Coordinating methods of I/O access to a shared data store. A method includes at a node, in a distributed system, performing one or more I/O operations on the shared data store using direct I/O access on a virtual data container. Direct I/O access includes performing I/O operations directly from the node to the shared data store including not having an owner node perform the I/O operation on the shared data store on the node's behalf. The owner node is a different node than the node doing the direct I/O operation. The owner node accesses the shared data store through a local data container. The method further includes determining that one or more subsequent I/O operations should be performed using redirected I/O access, where I/O operations are directed through a centralized node. The method further includes indicating to nodes in the distributed system to switch to redirected I/O access method.