Using Precision Time Protocol hardware | Networking

About PTP hardware
About PTP
Installing the PTP Operator using the CLI
Installing the PTP Operator using the web console
Configuring PTP devices
Troubleshooting common PTP Operator issues
- Collecting Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Operator data
PTP hardware fast event notifications framework

You can configure linuxptp services and use PTP-capable hardware in OKD cluster nodes.

About PTP hardware

You can use the OKD console or OpenShift CLI (oc) to install PTP by deploying the PTP Operator. The PTP Operator creates and manages the linuxptp services and provides the following features:

Discovery of the PTP-capable devices in the cluster.
Management of the configuration of linuxptp services.
Notification of PTP clock events that negatively affect the performance and reliability of your application with the PTP Operator cloud-event-proxy sidecar.

The PTP Operator works with PTP-capable devices on clusters provisioned only on bare-metal infrastructure.

About PTP

Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is used to synchronize clocks in a network. When used in conjunction with hardware support, PTP is capable of sub-microsecond accuracy, and is more accurate than Network Time Protocol (NTP).

The linuxptp package includes the ptp4l and phc2sys programs for clock synchronization. ptp4l implements the PTP boundary clock and ordinary clock. ptp4l synchronizes the PTP hardware clock to the source clock with hardware time stamping and synchronizes the system clock to the source clock with software time stamping. phc2sys is used for hardware time stamping to synchronize the system clock to the PTP hardware clock on the network interface controller (NIC).

Elements of a PTP domain

PTP is used to synchronize multiple nodes connected in a network, with clocks for each node. The clocks synchronized by PTP are organized in a source-destination hierarchy. The hierarchy is created and updated automatically by the best master clock (BMC) algorithm, which runs on every clock. Destination clocks are synchronized to source clocks, and destination clocks can themselves be the source for other downstream clocks. The following types of clocks can be included in configurations:

Grandmaster clock: The grandmaster clock provides standard time information to other clocks across the network and ensures accurate and stable synchronisation. It writes time stamps and responds to time requests from other clocks. Grandmaster clocks can be synchronized to a Global Positioning System (GPS) time source.
Ordinary clock: The ordinary clock has a single port connection that can play the role of source or destination clock, depending on its position in the network. The ordinary clock can read and write time stamps.
Boundary clock: The boundary clock has ports in two or more communication paths and can be a source and a destination to other destination clocks at the same time. The boundary clock works as a destination clock upstream. The destination clock receives the timing message, adjusts for delay, and then creates a new source time signal to pass down the network. The boundary clock produces a new timing packet that is still correctly synced with the source clock and can reduce the number of connected devices reporting directly to the source clock.

Advantages of PTP over NTP

One of the main advantages that PTP has over NTP is the hardware support present in various network interface controllers (NIC) and network switches. The specialized hardware allows PTP to account for delays in message transfer and improves the accuracy of time synchronization. To achieve the best possible accuracy, it is recommended that all networking components between PTP clocks are PTP hardware enabled.

Hardware-based PTP provides optimal accuracy, since the NIC can time stamp the PTP packets at the exact moment they are sent and received. Compare this to software-based PTP, which requires additional processing of the PTP packets by the operating system.

Before enabling PTP, ensure that NTP is disabled for the required nodes. You can disable the chrony time service (chronyd) using a MachineConfig custom resource. For more information, see Disabling chrony time service.

Using PTP with dual NIC hardware

OKD supports single and dual NIC hardware for precision PTP timing in the cluster.

For 5G telco networks that deliver mid-band spectrum coverage, each virtual distributed unit (vDU) requires connections to 6 radio units (RUs). To make these connections, each vDU host requires 2 NICs configured as boundary clocks.

Dual NIC hardware allows you to connect each NIC to the same upstream leader clock with separate ptp4l instances for each NIC feeding the downstream clocks.

Installing the PTP Operator using the CLI

As a cluster administrator, you can install the Operator by using the CLI.

Prerequisites

A cluster installed on bare-metal hardware with nodes that have hardware that supports PTP.
Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.

Procedure

Create a namespace for the PTP Operator.

Save the following YAML in the ptp-namespace.yaml file:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: openshift-ptp
  annotations:
    workload.openshift.io/allowed: management
  labels:
    name: openshift-ptp
    openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true"

Create the Namespace CR:
```
$ oc create -f ptp-namespace.yaml
```

Create an Operator group for the PTP Operator.

Save the following YAML in the ptp-operatorgroup.yaml file:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: ptp-operators
  namespace: openshift-ptp
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
  - openshift-ptp

Create the OperatorGroup CR:
```
$ oc create -f ptp-operatorgroup.yaml
```

Subscribe to the PTP Operator.

Save the following YAML in the ptp-sub.yaml file:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: ptp-operator-subscription
  namespace: openshift-ptp
spec:
  channel: "stable"
  name: ptp-operator
  source: redhat-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace

Create the Subscription CR:
```
$ oc create -f ptp-sub.yaml
```

To verify that the Operator is installed, enter the following command:

$ oc get csv -n openshift-ptp -o custom-columns=Name:.metadata.name,Phase:.status.phase

Example output

Name                         Phase
4.12.0-202301261535          Succeeded

Installing the PTP Operator using the web console

As a cluster administrator, you can install the PTP Operator using the web console.

You have to create the namespace and Operator group as mentioned in the previous section.

Procedure

Install the PTP Operator using the OKD web console:
1. In the OKD web console, click Operators → OperatorHub.
2. Choose PTP Operator from the list of available Operators, and then click Install.
3. On the Install Operator page, under A specific namespace on the cluster select openshift-ptp. Then, click Install.
Optional: Verify that the PTP Operator installed successfully:
1. Switch to the Operators → Installed Operators page.
2. Ensure that PTP Operator is listed in the openshift-ptp project with a Status of InstallSucceeded.
  
  During installation an Operator might display a Failed status. If the installation later succeeds with an InstallSucceeded message, you can ignore the Failed message.
  
  If the Operator does not appear as installed, to troubleshoot further:
  - Go to the Operators → Installed Operators page and inspect the Operator Subscriptions and Install Plans tabs for any failure or errors under Status.
  - Go to the Workloads → Pods page and check the logs for pods in the openshift-ptp project.

Configuring PTP devices

The PTP Operator adds the NodePtpDevice.ptp.openshift.io custom resource definition (CRD) to OKD.

When installed, the PTP Operator searches your cluster for PTP-capable network devices on each node. It creates and updates a NodePtpDevice custom resource (CR) object for each node that provides a compatible PTP-capable network device.

Discovering PTP-capable network devices in your cluster

Identify PTP-capable network devices that exist in your cluster so that you can configure them

Prerequisties

You installed the PTP Operator.

Procedure

To return a complete list of PTP capable network devices in your cluster, run the following command:

$ oc get NodePtpDevice -n openshift-ptp -o yaml

Example output

apiVersion: v1
items:
- apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
  kind: NodePtpDevice
  metadata:
    creationTimestamp: "2022-01-27T15:16:28Z"
    generation: 1
    name: dev-worker-0 (1)
    namespace: openshift-ptp
    resourceVersion: "6538103"
    uid: d42fc9ad-bcbf-4590-b6d8-b676c642781a
  spec: {}
  status:
    devices: (2)
    - name: eno1
    - name: eno2
    - name: eno3
    - name: eno4
    - name: enp5s0f0
    - name: enp5s0f1
...

1	The value for the `name` parameter is the same as the name of the parent node.
2	The `devices` collection includes a list of the PTP capable devices that the PTP Operator discovers for the node.

Configuring linuxptp services as a grandmaster clock

You can configure the linuxptp services (ptp4l, phc2sys, ts2phc) as grandmaster clock by creating a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) that configures the host NIC.

The ts2phc utility allows you to synchronize the system clock with the PTP grandmaster clock so that the node can stream precision clock signal to downstream PTP ordinary clocks and boundary clocks.

Use the following example PtpConfig CR as the basis to configure linuxptp services as the grandmaster clock for your particular hardware and environment. This example CR does not configure PTP fast events. To configure PTP fast events, set appropriate values for ptp4lOpts, ptp4lConf, and ptpClockThreshold. ptpClockThreshold is used only when events are enabled. See "Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher" for more information.

