阅读说明：本技术 一种路径的禁用方法及系统 (Path forbidding method and system ) 是由 杨飞虎 于 2021-08-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种路径的禁用方法及系统,方法包括：获取多路径设备中待禁用路径的状态,并基于所述状态判断所述待禁用路径是否可以被禁用；响应于所述待禁用路径可以被禁用,获取多路径设备中的路径,并判断所述路径是否为活动状态且不为所述待禁用路径；响应于所述路径为活动状态且不为所述待禁用路径,将所述待禁用路径设置为离线状态以禁用所述待禁用路径；获取所述待禁用路径所属适配器的活动路径数与总路径数,并基于所述活动路径数与所述总路径数更新所述适配器的状态以完成对所述待禁用路径的禁用。通过本发明的方案,避免了禁用路径对客户业务造成影响,并且提高了禁用路径的效率和可靠性。(The invention discloses a method and a system for forbidding a path, wherein the method comprises the following steps: acquiring the state of a path to be disabled in the multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path to be disabled can be disabled or not based on the state; responding to the to-be-disabled path can be disabled, acquiring a path in multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-disabled path; in response to the path being active and not being the path to be disabled, setting the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled; and acquiring the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs, and updating the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to finish the forbidding of the path to be forbidden. By the scheme of the invention, the influence of the forbidden path on the customer service is avoided, and the efficiency and the reliability of the forbidden path are improved.)

1. A method for disabling a path, comprising:

acquiring the state of a path to be disabled in the multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path to be disabled can be disabled or not based on the state;

responding to the to-be-disabled path can be disabled, acquiring a path in multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-disabled path;

in response to the path being active and not being the path to be disabled, setting the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled;

and acquiring the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs, and updating the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to finish the forbidding of the path to be forbidden.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state comprises:

responding to the situation that the path to be forbidden is not in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state, and judging whether the path to be forbidden is in an active state;

in response to the path to be disabled not being active, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

and in response to the path to be disabled being in a SCSI reserved state or an initialization state or a removal state, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

in response to the path to be disabled being active, determining that the path to be disabled may be disabled.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a path in a multipath device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled comprises:

acquiring a path with a subscript of 0 and the maximum path number of the multipath equipment;

judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden;

responding to the situation that the path is not in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden, adding 1 to the subscript, and judging whether the subscript added with 1 reaches the maximum path number;

and responding to the subscript after the addition of 1 not reaching the maximum path number, acquiring a path corresponding to the subscript after the addition of 1, and returning to the step of judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a path in a multipath device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled further comprises:

and determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the subscript after adding 1 reaching the maximum path number.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and after the path to be forbidden is set to be in an offline state so as to be forbidden, subtracting 1 from the number of paths of the adapter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number comprises:

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the paths to be forbidden belong is 0;

and if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, setting the adapter to be in a failure state.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number further comprises:

if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is not 0, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total number of the paths;

and if the active path number of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total path number, setting the adapter to be in a degraded state.

10. A system for disabling a path, comprising:

the system comprises a judging module, a judging module and a control module, wherein the judging module is configured to acquire the state of a path to be forbidden in the multi-path equipment and judge whether the path to be forbidden can be forbidden or not based on the state;

the judging module is also configured to respond to the to-be-forbidden path can be forbidden, obtain a path in the multi-path equipment and judge whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-forbidden path;

a setting module configured to set the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled in response to the path being in an active state and not being the path to be disabled;

and the updating module is configured to acquire the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be disabled belongs, and update the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to complete the disabling of the path to be disabled.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of storage technologies, and in particular, to a method and a system for disabling a path.

Background

Multipath refers to multiple transport layer physical connections between a host and a storage device, providing higher availability and performance advantages for a network storage system. In SAN (Storage Area Network) Network Storage applications, it is often necessary to configure multiple paths for client hosts to ensure business sustainability. In terms of multi-path disk management, users require the disabling and enabling functions of the path channels of the multi-path device.

The traditional path disabling method for the multi-path equipment firstly inquires whether a path to be disabled is already in a disabled state, and if not, directly disables the path of the multi-path equipment. On one hand, the traditional method for disabling the path of the multi-path equipment directly disables the path without analyzing the current state of the path and the state of the multi-path equipment, thereby influencing the multi-path service IO and influencing the user service; on the other hand, no post-processing, such as modifying the state of the host adapter, is performed after disabling the path, thereby affecting user traffic. Aiming at the problems that the traditional direct path forbidding causes interruption influence on user service and the like, how to realize the forbidding of the path in the multi-path equipment by an effective method and improve the efficiency and the reliability of the forbidding of the path becomes a technical problem.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present invention provides a method and a system for disabling a path, which solve the problems that the traditional direct path disabling causes interruption to the user service and affects the user experience, and implement the disabling of the path by the multi-path device in a simple and efficient manner, thereby improving the efficiency and reliability of the disabling of the path.

