Systems, methods and computer program products for selective copying of track data through peer-to-peer remote copy

1. A primary storage system, comprising:

at least one primary storage device;

at least one controller;

an interface for a hardwire connection that is adapted to communicate data between the primary storage system and a secondary storage system; and

logic integrated with and/or executable by the at least one controller, the logic being configured to:

receive a request to establish a Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) relationship between the primary storage system and the secondary storage system;

set the path between the primary storage system and the secondary storage system via the hardwire connection in response to receiving the request;

receive a memory map;

establish the PPRC relationship between the primary storage system and the secondary storage system in response to receiving the memory map; and

copy, based at least in part on the memory map, one or more data tracks of the primary storage device to the secondary storage system without copying at least one other data track of the primary storage device to the secondary storage system; and

wherein the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device comprise data tracks of a first characteristic, and

wherein each other portion of the primary storage device comprises one or more data tracks of a second characteristic.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein an amount of time required to copy the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device is directly proportional to a number of data tracks of the primary device to be copied to the secondary storage system.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data tracks of the first characteristic comprise valid data records, and

wherein the data tracks of the second characteristic comprise one or more of:

invalid data records; and

empty data tracks.

4. The system as recited in claim 3 , wherein an amount of time required to copy the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device is directly proportional to a number of data tracks of the first characteristic.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the memory map is generated by software for use by the controller.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the memory map is a bit map, and

wherein the bit map is generated based at least in part on a track bit map.

7. The system as recited in claim wherein the memory map is an out-of-sync (OOS) bitmap.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the primary storage device is a direct-access storage device (DASD).

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the request comprises a channel command word (CCW).

10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one controller is a memory subsystem controller.

11. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable/executable by a processor to:

process a received request in response to receiving the request;

process a received memory map;

establish a Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) relationship between a primary storage system and a secondary storage system in response to processing the received memory map; and

copy, based at least in part on the processed memory map, one or more data tracks of a primary storage device of the primary storage system to the secondary storage system without copying at least one other data track of the primary storage device to the secondary storage system wherein the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device comprise data tracks of a first characteristic, and

wherein each other portion of the primary storage device comprises one or more data tracks of a second characteristic.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 11 , wherein the program code is further readable/executable by the processor to designate only the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device for copying in response to processing the received memory map.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 11 , wherein the program code is further readable/executable by the processor to generate the memory map using software.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 11 wherein the program code is further readable/executable by the processor to receive the memory map from a host system configured to generate the memory map using a processor of the host system, wherein the memory map is a bit map based at least in part on a track bit map.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to establish a Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) relationship between a primary storage system and a secondary storage system;

setting a path between the primary storage system and the secondary storage system via a hardwire connection in response to receiving the request;

receiving a memory map;

establishing the PPRC relationship via the hardwire connection using the path; and

copying, based at least in part on the memory map, one or more data tracks of a primary storage device in the primary storage system to the secondary storage system without copying at least one other data track of the primary storage device to the secondary storage system

wherein the one or more data tracks of the primary storage device comprise data tracks of a first characteristic, and

wherein each other portion of the primary storage device comprises one or more data tracks of a second characteristic.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 , further comprising generating the memory map, and

wherein the memory map is a bit map.

17. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein the bitmap is generated by software using a processor of a host system.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the bitmap is generated based at least in part on a track bit map.

19. The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein each of the one or more data tracks of the first characteristic comprise one or more valid data records, and

wherein each data track of the secondary characteristic comprises either: one or more invalid data records or an empty data track.