Prerequisites

Install an Intel Westport Channel network interface in the bare-metal cluster host.
Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Create the PtpConfig resource. For example:

Save the following YAML in the grandmaster-clock-ptp-config.yaml file:

Example PTP grandmaster clock configuration

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: grandmaster-clock
  namespace: openshift-ptp
  annotations: {}
spec:
  profile:
    - name: grandmaster-clock
      # The interface name is hardware-specific
      interface: $interface
      ptp4lOpts: "-2"
      phc2sysOpts: "-a -r -r -n 24"
      ptpSchedulingPolicy: SCHED_FIFO
      ptpSchedulingPriority: 10
      ptpSettings:
        logReduce: "true"
      ptp4lConf: |
        [global]
        #
        # Default Data Set
        #
        twoStepFlag 1
        slaveOnly 0
        priority1 128
        priority2 128
        domainNumber 24
        #utc_offset 37
        clockClass 255
        clockAccuracy 0xFE
        offsetScaledLogVariance 0xFFFF
        free_running 0
        freq_est_interval 1
        dscp_event 0
        dscp_general 0
        dataset_comparison G.8275.x
        G.8275.defaultDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Port Data Set
        #
        logAnnounceInterval -3
        logSyncInterval -4
        logMinDelayReqInterval -4
        logMinPdelayReqInterval -4
        announceReceiptTimeout 3
        syncReceiptTimeout 0
        delayAsymmetry 0
        fault_reset_interval -4
        neighborPropDelayThresh 20000000
        masterOnly 0
        G.8275.portDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Run time options
        #
        assume_two_step 0
        logging_level 6
        path_trace_enabled 0
        follow_up_info 0
        hybrid_e2e 0
        inhibit_multicast_service 0
        net_sync_monitor 0
        tc_spanning_tree 0
        tx_timestamp_timeout 50
        unicast_listen 0
        unicast_master_table 0
        unicast_req_duration 3600
        use_syslog 1
        verbose 0
        summary_interval 0
        kernel_leap 1
        check_fup_sync 0
        clock_class_threshold 7
        #
        # Servo Options
        #
        pi_proportional_const 0.0
        pi_integral_const 0.0
        pi_proportional_scale 0.0
        pi_proportional_exponent -0.3
        pi_proportional_norm_max 0.7
        pi_integral_scale 0.0
        pi_integral_exponent 0.4
        pi_integral_norm_max 0.3
        step_threshold 2.0
        first_step_threshold 0.00002
        max_frequency 900000000
        clock_servo pi
        sanity_freq_limit 200000000
        ntpshm_segment 0
        #
        # Transport options
        #
        transportSpecific 0x0
        ptp_dst_mac 01:1B:19:00:00:00
        p2p_dst_mac 01:80:C2:00:00:0E
        udp_ttl 1
        udp6_scope 0x0E
        uds_address /var/run/ptp4l
        #
        # Default interface options
        #
        clock_type OC
        network_transport L2
        delay_mechanism E2E
        time_stamping hardware
        tsproc_mode filter
        delay_filter moving_median
        delay_filter_length 10
        egressLatency 0
        ingressLatency 0
        boundary_clock_jbod 0
        #
        # Clock description
        #
        productDescription ;;
        revisionData ;;
        manufacturerIdentity 00:00:00
        userDescription ;
        timeSource 0xA0
  recommend:
    - profile: grandmaster-clock
      priority: 4
      match:
        - nodeLabel: "node-role.kubernetes.io/$mcp"

Create the CR by running the following command:

$ oc create -f grandmaster-clock-ptp-config.yaml

Verification

Check that the PtpConfig profile is applied to the node.

Get the list of pods in the openshift-ptp namespace by running the following command:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                          READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP             NODE
linuxptp-daemon-74m2g         3/3     Running   3          4d15h   10.16.230.7    compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-5f4f48d7c-x7zkf  1/1     Running   1          4d15h   10.128.1.145   compute-1.example.com

Check that the profile is correct. Examine the logs of the linuxptp daemon that corresponds to the node you specified in the PtpConfig profile. Run the following command:

$ oc logs linuxptp-daemon-74m2g -n openshift-ptp -c linuxptp-daemon-container

Example output

ts2phc[94980.334]: [ts2phc.0.config] nmea delay: 98690975 ns
ts2phc[94980.334]: [ts2phc.0.config] ens3f0 extts index 0 at 1676577329.999999999 corr 0 src 1676577330.901342528 diff -1
ts2phc[94980.334]: [ts2phc.0.config] ens3f0 master offset         -1 s2 freq      -1
ts2phc[94980.441]: [ts2phc.0.config] nmea sentence: GNRMC,195453.00,A,4233.24427,N,07126.64420,W,0.008,,160223,,,A,V
phc2sys[94980.450]: [ptp4l.0.config] CLOCK_REALTIME phc offset       943 s2 freq  -89604 delay    504
phc2sys[94980.512]: [ptp4l.0.config] CLOCK_REALTIME phc offset      1000 s2 freq  -89264 delay    474

Configuring linuxptp services as an ordinary clock

You can configure linuxptp services (ptp4l, phc2sys) as ordinary clock by creating a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) object.

Use the following example PtpConfig CR as the basis to configure linuxptp services as an ordinary clock for your particular hardware and environment. This example CR does not configure PTP fast events. To configure PTP fast events, set appropriate values for ptp4lOpts, ptp4lConf, and ptpClockThreshold. ptpClockThreshold is required only when events are enabled. See "Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher" for more information.

Prerequisites

Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Create the following PtpConfig CR, and then save the YAML in the ordinary-clock-ptp-config.yaml file.

Example PTP ordinary clock configuration

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: ordinary-clock
  namespace: openshift-ptp
  annotations: {}
spec:
  profile:
    - name: ordinary-clock
      # The interface name is hardware-specific
      interface: $interface
      ptp4lOpts: "-2 -s"
      phc2sysOpts: "-a -r -n 24"
      ptpSchedulingPolicy: SCHED_FIFO
      ptpSchedulingPriority: 10
      ptpSettings:
        logReduce: "true"
      ptp4lConf: |
        [global]
        #
        # Default Data Set
        #
        twoStepFlag 1
        slaveOnly 1
        priority1 128
        priority2 128
        domainNumber 24
        #utc_offset 37
        clockClass 255
        clockAccuracy 0xFE
        offsetScaledLogVariance 0xFFFF
        free_running 0
        freq_est_interval 1
        dscp_event 0
        dscp_general 0
        dataset_comparison G.8275.x
        G.8275.defaultDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Port Data Set
        #
        logAnnounceInterval -3
        logSyncInterval -4
        logMinDelayReqInterval -4
        logMinPdelayReqInterval -4
        announceReceiptTimeout 3
        syncReceiptTimeout 0
        delayAsymmetry 0
        fault_reset_interval -4
        neighborPropDelayThresh 20000000
        masterOnly 0
        G.8275.portDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Run time options
        #
        assume_two_step 0
        logging_level 6
        path_trace_enabled 0
        follow_up_info 0
        hybrid_e2e 0
        inhibit_multicast_service 0
        net_sync_monitor 0
        tc_spanning_tree 0
        tx_timestamp_timeout 50
        unicast_listen 0
        unicast_master_table 0
        unicast_req_duration 3600
        use_syslog 1
        verbose 0
        summary_interval 0
        kernel_leap 1
        check_fup_sync 0
        clock_class_threshold 7
        #
        # Servo Options
        #
        pi_proportional_const 0.0
        pi_integral_const 0.0
        pi_proportional_scale 0.0
        pi_proportional_exponent -0.3
        pi_proportional_norm_max 0.7
        pi_integral_scale 0.0
        pi_integral_exponent 0.4
        pi_integral_norm_max 0.3
        step_threshold 2.0
        first_step_threshold 0.00002
        max_frequency 900000000
        clock_servo pi
        sanity_freq_limit 200000000
        ntpshm_segment 0
        #
        # Transport options
        #
        transportSpecific 0x0
        ptp_dst_mac 01:1B:19:00:00:00
        p2p_dst_mac 01:80:C2:00:00:0E
        udp_ttl 1
        udp6_scope 0x0E
        uds_address /var/run/ptp4l
        #
        # Default interface options
        #
        clock_type OC
        network_transport L2
        delay_mechanism E2E
        time_stamping hardware
        tsproc_mode filter
        delay_filter moving_median
        delay_filter_length 10
        egressLatency 0
        ingressLatency 0
        boundary_clock_jbod 0
        #
        # Clock description
        #
        productDescription ;;
        revisionData ;;
        manufacturerIdentity 00:00:00
        userDescription ;
        timeSource 0xA0
  recommend:
    - profile: ordinary-clock
      priority: 4
      match:
        - nodeLabel: "node-role.kubernetes.io/$mcp"

