About UUIDs for Address Objects and Groups

A UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is a 36-character string (32 alphanumeric characters and four hyphens) that is used to uniquely identify address objects and groups, among other entities, on SonicWall network security appliances. The SonicOS UUID is a system-generated, read-only internal value with these properties:

• A UUID is a unique representation of a SonicOS entity across the network.
• A UUID is generated at creation of an entity and removed at the deletion of the entity. It is not reused once it is removed.
• When an entity is modified, the UUID stays the same.
• UUIDs are regenerated after restarting the appliance with factory default settings.

By the default, UUIDs are not displayed in the Address Objects and Groups. You can customize the table to display UUIDs according to Common Actions with Objects Table.

When displayed, UUIDs appear in the tables for each object or group type.

UUIDs facilitate the following functions:

• You can search for an address object or group by UUID with the global search function of the management interface.
• You can view the reference count and referring entities if an object or group object with a UUID is referenced by another entity with a UUID. Hover over the REFERENCES column to view the reference count and referring entities.