Abstract: A method for resource allocation in a storage system, the method may include determining to reduce a load imposed on a compute core of the storage system, wherein the compute core is responsible for executing (a) one or more background task shards, and (b) at least one non-sharded task for responding to an input/output (I/O) request sent to the storage system; and reducing the load imposed on the compute core by reallocating at least one background task shard of the one or more background task shards to another compute core of the storage system.

Abstract: A method for resource allocation in a storage system, the method may include determining to reduce a load imposed on a compute core of the storage system, wherein the compute core is responsible for executing (a) one or more background task shards, and (b) at least one non-sharded task for responding to an I/O request sent to the storage system; and reducing the load imposed on the compute core by reallocating at least one background task shard of the one or more background task shards to another compute core of the storage system.

Abstract: A method for indicating the integrity of the use-information of a program, comprising: providing a mechanism based on the state of a marker file (being one or more files dedicated especially for this purpose) for generating upon request an asymmetric (i.e. can be read by a user but cannot be altered by him) and unique or pseudo-unique value; instructing the mechanism to generate a value; sealing the use-information with the generated value; and indicating the integrity of the sealed data by the correspondence of the stored value with the current value returned by the mechanism. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the information is stored in a secure manner (e.g. encrypted, digitally signed, and so forth). The invention may be implemented in any licensing model in which the use-information is important, like a Try before you Buy model, renting a program, and so forth.

Abstract: A method for indicating the integrity of the use-information of a program, comprising: providing a mechanism based on the state of a marker file (being one or more files dedicated especially for this purpose) for generating upon request an asymmetric (i.e. can be read by a user but cannot be altered by him) and unique or pseudo-unique value; instructing the mechanism to generate a value; sealing the use-information with the generated value; and indicating the integrity of the sealed data by the correspondence of the stored value with the current value returned by the mechanism. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the information is stored in a secure manner (e.g. encrypted, digitally signed, and so forth). The invention may be implemented in any licensing model in which the use-information is important, like a Try before you Buy model, renting a program, and so forth.