vCLS devices look weird

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

After deploying vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) VMs, one or more has a name like:

• vCLS-ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff

Running esxcfg-info -a on the host where the VM resides will show the following for the BIOS UUID:

• +Host :
   \==+Hardware Info :
      |----BIOS UUID................................................0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff 0xff

Environment

vCenter 8.x
ESX 8.x

Cause

vCLS VMs derive their names from the BIOS UUID of the host they are deployed on. In this case, the BIOS UUID isn't set properly and shows up as all f characters. 

Resolution

Work with your hardware vendor to resolve the incorrect BIOS UUID value.