EP4348422A1

EP4348422A1 - Event synchronization in a clustered environment using a distributed timer

Info

Publication number: EP4348422A1
Application number: EP22724328.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kunal Anand EKAWDE; Abhay BALAPPANAVAR; Michael Anthony Brown; Ronald Mark Parker; Anupama Raghavan; Dhananjaya EADALA; Rama Krishna Prasad MANGALAPARTHI; Mark Gordon Libby
Original assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
Current assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
Priority date: 2021-05-26
Filing date: 2022-04-29
Publication date: 2024-04-10
Also published as: WO2022250843A1

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for providing method for providing an event timer for event synchronization across Kubernetes clusters. The event timer is configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the cloud computing environment. In response to a request for an event timer for a timed event, it is determined whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance. If the requested event timer has been started, a state of the requested event timer is sent to the first microservice instance If the requested event timer has not been started, the requested event timer is instantiated, and a state of the instantiated event timer is stored in a database. The instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances. In response to an expiration of the event timer, a single callback for processing of the event is generated.

Description

EVENT SYNCHRONIZATION IN A CLUSTERED ENVIRONMENT USING A

DISTRIBUTED TIMER

BACKGROUND

A data center is a facility that houses computer systems and various networking, storage, and other related components. Data centers may, for example, provide computing services to businesses and individuals as a remote computing service or provide “software as a service” (e.g., cloud computing). To facilitate efficient utilization of data center resources, virtualization technologies allow a physical computing device to host one or more virtual machines or containers that appear and operate as independent computing resources. The data center can create, maintain or delete virtual machines or containers in a dynamic manner. Many platforms use Kubernetes as a container orchestration system for application deployment, scaling, and management. In a microservices-based Kubernetes cluster environment, there may be a large number of instances that are executing the same software on various state objects. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.

SUMMARY

In a microservices-based Kubernetes cluster environment, some events need only be processed once (e.g., a timed event) and by one instance, but the event may be generated by all of the instances. Such events need to be synchronized in order to avoid duplicate actions and duplicate events. Methods for determining which instance should process the event can be complex and wasteful of system resources. For example, methods for electing a single instance to execute the process are difficult to coordinate in complex environment where instances can be added or taken down at any time.

The present disclosure provides an event timer for event synchronization in a distributed and clustered Kubernetes environment that is (1) durable and consistent and (2) distributed and globally available for multiple pods. The event timer may be created as a microservice that manages timers on behalf of microservice instances. A first microservice instance can start the event timer, and any microservice instance can process the timed event using the event timer. The event timer is not deleted if the first microservice instance is torn down. The event timer is only deleted when the event is completed.

By providing such a distributed timer, data centers may operate more efficiently, and reduction or loss of services provided by service providers may be avoid or mitigated, providing for greater operational efficiency for service providers.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended that this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the description detailed herein, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments or examples. The drawings herein are not drawn to scale. Like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures.

FIG. l is a diagram illustrating a data center in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a distributed timer in accordance with the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for providing a distributed timer in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for providing a distributed timer in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an example computing device in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a microservices-based Kubernetes cluster environment, there may be a large number of instances that are executing the same software on various state objects. One problem in such an environment is that some events need only be processed once (e.g., a timed event) and by one instance, but the event may be generated by all of the instances. Such events need to be synchronized in order to avoid duplicate actions and duplicate events. Methods for determining which instance should process the event can be complex and wasteful of system resources. For example, methods for electing a single instance to execute the process are difficult to coordinate in a complex environment where instances can be added or taken down at any time.

The present disclosure provides an event timer for event synchronization in a distributed and clustered Kubernetes environment that is (1) durable and consistent and (2) distributed and globally available for multiple pods. In an embodiment, an event timer may be created as a microservice that manages timers on behalf of microservice instances. A first microservice instance can start the event timer, and any microservice instance can process the timed event using the event timer. The event timer is not deleted if the first microservice instance is tom down. The event timer is only deleted when the event is completed.

In an embodiment, the event timer may be a named service that can be started by multiple microservice instances. The event timer may be implemented as a stateful microservice. Using a database-backed storage, when a microservice instance needs an event timer, the instance may check the database to see if the event timer is already executing. If the event timer is already executing, the instance updates the state. If the event timer is not executing, the instance creates the timer in the database. In an embodiment the instance may start the event timer locally in its application space. When the event timer fires, a callback may be generated for processing of the event. Once the callback is executed, the timer’s entry in the database may be deleted, completing the timed event. Since only one event timer is created, only one event is generated when the timer fires.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure may be implemented in a mobile edge computing (MEC) environment implemented in conjunction with a 4G, 5G, or other cellular network. MEC is a type of edge computing that uses cellular networks and 5G and enables a data center to extend cloud services to local deployments using a distributed architecture that provide federated options for local and remote data and control management. MEC architectures may be implemented at cellular base stations or other edge nodes and enable operators to host content closer to the edge of the network, delivering high-bandwidth, low-latency applications to end users. For example, the cloud provider’ s footprint may be co-located at a carrier site (e.g., carrier data center), allowing for the edge infrastructure and applications to run closer to the end user via the 5G network.

