Improving Performance of Asynchronous Replication in HSM Integrated Storage Systems

A method, in a data processing system, for asynchronous replication in a hierarchical storage management integrated storage system, the method comprising:

• for a given file to be replicated from a primary storage system to a remote storage system, accessing the remote storage system to determine file existence and migration status at the remote storage system for the given file;
• responsive to the primary storage system determining that the given file exists at the remote storage system and has been migrated from first tier storage to second tier storage at the remote storage system, determining a first performance penalty value representing a first performance cost for recall of the given file from the second tier storage to the first tier storage at the remote storage system and a second performance penalty value representing a second performance cost for sending whole file data of the given file from the primary storage system to the remote storage system;
• and
• responsive to the primary storage system determining that the first performance penalty is greater than the second performance penalty, sending whole file data for the given file from the primary storage system to the remote storage system to replicate the given file at the remote storage system.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• for a given file to be replicated from a primary storage system to a remote storage system, access the remote storage system to determine file existence and migration status at the remote storage system for the given file;
• responsive to the primary storage system determining that the given file exists at the remote storage system and has been migrated from first tier storage to second tier storage at the remote storage system, determine a first performance penalty value representing a first performance cost for recall of the given file from the second tier storage to the first tier storage at the remote storage system and a second performance penalty value presenting a second performance cost for sending whole file data of the given file from the primary storage system to the remote storage system;
• and
• responsive to the primary storage system determining that the first performance penalty value is greater than the second performance penalty value, send whole file data for the given file from the primary storage system to the remote storage system to replicate the given file at the remote storage system.