Start and Stop the Management Plane

This page describes how to start and stop the Self-hosted Private Cloud Director management plane for a specific region or for all regions using the airctl CLI.

Overview

The airctl start and airctl stop commands let you gracefully bring the management plane up or down without uninstalling it. Use these commands for planned maintenance windows, controlled shutdowns, or to restart the management plane after maintenance is complete.

Both commands accept an optional --region flag. When the flag is omitted, the command applies to all configured regions.

Prerequisites

Before running airctl start or airctl stop:

• You must have airctl installed and a valid configuration file at /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml (or a custom path you supply with --config).
• Confirm the regions managed by your deployment before targeting a specific region:

Bash

airctl get-regions --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml

Example output:

Bash

Deployed Regions:
• Infra
• LON

Stop the Management Plane

The airctl stop command scales down the management plane for the specified region. Running it without --region stops all configured regions.

Command Syntax

airctl stop [flags]

Flags:
  -r, --region string   Stop the specified region only (omit to stop all regions)

Global Flags:
      --config string   Path to config file (default: $HOME/airctl-config.yaml)
      --quiet           Disable spinners
      --verbose         Print verbose logs to the console
  -h, --help            Show command help

Stop a Specific Region

Bash

airctl stop --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml --region <REGION_NAME>

Example output:

Bash

 SUCCESS  scaling down management plane <REGION_NAME>

Stop All Regions

To stop all configured regions, omit the --region flag:

Bash

airctl stop --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml

Warning

Stopping all regions brings down the entire management plane, including the UI and API endpoints. Ensure no critical workloads depend on management plane availability before proceeding.

Start the Management Plane

The airctl start command scales up and auto-configures the management plane for the specified region. Running it without --region starts all configured regions.

Command Syntax

airctl start [flags]

Flags:
  -r, --region string   Start the specified region only (omit to start all regions)

Global Flags:
      --config string   Path to config file (default: $HOME/airctl-config.yaml)
      --quiet           Disable spinners
      --verbose         Print verbose logs to the console
  -h, --help            Show command help

Start a Specific Region

Bash

airctl start --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml --region <REGION_NAME>

Example output:

Bash

 SUCCESS  scaling up management plane <REGION_NAME>

Start All Regions

To start all configured regions, omit the --region flag:

Bash

airctl start --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml

Verify the Management Plane Is Running

After starting the management plane, confirm that all services are ready using airctl status:

Bash

airctl status --config /opt/pf9/airctl/conf/airctl-config.yaml --region <REGION_NAME>

Example output when the region is fully operational:

Bash

------------- deployment details ---------------
fqdn:                <REGION_FQDN>
region:              <REGION_NAME>
deployment status:   ready
region health:       ✅ Ready
-------- region service status ----------
desired services:     45
ready services:       45

For more detail on the airctl status command and its flags, see Viewing and Checking Region Status.