Based on the above object, an aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides a method for disabling a path, which specifically includes the following steps:

acquiring the state of a path to be disabled in the multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path to be disabled can be disabled or not based on the state;

responding to the to-be-disabled path can be disabled, acquiring a path in multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-disabled path;

in response to the path being active and not being the path to be disabled, setting the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled;

and acquiring the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs, and updating the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to finish the forbidding of the path to be forbidden.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state comprises:

responding to the situation that the path to be forbidden is not in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state, and judging whether the path to be forbidden is in an active state;

in response to the path to be disabled not being active, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

and in response to the path to be disabled being in a SCSI reserved state or an initialization state or a removal state, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

in response to the path to be disabled being active, determining that the path to be disabled may be disabled.

In some embodiments, obtaining a path in a multi-path device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled includes:

acquiring a path with a subscript of 0 and the maximum path number of the multipath equipment;

judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden;

responding to the situation that the path is not in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden, adding 1 to the subscript, and judging whether the subscript added with 1 reaches the maximum path number;

and responding to the subscript after the addition of 1 not reaching the maximum path number, acquiring a path corresponding to the subscript after the addition of 1, and returning to the step of judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden.

In some embodiments, obtaining a path in a multipath device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled further comprises:

and determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the subscript after adding 1 reaching the maximum path number.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

and after the path to be forbidden is set to be in an offline state so as to be forbidden, subtracting 1 from the number of paths of the adapter.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number comprises:

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the paths to be forbidden belong is 0;

and if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, setting the adapter to be in a failure state.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number further comprises:

if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is not 0, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total number of the paths;

and if the active path number of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total path number, setting the adapter to be in a degraded state.

In another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, a system for disabling a path is further provided, where the system includes:

the system comprises a judging module, a judging module and a control module, wherein the judging module is configured to acquire the state of a path to be forbidden in the multi-path equipment and judge whether the path to be forbidden can be forbidden or not based on the state;

the judging module is also configured to respond to the to-be-forbidden path can be forbidden, obtain a path in the multi-path equipment and judge whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-forbidden path;

a setting module configured to set the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled in response to the path being in an active state and not being the path to be disabled;

and the updating module is configured to acquire the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be disabled belongs, and update the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to complete the disabling of the path to be disabled.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to:

responding to the situation that the path to be forbidden is not in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state, and judging whether the path to be forbidden is in an active state;

in response to the path to be disabled not being active, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the path to be disabled being in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled may be disabled in response to the path to be disabled being active.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to:

acquiring a path with a subscript of 0 and the maximum path number of the multipath equipment;

judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden;

responding to the situation that the path is not in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden, adding 1 to the subscript, and judging whether the subscript added with 1 reaches the maximum path number;

and responding to the subscript after the addition of 1 not reaching the maximum path number, acquiring a path corresponding to the subscript after the addition of 1, and returning to the step of judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the 1-added subscript reaching a maximum number of paths.

In some embodiments, the setting module is further configured to subtract 1 from the number of paths of the adapter after setting the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number comprises:

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the paths to be forbidden belong is 0;

and if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, setting the adapter to be in a failure state.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number further comprises:

if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is not 0, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total number of the paths;

and if the active path number of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total path number, setting the adapter to be in a degraded state.

The invention has the following beneficial technical effects: on one hand, the current state of the path and the state of the multi-path equipment are analyzed, so that service interruption caused by path forbidding due to the fact that the path forbidding is not met is avoided; on the other hand, after the path is forbidden, the adapter is subjected to post-processing, so that the influence of forbidden path operation on fault switching and recovery is avoided, further the influence on customer service is avoided, the influence of forbidden path on customer service is avoided through the combination of the two aspects, and the efficiency and reliability of forbidden path are improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other embodiments can be obtained by using the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a method for disabling a path provided by the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a path disabling system provided in the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the following embodiments of the present invention are described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be noted that all expressions using "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present invention are used for distinguishing two entities with the same name but different names or different parameters, and it should be noted that "first" and "second" are merely for convenience of description and should not be construed as limitations of the embodiments of the present invention, and they are not described in any more detail in the following embodiments.