Table 1. PTP ordinary clock CR configuration options
Custom resource field	Description
`name`	The name of the `PtpConfig` CR.
`profile`	Specify an array of one or more `profile` objects. Each profile must be uniquely named.
`interface`	Specify the network interface to be used by the `ptp4l` service, for example `ens787f1`.
`ptp4lOpts`	Specify system config options for the `ptp4l` service, for example `-2` to select the IEEE 802.3 network transport. The options should not include the network interface name `-i <interface>` and service config file `-f /etc/ptp4l.conf` because the network interface name and the service config file are automatically appended. Append `--summary_interval -4` to use PTP fast events with this interface.
`phc2sysOpts`	Specify system config options for the `phc2sys` service. If this field is empty, the PTP Operator does not start the `phc2sys` service. For Intel Columbiaville 800 Series NICs, set `phc2sysOpts` options to `-a -r -m -n 24 -N 8 -R 16`. `-m` prints messages to `stdout`. The `linuxptp-daemon` `DaemonSet` parses the logs and generates Prometheus metrics.
`ptp4lConf`	Specify a string that contains the configuration to replace the default `/etc/ptp4l.conf` file. To use the default configuration, leave the field empty.
`tx_timestamp_timeout`	For Intel Columbiaville 800 Series NICs, set `tx_timestamp_timeout` to `50`.
`boundary_clock_jbod`	For Intel Columbiaville 800 Series NICs, set `boundary_clock_jbod` to `0`.
`ptpSchedulingPolicy`	Scheduling policy for `ptp4l` and `phc2sys` processes. Default value is `SCHED_OTHER`. Use `SCHED_FIFO` on systems that support FIFO scheduling.
`ptpSchedulingPriority`	Integer value from 1-65 used to set FIFO priority for `ptp4l` and `phc2sys` processes when `ptpSchedulingPolicy` is set to `SCHED_FIFO`. The `ptpSchedulingPriority` field is not used when `ptpSchedulingPolicy` is set to `SCHED_OTHER`.
`ptpClockThreshold`	Optional. If `ptpClockThreshold` is not present, default values are used for the `ptpClockThreshold` fields. `ptpClockThreshold` configures how long after the PTP master clock is disconnected before PTP events are triggered. `holdOverTimeout` is the time value in seconds before the PTP clock event state changes to `FREERUN` when the PTP master clock is disconnected. The `maxOffsetThreshold` and `minOffsetThreshold` settings configure offset values in nanoseconds that compare against the values for `CLOCK_REALTIME` (`phc2sys`) or master offset (`ptp4l`). When the `ptp4l` or `phc2sys` offset value is outside this range, the PTP clock state is set to `FREERUN`. When the offset value is within this range, the PTP clock state is set to `LOCKED`.
`recommend`	Specify an array of one or more `recommend` objects that define rules on how the `profile` should be applied to nodes.
`.recommend.profile`	Specify the `.recommend.profile` object name defined in the `profile` section.
`.recommend.priority`	Set `.recommend.priority` to `0` for ordinary clock.
`.recommend.match`	Specify `.recommend.match` rules with `nodeLabel` or `nodeName` values.
`.recommend.match.nodeLabel`	Set `nodeLabel` with the `key` of the `node.Labels` field from the node object by using the `oc get nodes --show-labels` command. For example, `node-role.kubernetes.io/worker`.
`.recommend.match.nodeName`	Set `nodeName` with the value of the `node.Name` field from the node object by using the `oc get nodes` command. For example, `compute-1.example.com`.

Create the PtpConfig CR by running the following command:
```
$ oc create -f ordinary-clock-ptp-config.yaml
```

Verification

Check that the PtpConfig profile is applied to the node.

Get the list of pods in the openshift-ptp namespace by running the following command:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE   IP               NODE
linuxptp-daemon-4xkbb           1/1     Running   0          43m   10.1.196.24      compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-tdspf           1/1     Running   0          43m   10.1.196.25      compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-657bbb64c8-2f8sj   1/1     Running   0          43m   10.129.0.61      control-plane-1.example.com

Check that the profile is correct. Examine the logs of the linuxptp daemon that corresponds to the node you specified in the PtpConfig profile. Run the following command:

$ oc logs linuxptp-daemon-4xkbb -n openshift-ptp -c linuxptp-daemon-container

Example output

I1115 09:41:17.117596 4143292 daemon.go:107] in applyNodePTPProfile
I1115 09:41:17.117604 4143292 daemon.go:109] updating NodePTPProfile to:
I1115 09:41:17.117607 4143292 daemon.go:110] ------------------------------------
I1115 09:41:17.117612 4143292 daemon.go:102] Profile Name: profile1
I1115 09:41:17.117616 4143292 daemon.go:102] Interface: ens787f1
I1115 09:41:17.117620 4143292 daemon.go:102] Ptp4lOpts: -2 -s
I1115 09:41:17.117623 4143292 daemon.go:102] Phc2sysOpts: -a -r -n 24
I1115 09:41:17.117626 4143292 daemon.go:116] ------------------------------------

Additional resources

For more information about FIFO priority scheduling on PTP hardware, see Configuring FIFO priority scheduling for PTP hardware.
For more information about configuring PTP fast events, see Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher.

Configuring linuxptp services as a boundary clock

You can configure the linuxptp services (ptp4l, phc2sys) as boundary clock by creating a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) object.

Use the following example PtpConfig CR as the basis to configure linuxptp services as the boundary clock for your particular hardware and environment. This example CR does not configure PTP fast events. To configure PTP fast events, set appropriate values for ptp4lOpts, ptp4lConf, and ptpClockThreshold. ptpClockThreshold is used only when events are enabled. See "Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher" for more information.

Prerequisites

Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Create the following PtpConfig CR, and then save the YAML in the boundary-clock-ptp-config.yaml file.

