(howto-member-shutdown)=
# How to shut down a MicroCloud cluster member

This guide provides instructions to safely shut down a MicroCloud cluster member. This includes how to deal with LXD instances running on the cluster member, as well as the order in which to shut down and restart the component services. 

## Stop or live-migrate all instances on the cluster member

To shut down a machine that is a MicroCloud cluster member, first ensure that it is not hosting any running LXD instances.

You can stop all instances on a cluster member using the command:

```bash
lxc stop --all
```

Alternatively, for instances that can be {ref}`live-migrated <lxd:live-migration>`, you can migrate them to another cluster member without stopping them. See: {ref}`lxd:howto-instances-migrate` for more information.

You can also temporarily migrate all instances on a machine to another cluster member by using cluster evacuation, then restore them after you restart. This method can live-migrate eligible instances; instances that cannot be live-migrated are automatically stopped and restarted. See: {ref}`lxd:cluster-evacuate` for more information.

## Enforce services shutdown and restart order

During the shutdown process of a MicroCloud cluster member, the LXD service must stop _before_ the MicroCeph and MicroOVN services. At restart, the LXD service must start _after_ MicroCeph and MicroOVN. This order ensures that LXD does not run into issues due to unavailable storage or networking services.

To enforce this shutdown and restart order, create a configuration file in each cluster member's `/etc/systemd/system/snap.lxd.daemon.service.d` directory to override the behavior of `snap.lxd.daemon.service`. To simplify creating the directory and configuration file, you can copy and paste the following commands into each cluster member:

```bash
# Create the directory if it doesn't exist
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/snap.lxd.daemon.service.d

# Create the configuration file
cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/snap.lxd.daemon.service.d/lxd-shutdown.conf
# Makes sure the LXD daemon stops before Ceph/OVN and restarts after Ceph/OVN
[Unit]
After=snap.microceph.daemon.service
After=snap.microovn.daemon.service
EOF

# Reload systemd daemon
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

You only need to perform this step once for each cluster member. Afterwards, the `snap.lxd.daemon.service` respects this configuration at every shutdown and restart.

### Shut down

Once you have completed the steps above, you can safely shut down and restart the machine as normal.