Providing preferential access to a metadata track in two track writes

A system, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising:
• storing, by a cache management process, in a metadata track, metadata corresponding to a first customer data track and a second customer data track, wherein the first customer data track, the second customer data track and the metadata track are stored in a cache;
• in response to receiving, by the cache management process, a first request to perform a write on the first customer data track, providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the first customer data track to the first request, and providing shared access to the metadata track to the first request;
• and
• in response to receiving, by the cache management process, a second request to perform a write on the second customer data track, providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the second customer data track to the second request, and providing, by the cache management process, shared access to the metadata track to the second request prior to providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the metadata track to at least one process that is waiting for exclusive access to the metadata track, wherein the at least one process is waiting for exclusive access to the metadata track prior to the receiving by the cache management process of the second request from the two track write process.

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:

• storing, by a cache management process, in a metadata track, metadata corresponding to a first customer data track and a second customer data track, wherein the first customer data track, the second customer data track and the metadata track are stored in a cache;
• in response to receiving, by the cache management process, a first request to perform a write on the first customer data track, providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the first customer data track to the first request, and providing shared access to the metadata track to the first request;
• and
• in response to receiving, by the cache management process, a second request to perform a write on the second customer data track, providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the second customer data track to the second request, and providing, by the cache management process, shared access to the metadata track to the second request prior to providing, by the cache management process, exclusive access to the metadata track to at least one process that is waiting for exclusive access to the metadata track, wherein the at least one process is waiting for exclusive access to the metadata track prior to the receiving by the cache management process of the second request from the two track write process.