Example PTP boundary clock configuration

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: boundary-clock
  namespace: openshift-ptp
  annotations: {}
spec:
  profile:
    - name: boundary-clock
      ptp4lOpts: "-2"
      phc2sysOpts: "-a -r -n 24"
      ptpSchedulingPolicy: SCHED_FIFO
      ptpSchedulingPriority: 10
      ptpSettings:
        logReduce: "true"
      ptp4lConf: |
        # The interface name is hardware-specific
        [$iface_slave]
        masterOnly 0
        [$iface_master_1]
        masterOnly 1
        [$iface_master_2]
        masterOnly 1
        [$iface_master_3]
        masterOnly 1
        [global]
        #
        # Default Data Set
        #
        twoStepFlag 1
        slaveOnly 0
        priority1 128
        priority2 128
        domainNumber 24
        #utc_offset 37
        clockClass 248
        clockAccuracy 0xFE
        offsetScaledLogVariance 0xFFFF
        free_running 0
        freq_est_interval 1
        dscp_event 0
        dscp_general 0
        dataset_comparison G.8275.x
        G.8275.defaultDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Port Data Set
        #
        logAnnounceInterval -3
        logSyncInterval -4
        logMinDelayReqInterval -4
        logMinPdelayReqInterval -4
        announceReceiptTimeout 3
        syncReceiptTimeout 0
        delayAsymmetry 0
        fault_reset_interval -4
        neighborPropDelayThresh 20000000
        masterOnly 0
        G.8275.portDS.localPriority 128
        #
        # Run time options
        #
        assume_two_step 0
        logging_level 6
        path_trace_enabled 0
        follow_up_info 0
        hybrid_e2e 0
        inhibit_multicast_service 0
        net_sync_monitor 0
        tc_spanning_tree 0
        tx_timestamp_timeout 50
        unicast_listen 0
        unicast_master_table 0
        unicast_req_duration 3600
        use_syslog 1
        verbose 0
        summary_interval 0
        kernel_leap 1
        check_fup_sync 0
        clock_class_threshold 135
        #
        # Servo Options
        #
        pi_proportional_const 0.0
        pi_integral_const 0.0
        pi_proportional_scale 0.0
        pi_proportional_exponent -0.3
        pi_proportional_norm_max 0.7
        pi_integral_scale 0.0
        pi_integral_exponent 0.4
        pi_integral_norm_max 0.3
        step_threshold 2.0
        first_step_threshold 0.00002
        max_frequency 900000000
        clock_servo pi
        sanity_freq_limit 200000000
        ntpshm_segment 0
        #
        # Transport options
        #
        transportSpecific 0x0
        ptp_dst_mac 01:1B:19:00:00:00
        p2p_dst_mac 01:80:C2:00:00:0E
        udp_ttl 1
        udp6_scope 0x0E
        uds_address /var/run/ptp4l
        #
        # Default interface options
        #
        clock_type BC
        network_transport L2
        delay_mechanism E2E
        time_stamping hardware
        tsproc_mode filter
        delay_filter moving_median
        delay_filter_length 10
        egressLatency 0
        ingressLatency 0
        boundary_clock_jbod 0
        #
        # Clock description
        #
        productDescription ;;
        revisionData ;;
        manufacturerIdentity 00:00:00
        userDescription ;
        timeSource 0xA0
  recommend:
    - profile: boundary-clock
      priority: 4
      match:
        - nodeLabel: "node-role.kubernetes.io/$mcp"

Table 2. PTP boundary clock CR configuration options
Custom resource field	Description
`name`	The name of the `PtpConfig` CR.
`profile`	Specify an array of one or more `profile` objects.
`name`	Specify the name of a profile object which uniquely identifies a profile object.
`ptp4lOpts`	Specify system config options for the `ptp4l` service. The options should not include the network interface name `-i <interface>` and service config file `-f /etc/ptp4l.conf` because the network interface name and the service config file are automatically appended.
`ptp4lConf`	Specify the required configuration to start `ptp4l` as boundary clock. For example, `ens1f0` synchronizes from a grandmaster clock and `ens1f3` synchronizes connected devices.
`<interface_1>`	The interface that receives the synchronization clock.
`<interface_2>`	The interface that sends the synchronization clock.
`tx_timestamp_timeout`	For Intel Columbiaville 800 Series NICs, set `tx_timestamp_timeout` to `50`.
`boundary_clock_jbod`	For Intel Columbiaville 800 Series NICs, ensure `boundary_clock_jbod` is set to `0`. For Intel Fortville X710 Series NICs, ensure `boundary_clock_jbod` is set to `1`.
`phc2sysOpts`	Specify system config options for the `phc2sys` service. If this field is empty, the PTP Operator does not start the `phc2sys` service.
`ptpSchedulingPolicy`	Scheduling policy for ptp4l and phc2sys processes. Default value is `SCHED_OTHER`. Use `SCHED_FIFO` on systems that support FIFO scheduling.
`ptpSchedulingPriority`	Integer value from 1-65 used to set FIFO priority for `ptp4l` and `phc2sys` processes when `ptpSchedulingPolicy` is set to `SCHED_FIFO`. The `ptpSchedulingPriority` field is not used when `ptpSchedulingPolicy` is set to `SCHED_OTHER`.
`ptpClockThreshold`	Optional. If `ptpClockThreshold` is not present, default values are used for the `ptpClockThreshold` fields. `ptpClockThreshold` configures how long after the PTP master clock is disconnected before PTP events are triggered. `holdOverTimeout` is the time value in seconds before the PTP clock event state changes to `FREERUN` when the PTP master clock is disconnected. The `maxOffsetThreshold` and `minOffsetThreshold` settings configure offset values in nanoseconds that compare against the values for `CLOCK_REALTIME` (`phc2sys`) or master offset (`ptp4l`). When the `ptp4l` or `phc2sys` offset value is outside this range, the PTP clock state is set to `FREERUN`. When the offset value is within this range, the PTP clock state is set to `LOCKED`.
`recommend`	Specify an array of one or more `recommend` objects that define rules on how the `profile` should be applied to nodes.
`.recommend.profile`	Specify the `.recommend.profile` object name defined in the `profile` section.
`.recommend.priority`	Specify the `priority` with an integer value between `0` and `99`. A larger number gets lower priority, so a priority of `99` is lower than a priority of `10`. If a node can be matched with multiple profiles according to rules defined in the `match` field, the profile with the higher priority is applied to that node.
`.recommend.match`	Specify `.recommend.match` rules with `nodeLabel` or `nodeName` values.
`.recommend.match.nodeLabel`	Set `nodeLabel` with the `key` of the `node.Labels` field from the node object by using the `oc get nodes --show-labels` command. For example, `node-role.kubernetes.io/worker`.
`.recommend.match.nodeName`	Set `nodeName` with the value of the `node.Name` field from the node object by using the `oc get nodes` command. For example, `compute-1.example.com`.

Create the CR by running the following command:

$ oc create -f boundary-clock-ptp-config.yaml

Verification

Check that the PtpConfig profile is applied to the node.

Get the list of pods in the openshift-ptp namespace by running the following command:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE   IP               NODE
linuxptp-daemon-4xkbb           1/1     Running   0          43m   10.1.196.24      compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-tdspf           1/1     Running   0          43m   10.1.196.25      compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-657bbb64c8-2f8sj   1/1     Running   0          43m   10.129.0.61      control-plane-1.example.com

Check that the profile is correct. Examine the logs of the linuxptp daemon that corresponds to the node you specified in the PtpConfig profile. Run the following command:

$ oc logs linuxptp-daemon-4xkbb -n openshift-ptp -c linuxptp-daemon-container

Example output

I1115 09:41:17.117596 4143292 daemon.go:107] in applyNodePTPProfile
I1115 09:41:17.117604 4143292 daemon.go:109] updating NodePTPProfile to:
I1115 09:41:17.117607 4143292 daemon.go:110] ------------------------------------
I1115 09:41:17.117612 4143292 daemon.go:102] Profile Name: profile1
I1115 09:41:17.117616 4143292 daemon.go:102] Interface:
I1115 09:41:17.117620 4143292 daemon.go:102] Ptp4lOpts: -2
I1115 09:41:17.117623 4143292 daemon.go:102] Phc2sysOpts: -a -r -n 24
I1115 09:41:17.117626 4143292 daemon.go:116] ------------------------------------

Additional resources

For more information about FIFO priority scheduling on PTP hardware, see Configuring FIFO priority scheduling for PTP hardware.
For more information about configuring PTP fast events, see Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher.

Configuring linuxptp services as boundary clocks for dual NIC hardware

Precision Time Protocol (PTP) hardware with dual NIC configured as boundary clocks is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

You can configure the linuxptp services (ptp4l, phc2sys) as boundary clocks for dual NIC hardware by creating a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) object for each NIC.

Dual NIC hardware allows you to connect each NIC to the same upstream leader clock with separate ptp4l instances for each NIC feeding the downstream clocks.

Prerequisites

Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Create two separate PtpConfig CRs, one for each NIC, using the reference CR in "Configuring linuxptp services as a boundary clock" as the basis for each CR. For example:

Create boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic1.yaml, specifying values for phc2sysOpts:

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic1
  namespace: openshift-ptp
spec:
  profile:
  - name: "profile1"
    ptp4lOpts: "-2 --summary_interval -4"
    ptp4lConf: | (1)
      [ens5f1]
      masterOnly 1
      [ens5f0]
      masterOnly 0
    ...
    phc2sysOpts: "-a -r -m -n 24 -N 8 -R 16" (2)

1	Specify the required interfaces to start `ptp4l` as a boundary clock. For example, `ens5f0` synchronizes from a grandmaster clock and `ens5f1` synchronizes connected devices.
2	Required `phc2sysOpts` values. `-m` prints messages to `stdout`. The `linuxptp-daemon` `DaemonSet` parses the logs and generates Prometheus metrics.

