Patent ID: 8589304

Claim:
A network device for managing the indexing of data, comprising: a transceiver for communicating with at least one client device over a network; a hardware processor; non-transitory processor readable storage media having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the hardware processor, causes the hardware processor to perform the steps and actions of: storing, in a master device, a quota on an amount of data licensed to be indexed; identifying, at the master device, a pool of slave indexer devices to index the data in accordance with the quota, wherein the identifying includes enabling the slave indexer devices of the pool of slave indexer devices to index data, wherein slave indexer devices respond to the enabling by indexing data; metering a volume of data indexed by individual slave indexer devices of the pool of slave indexer devices; determining, at the master device, a total volume of data indexed by the pool of slave indexer devices, the determining the total volume being based on the metered volume; determining, at the master device, that the volume of data indexed by the pool of slave indexer devices exceeds the quota; and executing an action based on the determination.