Vmdk: Deleted

Alex doesn’t panic (much). He remembers a rule his mentor taught him:

The Midnight Click

He right-clicks the Dev-Web-01.vmdk file. He hits Delete . The file disappears instantly. No “Are you sure?” No recycle bin. Just… gone. deleted vmdk

He logs into the vSphere client. He sees the VM folder. He sees the files: .vmx (config), .vmdk (the disk), and .flat.vmdk (the raw data). He thinks: “I don’t need the whole VM, just the disk file.” Alex doesn’t panic (much)

“Alex… did you just do something? The main customer database just went offline. Like, the entire CRM.” The file disappears instantly

The VM is still “running” in vCenter, but without its disk descriptor file, it can’t read any data. The operating system is frozen in a state of panic.

Two seconds later, his phone rings. It’s the on-call developer.