Create boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic2.yaml, removing the phc2sysOpts field altogether to disable the phc2sys service for the second NIC:

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic2
  namespace: openshift-ptp
spec:
  profile:
  - name: "profile2"
    ptp4lOpts: "-2 --summary_interval -4"
    ptp4lConf: | (1)
      [ens7f1]
      masterOnly 1
      [ens7f0]
      masterOnly 0
...

1	Specify the required interfaces to start `ptp4l` as a boundary clock on the second NIC.

You must completely remove the phc2sysOpts field from the second PtpConfig CR to disable the phc2sys service on the second NIC.

Create the dual NIC PtpConfig CRs by running the following commands:
1. Create the CR that configures PTP for the first NIC:
  $ oc create -f boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic1.yaml
2. Create the CR that configures PTP for the second NIC:
  $ oc create -f boundary-clock-ptp-config-nic2.yaml

Verification

Check that the PTP Operator has applied the PtpConfig CRs for both NICs. Examine the logs for the linuxptp daemon corresponding to the node that has the dual NIC hardware installed. For example, run the following command:

$ oc logs linuxptp-daemon-cvgr6 -n openshift-ptp -c linuxptp-daemon-container

Example output

ptp4l[80828.335]: [ptp4l.1.config] master offset          5 s2 freq   -5727 path delay       519
ptp4l[80828.343]: [ptp4l.0.config] master offset         -5 s2 freq  -10607 path delay       533
phc2sys[80828.390]: [ptp4l.0.config] CLOCK_REALTIME phc offset         1 s2 freq  -87239 delay    539

Intel Columbiaville E800 series NIC as PTP ordinary clock reference

The following table describes the changes that you must make to the reference PTP configuration in order to use Intel Columbiaville E800 series NICs as ordinary clocks. Make the changes in a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) that you apply to the cluster.

Table 3. Recommended PTP settings for Intel Columbiaville NIC
PTP configuration	Recommended setting
`phc2sysOpts`	`-a -r -m -n 24 -N 8 -R 16`
`tx_timestamp_timeout`	`50`
`boundary_clock_jbod`	`0`

For phc2sysOpts, -m prints messages to stdout. The linuxptp-daemon DaemonSet parses the logs and generates Prometheus metrics.

Additional resources

For a complete example CR that configures linuxptp services as an ordinary clock with PTP fast events, see Configuring linuxptp services as ordinary clock.

Configuring FIFO priority scheduling for PTP hardware

In telco or other deployment configurations that require low latency performance, PTP daemon threads run in a constrained CPU footprint alongside the rest of the infrastructure components. By default, PTP threads run with the SCHED_OTHER policy. Under high load, these threads might not get the scheduling latency they require for error-free operation.

To mitigate against potential scheduling latency errors, you can configure the PTP Operator linuxptp services to allow threads to run with a SCHED_FIFO policy. If SCHED_FIFO is set for a PtpConfig CR, then ptp4l and phc2sys will run in the parent container under chrt with a priority set by the ptpSchedulingPriority field of the PtpConfig CR.

Setting ptpSchedulingPolicy is optional, and is only required if you are experiencing latency errors.

Procedure

Edit the PtpConfig CR profile:
```
$ oc edit PtpConfig -n openshift-ptp
```

Change the ptpSchedulingPolicy and ptpSchedulingPriority fields:

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: <ptp_config_name>
  namespace: openshift-ptp
...
spec:
  profile:
  - name: "profile1"
...
    ptpSchedulingPolicy: SCHED_FIFO (1)
    ptpSchedulingPriority: 10 (2)

1	Scheduling policy for `ptp4l` and `phc2sys` processes. Use `SCHED_FIFO` on systems that support FIFO scheduling.
2	Required. Sets the integer value 1-65 used to configure FIFO priority for `ptp4l` and `phc2sys` processes.

Save and exit to apply the changes to the PtpConfig CR.

Verification

Get the name of the linuxptp-daemon pod and corresponding node where the PtpConfig CR has been applied:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP            NODE
linuxptp-daemon-gmv2n           3/3     Running   0          1d17h   10.1.196.24   compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-lgm55           3/3     Running   0          1d17h   10.1.196.25   compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-3r4dcvf7f4-zndk7   1/1     Running   0          1d7h    10.129.0.61   control-plane-1.example.com

Check that the ptp4l process is running with the updated chrt FIFO priority:

$ oc -n openshift-ptp logs linuxptp-daemon-lgm55 -c linuxptp-daemon-container|grep chrt

Example output

I1216 19:24:57.091872 1600715 daemon.go:285] /bin/chrt -f 65 /usr/sbin/ptp4l -f /var/run/ptp4l.0.config -2  --summary_interval -4 -m

Configuring log filtering for linuxptp services

The linuxptp daemon generates logs that you can use for debugging purposes. In telco or other deployment configurations that feature a limited storage capacity, these logs can add to the storage demand.

To reduce the number log messages, you can configure the PtpConfig custom resource (CR) to exclude log messages that report the master offset value. The master offset log message reports the difference between the current node’s clock and the master clock in nanoseconds.

Prerequisites

Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Edit the PtpConfig CR:
```
$ oc edit PtpConfig -n openshift-ptp
```

In spec.profile, add the ptpSettings.logReduce specification and set the value to true:

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpConfig
metadata:
  name: <ptp_config_name>
  namespace: openshift-ptp
...
spec:
  profile:
  - name: "profile1"
...
    ptpSettings:
      logReduce: "true"

For debugging purposes, you can revert this specification to False to include the master offset messages.

Save and exit to apply the changes to the PtpConfig CR.

Verification

Get the name of the linuxptp-daemon pod and corresponding node where the PtpConfig CR has been applied:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP            NODE
linuxptp-daemon-gmv2n           3/3     Running   0          1d17h   10.1.196.24   compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-lgm55           3/3     Running   0          1d17h   10.1.196.25   compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-3r4dcvf7f4-zndk7   1/1     Running   0          1d7h    10.129.0.61   control-plane-1.example.com

Verify that master offset messages are excluded from the logs by running the following command:
```
$ oc -n openshift-ptp logs <linux_daemon_container> -c linuxptp-daemon-container | grep "master offset" (1)
```
1 <linux_daemon_container> is the name of the linuxptp-daemon pod, for example linuxptp-daemon-gmv2n.

When you configure the logReduce specification, this command does not report any instances of master offset in the logs of the linuxptp daemon.

Troubleshooting common PTP Operator issues

Troubleshoot common problems with the PTP Operator by performing the following steps.

Prerequisites

Install the OKD CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install the PTP Operator on a bare-metal cluster with hosts that support PTP.

Procedure

Check the Operator and operands are successfully deployed in the cluster for the configured nodes.

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP            NODE
linuxptp-daemon-lmvgn           3/3     Running   0          4d17h   10.1.196.24   compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-qhfg7           3/3     Running   0          4d17h   10.1.196.25   compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-6b8dcbf7f4-zndk7   1/1     Running   0          5d7h    10.129.0.61   control-plane-1.example.com

When the PTP fast event bus is enabled, the number of ready linuxptp-daemon pods is 3/3. If the PTP fast event bus is not enabled, 2/2 is displayed.

Check that supported hardware is found in the cluster.

$ oc -n openshift-ptp get nodeptpdevices.ptp.openshift.io

Example output

NAME                                  AGE
control-plane-0.example.com           10d
control-plane-1.example.com           10d
compute-0.example.com                 10d
compute-1.example.com                 10d
compute-2.example.com                 10d

Check the available PTP network interfaces for a node:

$ oc -n openshift-ptp get nodeptpdevices.ptp.openshift.io <node_name> -o yaml

where:

<node_name>

Specifies the node you want to query, for example, compute-0.example.com.

