Patent Publication Number: US-11032263-B2

Title: Provide access to data storage services in a network environment

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, and method for providing data storage services in a network environment. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Cloud storage services allow computer, network and storage resource to be shared among multiple tenants (users of the system). These systems substantially increase resource utilization and scalability, while driving down total-cost-of-ownership. In order to adopt these systems, many tenants (customers) require a high-level of logical isolation to sufficiently protect business interests. With highly regulated tenants (customers), Healthcare (HIPAA), Data Privacy (GDPR), and Financial (Gramm-Leach-Bliley) regulations drive strict isolation to protect data and ensure only authorized personnel can view sensitive information. These regulations are further complicated when a single customer has multiple tenants and has increased needs for isolation and economies of scale. 
     To isolate data and control access, the cloud storage service provider may require a user present authentication information, such as user identifier and password, to access assigned resources. 
     There is a need in the art for controlling access to storage services and resources in a storage network environment. 
     SUMMARY 
     Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using hierarchical tags to provide data storage services in a network environment. Multi-tenancy information for a plurality of clients has for each client of the clients, at least one tenant assigned to the client, and for each of the at least one tenant assigned to a client, at least one data source assigned to the tenant assigned to the client, and for each of the at least one data source, information on at least one user assigned to the data source and permitted access to the data source. A user is provided an isolate tag to use when accessing data in a data source comprising a client tag identifying one client, a tenant tag identifying one tenant, and a data source tag identifying one data source to which the user is permitted to access data. An isolate tag is received from a user with an user access request to data in a data source, wherein the isolate tag indicates the client tag, tenant tag, and data source tag. The user access request is validated by determining whether the multi-tenancy information indicates that the client, tenant, and data source identified by the client tag, the tenant tag, and the data source tag, respectively, in the isolate tag, are related. The user access request to the data source identified by the data source tag is processed in response to the validating the user access request. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a network storage environment. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of a tenant hierarchy. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of client information for clients in the hierarchy. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of tenant information for tenants in the hierarchy. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of data source information for data sources in the hierarchy. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of user information for a user in the hierarchy. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of an isolation tag. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of an access request. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment of operations to register a user with a tenant in the hierarchy. 
         FIGS. 10 a  and 10 b    illustrate an embodiment of operations to process an access request for a data source in the tenant hierarchy. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates a computing environment in which the components of  FIG. 1  may be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Described embodiments provide improvements to computer technology for controlling and isolating access to storage resources in a multi-tenant storage environment. Described embodiments provide improvements by providing multi-tenancy information of client units, including sub-units of clients, which encapsulate one or more lower level sub-units of the client, such as tenants, or data sources. This multi-tenancy information may then be used to verify that client, tenant and data source tags a user provides with an access request are related and assigned in the multi-tenancy information to the user submitting the request. 
     Described embodiments allow for scalable addition of clients, tenants, data sources, and users by adding new clients, tenants, data sources, and users to the multi-tenancy information and providing users the isolate tags of the related client, tenant and data source the user is permitted to access. Further, the isolate tag is used to determine whether the multi-tenancy information relates the client, tenant, and data source identified in the isolate tag with the user presenting the access request to authenticate the user access. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a data storage environment having a multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  managing files and data sources for different user groups to isolate the files and data sources that are available. The multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  is coupled to a storage  102  in which data sources  104  are configured providing separate and isolated storage regions in which files, data and database records for different users may be stored, isolated from one another through the configuration of clients, tenants and data sources in the multi-tenancy configuration registry  112 . Users at client systems  106   1 ,  106   2  . . .  106   n  may communicate data access requests to the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  with respect to data in the data sources  104  over a network  108 . 
