A VM memory dump

There are occasions when you need to take a memory dump of a problematic VM.
A Snapshot taken with the Memory option is all that is required.

The following script shows you can automate this for 1 or more VMs.

$data = @'
vCenter,VM
vcsa1,vm1
vcsa2,vm2
'@

$dumpLocation = 'C:\MemeoryDumps'
$dumpItem = Get-Item -Path $dumpLocation

ConvertFrom-Csv -InputObject $data -UseCulture -PipelineVariable row |
ForEach-Object -Process {
    Connect-VIServer -Server $row.vCenter

    $vm = Get-VM -Name $row.VM
    $snap = New-Snapshot -VM $vm -Name "Memory dump" -Memory -Confirm:$false
    if($snap){
        $vm.ExtensionData.UpdateViewData('Layout.Snapshot')
        $snapObj = $vm.ExtensionData.LayoutEx.Snapshot | where{$_.Key -eq $snap.Id}
        if($snapObj){
            Get-Item -Path "$dumpLocation\$($row.VM)" | Remove-Item -Recurse -Confirm:$false
            $tgtDir = New-Item -Path $dumpLocation -Name "$($row.VM)" -ItemType Directory
            $files = @()
            $files += $vm.ExtensionData.LayoutEx.File | where{$_.Key -eq $snapObj.MemoryKey} | select -ExpandProperty Name
            $files += $vm.ExtensionData.LayoutEx.File | where{$_.Key -eq $snapObj.DataKey} | select -ExpandProperty Name
            $files | ForEach-Object -Process {
                $dsName,$filePath = $_.Split(' ')
                $ds = Get-Datastore -Name $dsName.Trim('[]')
                New-PSDrive -Location $ds -Name DS -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root "\" | Out-Null
                Copy-DatastoreItem -Item "DS:$filePath" -Destination $tgtDir -Confirm:$false
                Remove-PSDrive -Name DS -Confirm:$false 
            }
        }
        else{
            Write-Output "Failed to retrieve snapshot info for $($row.VM)"
        }
        Remove-Snapshot -Snapshot $snap -Confirm:$false | Out-Null
    }
    else{
        Write-Output "Snapshot failed for $($row.VM)"
    }

    Disconnect-VIServer -Server $row.vCenter -Confirm:$false
}

The script uses a here-string and the ConvertFrom-Csv cmdlet to get the names of the vCenters and the VMs, but you can easily change this to any source for providing the information.