Cache management based on types of I/O operations

1. A method, comprising:

generating a list of a first type of tracks and a second type of tracks in a cache; and

adding a track to the list of the first type of tracks or to the list of the second type of tracks based on whether a last I/O operation performed on the track is a first type of I/O operation or a second type of I/O operation, wherein:

for performing the first type of I/O operation to a first type of track, an application thread is held in a spin loop waiting for the first type of I/O operation to complete; and

for performing the second type of I/O operation to a second type of track, holding of the application thread in the spin loop is avoided.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracks in the list of the first type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the first type of tracks has been used, and wherein tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the second type of tracks has been used.

3. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

in response to determining that a read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the second type of tracks is less than a predetermined factor of a read hit ratio for tracks in the first type of tracks, demoting a track from the list of the second type of tracks.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the first type of tracks and the read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are computed based on read hits on a predetermined bottom portion of the list of the first type of tracks and the second type of tracks.

5. The method of claim 3 , the method further comprising:

adjusting the predetermined factor to increase a rate of input/output (I/O) operations.

6. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations performed by the processor comprising:

generating a list of a first type of tracks and a second type of tracks in a cache; and

adding a track to the list of the first type of tracks or to the list of the second type of tracks based on whether a last I/O operation performed on the track is a first type of I/O operation or a second type of I/O operation, wherein:

for performing the first type of I/O operation to a first type of track, an application thread is held in a spin loop waiting for the first type of I/O operation to complete; and

for performing the second type of I/O operation to a second type of track, holding of the application thread in the spin loop is avoided.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein tracks in the list of the first type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the first type of tracks has been used, and wherein tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the second type of tracks has been used.

8. The system of claim 6 , the operations further comprising:

in response to determining that a read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the second type of tracks is less than a predetermined factor of a read hit ratio for tracks in the first type of tracks, demoting a track from the list of the second type of tracks.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the first type of tracks and the read hit ratio for tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are computed based on read hits on a predetermined bottom portion of the list of the first type of tracks and the second type of tracks.

10. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising: adjusting the predetermined factor to increase a rate of input/output (I/O) operations.

11. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to perform operations, the operations comprising:

generating a list of a first type of tracks and a second type of tracks in a cache; and

adding a track to the list of the first type of tracks or to the list of the second type of tracks based on whether a last I/O operation performed on the track is a first type of I/O operation or a second type of I/O operation, wherein:

for performing the first type of I/O operation to a first type of track, an application thread is held in a spin loop waiting for the first type of I/O operation to complete; and

for performing the second type of I/O operation to a second type of track, holding of the application thread in the spin loop is avoided.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein tracks in the list of the first type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the first type of tracks has been used, and wherein tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the second type of tracks has been used.

13. A storage controller, comprising:

a cache; and

a cache management application maintained in the storage controller, wherein the cache management application performs operations, the operations comprising:

generating a list of a first type of tracks and a second type of tracks in the cache; and

adding a track to the list of the first type of tracks or to the list of the second type of tracks based on whether a last I/O operation performed on the track is a first type of I/O operation or a second type of I/O operation, wherein:

for performing the first type of I/O operation to a first type of track, an application thread is held in a spin loop waiting for the first type of I/O operation to complete; and

for performing the second type of I/O operation to a second type of track, holding of the application thread in the spin loop is avoided.

14. The storage controller of claim 13 , wherein tracks in the list of the first type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the first type of tracks has been used, and wherein tracks in the list of the second type of tracks are ordered based on how recently each track in the list of the second type of tracks has been used.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein operations are performed on the cache based on the list of the first type of tracks and the list of the second type of tracks.

16. The system of claim 6 , wherein operations are performed on the cache based on the list of the first type of tracks and the list of the second type of tracks.

17. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein operations are performed on the cache based on the list of the first type of tracks and the list of the second type of tracks.

18. The storage controller of claim 13 , wherein operations are performed on the cache based on the list of the first type of tracks and the list of the second type of tracks.