Example output

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: NodePtpDevice
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2021-09-14T16:52:33Z"
  generation: 1
  name: compute-0.example.com
  namespace: openshift-ptp
  resourceVersion: "177400"
  uid: 30413db0-4d8d-46da-9bef-737bacd548fd
spec: {}
status:
  devices:
  - name: eno1
  - name: eno2
  - name: eno3
  - name: eno4
  - name: enp5s0f0
  - name: enp5s0f1

Check that the PTP interface is successfully synchronized to the primary clock by accessing the linuxptp-daemon pod for the corresponding node.

Get the name of the linuxptp-daemon pod and corresponding node you want to troubleshoot by running the following command:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp -o wide

Example output

NAME                            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP            NODE
linuxptp-daemon-lmvgn           3/3     Running   0          4d17h   10.1.196.24   compute-0.example.com
linuxptp-daemon-qhfg7           3/3     Running   0          4d17h   10.1.196.25   compute-1.example.com
ptp-operator-6b8dcbf7f4-zndk7   1/1     Running   0          5d7h    10.129.0.61   control-plane-1.example.com

Remote shell into the required linuxptp-daemon container:
```
$ oc rsh -n openshift-ptp -c linuxptp-daemon-container <linux_daemon_container>
```
where:

<linux_daemon_container>

is the container you want to diagnose, for example linuxptp-daemon-lmvgn.

In the remote shell connection to the linuxptp-daemon container, use the PTP Management Client (pmc) tool to diagnose the network interface. Run the following pmc command to check the sync status of the PTP device, for example ptp4l.

# pmc -u -f /var/run/ptp4l.0.config -b 0 'GET PORT_DATA_SET'

Example output when the node is successfully synced to the primary clock

sending: GET PORT_DATA_SET
    40a6b7.fffe.166ef0-1 seq 0 RESPONSE MANAGEMENT PORT_DATA_SET
        portIdentity            40a6b7.fffe.166ef0-1
        portState               SLAVE
        logMinDelayReqInterval  -4
        peerMeanPathDelay       0
        logAnnounceInterval     -3
        announceReceiptTimeout  3
        logSyncInterval         -4
        delayMechanism          1
        logMinPdelayReqInterval -4
        versionNumber           2

Collecting Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Operator data

You can use the oc adm must-gather CLI command to collect information about your cluster, including features and objects associated with Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Operator.

Prerequisites

You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
You have installed the PTP Operator.

Procedure

To collect PTP Operator data with must-gather, you must specify the PTP Operator must-gather image.
```
$ oc adm must-gather --image=registry.redhat.io/openshift4/ptp-must-gather-rhel8:v4.12
```

PTP hardware fast event notifications framework

Cloud native applications such as virtual RAN (vRAN) require access to notifications about hardware timing events that are critical to the functioning of the overall network. PTP clock synchronization errors can negatively affect the performance and reliability of your low-latency application, for example, a vRAN application running in a distributed unit (DU).

About PTP and clock synchronization error events

Loss of PTP synchronization is a critical error for a RAN network. If synchronization is lost on a node, the radio might be shut down and the network Over the Air (OTA) traffic might be shifted to another node in the wireless network. Fast event notifications mitigate against workload errors by allowing cluster nodes to communicate PTP clock sync status to the vRAN application running in the DU.

Event notifications are available to vRAN applications running on the same DU node. A publish-subscribe REST API passes events notifications to the messaging bus. Publish-subscribe messaging, or pub-sub messaging, is an asynchronous service-to-service communication architecture where any message published to a topic is immediately received by all of the subscribers to the topic.

The PTP Operator generates fast event notifications for every PTP-capable network interface. You can access the events by using a cloud-event-proxy sidecar container over an HTTP or Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) message bus.

PTP fast event notifications are available for network interfaces configured to use PTP ordinary clocks or PTP boundary clocks.

HTTP transport is the default transport for PTP and bare-metal events. Use HTTP transport instead of AMQP for PTP and bare-metal events where possible. AMQ Interconnect is EOL from 30 June 2024. Extended life cycle support (ELS) for AMQ Interconnect ends 29 November 2029. For more information see, Red Hat AMQ Interconnect support status.

About the PTP fast event notifications framework

Use the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) fast event notifications framework to subscribe cluster applications to PTP events that the bare-metal cluster node generates.

The fast events notifications framework uses a REST API for communication. The REST API is based on the O-RAN O-Cloud Notification API Specification for Event Consumers 3.0 that is available from O-RAN ALLIANCE Specifications.

The framework consists of a publisher, subscriber, and an AMQ or HTTP messaging protocol to handle communications between the publisher and subscriber applications. Applications run the cloud-event-proxy container in a sidecar pattern to subscribe to PTP events. The cloud-event-proxy sidecar container can access the same resources as the primary application container without using any of the resources of the primary application and with no significant latency.

Figure 1. Overview of PTP fast events

Event is generated on the cluster host: linuxptp-daemon in the PTP Operator-managed pod runs as a Kubernetes DaemonSet and manages the various linuxptp processes (ptp4l, phc2sys, and optionally for grandmaster clocks, ts2phc). The linuxptp-daemon passes the event to the UNIX domain socket.
Event is passed to the cloud-event-proxy sidecar: The PTP plugin reads the event from the UNIX domain socket and passes it to the cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the PTP Operator-managed pod. cloud-event-proxy delivers the event from the Kubernetes infrastructure to Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs) with low latency.
Event is persisted: The cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the PTP Operator-managed pod processes the event and publishes the cloud-native event by using a REST API.
Message is transported: The message transporter transports the event to the cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the application pod over HTTP or AMQP 1.0 QPID.
Event is available from the REST API: The cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the Application pod processes the event and makes it available by using the REST API.
Consumer application requests a subscription and receives the subscribed event: The consumer application sends an API request to the cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the application pod to create a PTP events subscription. The cloud-event-proxy sidecar creates an AMQ or HTTP messaging listener protocol for the resource specified in the subscription.

The cloud-event-proxy sidecar in the application pod receives the event from the PTP Operator-managed pod, unwraps the cloud events object to retrieve the data, and posts the event to the consumer application. The consumer application listens to the address specified in the resource qualifier and receives and processes the PTP event.

Configuring the PTP fast event notifications publisher

To start using PTP fast event notifications for a network interface in your cluster, you must enable the fast event publisher in the PTP Operator PtpOperatorConfig custom resource (CR) and configure ptpClockThreshold values in a PtpConfig CR that you create.

Prerequisites

You have installed the OKD CLI (oc).
You have logged in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
You have installed the PTP Operator.

Procedure

Modify the default PTP Operator config to enable PTP fast events.

Save the following YAML in the ptp-operatorconfig.yaml file:

apiVersion: ptp.openshift.io/v1
kind: PtpOperatorConfig
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: openshift-ptp
spec:
  daemonNodeSelector:
    node-role.kubernetes.io/worker: ""
  ptpEventConfig:
    enableEventPublisher: true (1)

1	Set `enableEventPublisher` to `true` to enable PTP fast event notifications.

In OKD 4.12 or later, you do not need to set the spec.ptpEventConfig.transportHost field in the PtpOperatorConfig resource when you use HTTP transport for PTP events. Set transportHost only when you use AMQP transport for PTP events.

