Get-AutomationConnection	Gets a connection to use in a runbook.

Creating a New Connection

To create a new connection with the management portal

Select the Automation workspace.
At the top of the window, click Assets.
At the bottom of the window, click Add Setting.
Click Add Connection.
In the Connection Type dropdown, select a connection type.
Type a name for the connection in the Name box.
Click the right arrow.
Type in a value for each property.
Click the check mark to save the connection.

To create a new connection with Windows PowerShell in Service Management Automation

The following sample commands create a new Virtual Machine Manager connection with the name MyVMMConnection. Note that we use a hashtable to define the properties of the connection. This is because different types of connections require different sets of properties. A connection of another type would use a different set of field values.

For more information about hash tables, see about_Hash_Tables.

$webServer = 'https://MyWebServer'  
$port = 9090  
$connectionName = 'MyConnection'  
$fieldValues = @{"Username"="MyUser";"Password"="password";"ComputerName"="MyComputer"}   
New-SmaConnection –WebServiceEndpoint $webServer –port $port –Name $connectionName –ConnectionTypeName "VirtualMachineManager" –ConnectionFieldValues $fieldValues

Using a connection in a runbook

Use the Get-AutomationConnection activity to use a connection in a runbook. This activity retrieves the values of the different fields in the connection and returns them as a hashtable which can then be used with the appropriate commands in the runbook.

For more information about hash tables, see about_Hash_Tables.

The following sample code shows how to use a connection to provide the computer name and credentials for an InlineScript block that runs commands on another computer.

$con = Get-AutomationConnection -Name 'MyConnection'  
$securepassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -String $con.Password -Force  
$cred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $con.Username, $securepassword  
InlineScript {  
   <Commands>  
} -PSComputerName $con.ComputerName -PSCredential $cred

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