diff --git a/etcdserver/server.go b/etcdserver/server.go
index 21689be8e..d9731dbcc 100644
--- a/etcdserver/server.go
+++ b/etcdserver/server.go
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ const (
 	// max number of in-flight snapshot messages etcdserver allows to have
 	// This number is more than enough for most clusters with 5 machines.
 	maxInFlightMsgSnap = 16
+
+	releaseDelayAfterSnapshot = 30 * time.Second
 )
 
 var (
@@ -184,6 +186,10 @@ type EtcdServer struct {
 	forceVersionC chan struct{}
 
 	msgSnapC chan raftpb.Message
+
+	// count the number of inflight snapshots.
+	// MUST use atomic operation to access this field.
+	inflightSnapshots int64
 }
 
 // NewServer creates a new EtcdServer from the supplied configuration. The
@@ -542,7 +548,7 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) run() {
 		case ep = <-etcdprogc:
 		case m := <-s.msgSnapC:
 			merged := s.createMergedSnapshotMessage(m, ep.appliedi, ep.confState)
-			s.r.transport.SendSnapshot(merged)
+			s.sendMergedSnap(merged)
 		case err := <-s.errorc:
 			plog.Errorf("%s", err)
 			plog.Infof("the data-dir used by this member must be removed.")
@@ -643,6 +649,16 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) triggerSnapshot(ep *etcdProgress) {
 	if ep.appliedi-ep.snapi <= s.snapCount {
 		return
 	}
+
+	// When sending a snapshot, etcd will pause compaction.
+	// After receives a snapshot, the slow follower needs to get all the entries right after
+	// the snapshot sent to catch up. If we do not pause compaction, the log entries right after
+	// the snapshot sent might already be compacted. It happens when the snapshot takes long time
+	// to send and save. Pausing compaction avoids triggering a snapshot sending cycle.
+	if atomic.LoadInt64(&s.inflightSnapshots) != 0 {
+		return
+	}
+
 	plog.Infof("start to snapshot (applied: %d, lastsnap: %d)", ep.appliedi, ep.snapi)
 	s.snapshot(ep.appliedi, ep.confState)
 	ep.snapi = ep.appliedi
@@ -913,6 +929,27 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) send(ms []raftpb.Message) {
 	s.r.transport.Send(ms)
 }
 
+func (s *EtcdServer) sendMergedSnap(merged snap.Message) {
+	atomic.AddInt64(&s.inflightSnapshots, 1)
+
+	s.r.transport.SendSnapshot(merged)
+	go func() {
+		select {
+		case ok := <-merged.CloseNotify():
+			// delay releasing inflight snapshot for another 30 seconds to
+			// block log compaction.
+			// If the follower still fails to catch up, it is probably just too slow
+			// to catch up. We cannot avoid the snapshot cycle anyway.
+			if ok {
+				time.Sleep(releaseDelayAfterSnapshot)
+			}
+			atomic.AddInt64(&s.inflightSnapshots, -1)
+		case <-s.done:
+			return
+		}
+	}()
+}
+
 // apply takes entries received from Raft (after it has been committed) and
 // applies them to the current state of the EtcdServer.
 // The given entries should not be empty.
diff --git a/etcdserver/snapshot_merge.go b/etcdserver/snapshot_merge.go
index 429192df3..f6dac7245 100644
--- a/etcdserver/snapshot_merge.go
+++ b/etcdserver/snapshot_merge.go
@@ -54,10 +54,7 @@ func (s *EtcdServer) createMergedSnapshotMessage(m raftpb.Message, snapi uint64,
 	}
 	m.Snapshot = snapshot
 
-	return snap.Message{
-		Message:    m,
-		ReadCloser: rc,
-	}
+	return *snap.NewMessage(m, rc)
 }
 
 func newSnapshotReaderCloser(snapshot dstorage.Snapshot) io.ReadCloser {
diff --git a/rafthttp/snapshot_sender.go b/rafthttp/snapshot_sender.go
index 9059a4c43..475ae2cb2 100644
--- a/rafthttp/snapshot_sender.go
+++ b/rafthttp/snapshot_sender.go
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ func (s *snapshotSender) send(merged snap.Message) {
 	req := createPostRequest(u, RaftSnapshotPrefix, body, "application/octet-stream", s.from, s.cid)
 
 	err := s.post(req)
+	defer merged.CloseWithError(err)
 	if err != nil {
 		// errMemberRemoved is a critical error since a removed member should
 		// always be stopped. So we use reportCriticalError to report it to errorc.
diff --git a/rafthttp/transport.go b/rafthttp/transport.go
index 43ae95b26..5ae947c6c 100644
--- a/rafthttp/transport.go
+++ b/rafthttp/transport.go
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ func (t *Transport) ActiveSince(id types.ID) time.Time {
 func (t *Transport) SendSnapshot(m snap.Message) {
 	p := t.peers[types.ID(m.To)]
 	if p == nil {
-		m.ReadCloser.Close()
+		m.CloseWithError(errMemberNotFound)
 		return
 	}
 	p.sendSnap(m)
diff --git a/rafthttp/util.go b/rafthttp/util.go
index 75a66cfd7..4efd802a7 100644
--- a/rafthttp/util.go
+++ b/rafthttp/util.go
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/version"
 )
 
-var errMemberRemoved = fmt.Errorf("the member has been permanently removed from the cluster")
+var (
+	errMemberRemoved  = fmt.Errorf("the member has been permanently removed from the cluster")
+	errMemberNotFound = fmt.Errorf("member not found")
+)
 
 // NewListener returns a listener for raft message transfer between peers.
 // It uses timeout listener to identify broken streams promptly.
diff --git a/snap/message.go b/snap/message.go
index 1b7fff192..2d2b21106 100644
--- a/snap/message.go
+++ b/snap/message.go
@@ -27,8 +27,33 @@ import (
 // Message contains the ReadCloser field for handling large snapshot. This avoid
 // copying the entire snapshot into a byte array, which consumes a lot of memory.
 //
-// User of Message should close the ReadCloser after sending it.
+// User of Message should close the Message after sending it.
 type Message struct {
 	raftpb.Message
 	ReadCloser io.ReadCloser
+	closeC     chan bool
+}
+
+func NewMessage(rs raftpb.Message, rc io.ReadCloser) *Message {
+	return &Message{
+		Message:    rs,
+		ReadCloser: rc,
+		closeC:     make(chan bool, 1),
+	}
+}
+
+// CloseNotify returns a channel that receives a single value
+// when the message sent is finished. true indicates the sent
+// is successful.
+func (m Message) CloseNotify() <-chan bool {
+	return m.closeC
+}
+
+func (m Message) CloseWithError(err error) {
+	m.ReadCloser.Close()
+	if err == nil {
+		m.closeC <- true
+	} else {
+		m.closeC <- false
+	}
 }