In view of the above object, a first aspect of the embodiments of the present invention proposes an embodiment of a path disabling method. As shown in fig. 1, it includes the following steps:

step S101, acquiring the state of a path to be forbidden in a multi-path device, and judging whether the path to be forbidden can be forbidden or not based on the state;

step S103, responding to the to-be-forbidden path can be forbidden, acquiring a path in multi-path equipment, and judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the to-be-forbidden path;

step S105, in response to the path being in an active state and not being the path to be disabled, setting the path to be disabled in an offline state to disable the path to be disabled;

step S107, obtaining the number of active paths and the total number of paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs, and updating the state of the adapter based on the number of active paths and the total number of paths to finish the forbidden of the path to be forbidden.

On one hand, the embodiment of the invention avoids service interruption caused by forbidding the path without reaching the forbidding condition by analyzing the current state of the path and the state of the multi-path equipment; on the other hand, after the path is forbidden, the adapter is subjected to post-processing, so that the influence of forbidden path operation on fault switching and recovery is avoided, further the influence on customer service is avoided, the influence of forbidden path on customer service is avoided through the combination of the two aspects, and the efficiency and reliability of forbidden path are improved.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by a computer program, which can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like. Embodiments of the computer program may achieve the same or similar effects as any of the preceding method embodiments to which it corresponds.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state comprises:

responding to the situation that the path to be forbidden is not in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state, and judging whether the path to be forbidden is in an active state;

in response to the path to be disabled not being active, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

and in response to the path to be disabled being in a SCSI reserved state or an initialization state or a removal state, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, determining whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state further comprises:

in response to the path to be disabled being active, determining that the path to be disabled may be disabled.

Specifically, the state of the path to be disabled may be determined according to the following steps:

it is determined whether the path to be disabled is in a SCSI reserved state. If the path to be disabled is in the SCSI reserved state, the path to be disabled cannot be disabled, and a message is sent to an upper layer server to feed back that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled and explain the reason, that is, the path to be disabled is currently in the SCSI reserved state, and the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

If the path to be disabled is not in the SCSI reservation state, whether the path to be disabled is in the initialization state or the removal state is determined. If the path to be disabled is in the initialization state or the removal state, the path to be disabled cannot be disabled, and a message is sent to the upper layer server to feed back that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled and explain the reason, that is, the path to be disabled is currently in the initialization state or the removal state, and the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

If the path to be forbidden is not in the initialization state or the removal state, whether the path to be forbidden is in the active state is judged, if the path to be forbidden is not in the active state, the path to be forbidden cannot be forbidden, a message is sent to an upper layer server to feed back that the path to be forbidden cannot be forbidden and explain the reason, namely the path to be forbidden is not in the active state at present, and the path to be forbidden cannot be forbidden. The path to be disabled may be disabled if it is currently active.

By identifying the state of the path to be forbidden, the problem that the multipath equipment cannot access due to direct forbidden of the path when the path to be forbidden is in an SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state is avoided.

In some embodiments, obtaining a path in a multipath device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled comprises:

acquiring a path with a subscript of 0 and the maximum path number of the multipath equipment;

judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden;

responding to the situation that the path is not in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden, adding 1 to the subscript, and judging whether the subscript added with 1 reaches the maximum path number;

and responding to the subscript after the addition of 1 not reaching the maximum path number, acquiring a path corresponding to the subscript after the addition of 1, and returning to the step of judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden.

In some embodiments, obtaining a path in a multipath device and determining whether the path is active and not the path to be disabled further comprises:

and determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the subscript after adding 1 reaching the maximum path number.

By judging the remaining available paths in the multipath equipment, whether the paths in other active states except the paths to be forbidden exist in the multipath equipment is checked, and the multipath equipment is prevented from being inaccessible due to the fact that no other available paths exist in the multipath equipment after the paths to be forbidden are forbidden.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

and after the path to be forbidden is set to be in an offline state so as to be forbidden, subtracting 1 from the number of paths of the adapter.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number comprises:

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the paths to be forbidden belong is 0;

and if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, setting the adapter to be in a failure state.

In some embodiments, updating the state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number further comprises:

if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is not 0, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total number of the paths;

and if the active path number of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total path number, setting the adapter to be in a degraded state.

