Non-disruptively transition from asynchronous replication to bi-directional synchronous replication for a multi-site storage system

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, which when executed by one or more processing resources of a multi-site distributed storage system cause the one or more processing resources to:

• transition from an asynchronous replication to initiating bi-directional synchronous replication including a forward synchronization process from one or more storage objects of a first consistency group (CG1) of a primary storage site to one or more storage objects of a second consistency group (CG2) of a secondary storage site;
• convert the one or more storage objects of the CG2 from data protection read only access to read write access;
• and
• perform a reverse synchronization process from the one or more storage objects of the CG2 to the one or more storage objects of the CG1 including instantiating a reverse splitter on each volume of CG2, establishing reverse sync replication sessions for each storage object of the CG2, and allowing input output (IO) access to the one or more storage objects of the CG2.

A multi-site distributed storage system having a primary storage site with a primary storage cluster and a secondary storage site with a secondary storage cluster, comprising:

• one or more processing resources;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processing resources, having stored therein instructions, which when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to:
• transition from an asynchronous replication to initiating bi-directional synchronous replication including a forward synchronization process from one or more storage objects of a first consistency group (CG1) of a primary storage site to one or more storage objects of a second consistency group (CG2) of a secondary storage site;
• convert the one or more storage objects of the CG2 from data protection read only access to read write access;
• and
• perform a reverse synchronization process from the one or more storage objects of the CG2 to the one or more storage objects of the CG1 including instantiating a reverse splitter on each volume of CG2, establishing reverse sync replication sessions for each storage object of the CG2, and allowing input output (IO) access to the one or more storage objects of the CG2.