How to delete a GlusterFS geo-replication session

A stale GlusterFS geo-replication session can keep recovery planning tied to a retired secondary volume or make operators inspect a relationship that should no longer run. Deleting the session removes that pairing from the primary cluster after replication is stopped, so future status checks no longer report it.

Geo-replication pairs a primary volume with a secondary target in the form user@host::volume. The stop command halts the selected gsyncd workers, and the delete command removes the session metadata that glusterd uses to manage that pairing.

Normal deletion keeps the last synchronized time, so recreating the same session can resume from that point. Use reset-sync-time only when the recreated session must perform a full resync. Session deletion does not remove data from either volume or remove secondary-side SSH users, keys, or mountbroker entries.

1. List geo-replication sessions from a primary cluster node.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication status
   PRIMARY NODE  PRIMARY VOL   PRIMARY BRICK  SECONDARY USER  SECONDARY              SECONDARY NODE  STATUS   CRAWL STATUS     LAST_SYNCED
   pnode1        gvol-primary  /bricks/b1     geoaccount      snode1::gvol-secondary  snode1          Active   Changelog Crawl  2026-06-16 10:22:30
   pnode2        gvol-primary  /bricks/b2     geoaccount      snode1::gvol-secondary  snode2          Passive  Changelog Crawl  2026-06-16 10:22:28

   Use the primary volume name and full user@host::volume target for the session that should be removed.
   Related: How to check GlusterFS geo-replication status

2. Stop the selected session.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary \
     geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary stop
   Stopping geo-replication session between gvol-primary and geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary has been successful

   Stopping the session prevents new primary changes from reaching the secondary volume while the session remains stopped.

   Related: How to stop a GlusterFS geo-replication session

3. Confirm the session reports Stopped.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary \
     geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary status
   PRIMARY NODE  PRIMARY VOL   PRIMARY BRICK  SECONDARY USER  SECONDARY              SECONDARY NODE  STATUS   CRAWL STATUS  LAST_SYNCED
   pnode1        gvol-primary  /bricks/b1     geoaccount      snode1::gvol-secondary  snode1          Stopped  N/A           2026-06-16 10:22:30
   pnode2        gvol-primary  /bricks/b2     geoaccount      snode1::gvol-secondary  snode2          Stopped  N/A           2026-06-16 10:22:28

   The delete command can fail when the selected session is still active or a participating node is unavailable.

4. Delete the stopped session.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary \
     geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary delete
   Deleting geo-replication session between gvol-primary and geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary has been successful

   Normal deletion preserves the sync-time marker for a future recreation of the same session. If the next session must copy from the beginning, run the command ending in delete reset-sync-time instead of the normal delete command.

5. Verify the deleted session no longer appears.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication status
   No active geo-replication sessions

   If other sessions still exist, confirm the removed primary and secondary pair is absent rather than expecting an empty status list.