A transaction manager may be paused so that the transactions it manages are prevented from making transaction state changes. While the transaction manager is paused, the transactions that the transaction manager is executing may not be allowed to complete. A transaction manager may be configured to obtain permission from a transaction freeze manager in order to transition the state of a transaction. The transaction freeze manager may function as a read/write lock manager controlling locks on a transaction freeze object. In servicing a transaction state transition request, the transaction freeze manager may grant the transaction manager a read lock on the transaction freeze object. In servicing a transaction manager pause request, the transaction freeze manager may grant an administrative entity a write lock on the transaction freeze object.