Virtual Machine UUID mismatches observed between vCenter and VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• UUID for a VM appears mismatched between VMware vCenter and VMware Cloud Director API calls.
• Orchestrator tools report unexpected UUID values.
• No error, but behaviour can cause deployment confusion.

Environment

VMware vCenter

VMware Cloud Director

Cause

• Each platform assigns its own UUID to virtual machines. While a VM may be backed by the same object in VC, VCD treats it as a unique entity with a distinct UUID.
• This design ensures separation and flexibility in multi-tenant environments.

Resolution

• Recognise and understand that VC and VCD UUIDs are intentionally different.
• To retrieve the VCD UUID:
  • Use the vCD API Explorer (via the provider portal under the ? menu).
  • Or open browser Dev Tools and refresh the VM view in the tenant UI.
  • Look for the vm-UUID API call and inspect the response to obtain the VCD specific UUID.
• Update any scripts or tools to use the correct platform specific UUID depending on the target system, VCD or VC.

Additional Information

A VC VM UUID can be queried using PowerCLI:

Get-VM <vmname> | %{(Get-View $_.Id).config.uuid}

 

VCD UUIDs are visible in the VM’s URL or API response and typically follow this format:

urn:vcloud:vm:<UUID>

This distinction is expected and by design