Grey Failure Handling in Distributed Storage Systems

Techniques are disclosed relating to managing distributed storage of data across availability zones and the replication of data in case of storage server failures. A distributed storage system may include storage servers distributed across availability zones with an auditor instantiated in at least one storage server. The auditor manages the replication of data in the event of one or more storage servers failure in an availability zone. In the event of the failure, the auditor may determine the extent of the failure and whether the failure involves a small number or a large number of storage servers. In the event a large number of storage servers being affected, the auditor may delay replication of data to see if the failure is temporary and avoid unwanted data transfer of large amounts of data across availability zones.