Update the PtpOperatorConfig CR:
```
$ oc apply -f ptp-operatorconfig.yaml
```

Create a PtpConfig custom resource (CR) for the PTP enabled interface, and set the required values for ptpClockThreshold and ptp4lOpts. The following YAML illustrates the required values that you must set in the PtpConfig CR:

spec:
  profile:
  - name: "profile1"
    interface: "enp5s0f0"
    ptp4lOpts: "-2 -s --summary_interval -4" (1)
    phc2sysOpts: "-a -r -m -n 24 -N 8 -R 16" (2)
    ptp4lConf: "" (3)
    ptpClockThreshold: (4)
      holdOverTimeout: 5
      maxOffsetThreshold: 100
      minOffsetThreshold: -100

1	Append `--summary_interval -4` to use PTP fast events.
2	Required `phc2sysOpts` values. `-m` prints messages to `stdout`. The `linuxptp-daemon` `DaemonSet` parses the logs and generates Prometheus metrics.
3	Specify a string that contains the configuration to replace the default `/etc/ptp4l.conf` file. To use the default configuration, leave the field empty.
4	Optional. If the `ptpClockThreshold` stanza is not present, default values are used for the `ptpClockThreshold` fields. The stanza shows default `ptpClockThreshold` values. The `ptpClockThreshold` values configure how long after the PTP master clock is disconnected before PTP events are triggered. `holdOverTimeout` is the time value in seconds before the PTP clock event state changes to `FREERUN` when the PTP master clock is disconnected. The `maxOffsetThreshold` and `minOffsetThreshold` settings configure offset values in nanoseconds that compare against the values for `CLOCK_REALTIME` (`phc2sys`) or master offset (`ptp4l`). When the `ptp4l` or `phc2sys` offset value is outside this range, the PTP clock state is set to `FREERUN`. When the offset value is within this range, the PTP clock state is set to `LOCKED`.

Additional resources

For a complete example CR that configures linuxptp services as an ordinary clock with PTP fast events, see Configuring linuxptp services as ordinary clock.

Migrating consumer applications to use HTTP transport for PTP or bare-metal events

If you have previously deployed PTP or bare-metal events consumer applications, you need to update the applications to use HTTP message transport.

Prerequisites

You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
You have logged in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
You have updated the PTP Operator or Bare Metal Event Relay to version 4.12 or later which uses HTTP transport by default.

Procedure

Update your events consumer application to use HTTP transport. Set the http-event-publishers variable for the cloud event sidecar deployment.

For example, in a cluster with PTP events configured, the following YAML snippet illustrates a cloud event sidecar deployment:
```
containers:
  - name: cloud-event-sidecar
    image: cloud-event-sidecar
    args:
      - "--metrics-addr=127.0.0.1:9091"
      - "--store-path=/store"
      - "--transport-host=consumer-events-subscription-service.cloud-events.svc.cluster.local:9043"
      - "--http-event-publishers=ptp-event-publisher-service-NODE_NAME.openshift-ptp.svc.cluster.local:9043" (1)
      - "--api-port=8089"
```
1 The PTP Operator automatically resolves NODE_NAME to the host that is generating the PTP events. For example, compute-1.example.com.

In a cluster with bare-metal events configured, set the http-event-publishers field to hw-event-publisher-service.openshift-bare-metal-events.svc.cluster.local:9043 in the cloud event sidecar deployment CR.

Deploy the consumer-events-subscription-service service alongside the events consumer application. For example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  annotations:
    prometheus.io/scrape: "true"
    service.alpha.openshift.io/serving-cert-secret-name: sidecar-consumer-secret
  name: consumer-events-subscription-service
  namespace: cloud-events
  labels:
    app: consumer-service
spec:
  ports:
    - name: sub-port
      port: 9043
  selector:
    app: consumer
  clusterIP: None
  sessionAffinity: None
  type: ClusterIP

Installing the AMQ messaging bus

To pass PTP fast event notifications between publisher and subscriber on a node, you can install and configure an AMQ messaging bus to run locally on the node. To use AMQ messaging, you must install the AMQ Interconnect Operator.

Prerequisites

Install the OKD CLI (oc).
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.

Procedure

Install the AMQ Interconnect Operator to its own amq-interconnect namespace. See Adding the Red Hat Integration - AMQ Interconnect Operator.

Verification

Check that the AMQ Interconnect Operator is available and the required pods are running:

$ oc get pods -n amq-interconnect

Example output

NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
amq-interconnect-645db76c76-k8ghs       1/1     Running   0          23h
interconnect-operator-5cb5fc7cc-4v7qm   1/1     Running   0          23h

Check that the required linuxptp-daemon PTP event producer pods are running in the openshift-ptp namespace.

$ oc get pods -n openshift-ptp

Example output

NAME                     READY   STATUS    RESTARTS       AGE
linuxptp-daemon-2t78p    3/3     Running   0              12h
linuxptp-daemon-k8n88    3/3     Running   0              12h

Subscribing DU applications to PTP events REST API reference

Use the PTP event notifications REST API to subscribe a distributed unit (DU) application to the PTP events that are generated on the parent node.

Subscribe applications to PTP events by using the resource address /cluster/node/<node_name>/ptp, where <node_name> is the cluster node running the DU application.

Deploy your cloud-event-consumer DU application container and cloud-event-proxy sidecar container in a separate DU application pod. The cloud-event-consumer DU application subscribes to the cloud-event-proxy container in the application pod.

Use the following API endpoints to subscribe the cloud-event-consumer DU application to PTP events posted by the cloud-event-proxy container at http://localhost:8089/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/ in the DU application pod:

/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions
- POST: Creates a new subscription
- GET: Retrieves a list of subscriptions
- DELETE: Deletes all subscriptions
/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/<subscription_id>
- GET: Returns details for the specified subscription ID
- DELETE: Deletes the subscription associated with the specified subscription ID
/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/health
- GET: Returns the health status of ocloudNotifications API
api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers
- GET: Returns an array of os-clock-sync-state, ptp-clock-class-change, and lock-state messages for the cluster node
/api/ocloudnotifications/v1/{resource_address}/CurrentState
- GET: Returns the current state of one the following event types: os-clock-sync-state, ptp-clock-class-change, or lock-state events

9089 is the default port for the cloud-event-consumer container deployed in the application pod. You can configure a different port for your DU application as required.

api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions

HTTP method

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions

Description

Returns a list of subscriptions. If subscriptions exist, a 200 OK status code is returned along with the list of subscriptions.

Example API response

[
 {
  "id": "75b1ad8f-c807-4c23-acf5-56f4b7ee3826",
  "endpointUri": "http://localhost:9089/event",
  "uriLocation": "http://localhost:8089/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/75b1ad8f-c807-4c23-acf5-56f4b7ee3826",
  "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ptp"
 }
]

HTTP method

POST api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions

Description

Creates a new subscription. If a subscription is successfully created, or if it already exists, a 201 Created status code is returned.

Table 4. Query parameters
Parameter	Type
subscription	data

Example payload

{
  "uriLocation": "http://localhost:8089/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions",
  "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ptp"
}

HTTP method

DELETE api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions

Description

Deletes all subscriptions.

Example API response

{
"status": "deleted all subscriptions"
}

api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/{subscription_id}

HTTP method

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/{subscription_id}

Description

Returns details for the subscription with ID subscription_id.

Table 5. Global path parameters
Parameter	Type
`subscription_id`	string

Example API response

{
  "id":"48210fb3-45be-4ce0-aa9b-41a0e58730ab",
  "endpointUri": "http://localhost:9089/event",
  "uriLocation":"http://localhost:8089/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/48210fb3-45be-4ce0-aa9b-41a0e58730ab",
  "resource":"/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ptp"
}

HTTP method

DELETE api/ocloudNotifications/v1/subscriptions/{subscription_id}

Description

Deletes the subscription with ID subscription_id.

Table 6. Global path parameters
Parameter	Type
`subscription_id`	string

Example API response

{
"status": "OK"
}

api/ocloudNotifications/v1/health

HTTP method

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/health/

Description

Returns the health status for the ocloudNotifications REST API.

Example API response

OK

api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers

HTTP method

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers

Description

Returns an array of os-clock-sync-state, ptp-clock-class-change, and lock-state details for the cluster node. The system generates notifications when the relevant equipment state changes.

os-clock-sync-state notifications describe the host operating system clock synchronization state. Can be in LOCKED or FREERUN state.
ptp-clock-class-change notifications describe the current state of the PTP clock class.
lock-state notifications describe the current status of the PTP equipment lock state. Can be in LOCKED, HOLDOVER or FREERUN state.

