Deduplicated data processing hierarchical rate control in a data deduplication system

For deduplicated data processing hierarchical rate control in a data deduplication system in a computing storage environment, priorities in a hierarchal structure are propagated by defining a relationship between each of a plurality of maintenance tasks and using a resource distribution function for managing and dividing resources between the plurality of maintenance tasks based on a priority for each maintenance task. Each one of the plurality of maintenance tasks is defined to be one of above, below, and at a same level in the hierarchal structure as compared to another one of the plurality of maintenance tasks. The hierarchal structure comprises a tree structure having a plurality of leaf nodes that are actual task and branch nodes that are virtual tasks.