What is uniqueidentifier in SQL Server?

The uniqueidentifier data type stores 16-byte binary values that operate as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs). A GUID is a unique binary number; no other computer in the world will generate a duplicate of that GUID value. The main use for a GUID is for assigning an identifier that must be unique in a network that has many computers at many sites.

A column or local variable of uniqueidentifier data type can be initialized to a value in the following ways:

1. By using the NEWID() function.
2. By converting from a string constant in the form xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx, in which each x is a hexadecimal digit in the range 0-9 or a-f. For example, 6F9619FF-8B86-D011-B42D-00C04FC964FF is a valid uniqueidentifier value.

Note: The only operations that can be performed against a uniqueidentifier value are comparisons (=, <>, <, >, <=, >=) and checking for NULL (IS NULL and IS NOT NULL). No other arithmetic operators can be used. All column constraints and properties, except IDENTITY, can be used on the uniqueidentifier data type.

Reference: MSDN