FACILITATING SYNCHRONIZATION OF SERVERS IN A COORDINATED TIMING NETWORK

• US 20080183895A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hack, Michel H. T., Dahlen, Dennis J., Crabtree, Donald, Sevigny, Denise M., Carlson, Scott M., Dhondy, Noshir R., Wierbowski, Judith A., Whitney, David E., Elko, David A., Smith, Ronald M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,779,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/12 Synchronisation of different clock signals provided by a plurality of clock generators
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/14 Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0641 Change of the master or reference, e.g. take-over or failure of the master
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0661 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

A timing network is provided that includes a plurality of servers. The servers of the network obtain information used to maintain the servers in time synchronization, thus ensuring the integrity of the servers.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture comprising:

at least one computer usable medium having computer readable program code logic to provide a coordinated timing network, said computer readable program code logic when executing performing the following;

obtaining by a server of a timing network timing clock information for the server from a single primary active server of the timing network, said single primary active server being the primary reference time to the server;

obtaining by the server timing network data including configuration information of the timing network, primary reference time information, time zone information, and leap second change scheduling;

using by the server at least a portion of the timing network data and the timing clock information to ensure the server of the timing network is adhering to the configuration and is synchronized to a coordinated server time (CST) timing network specified synchronization threshold that meets high-speed computing requirements; and

recognizing by the server that it is out of synchronization and may not have valid configuration information.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the server cannot operate for more than a prespecified amount of time without knowing the configuration information.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises the single primary active server, the server and one or more other servers, and wherein the obtaining the timing network data, the using and the recognizing are performed by each server of the one or more other servers.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the single primary active server and the server comprise the same timing network identifier.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the timing network data is performed by passing information via messages using a Server Time Protocol message protocol.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining by the single primary active server the primary reference time from an external time source; and

steering by the single active primary server its time-of-day clock to the primary reference time.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the single primary active server and the server are coupled via one or more low latency links.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the single primary active server is in network communications with the server via a Coordinated Timing Network configured to maintain time synchronization, the single primary active server sending Server Time Protocol messages by way of said Coordinated Timing Network.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, by the server, updates to at least a portion of the timing network data.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the server has associated therewith a timing mode indicating whether the server is in local, external time reference (ETR) or server time protocol (STP) timing mode.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the server has associated therewith a timing state indicating whether the server is in a synchronized, unsynchronized or stopped state.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the server has associated therewith a clock source state indicating whether the server has a usable clock source.

13. A system to provide a coordinated timing network, said system comprising:

a server of a timing network to obtain timing clock information for the server from a single primary active server of the timing network, said single primary active server being the primary reference time to the server;

the server to obtain timing network data including configuration information of the timing network, primary reference time information, time zone information, and leap second change scheduling;

the server to use at least a portion of the timing network data and the timing clock information to ensure the server of the timing network is adhering to the configuration and is synchronized to a coordinated server time (CST) timing network specified synchronization threshold that meets high-speed computing requirements; and

the server to recognize that it is out of synchronization and may not have valid configuration information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server cannot operate for more than a prespecified amount of time without knowing the configuration information.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the configuration comprises the single primary active server, the server and one or more other servers, and wherein the obtaining the timing network data, the using and the recognizing are performed by each server of the one or more other servers.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the single primary active server and the server comprise the same timing network identifier.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the single primary active server and the server are coupled via one or more low latency links.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the single primary active server is in network communications with the server via a Coordinated Timing Network configured to maintain time synchronization, the single primary active server sending Server Time Protocol messages by way of said Coordinated Timing Network.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the server has associated therewith a timing mode indicating whether the server is in local, external time reference (ETR) or server time protocol (STP) timing mode.

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

24. (canceled)

25. A method to provide a coordinated timing network, said method comprising:

obtaining by a server of a timing network timing clock information for the server from a single primary active server of the timing network, said single primary active server being the primary reference time to the server;

obtaining by the server timing network data including configuration information of the timing network, primary reference time information, time zone information, and leap second change scheduling;

using by the server at least a portion of the timing network data and the timing clock information to ensure the server of the timing network is adhering to the configuration and is synchronized to a coordinated server time (CST) timing network specified synchronization threshold that meets high-speed computing requirements; and

recognizing by the server that it is out of synchronization and may not have valid configuration information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the server cannot operate for more than a prespecified amount of time without knowing the configuration information.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the configuration comprises the single primary active server, the server and one or more other servers, and wherein the obtaining the timing network data, the using and the recognizing are performed by each server of the one or more other servers.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the single primary active server and the server comprise the same timing network identifier.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the single primary active server is in network communications with the server via a Coordinated Timing Network configured to maintain time synchronization, the single primary active server sending Server Time Protocol messages by way of said Coordinated Timing Network.