Storage system with fast recovery and resumption of previously-terminated synchronous replication

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices and a storage controller;

the first storage system being configured to participate in a replication process with a second storage system, the replication process being performed under the control of the storage controller;

wherein the first storage system is further configured:

to detect a condition requiring termination of a synchronous replication mode of the replication process;

responsive to the detected condition, to capture a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process;

to terminate the synchronous replication mode of the replication process;

to initiate an asynchronous replication mode of the replication process;

to execute an asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process utilizing the captured snapshot; and

to resume the synchronous replication mode of the replication process responsive to successful completion of the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation;

wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation comprises comparing the captured snapshot to another snapshot taken by the first storage system in order to generate differential data for transmission to the second storage system;

wherein capturing a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process comprises generating at least one snapshot set for a designated source production consistency group before termination of synchronous replication;

wherein the first storage system comprises a plurality of storage nodes each comprising one or more of the storage devices and wherein each of the storage nodes of the first storage system further comprises a set of processing modules configured to communicate over one or more networks with corresponding sets of processing modules on other ones of the storage nodes, the sets of processing modules of the storage nodes of the first storage system collectively comprising at least a portion of the storage controller of the first storage system;

wherein each of the sets of processing modules comprises one or more control modules, one or more routing modules and one or more data modules, and wherein at least one of the sets of processing modules comprises a management module;

wherein the management module instructs all of the control modules of the storage controller to terminate the synchronous replication mode only after confirmation of suspended generation of replication acknowledgements for host device write requests is received from each of those control modules responsive to respective corresponding instructions from the management module to suspend generation of such replication acknowledgements; and

wherein the first storage system is implemented using at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second storage systems comprise respective content addressable storage systems having respective sets of non-volatile memory storage devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second storage systems are associated with respective source and target sites of the replication process and wherein the source site comprises a production site data center and the target site comprises a disaster recovery site data center.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the management module comprises a system-wide management module of the first storage system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the management module instructs all of the control modules of the storage controller to terminate the synchronous replication mode by instructing each of the control modules to stop mirroring write requests to the second storage system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the snapshot set comprises synchronous replication metadata for the designated source production consistency group.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the snapshot set comprises volume mapping data for the designated source production consistency group.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation is part of a given one of a plurality of cycles of the asynchronous replication mode of the replication process.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first storage system is further configured to set a flag responsive to successful capture of the snapshot of source data and to execute the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process responsive to the flag being set.

10. A method comprising:

detecting a condition requiring termination of a synchronous replication mode of a replication process carried out between a first storage system and a second storage system, the first storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices and a storage controller;

responsive to the detected condition, capturing a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process;

terminating the synchronous replication mode of the replication process;

initiating an asynchronous replication mode of the replication process;

executing an asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process utilizing the captured snapshot; and

resuming the synchronous replication mode of the replication process responsive to successful completion of the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation;

wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation comprises comparing the captured snapshot to another snapshot taken by the first storage system in order to generate differential data for transmission to the second storage system;

wherein capturing a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process comprises generating at least one snapshot set for a designated source production consistency group before termination of synchronous replication;

wherein the first storage system comprises a plurality of storage nodes each comprising one or more of the storage devices and wherein each of the storage nodes of the first storage system further comprises a set of processing modules configured to communicate over one or more networks with corresponding sets of processing modules on other ones of the storage nodes, the sets of processing modules of the storage nodes of the first storage system collectively comprising at least a portion of the storage controller of the first storage system;

wherein each of the sets of processing modules comprises one or more control modules, one or more routing modules and one or more data modules, and wherein at least one of the sets of processing modules comprises a management module;

wherein the management module instructs all of the control modules of the storage controller to terminate the synchronous replication mode only after confirmation of suspended generation of replication acknowledgements for host device write requests is received from each of those control modules responsive to respective corresponding instructions from the management module to suspend generation of such replication acknowledgements; and

wherein the method is implemented by at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein a flag is set responsive to successful capture of the snapshot of source data and the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process is executed responsive to the flag being set.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device of a first storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices and a storage controller causes the first storage system:

to detect a condition requiring termination of a synchronous replication mode of a replication process carried out between the first storage system and a second storage system;

responsive to the detected condition, to capture a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process;

to terminate the synchronous replication mode of the replication process;

to initiate an asynchronous replication mode of the replication process;

to execute an asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process utilizing the captured snapshot; and

to resume the synchronous replication mode of the replication process responsive to successful completion of the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation;

wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation comprises comparing the captured snapshot to another snapshot taken by the first storage system in order to generate differential data for transmission to the second storage system;

wherein capturing a snapshot of source data that is subject to replication from the first storage system to the second storage system as part of the replication process comprises generating at least one snapshot set for a designated source production consistency group before termination of synchronous replication;

wherein the first storage system comprises a plurality of storage nodes each comprising one or more of the storage devices and wherein each of the storage nodes of the first storage system further comprises a set of processing modules configured to communicate over one or more networks with corresponding sets of processing modules on other ones of the storage nodes, the sets of processing modules of the storage nodes of the first storage system collectively comprising at least a portion of the storage controller of the first storage system;

wherein each of the sets of processing modules comprises one or more control modules, one or more routing modules and one or more data modules, and wherein at least one of the sets of processing modules comprises a management module; and

wherein the management module instructs all of the control modules of the storage controller to terminate the synchronous replication mode only after confirmation of suspended generation of replication acknowledgements for host device write requests is received from each of those control modules responsive to respective corresponding instructions from the management module to suspend generation of such replication acknowledgements.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein a flag is set responsive to successful capture of the snapshot of source data and the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation for the replication process is executed responsive to the flag being set.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation is part of a given one of a plurality of cycles of the asynchronous replication mode of the replication process.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the detected condition comprises a replication failure condition for a given write request, the replication failure condition comprising a failure to receive in the first storage system a response from the second storage system indicating that the given write request has been successfully mirrored from the first storage system to the second storage system, and further wherein in conjunction with termination of the synchronous replication mode, generation of replication acknowledgements to one or more host devices is suspended for write requests received from the one or more host devices.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the detected condition comprises a replication failure condition for a given write request, the replication failure condition comprising a failure to receive in the first storage system a response from the second storage system indicating that the given write request has been successfully mirrored from the first storage system to the second storage system, and further wherein in conjunction with termination of the synchronous replication mode, generation of replication acknowledgements to one or more host devices is suspended for write requests received from the one or more host devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the detected condition comprises a replication failure condition for a given write request, the replication failure condition comprising a failure to receive in the first storage system a response from the second storage system indicating that the given write request has been successfully mirrored from the first storage system to the second storage system, and further wherein in conjunction with termination of the synchronous replication mode, generation of replication acknowledgements to one or more host devices is suspended for write requests received from the one or more host devices.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the snapshot set comprises synchronous replication metadata for the designated source production consistency group.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the snapshot set comprises volume mapping data for the designated source production consistency group.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the asynchronous-to-synchronous transition cycle scan operation is part of a given one of a plurality of cycles of the asynchronous replication mode of the replication process.