Specifically, how to update the state of the adapter to which the path to be disabled belongs after the path to be disabled is set to the offline state is described below. The method specifically comprises the following steps:

subtracting 1 from the number of the adapter paths to which the paths to be forbidden belong;

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0; if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs does not have an effective path, and the adapter is in a failure state, the adapter is set to be in the failure state; otherwise, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is less than the total number of the paths of the adapter; if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is less than the total number of the paths of the adapter, the adapter to be forbidden is set to be in a degraded state, wherein the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs indicates that all the paths of the adapter to be forbidden are not in an active state; otherwise, the adapter state is normal, the path to be forbidden is forbidden successfully, and a message is sent to the upper layer server to feed back that the path to be forbidden is forbidden successfully.

By updating the state of the host adapter after the path to be disabled of the multi-path equipment is disabled, the influence on the client service caused by the influence on the multi-path fault switching and fault recovery caused by the fact that the state of the host adapter is not updated is avoided.

Based on the same inventive concept, according to another aspect of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a system for disabling a path, the system comprising:

a determining module 110, where the determining module 110 is configured to obtain a state of a path to be disabled in a multipath device, and determine whether the path to be disabled can be disabled based on the state;

the determining module 110 is further configured to, in response to that the path to be disabled may be disabled, obtain a path in a multi-path device, and determine whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be disabled;

a setting module 120, the setting module 120 configured to set the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled in response to the path being in an active state and not being the path to be disabled;

an updating module 130, where the updating module 130 is configured to obtain an active path number and a total path number of an adapter to which the path to be disabled belongs, and update a state of the adapter based on the active path number and the total path number to complete disabling of the path to be disabled.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to:

responding to the situation that the path to be forbidden is not in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state, and judging whether the path to be forbidden is in an active state;

in response to the path to be disabled not being active, determining that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the path to be disabled being in a SCSI reserved state or an initialized state or a removed state.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled may be disabled in response to the path to be disabled being active.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to:

acquiring a path with a subscript of 0 and the maximum path number of the multipath equipment;

judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden;

responding to the situation that the path is not in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden, adding 1 to the subscript, and judging whether the subscript added with 1 reaches the maximum path number;

and responding to the subscript after the addition of 1 not reaching the maximum path number, acquiring a path corresponding to the subscript after the addition of 1, and returning to the step of judging whether the path is in an active state and is not the path to be forbidden.

In some embodiments, the determining module is further configured to determine that the path to be disabled cannot be disabled in response to the 1-added subscript reaching a maximum number of paths.

In some embodiments, the setting module is further configured to subtract 1 from the number of paths of the adapter after setting the path to be disabled to an offline state to disable the path to be disabled.

In some embodiments, the update module is further configured to:

judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the paths to be forbidden belong is 0;

and if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is 0, setting the adapter to be in a failure state.

In some embodiments, the update module is further configured to:

if the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is not 0, judging whether the number of the active paths of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total number of the paths;

and if the active path number of the adapter to which the path to be forbidden belongs is smaller than the total path number, setting the adapter to be in a degraded state.

The embodiment of the invention also can comprise corresponding computer equipment. The computer device comprises a memory, at least one processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the processor performing any of the above methods when executing the program.

The memory, as a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, may be used to store a non-volatile software program, a non-volatile computer-executable program, and modules, such as program instructions/modules corresponding to the network resource coordination method in the embodiments of the present application. The processor executes various functional applications and data processing of the device by running the nonvolatile software program, instructions and modules stored in the memory, that is, the network resource coordination method of the above method embodiment is realized.

The memory may include a storage program area and a storage data area, wherein the storage program area may store an operating system, an application program required for at least one function; the storage data area may store data created according to the use of the device, and the like. Further, the memory may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-volatile solid state storage device. In some embodiments, the memory optionally includes memory located remotely from the processor, and such remote memory may be coupled to the local module via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the internet, intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

Finally, it should be noted that, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, all or part of the processes of the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by a computer program, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, may include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. The storage medium of the program may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like. The embodiments of the computer program may achieve the same or similar effects as any of the above-described method embodiments.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as software or hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.

The foregoing is an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, but it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the disclosed embodiments described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosed embodiments of the invention may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

It should be understood that, as used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly supports the exception. It should also be understood that "and/or" as used herein is meant to include any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The numbers of the embodiments disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are merely for description, and do not represent the merits of the embodiments.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: the discussion of any embodiment above is meant to be exemplary only, and is not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, of embodiments of the invention is limited to these examples; within the idea of an embodiment of the invention, also technical features in the above embodiment or in different embodiments may be combined and there are many other variations of the different aspects of the embodiments of the invention as described above, which are not provided in detail for the sake of brevity. Therefore, any omissions, modifications, substitutions, improvements, and the like that may be made without departing from the spirit and principles of the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.