     The multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  includes a registration manager  110  to register clients, tenants, data sources, and users with the server  100 . A client may comprise an organization that has subscribed to the data storage services offered by the operator of the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 . The client element in the hierarchy may have various sub-units or divisions referred to as tenants, each having different and specific data storage needs. The client may arrange to have one or more data sources assigned to the tenants of the client to provide data storage for the client tenants. The client may further register users of the client to be associated with the data sources for tenants, where a registered user may be a member or associated with a tenant of the client and a data source of the tenant. There may be additional levels in the hierarchy for different possible breakdowns or units of the client than tenants and data sources. The configuration of clients, tenants, data sources and users may be represented in a multi-tenancy configuration registry  112  having multi-tenancy information  114  comprised of one or more clients  300 , where each client  300  is associated with one or more tenants  400 , where each tenant  400  is assigned one or more data sources  500 , and where users  600  are assigned to one or more data sources  500 . The clients, tenants, data sources, and users may be represented in a hierarchical relationship. In further embodiments, there may be additional levels of the hierarchy, such as tenants and clients. 
     The multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  includes an ingestion component  116  to process incoming data access requests, including read and write requests, and multiple data processing services  118  that are called to process data for read and write requests. The data processing services  118  may comprise encryption, compression, formatting, and other data operations. 
     The ingestion component  116 , registration manager  110 , data processing services  118 , and multi-tenancy configuration register  112  may be implemented as software in the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  or as software as a service (SaaS), wherein the tenant hierarchy storage is offered as a service, such as a cloud based service. 
     The storage  102  may comprise different types or classes of storage devices, such as magnetic hard disk drives, solid state storage device (SSD) comprised of solid state electronics, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash memory, flash disk, Random Access Memory (RAM) drive, storage-class memory (SCM), etc., Phase Change Memory (PCM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), spin transfer torque memory (STT-RAM), conductive bridging RAM (CBRAM), magnetic hard disk drive, optical disk, tape, etc. Data in the storage  102  may further be configured from an array of devices, such as Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD), Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array, virtualization device, etc. Further, the storage  102  may comprise heterogeneous storage devices from different vendors and different types of storage devices, such as a first type of storage devices, e.g., hard disk drives, that have a slower data transfer rate than a second type of storage devices, e.g., SSDs. 
     The network  108  may comprise one or more networks including Local Area Networks (LAN), Storage Area Networks (SAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), peer-to-peer network, wireless network, the Internet, etc. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of the multi-tenancy information  114  represented as a hierarchy of levels, where the clients, tenants, data sources and users at different levels relate in a hierarchical manner. A user is permitted to access a source on a client/tenant/source path that extends to the user information in the hierarchy, where. 
     In alternative embodiments, the different nodes, such as client, tenant, and data source nodes, of information may be arbitrarily nested with each other in relationships other than client-tenant-data source, in a non-fixed hierarchy or alternative hierarchies. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of an instance of client information  300   i  maintained for one client in the multi-tenancy information  114 , and includes a client identifier (ID)  302 ; a client tag  304  used to uniquely identify the client  302  to the users; one or more tenants  306  associated with the client  302 ; and other client metadata  308 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of an instance of tenant information  400   i  maintained for one client in the multi-tenancy information  114 , and includes a tenant identifier (ID)  402 ; a tenant tag  404  used to uniquely identify the tenant  402  to the users; one or more data sources  406  associated with the tenant  402 ; a read processing pipeline  408  indicating a flow of data processing services  118  to apply to data read from a data source  406  assigned to the tenant  400   i ; a write processing pipeline  410  indicating a flow of data processing services  118  to apply to write data provided with a write request to write to a data source  404  assigned to the tenant; a relational schema  412  describing a relationship or organization of data with respect to how the data is stored, such as in a database schema of a database in the data source  104 , such as rows, columns, attributes to which the data maps; and other tenant metadata  414 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of an instance of data source information  500   i  maintained in the multi-tenancy information  114 , and includes a data source identifier (ID)  502  representing a data source  104  in the storage  102 ; a data source tag  504  used to uniquely identify the data source to the users; one or more users  506  assigned to use the data source  502 ; and data source metadata  508  providing further information on the data source  502 , such as the type of storage devices in which the data source  502  is configured, logical storage configuration, location or logical volume in the storage  102  to access the data source  104  represented by the information  500   i , etc. 
