Grab the UUID from an ESXi machine using PyVmomi

pyvmomi_demo.py

import ssl
import requests

import atexit
from pyVim import connect
from pyVmomi import vim

# Be sure to set these first
# IP_ADDRESS = ''
# USER = ''
# PASS = ''

# Disable SSL warnings
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings()

# Change our SSL context to accept self-signed certificates
# This is a hack that will be fixed once this is merged:
# https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi/issues/235
_create_unverified_https_context = ssl._create_unverified_context
ssl._create_default_https_context = _create_unverified_https_context

# Connect to the service instance
si = connect.SmartConnect(host=IP_ADDRESS, user=USER, pwd=PASS)

# Register to disconnect the service instance when we exit
atexit.register(connect.Disconnect, si)

# Create an object view for the info we want to inspect
content = si.RetrieveContent()
object_view = content.viewManager.CreateContainerView(content.rootFolder,
                                                      [vim.HostSystem],
                                                      True)

# We only listed `vim.HostSystem` above, so that should be our only element
host = object_view.view[0]

# The `host` variable now has everything we need, so we can destroy this.
object_view.Destroy()

# Grab stuff
uuid = host.hardware.systemInfo.uuid