Duplicate MorIDs returned for Datastores when querying the VMware Aria Operations API

Products

• VCF Operations
• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

Managed Object Reference IDs (MorIDs) are not globally unique across VMware Aria Operations. This behavior prevents unique identification of datastore objects via the API. The following symptoms are observed when creating reports for datastores:

• When querying the VMware Aria Operations API for datastore information, multiple datastores return the exact same MorID (e.g., datastore-##).
• The issue is commonly observed when attempting to map vSAN Clusters to local or remote datastores.
• Inability to programmatically distinguish between datastores using only the MorID parameter.

Environment

• VMware Aria Operations 8.x

• VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations 9.x

Cause

Managed Object Reference IDs (MorIDs) are generated and assigned locally by the vCenter Server. A MorID is only guaranteed to be unique within its specific vCenter Server instance. When Aria Operations collects inventory data from multiple vCenter Server instances, or when evaluating auto-generated local datastores across multiple ESXi hosts, it is expected behavior for MorIDs to overlap. Aria Operations recognizes these as distinct objects because they belong to different parent vCenter adapters, but the raw MorID property will appear duplicated in broad API queries.

Resolution

To uniquely identify a datastore (or any vCenter object) via the Aria Operations API, you cannot rely on the MorID alone. Instead, use one of the following supported methods:

1. Use the VMware Aria Operations Resource ID: The most reliable method is to use the VMware Aria Operations identifier (Resource ID). This is a globally unique UUID generated by the application for every collected object, ensuring no duplicates across the entire inventory.
   
   
2. Combine MorID with the Adapter Instance ID: If your external script or integration strictly requires the use of MorIDs, you must create a composite key by pairing the MorID with the vCenter Server's UUID or the Aria Operations Adapter Instance ID. This scopes the MorID to its specific vCenter, creating a uniquely identifiable pair.