     In additional embodiments, the processing pipeline  408 ,  410  and relational schema  512  information may be associated with a different level of the multi-tenancy information  114 , such as at the client level to apply to data for any tenant and data source, or at the data source level. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of user information  600   i  which may be assigned to a data source  500   i  in user field  506 , including a user ID  602  identifying the user, a password  604 , and user metadata  606  providing information on the user. 
     The relationship of the clients, tenants, data sources and users in the client  300 , tenant  400 , data source  500 , and user  600  information may form a hierarchical relationship of the elements, where the tenants  306  comprise children of the tenants  400 , the data sources  406  comprise children of the tenants  400 , and the users  506  comprise the children of the data sources  500 . In alternative embodiments, there may be other relationships of the clients, tenants, and users in alternative hierarchies, such as a data source or user may be associated directly with a client or user. 
     The above tags  304 ,  404 ,  504  may remain fixed to ensure the integrity of the ownership information and enforcement during access. The described embodiments provide dynamic separation of data storage and processing at any of the levels in the hierarchy based on an isolate tag the user supplies with a data access request to the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 , such as a read or write request. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of an isolate tag  700  provided to the user to present when submitting any read or write access request to the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 , comprising a client tag  702 , tenant tag  704 , and data source tag  706  representing the client  300   i , tenant  400   i , and data source  500   i  in the multi-tenancy information  114  the user is authorized to access. The isolate tag  700  fields  702 ,  704 , and  706  may be encrypted before being returned to the user to prevent someone intercepting the isolate tag  700  and presenting to use to access the storage services. 
     The isolate tag  700  defines an isolation zone of a data source  104  the user is permitted to access, that is isolated from other clients, tenants, and data sources to which other users are assigned. Users may be assigned to different isolation zones, i.e., different data sources in the same or different tenants and clients. In this way, the isolate tag  700  defines the path of defined elements, e.g., client, tenant, and data source, the user is permitted to access. The isolate tag  700  may be encrypted and decrypted using suitable encryption techniques known in the art. 
     With the described embodiments, the isolation zones are supported and implemented through a software implementation that does not require additional infrastructure requirements to support new data isolation zones for a new tenant, new data source or user because the services that provide processing and storage of data use tags to identify ownership and provide isolation. Minimal administrative cost is required for supporting new data isolation zones, because once the multi-tenancy information  114  is configured in the multi-tenancy configuration repository  112 , all the services in the system can dynamically understand ownership based on the isolate tag  700  associated with the request and provide isolation among different tenants, sources or users. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of an access request  800  submitted by a user to the ingestion component  116 , including an isolate tag  802 , comprising the isolate tag  700  presented to the user to use when access the storage services of the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 ; a user ID  804  and password  806  for the user; and an access request  808 , comprising a read or write request, and if a write request write data. The isolate tag  802  may be encrypted. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the registration manager  110  to register a user with the multi-tenancy information  114 . Upon initiating (at block  900 ) an operation to register a user with the tenant hierarchy, the registration manager  110  generates (at block  902 ) user information  600   i  for the user including a user ID  602  and password  604 , which may be determined by interacting with the user at a client  106   i . The user ID  602  is added (at block  904 ) to the users field  506  of data source information  500   i  for a data source  104  associated with a tenant  400   i , which is associated with a client  300   i  to which the user is assigned. The registration manager  110  generates and encrypts (at block  906 ) an isolate tag  700  for the user comprising the client tag  304 , tenant tag  404  and data source tag  504  in encrypted isolate tag fields  702 ,  704 , and  706 , respectively, representing the client, tenant and data source with which the user is in the multi-tenancy information  114 . The encrypted isolate tag  700  is then returned (at block  908 ) to the user to present with every data access request the user is to present to the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  to access data sources  104  and data processing services  118  from the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 . 
     With described embodiments, when a user registers for the storage services offered by the a multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100 , the hierarchy identified in the isolate tag  700  is defined as per the user&#39;s data isolation needs and information on the user included in the multi-tenancy configuration registry  112 . The user IDs are assigned against the nodes in the hierarchy at a level of access at which the user is permitted. For instance, a user ID may be associated with a tenant  400   i  or client  300   i  information/nodes in the hierarchy to then be given access to all levels below the level at which the user ID is associated. 
