How to restore Pacemaker cluster configuration

Restoring a Pacemaker cluster configuration quickly reintroduces resources, constraints, and fencing behavior after node rebuilds, failed changes, or an unexpected loss of cluster state.

A backup created with pcs config backup is a compressed archive said to include key configuration and authentication files for Corosync, Pacemaker, and pcsd. The pcs config restore command replays that archive, replaces the local cluster configuration files, and distributes the restored files across the cluster.

A restore replaces the current configuration, so applying the wrong archive can remove resources, alter quorum or fencing settings, or change network membership details. Perform restores during a maintenance window, confirm the saved node names and interface addressing still match the current hosts, and keep a separate copy of the existing configuration for rollback.

1. Copy the backup archive to a cluster node.

   $ ls -lh /var/tmp/pacemaker-config-backup.tar.bz2
   -rw------- 1 root root 2.2K Dec 31 08:28 /var/tmp/pacemaker-config-backup.tar.bz2

2. Inspect the backup archive contents.

   $ sudo tar --list --bzip2 --file /var/tmp/pacemaker-config-backup.tar.bz2
   version.txt
   cib.xml
   corosync_authkey
   pacemaker_authkey
   corosync.conf
   uidgid.d/

   Confirm the archive contains the expected cluster files before overwriting the live configuration.

3. Stop the cluster services on all nodes.

   $ sudo pcs cluster stop --all
   node-01: Stopping Cluster (pacemaker)...
   node-02: Stopping Cluster (pacemaker)...
   node-03: Stopping Cluster (pacemaker)...
   node-01: Stopping Cluster (corosync)...
   node-02: Stopping Cluster (corosync)...
   node-03: Stopping Cluster (corosync)...

   Stopping the cluster can interrupt services managed by Pacemaker.

4. Restore the cluster configuration from the archive.

   $ sudo pcs config restore /var/tmp/pacemaker-config-backup.tar.bz2
   node-01: Succeeded
   node-02: Succeeded
   node-03: Succeeded

   Restoring overwrites the current cluster configuration.

5. Start the cluster services on all nodes.

   $ sudo pcs cluster start --all
   node-02: Starting Cluster...
   node-03: Starting Cluster...
   node-01: Starting Cluster...

6. Verify the cluster status after the restore.

   $ sudo pcs status
   Cluster name: clustername
   Cluster Summary:
     * Stack: corosync (Pacemaker is running)
     * Current DC: node-03 (version 2.1.6-6fdc9deea29) - partition with quorum
     * Last updated: Wed Dec 31 08:29:10 2025 on node-01
     * Last change:  Wed Dec 31 08:26:43 2025 by root via cibadmin on node-01
     * 3 nodes configured
     * 2 resource instances configured
   
   Node List:
     * Online: [ node-01 node-02 node-03 ]
   
   Full List of Resources:
     * cluster_ip (ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2): Started node-01
     * web-service (systemd:nginx): Started node-02
   
   Daemon Status:
     corosync: active/enabled
     pacemaker: active/enabled
     pcsd: active/enabled