PowerCLI

vSphere IDs: The Ultimate Quick Reference Guide

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Ever feel like you’re drowning in a sea of GUIDs and MoRefs? When you’re scripting or troubleshooting, using the wrong ID is the fastest way to break a backup job or target the wrong server.

Here is the “Lazy Admin” breakdown of the most common vSphere identifiers and how to grab them with PowerCLI.

1. vCenter Instance UUID (serverGuid)

This is the “SSN” of your vCenter server. It’s generated at install time and stays durable for that instance.

  • Why it matters: In Linked Mode or cross-vCenter environments, this identifies which vCenter owns an object.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell$vcenter = Connect-viserver vcsa-01a.corp.local $vcenter.InstanceUuid

2. ESXi Host UUID

Unlike other IDs, this isn’t generated by VMware. It’s pulled from the hardware’s SMBIOS.

  • Why it matters: It’s unique to the physical motherboard/vendor.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell(Get-VMHost | Select -First 1).ExtensionData.hardware.systeminfo.uuid

3. VC-VM Instance UUID (The “Management” ID)

Found in the .vmx file as vc.uuid. This is what vCenter uses to track VMs.

  • The “Magic”: vCenter actively scans for duplicates of this ID and will “patch” (change) it automatically if it finds a conflict within its own inventory.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell(Get-VM | Select -First 1).extensiondata.config.InstanceUUID

4. VM SMBIOS UUID (The “Guest” ID)

Found as uuid.bios in the .vmx. This is what the Guest OS (Windows/Linux) sees as the hardware serial number.

  • The “Magic”: vCenter tries not to change this because many applications use it for licensing. If you move/copy a VM, vCenter will ask you what to do to prevent duplicates.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell(Get-VM | Select -First 1).extensiondata.Config.UUID

5. VM Location ID

Stored as uuid.location. This is a hash of the VM’s configuration file path and the ESXi host UUID.

  • The “I Moved It” Prompt: When this hash doesn’t match the current environment, vSphere triggers that famous “Did you move it or copy it?” popup.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell(Get-VM | Select -First 1).extensiondata.config.LocationId

6. VM MoRef (Managed Object Reference)

The MoRef is the “Short ID” (like vm-43) used by the API and the vCenter database.

  • Why it matters: This is the most important ID for database associations (stats, events, tasks). It is not unique across different vCenters.
  • PowerCLI:PowerShell(Get-VM | Select -First 1).ExtensionData.Moref.Value

Quick ID Reference Table

ID NameScopePersistenceBest Use Case
MoRefSingle vCenterChanges if re-inventoriedAPI calls & DB tracking
Instance UUIDSingle vCenterHigh (Patched by VC)Unique VM tracking
SMBIOS UUIDGlobal/Guest OSVery HighGuest Software Licensing
Host UUIDPhysical HardwarePermanentHardware Asset Tracking

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Script: Finding RDM LUN UUIDs in a vSphere Cluster

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If you’re managing a large virtual environment, keeping track of Raw Device Mappings (RDMs) can be a nightmare. Unlike standard virtual disks (VMDKs) that live neatly inside a datastore, RDMs are directly mapped to a LUN on your SAN.

When your storage team asks, “Which VM is using LUN ID 55?”, you don’t want to check every VM manually. This PowerCLI script will scan your entire cluster and export a list of all RDMs along with their Canonical Name (NAA ID) and Device Name.

The PowerCLI One-Liner

This command connects to your cluster, filters for disks that are either RawPhysical (Pass-through) or RawVirtual, and spits out the details to a text file for easy searching.

Run this in your PowerCLI window:

PowerShell

Get-Cluster 'YourClusterName' | Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select-Object @{N="VM";E={$_.Parent.Name}},Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | Format-List | Out-File –FilePath C:\temp\RDM-list.txt

Breaking Down the Output

Once you open C:\temp\RDM-list.txt, here is what you are looking at:

  • Parent: The name of the Virtual Machine.
  • Name: The label of the hard disk (e.g., “Hard disk 2”).
  • DiskType: Confirms if it’s Physical (direct SCSI commands) or Virtual mode.
  • ScsiCanonicalName: The NAA ID (e.g., naa.600601...). This is the “Universal ID” your storage array uses.
  • DeviceName: The internal vSphere path to the device.

Why do you need this?

  1. Storage Migrations: If you are decommissioning a storage array, you must identify every RDM to ensure you don’t leave a “Ghost LUN” behind.
  2. Troubleshooting Performance: If a specific LUN is showing high latency on the SAN side, this script tells you exactly which VM is the “noisy neighbor.”
  3. Audit & Compliance: Great for keeping a monthly record of physical hardware mappings.

Lazy Admin Note: This script specifically uses VMware PowerCLI cmdlets (Get-HardDisk). If you are looking for similar info on a Hyper-V host, you would typically use Get-VMHardDiskDrive and look for the DiskNumber property to correlate with physical disks in Disk Management.

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