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a general computing environment in which the embodiments described herein may be implemented. FIG. 1 illustrates a data center 100 that is configured to provide computing resources to users 100a, 100b, or 100c (which may be referred herein singularly as "a user 100" or in the plural as "the users 100") via user computers 102a, 102b, and 102c (which may be referred herein singularly as "a computer 102" or in the plural as "the computers 102") via a communications network 130. The computing resources provided by the data center 100 may include various types of resources, such as computing resources, data storage resources, data communication resources, and the like. Each type of computing resource may be general-purpose or may be available in a number of specific configurations. For example, computing resources may be available as virtual machines or containers. The virtual machines or containers may be configured to execute applications, including Web servers, application servers, media servers, database servers, and the like. Data storage resources may include file storage devices, block storage devices, and the like. Each type or configuration of computing resource may be available in different configurations, such as the number of processors, and size of memory and/or storage capacity. The resources may in some embodiments be offered to clients in units referred to as instances or containers, such as container instances, virtual machine instances, or storage instances. A virtual computing instance may be referred to as a virtual machine and may, for example, comprise one or more servers with a specified computational capacity (which may be specified by indicating the type and number of CPUs, the main memory size and so on) and a specified software stack (e.g., a particular version of an operating system, which may in turn run on top of a hypervisor).

Data center 100 may include servers 116a, 116b, and 116c (which may be referred to herein singularly as "a server 116" or in the plural as "the servers 116") that provide computing resources available as virtual machines or containers 118a and 118b (which may be referred to herein singularly as "a virtual machine 118" or in the plural as "the virtual machines 118" or as "a container 118" or in the plural as "the containers 118"). The virtual machines or containers 118 may be configured to execute applications such as Web servers, application servers, media servers, database servers, and the like. Other resources that may be provided include data storage resources (not shown on FIG. 1) and may include file storage devices, block storage devices, and the like. Servers 116 may also execute functions that manage and control allocation of resources in the data center, such as a controller 115. Controller 115 may be a fabric controller or another type of program configured to manage the allocation of virtual machines or containers on servers 116. Referring to FIG. 1, communications network 130 may, for example, be a publicly accessible network of linked networks and may be operated by various entities, such as the Internet. In other embodiments, communications network 130 may be a private network, such as a corporate network that is wholly or partially inaccessible to the public.

Communications network 130 may provide access to computers 102. Computers 102 may be computers utilized by users 100. Computer 102a, 102b or 102c may be a server, a desktop or laptop personal computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a set-top box, or any other computing device capable of accessing data center 100. User computer 102a or 102b may connect directly to the Internet (e.g., via a cable modem). User computer 102c may be internal to the data center 100 and may connect directly to the resources in the data center 100 via internal networks. Although only three user computers 102a, 102b, and 102c are depicted, it should be appreciated that there may be multiple user computers.

Computers 102 may also be utilized to configure aspects of the computing resources provided by data center 100. For example, data center 100 may provide a Web interface through which aspects of its operation may be configured through the use of a Web browser application program executing on user computer 102. Alternatively, a stand-alone application program executing on user computer 102 may be used to access an application programming interface (API) exposed by data center 100 for performing the configuration operations.

Servers 116 may be configured to provide the computing resources described above. One or more of the servers 116 may be configured to execute a manager 120a or 120b (which may be referred herein singularly as "a manager 120" or in the plural as "the managers 120") configured to execute the virtual machines. The managers 120 may be a virtual machine monitor (VMM), fabric controller, or another type of program configured to enable the execution of virtual machines or containers 118 on servers 116, for example.

It should be appreciated that although the embodiments disclosed above are discussed in the context of virtual machines and containers, other types of implementations can be utilized with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein.

