Looking up Managed Object Reference (MoRef) in vCenter Server

Purpose

This article provides information about looking up a Managed Object Reference (MoRef) in vCenter Server. This helps you determine which virtual machine, host, or datastore a product is referring to in its log bundle.

 

For example, a virtual machine is denoted by vm-xxxx in the VMware Site Recovery Manager logs or the vpxa logs on an ESX host.

Resolution

Using a web browser, navigate to: 

https://<VC_SERVER>/mob/?moid=<OBJECT_ID>

 

Where:

• <VC_SERVER> is the FQDN or IP of the vCenter Server
• =<OBJECT_ID> is the ID of the object you are looking up 

If you do not know the object ID of the virtual machine, you can interrogate the datastore for all virtual machines registered to that resource.

To identify a virtual machine by vm-XXXX: 

1. Open vCenter Server in a SSL capable browser. For example, https://virtualcenter.vmware.com/mob/).
2. Under the Return Type of ServiceContent, click RetrieveServiceContent.
3. In the window that displays, click Invoke Method.
4. Under the NAME of rootFolder beside the TYPE of ManagedObjectReference:Folder, click the VALUE of Group-xx. For example:
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE rootFolder | ManagedObjectReference:Folder | Group-d1
    
5. Under the NAME of childEntity beside the TYPE of ManagedObjectReference:ManagedEntity, click the VALUE of datacenter-xx. For example:
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE childEntity | ManagedObjectReference:ManagedEntity | datacenter-21
    
6. Under the NAME of datastore beside the TYPE of ManagedObjectReference:Datastore, click the VALUE of datastore-xxxx. For example:
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE datastore | ManagedObjectReference:Datastore | datastore-101 
7. Under the NAME of name beside the TYPE of string, you see the friendly name of the datastore. For example:
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE name | string | "Storage1" 
8. You now see all of the virtual machines registered on this datastore. Under the NAME of vm beside the TYPE of ManagedObjectReference:VirtualMachine[], click the VALUE of vm-xxxx. For example,
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE vm | ManagedObjectReference:VirtualMachine[] | vm-147
   From the above information, under NAME of name beside the TYPE of string you see the friendly name of the virtual machine. You can also get information such as the virtual machine configuration from the same interface. For example:
   
   NAME | TYPE | VALUE name | string | "DHCP"

Source:-

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1017126