How to configure GlusterFS geo-replication options

Tuning GlusterFS geo-replication session options keeps asynchronous replication aligned with recovery goals and link capacity. Settings such as concurrency and delete handling influence how quickly the secondary catches up and how much bandwidth is consumed during steady state and catch-up syncs.

Geo-replication tracks changes on the primary and ships them to a paired secondary using gsyncd workers and a configured transfer method (for example rsync or tar-over-SSH). Session settings are stored per primary/secondary pair, and gluster volume geo-replication … config is used to list option/value pairs or update a single option for that session.

Some option changes can restart the geo-replication session and trigger additional crawling, which may temporarily increase load on bricks and network links. Options such as ignore-deletes change retention semantics on the secondary, so operational expectations for restores and cleanup should be confirmed before enabling them.

Steps to configure GlusterFS geo-replication options:

List the current configuration for the session.
```
$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary config
sync-jobs 3
log-level INFO
ignore-deletes 0
```
Option names and defaults can vary by release. Copy the exact key name from the listing when updating values.
Set the number of parallel sync jobs for the session.
```
$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary config sync-jobs 6
geo-replication config updated successfully
```
sync-jobs increases concurrency per active worker and can raise CPU, disk, and WAN utilization when set too high.
Enable ignore-deletes to preserve files deleted on the primary on the secondary.
```
$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary config ignore-deletes 1
geo-replication config updated successfully
```
Enabling ignore-deletes makes the secondary a superset of the primary and can complicate retention and cleanup.

Verify the updated option values.

$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary config
sync-jobs 6
log-level INFO
ignore-deletes 1

Author: Mohd Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is a cloud architect with deep roots in software development and open-source advocacy. Certified in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, he specializes in designing and managing robust cloud and on-premises infrastructures.