How to pause a GlusterFS geo-replication session

Pausing a GlusterFS geo-replication session is useful when a temporary halt is needed for maintenance, coordinated snapshots, or troubleshooting synchronization behavior. The session remains configured, making it possible to stop change shipping without removing the replication relationship.

Geo-replication maintains an asynchronous copy of a primary volume on a secondary cluster by running a replication session between the volume pair. The session performs periodic crawls on the primary side and transfers updates over SSH to the secondary, allowing both volumes to stay online while synchronization occurs.

While paused, client writes can continue on the primary volume and the secondary falls behind until the session is resumed, so disaster-recovery freshness degrades for the duration of the pause. Ensure the correct user@host::volume target is used when multiple sessions exist, and keep the pause window as short as practical to reduce catch-up work when replication resumes.

Steps to pause a GlusterFS geo-replication session:

Check the current state of the geo-replication session on the primary cluster.

$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary status
MASTER NODE      SLAVE NODE                         STATUS     CRAWL STATUS       LAST SYNCED
node1            snode1.example.com                 Active     History Crawl      2025-12-25 00:41:05
##### snipped #####

The same status command is useful after pausing to confirm the state change.

Pause the geo-replication session on the primary cluster.
```
$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary pause
geo-replication: pause: success
```
Pausing replication stops updates from reaching the secondary volume, so new changes remain only on the primary until replication is resumed.

Confirm the session reports a Paused state.

$ sudo gluster volume geo-replication gvol-primary geoaccount@snode1.example.com::gvol-secondary status
MASTER NODE      SLAVE NODE                         STATUS     CRAWL STATUS       LAST SYNCED
node1            snode1.example.com                 Paused     N/A               2025-12-25 00:41:05
##### snipped #####

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.