How to enable or disable a Pacemaker resource

Enabling or disabling a Pacemaker resource controls whether the cluster actively manages a service. Disabling a resource is commonly used for maintenance windows, emergency mitigation, or controlled troubleshooting when automated recovery must be paused.

Pacemaker schedules resources from the cluster configuration stored in the CIB and runs them via resource agents such as OCF scripts or systemd units. The pcs command updates that configuration cluster-wide so the scheduler targets the resource as Started (enabled) or Stopped (disabled).

Disabling a resource is persistent until explicitly enabled again and can cause real downtime for anything that depends on it. Resources in a group or tied by ordering/colocation constraints may stop or relocate when a resource is disabled, so confirm service impact before changing state.

1. Review the cluster status to confirm the cluster is healthy.

   $ 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 09:14:26 2025 on node-01
     * Last change:  Wed Dec 31 09:07:08 2025 by hacluster via crmd on node-02
     * 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-02
     * web-service (systemd:nginx): Started node-02
   
   Daemon Status:
     corosync: active/enabled
     pacemaker: active/enabled
     pcsd: active/enabled

2. List current resources to confirm the exact resource ID to change.

   $ sudo pcs status resources
     * cluster_ip (ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2): Started node-02
     * web-service (systemd:nginx): Started node-02

3. Disable the resource.

   $ sudo pcs resource disable web-service --wait=120
   Waiting for the cluster to apply configuration changes (timeout: 120 seconds)...
   resource 'web-service' is not running on any node

   Disabling stops the resource and prevents Pacemaker from starting or failing it over until it is enabled again.

4. Confirm the resource is shown as Stopped (disabled).

   $ sudo pcs status resources
     * cluster_ip (ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2): Started node-02
     * web-service (systemd:nginx): Stopped (disabled)

5. Enable the resource when cluster control should resume.

   $ sudo pcs resource enable web-service --wait=120
   Waiting for the cluster to apply configuration changes (timeout: 120 seconds)...
   resource 'web-service' is running on node 'node-02'

6. Confirm the resource is Started on a node.

   $ sudo pcs status resources
     * cluster_ip (ocf:heartbeat:IPaddr2): Started node-02
     * web-service (systemd:nginx): Started node-02