       FIGS. 10 a  and 10 b    illustrate an embodiment of operations performed by the ingestion component  116  to process an access request  800 . Upon initiating (at block  1000 ) ingestion processing, the ingestion component  116  decrypts (at block  1001 ) the client  702 , tenant  704 , and data source  706  tags in the received isolate tag  802 . The ingestion component  116  determines (at block  1002 ) whether the password  806  in the access request  800  matches the password  604  in the user information  600   i  for the user ID  602  matching the user ID  804  in the access request  800 . If (at block  1002 ) there is a match, then the ingestion component  116  determines (at block  1004 ) whether the user ID  804  in the access request  800  is assigned to a data source  500   i , as indicated in user field  506 , in the multi-tenancy information  114  having a data source tag  504  matching the data source tag  706  in the isolate tag  802  in the access request  800 . If (at block  1004 ) the user ID  804  in the request is assigned to a data source  500   i  identified by data source tag  706  in the isolate tag  802  presented with the access request  800 , then the ingestion component  116  determines (at block  1006 ) whether the data source  500   i , to which the user ID  804  is assigned, is assigned to a tenant  400   i , as indicated in the data source field  406  of the tenant information  400   i  having a tenant tag  404  matching the tenant tag  704  in the isolate tag  802  of the access request  800 . 
     If (at block  1006 ) the data source  500   i , identified by the data source tag  706  in the isolate tag  802 , is assigned to a tenant  400   i  having a tenant tag  404  matching the decrypted tenant tag  704 , then the ingestion component  116  determines whether the assigned tenant is assigned  804  to a client  300   i  in the multi-tenancy information  114  by determining (at block  1008 ) whether the assigned tenant  400   i  (assigned the data source  500   i  having the user ID  804 ) is assigned to a client  300   i  having a client tag  304  matching the client tag  702  in the isolate tag  802  in the access request  800 . If so, then control proceeds to block  1015  in  FIG. 10 b    to process the access request  800 . Otherwise, if at block  1002 ,  1004 ,  1006 , and  1008  the isolate tag  802  in the access request  800  does not define a hierarchy of client/tenant/data source in the multi-tenancy information  114  to which the user is assigned, then fail is returned (at block  1010 ) to the access request  800   
     At block  1014  in  FIG. 10 b   , if the access request is a read, then the ingestion component  116  uses (at block  1016 ) the relational schema  412  associated with the tenant  400   i  including the data source  500   i  of the user  804  to read the requested data in the format of the relational schema  412 . The ingestion component  116  applies (at block  1018 ) the read processing pipeline  408  associated with the tenant  400   i  in the hierarchy and the specified data processing services  118 , according to the workflow defined in the read processing pipeline  408 , to the read data. The processed read data is returned (at block  1020 ) to the user. If (at block  1014 ) the request is a write, then the ingestion component  116  applies (at block  1022 ) the write processing pipeline  410  associated with the tenant  400   i  in the hierarchy and specified data processing services  118  to the write data in the request  800 . The ingestion component  116  stores (at block  1024 ) the processed write data in the data source  104  identified by the data source  500   i  of the data source tag according to the relational schema  412 . In certain embodiments, the data stored in a data source  104  may be stored with the isolate tag  700  identifying the client/tenant/data source hierarchy of the data source to be available to verify the proper storage and processing isolation is applied to the stored data. 
