A system and method include receiving, by a controller/service virtual machine, a first request associated with an element of a visualization environment using an application programming interface (API). The first request includes a context-specific identifier. The controller/service virtual machine resides on a host machine of the virtualization environment, and the element is operatively associated with the host machine. The system and method further include determining, by the controller/service virtual machine, a type of the context-specific identifier in the first request, and mapping, by the controller/service virtual machine, the context-specific identifier to a unique identifier associated with the element based upon the determined type.