Example API response

[
  {
    "id": "0fa415ae-a3cf-4299-876a-589438bacf75",
    "endpointUri": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/dummy",
    "uriLocation": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers/0fa415ae-a3cf-4299-876a-589438bacf75",
    "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state"
  },
  {
    "id": "28cd82df-8436-4f50-bbd9-7a9742828a71",
    "endpointUri": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/dummy",
    "uriLocation": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers/28cd82df-8436-4f50-bbd9-7a9742828a71",
    "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/ptp-status/ptp-clock-class-change"
  },
  {
    "id": "44aa480d-7347-48b0-a5b0-e0af01fa9677",
    "endpointUri": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/dummy",
    "uriLocation": "http://localhost:9085/api/ocloudNotifications/v1/publishers/44aa480d-7347-48b0-a5b0-e0af01fa9677",
    "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/ptp-status/lock-state"
  }
]

You can find os-clock-sync-state, ptp-clock-class-change and lock-state events in the logs for the cloud-event-proxy container. For example:

$ oc logs -f linuxptp-daemon-cvgr6 -n openshift-ptp -c cloud-event-proxy

Example os-clock-sync-state event

{
   "id":"c8a784d1-5f4a-4c16-9a81-a3b4313affe5",
   "type":"event.sync.sync-status.os-clock-sync-state-change",
   "source":"/cluster/compute-1.example.com/ptp/CLOCK_REALTIME",
   "dataContentType":"application/json",
   "time":"2022-05-06T15:31:23.906277159Z",
   "data":{
      "version":"v1",
      "values":[
         {
            "resource":"/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state",
            "dataType":"notification",
            "valueType":"enumeration",
            "value":"LOCKED"
         },
         {
            "resource":"/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state",
            "dataType":"metric",
            "valueType":"decimal64.3",
            "value":"-53"
         }
      ]
   }
}

Example ptp-clock-class-change event

{
   "id":"69eddb52-1650-4e56-b325-86d44688d02b",
   "type":"event.sync.ptp-status.ptp-clock-class-change",
   "source":"/cluster/compute-1.example.com/ptp/ens2fx/master",
   "dataContentType":"application/json",
   "time":"2022-05-06T15:31:23.147100033Z",
   "data":{
      "version":"v1",
      "values":[
         {
            "resource":"/sync/ptp-status/ptp-clock-class-change",
            "dataType":"metric",
            "valueType":"decimal64.3",
            "value":"135"
         }
      ]
   }
}

Example lock-state event

{
   "id":"305ec18b-1472-47b3-aadd-8f37933249a9",
   "type":"event.sync.ptp-status.ptp-state-change",
   "source":"/cluster/compute-1.example.com/ptp/ens2fx/master",
   "dataContentType":"application/json",
   "time":"2022-05-06T15:31:23.467684081Z",
   "data":{
      "version":"v1",
      "values":[
         {
            "resource":"/sync/ptp-status/lock-state",
            "dataType":"notification",
            "valueType":"enumeration",
            "value":"LOCKED"
         },
         {
            "resource":"/sync/ptp-status/lock-state",
            "dataType":"metric",
            "valueType":"decimal64.3",
            "value":"62"
         }
      ]
   }
}

/api/ocloudnotifications/v1/{resource_address}/CurrentState

HTTP method

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/cluster/node/<node_name>/sync/ptp-status/lock-state/CurrentState

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/cluster/node/<node_name>/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state/CurrentState

GET api/ocloudNotifications/v1/cluster/node/<node_name>/sync/ptp-status/ptp-clock-class-change/CurrentState

Description

Configure the CurrentState API endpoint to return the current state of the os-clock-sync-state, ptp-clock-class-change, or lock-state events for the cluster node.

os-clock-sync-state notifications describe the host operating system clock synchronization state. Can be in LOCKED or FREERUN state.
ptp-clock-class-change notifications describe the current state of the PTP clock class.
lock-state notifications describe the current status of the PTP equipment lock state. Can be in LOCKED, HOLDOVER or FREERUN state.

Table 7. Global path parameters
Parameter	Type
`resource_address`	string

Example lock-state API response

{
  "id": "c1ac3aa5-1195-4786-84f8-da0ea4462921",
  "type": "event.sync.ptp-status.ptp-state-change",
  "source": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/ptp-status/lock-state",
  "dataContentType": "application/json",
  "time": "2023-01-10T02:41:57.094981478Z",
  "data": {
    "version": "v1",
    "values": [
      {
        "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ens5fx/master",
        "dataType": "notification",
        "valueType": "enumeration",
        "value": "LOCKED"
      },
      {
        "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ens5fx/master",
        "dataType": "metric",
        "valueType": "decimal64.3",
        "value": "29"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example os-clock-sync-state API response

{
  "specversion": "0.3",
  "id": "4f51fe99-feaa-4e66-9112-66c5c9b9afcb",
  "source": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state",
  "type": "event.sync.sync-status.os-clock-sync-state-change",
  "subject": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/sync-status/os-clock-sync-state",
  "datacontenttype": "application/json",
  "time": "2022-11-29T17:44:22.202Z",
  "data": {
    "version": "v1",
    "values": [
      {
        "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/CLOCK_REALTIME",
        "dataType": "notification",
        "valueType": "enumeration",
        "value": "LOCKED"
      },
      {
        "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/CLOCK_REALTIME",
        "dataType": "metric",
        "valueType": "decimal64.3",
        "value": "27"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example ptp-clock-class-change API response

{
  "id": "064c9e67-5ad4-4afb-98ff-189c6aa9c205",
  "type": "event.sync.ptp-status.ptp-clock-class-change",
  "source": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/sync/ptp-status/ptp-clock-class-change",
  "dataContentType": "application/json",
  "time": "2023-01-10T02:41:56.785673989Z",
  "data": {
    "version": "v1",
    "values": [
      {
        "resource": "/cluster/node/compute-1.example.com/ens5fx/master",
        "dataType": "metric",
        "valueType": "decimal64.3",
        "value": "165"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Monitoring PTP fast event metrics

You can monitor PTP fast events metrics from cluster nodes where the linuxptp-daemon is running. You can also monitor PTP fast event metrics in the OKD web console by using the preconfigured and self-updating Prometheus monitoring stack.

Prerequisites

Install the OKD CLI oc.
Log in as a user with cluster-admin privileges.
Install and configure the PTP Operator on a node with PTP-capable hardware.

Procedure

Check for exposed PTP metrics on any node where the linuxptp-daemon is running. For example, run the following command:

$ curl http://<node_name>:9091/metrics

Example output

# HELP openshift_ptp_clock_state 0 = FREERUN, 1 = LOCKED, 2 = HOLDOVER
# TYPE openshift_ptp_clock_state gauge
openshift_ptp_clock_state{iface="ens1fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 1
openshift_ptp_clock_state{iface="ens3fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 1
openshift_ptp_clock_state{iface="ens5fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 1
openshift_ptp_clock_state{iface="ens7fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 1
# HELP openshift_ptp_delay_ns
# TYPE openshift_ptp_delay_ns gauge
openshift_ptp_delay_ns{from="master",iface="ens1fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 842
openshift_ptp_delay_ns{from="master",iface="ens3fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 480
openshift_ptp_delay_ns{from="master",iface="ens5fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 584
openshift_ptp_delay_ns{from="master",iface="ens7fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 482
openshift_ptp_delay_ns{from="phc",iface="CLOCK_REALTIME",node="compute-1.example.com",process="phc2sys"} 547
# HELP openshift_ptp_offset_ns
# TYPE openshift_ptp_offset_ns gauge
openshift_ptp_offset_ns{from="master",iface="ens1fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} -2
openshift_ptp_offset_ns{from="master",iface="ens3fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} -44
openshift_ptp_offset_ns{from="master",iface="ens5fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} -8
openshift_ptp_offset_ns{from="master",iface="ens7fx",node="compute-1.example.com",process="ptp4l"} 3
openshift_ptp_offset_ns{from="phc",iface="CLOCK_REALTIME",node="compute-1.example.com",process="phc2sys"} 12

To view the PTP event in the OKD web console, copy the name of the PTP metric you want to query, for example, openshift_ptp_offset_ns.
In the OKD web console, click Observe → Metrics.
Paste the PTP metric name into the Expression field, and click Run queries.

Additional resources

Managing metrics