How to pause a GlusterFS geo-replication session

Pausing a GlusterFS geo-replication session stops change shipping during a maintenance window without deleting the configured relationship between the primary and secondary volumes. It fits short interruptions such as coordinated snapshots, secondary-site checks, or investigations where new primary writes must not reach the disaster-recovery copy yet.

Geo-replication runs gsyncd workers for a primary volume and a secondary target in the form user@host::volume. The pause command changes the selected session state while leaving its configuration, SSH trust, and resume path intact, so the same session can continue later instead of being recreated.

While the session is paused, client writes can continue on the primary volume and the secondary falls behind until replication resumes. Record the last synchronized time before pausing, confirm the exact secondary target before running the command, and expect catch-up I/O after the pause window ends.

1. List the 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
   mnode1          gvol-primary   /bricks/b1       geoaccount        snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary  snode1            Active    Changelog Crawl    2026-06-16 08:41:05
   mnode2          gvol-primary   /bricks/b2       geoaccount        snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary  snode2            Active    Changelog Crawl    2026-06-16 08:41:05

   Use the primary volume name and the full user@host::volume secondary target from this output in the pause command.
   Related: How to check GlusterFS geo-replication status

2. Pause the selected session from the primary cluster.

   $ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary pause
   Pausing geo-replication session between gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary has been successful

   Pausing replication stops new primary changes from reaching the secondary volume until the session is resumed.

3. Confirm that the selected session reports Paused.

   $ 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
   mnode1          gvol-primary   /bricks/b1       geoaccount        snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary  snode1            Paused    N/A                2026-06-16 08:41:05
   mnode2          gvol-primary   /bricks/b2       geoaccount        snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary  snode2            Paused    N/A                2026-06-16 08:41:05

   LAST_SYNCED should remain at the last completed synchronization time while the session is paused.