Patent ID: 7895303

Claim:
A method of executing a server time protocol (STP) control message command, the method comprising: receiving an STP control message command at a second server sent from a first server, the STP control message command being defined for computer execution according to a computer architecture, the STP control message command comprising: an operation code field containing a value that specifies an operation to be performed, the operation to be performed comprising one of an update request operation, one or more read operations, or one or more notification operations, wherein the update request operation comprises a request-stratum-1 configuration change operation, the read operations comprise read attach server state and read CTN parameters, and the notification operations comprise establish an STP path, remove an STP path, set arbiter takeover mode, reset arbiter takeover mode, and arbiter takeover state active; responsive to receiving the STP control message command, performing an operation at the second server defined by the operation code of the STP control message command and providing a result based thereon, the result being operation dependent, and wherein where the received STP control message command specifies the read attach server state operation, the operation performed at the second server comprises employing a node descriptor received with the STP control message command to determine a state of an attached server associated with the second server, and wherein where the received STP control message command specifies the read CTN parameter operation, the operation performed at the second server comprises obtaining information from a stratum-1 configuration information block; and sending an STP message response from the second server to the first server, the STP message response comprising the result of performing the operation specified in the STP control message command.