Redis FLUSH (not async) hangs instance (Redis 6.0)

Redis commands & data structures
1

I want to be able to flush a database of its existing keys.

I am currently using flushdb, however when calling “flushdb” without the async flag, the query takes 10+ seconds to complete and hangs the redis instance, ie nothing else can connect/run at the time. Using the async flag the query completely seemingly instantly.

I understand the async command only deletes keys existing at the time of the function call, however it is unclear to me why not using async takes significantly longer to complete.

In short:

  1. Why does running flushdb in “sync” mode take so much longer than “async”?
  2. Why does this lock/hang the instance for this time?