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Shutting down the LARK correctly matters. The appliance continuously writes data to onboard storage — packet captures, flow records, alerts, and AI outputs — and several services maintain in-memory state that must be flushed before power is removed. An orderly shutdown gives the system time to finish in-progress writes, stop services cleanly, and leave storage in a consistent state. Skipping this process risks data corruption, partial records, and services that fail to start correctly on the next boot. Always use the orderly shutdown procedure. Reserve the hard power-off only for situations where the operating system is completely unresponsive and no other option is available.

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Shutdown Methods

The LARK supports two orderly shutdown paths, plus a last-resort hard power-off for emergencies.

Admin Interface (Preferred)

The primary shutdown method. Initiates an orderly shutdown from within the operating system, allowing all services to stop gracefully and all in-progress writes to complete. Use this method whenever the admin interface is reachable.

BMC (Baseboard Management Controller)

Use when the operating system is unresponsive but the BMC is reachable over the management network. The BMC can issue an ACPI shutdown signal that triggers an orderly OS shutdown without requiring a working admin interface session.
Never hard-power-cycle the LARK by removing power or pressing the physical power button abruptly unless the appliance is completely unresponsive and neither the admin interface nor the BMC is available. Forced power cuts risk leaving data writes in a corrupted or partial state.

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Orderly Shutdown via the Admin Interface

1

Verify no critical operations are in progress

Before initiating shutdown, check the admin interface dashboard for any active offload jobs, ongoing firmware update processes, or other long-running operations. Allow these to complete or cancel them explicitly before proceeding.
2

Navigate to the shutdown control

In the admin interface, go to System → Power. This panel provides shutdown and reboot controls for the appliance.
3

Select Shut Down

Choose Shut Down (not Reboot) and confirm when prompted. The admin interface will display a shutdown-in-progress status as the system begins the orderly stop sequence.
4

Wait for the shutdown sequence to complete

The LARK stops each service in the correct order, flushes in-progress data writes, unmounts storage volumes cleanly, and then powers off. Do not remove power during this sequence. The admin interface will become unreachable as services stop — this is expected.
5

Confirm power-off

Wait until the appliance’s power indicator shows that the system has fully powered off before disconnecting power, moving the unit, or beginning any physical handling. On most LARK models, this is indicated by the front-panel power LED extinguishing.

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Orderly Shutdown via the BMC

If the operating system is unresponsive and you cannot reach the admin interface, use the BMC to initiate shutdown.
1

Connect to the BMC

Access the BMC management interface over the dedicated management network connection. The BMC operates independently of the main OS and remains reachable even when the OS has stopped responding.
2

Issue a graceful shutdown

Use the BMC’s power management controls to issue an ACPI graceful shutdown signal. This is equivalent to pressing the physical power button momentarily — it signals the OS to begin an orderly shutdown sequence rather than cutting power immediately.
3

Monitor and confirm power-off

Monitor the BMC’s power status indicator. Wait for the appliance to report a powered-off state before taking any further action. If the OS does not respond to the ACPI signal within a reasonable time (typically two to three minutes), you may need to escalate to a hard power-off as a last resort.

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Before Transport

An orderly shutdown is required before transporting the LARK. Moving a running appliance risks physical damage to storage media and can interrupt writes in ways that corrupt data. Always shut down fully and confirm power-off before packaging the unit for transport. Refer to Transport and Handling for the complete pre-transport checklist.
If you regularly need to power-cycle the LARK as part of a deployment pattern — for example, deploying to a new site each week — build the shutdown step into your standard pack-up checklist so it is never skipped under time pressure.