     With the described operations of  FIGS. 10 a  and 10 b   , the relationships defined in the multi-tenancy information  114  of the client, tenant, and data source determine whether the isolate tag  802  the user presents permits the user access to the requested client/tenant/data source presented in the isolate tag  802  of the access request  800 . Further, data from a user is stored in an isolation region or data source  104  defined by the isolate tag  802  presented by the user in the request. Further, the data processing services  118  applied to the data involved in the request  800  is determined by the data processing services defined in the pipelines  408 ,  410  associated with the tenant identified in the tenant tag  704  in the isolate tag  802  of the request. In this way, described embodiments provide improved techniques for processing user access requests by using an isolate tag provided with the access request to authenticate the user access to the requested client/tenant/data source, to determine where to store the user data, isolated from data stored for other data sources  104 , and to determine and isolate the processing applied to the data subject to the user request. Thus, in addition to guaranteeing isolation of the data between tenants while at rest in the storage  102 , the processing of the data is also performed with isolation between the tenants or other level, such as data sources or clients. 
     With the described embodiments, when clients write data into the system with the appropriate isolate tags, the data is sent for processing through a pipeline that is configured for the tenant as defined in the isolate tag. This enables tenant specific processing pipelines with unique steps to be built and executed for the tenant&#39;s data. All the data processing services  118  that process the data have access to the tenancy tag meta-data and the tenant hierarchy  14  that ensures proper isolation to the processing of tenant data. Any intermediate processing related artifacts and the final processed results are stored with the associated isolate tag. 
     In the described embodiments, when a user wants to access data stored in the cloud under their tenant, they supply the tenant hierarchy related isolate tags  802  for the data they are trying to retrieve along with a query for the data, which may comprise a read or write command, put or get command, or a database query, such as a Structure Query Language (SQL) query. The ingestion component  116  validates the user credentials (user ID  804  and password  806 ) and the isolate tag  802  providing a requested client/tenant/data source tags against the relationship of the clients, tenant and data sources defined in the multi-tenancy information  114  to ensure the request is valid before writing, extracting and returning the data. 
     In certain embodiments, a user may be associated with multiple isolation zones, such as multiple data sources in the same or different tenants, and associated with tenants in the same or different clients. 
     The reference characters used herein, such as i, n are used to denote a variable number of instances of an element, which may represent the same or different values, and may represent the same or different value when used with different or the same elements in different described instances. 
     The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention. 
     The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire. 
     Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device. 
     Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention. 
     Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions. 
     These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     The computational components of  FIG. 1 , including the multi-tenancy storage service provider server  100  and clients  106   1  . . .  106   n , may be implemented in one or more computer systems, such as the computer system  1102  shown in  FIG. 11 . Computer system/server  1102  may be described in the general context of computer system executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer system/server  1102  may be practiced in distributed cloud computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer system storage media including memory storage devices. 
     As shown in  FIG. 11 , the computer system/server  1102  is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of computer system/server  1102  may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units  1104 , a system memory  1106 , and a bus  1108  that couples various system components including system memory  1106  to processor  1104 . Bus  1108  represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus. 
     Computer system/server  1102  typically includes a variety of computer system readable media. Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computer system/server  1102 , and it includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. 
     System memory  1106  can include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM)  1110  and/or cache memory  1112 . Computer system/server  1102  may further include other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storage media. By way of example only, storage system  1113  can be provided for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances, each can be connected to bus  1108  by one or more data media interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below, memory  1106  may include at least one program product having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention. 
     Program/utility  1114 , having a set (at least one) of program modules  1116 , may be stored in memory  1106  by way of example, and not limitation, as well as an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networking environment. The components of the computer  1102  may be implemented as program modules  1116  which generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. The systems of  FIG. 1  may be implemented in one or more computer systems  1102 , where if they are implemented in multiple computer systems  1102 , then the computer systems may communicate over a network. 
     Computer system/server  1102  may also communicate with one or more external devices  1118  such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display  1120 , etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computer system/server  1102 ; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server  1102  to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces  1122 . Still yet, computer system/server  1102  can communicate with one or more networks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter  1124 . As depicted, network adapter  1124  communicates with the other components of computer system/server  1102  via bus  1108 . It should be understood that although not shown, other hardware and/or software components could be used in conjunction with computer system/server  1102 . Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc. 
     The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise. 
     The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise. 
     The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. 
     The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise. 
     Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries. 
     A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention. 
     When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present invention need not include the device itself. 
     The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims herein after appended.