Clock synchronization in cloud computing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016006804-A1
Application number	US-201414323607-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 3, 2014
Priority date	Jul 3, 2014
Publication date	Jan 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Method of clock synchronization in cloud computing. A plurality of physical computer assets are provided. The plurality of physical computer assets are linked together to form a virtualized computing cloud, the virtualized computing cloud having a centralized clock for coordinating the operation of the virtualized computing cloud; the virtualized computing cloud is logically partitioned into a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, each of the virtualized logical server clouds having a local clock synchronized to the same centralized clock; a clock type from a clock palette is selected for at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; the clock type is implemented in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds such that the clock type is synchronized to the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; and the centralized clock is disabled. The method may be performed on one or more computing devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of clock synchronization in cloud computing comprising:
providing a plurality of physical computer assets including at least one physical server having a central processing unit; linking the plurality of physical computer assets together to form a virtualized computing cloud, the virtualized computing cloud having a centralized clock for coordinating the operation of the virtualized computing cloud; logically partitioning the virtualized computing cloud into a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, each of the virtualized logical server clouds having a local clock synchronized to the centralized clock of the virtualized computing cloud; selecting a clock type from a clock palette associated with the virtualized computing cloud for at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; implementing the clock type in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds such that the clock type is synchronized to the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; and disabling the centralized clock in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; wherein the method is performed on one or more computing devices.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selecting a clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, the step of implementing the clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds and the step of disabling is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein at least two of the plurality of virtualized logical server clouds have different clock types.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds serves more than one virtualized computing cloud and before the step of selecting a clock type, further comprising selecting the virtualized computing cloud served by the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising deprovisioning the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds and releasing the clock type back to the clock palette.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the clock type is selected from the group consisting of Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP), Precision Time Protocol (PTP), IRIG B-122 Protocol and Time Triggered Protocol (TTP).

7 . A computer program product for clock synchronization in cloud computing having a plurality of physical computer assets including at least one physical server having a central processing unit, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising: computer readable program code configured to link the plurality of physical computer assets together to form a virtualized computing cloud, the virtualized computing cloud having a centralized clock for coordinating the operation of the virtualized computing cloud; computer readable program code configured to logically partition the virtualized computing cloud into a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, each of the virtualized logical server clouds having a local clock synchronized to the centralized clock of the virtualized computing cloud; computer readable program code configured to select a clock type from a clock palette associated with the virtualized computing cloud for at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; computer readable program code configured to implement the clock type in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds such that the clock type is synchronized to the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; and computer readable program code configured to disable the centralized clock in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds.

8 . The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the computer readable program code configured to select a clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, the computer readable program code configured to implement the clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds and the computer readable program code configured to disable is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds.

9 . The computer program product of claim 8 wherein at least two of the plurality of virtualized logical server clouds have different clock types.

10 . The computer program product of claim 7 wherein at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds serves more than one virtualized computing cloud and before the computer readable program code configured to select a clock type, further comprising computer readable program code configured to select the virtualized computing cloud served by the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds.

11 . The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising computer readable program code configured to deprovision the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds and release the clock type back to the clock palette.

12 . The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the clock type is selected from the group consisting of Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP), Precision Time Protocol (PTP), IRIG B-122 Protocol and Time Triggered Protocol (TTP).

13 . A system for clock synchronization in cloud computing comprising:
a plurality of physical computer assets including at least one physical server having a central processing unit; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising: computer readable program code configured to link the plurality of physical computer assets together to form a virtualized computing cloud, the virtualized computing cloud having a centralized clock for coordinating the operation of the virtualized computing cloud; computer readable program code configured to logically partition the virtualized computing cloud into a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, each of the virtualized logical server clouds having a local clock synchronized to the centralized clock of the virtualized computing cloud; computer readable program code configured to select a clock type from a clock palette associated with the virtualized computing cloud for at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; computer readable program code configured to implement the clock type in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds such that the clock type is synchronized to the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds; and computer readable program code configured to disable the centralized clock in the at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds.

14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the computer readable program code configured to select a clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds, the computer readable program code configured to implement the clock type is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds and the computer readable program code configured to disable is for a plurality of virtualized logical server clouds.

15 . The system of claim 14 wherein at least two of the plurality of virtualized logical server clouds have different clock types.

16 . The system of claim 13 wherein at least one of the virtualized logical server clouds serves more than one virtualized computing cloud and before the computer readable program code configured to select a clock type, further comprising computer rea

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Deshpande Chandrashekhar G
• Kalyana Shankar S
• Karia Jigneshkumar K
• Sivakumar Gandhi

Classifications

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• G06F1/14

  Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock · CPC title

• G06F1/12

  Synchronisation of different clock signals {provided by a plurality of clock generators} · CPC title

• H04L41/0213 Primary

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title

• H04J3/0641 Primary

  Change of the master or reference, e.g. take-over or failure of the master · CPC title