In the example data center 100 shown in FIG. 1, a network device 111 may be utilized to interconnect the servers 116a and 116b. Network device 111 may comprise one or more switches, routers, or other network devices. Network device 111 may also be connected to gateway 140, which is connected to communications network 130. Network device 111 may facilitate communications within networks in data center 100, for example, by forwarding packets or other data communications as appropriate based on characteristics of such communications (e.g., header information including source and/or destination addresses, protocol identifiers, etc.) and/or the characteristics of the private network (e.g., routes based on network topology, etc.). It will be appreciated that, for the sake of simplicity, various aspects of the computing systems and other devices of this example are illustrated without showing certain conventional details. Additional computing systems and other devices may be interconnected in other embodiments and may be interconnected in different ways.

It should be appreciated that the network topology illustrated in FIG. 1 has been greatly simplified and that many more networks and networking devices may be utilized to interconnect the various computing systems disclosed herein. These network topologies and devices should be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It should also be appreciated that data center 100 described in FIG. 1 is merely illustrative and that other implementations might be utilized. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the functionality disclosed herein might be implemented in software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Other implementations should be apparent to those skilled in the art. It should also be appreciated that a server, gateway, or other computing device may comprise any combination of hardware or software that can interact and perform the described types of functionality, including without limitation desktop or other computers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, PDAs, tablets, smartphone, Internet appliances, television-based systems (e.g., using set top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders), and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities. In addition, the functionality provided by the illustrated modules may in some embodiments be combined in fewer modules or distributed in additional modules. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionality of some of the illustrated modules may not be provided and/or other additional functionality may be available. The disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a mobile edge computing (MEC) environment implemented in conjunction with a 4G, 5G, or other cellular network. The MEC environment may include at least some of the components and functionality described in FIG. 1 above. Additionally, components of a 5G network may include network functions such as a Session Management Function (SMF), Policy Control Function (PCF), and N7 interface. A radio access network (RAN) may comprise 5G-capable UEs, a base station gNodeB that communicates with an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) in a 5G Core (5GC) network. The 5G network may further comprise a User Plane Function (UPF) and Policy Charging Function (PCF). Referring to FIG. 2, illustrated is an example environment 200 where the disclosed techniques can be implemented. FIG. 2 illustrates timer services 220 that may include a timer manager 226 and timer controller 224. The timer controller 224 may communicate via a timer API 250 to one or more microservices running on pods 210. The timer controller 224 may receive requests for timers from the microservices. In response to a request, one or more timers 240 may be created. States for the timers may be stored in a timer database 260.

In an embodiment, a Create Timer API may be implemented that is operable to create a timer resource on a distributed timer microservice pod. An application may provide, for example, appHandle, serviceName, duration, timeunit, and callbackUrl. The response may provide (timerHandle , appHandle).

In an embodiment, a Delete Timer API may be provided to delete a timer resource created on the distributed timer microservice pod. The request may be sent to any timer service instance. The distributed timer microservice pod may send a success response or failure response. The timer service may forward the delete timer to another distributed timer microservice pod if the other distributed timer microservice pod is the owner of this timer.

In an embodiment, an update timer API may be provided which enables timer fields to be updated. For example, a timer may be restarted before the timer is expired. In one embodiment, if an application wants to restart the timer, the application may set restart = true in the notification response.

Applications may be notified once a timer has expired. In an embodiment, timers may be set relative to a reference time or interval. In some embodiments, the applications may provide the timer duration and unit. Timers may be associated with a Timer ID. In some embodiments, the Timer ID may be used to generate the timer-handle.

In an embodiment, timers may be stored in a database. In an embodiment, each microservice may have one logical database. The timer records may be identified by keys. When a timer is deleted, the corresponding field from the database record may be deleted. If there are no more timers present in the record, then the full database record may be deleted. Turning now to FIG. 3, illustrated is an example operational procedure for providing an event timer for event synchronization across a plurality of Kubernetes clusters in a cloud computing environment. In an embodiment, the cloud computing environment comprises a plurality of computing devices executing a plurality of Kubernetes clusters comprising one or more containers. In an embodiment, the event timer is configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the cloud computing environment. Such an operational procedure can be provided by one or more components illustrated in FIGs. 1 and 2. The operational procedure may be implemented in a system comprising one or more computing devices. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the operations of the methods disclosed herein are not necessarily presented in any particular order and that performance of some or all of the operations in an alternative order(s) is possible and is contemplated. The operations have been presented in the demonstrated order for ease of description and illustration. Operations may be added, omitted, performed together, and/or performed simultaneously, without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

It should also be understood that the illustrated methods can end at any time and need not be performed in their entireties. Some or all operations of the methods, and/or substantially equivalent operations, can be performed by execution of computer-readable instructions included on a computer-storage media, as defined herein. The term “computer-readable instructions,” and variants thereof, as used in the description and claims, is used expansively herein to include routines, applications, application modules, program modules, programs, components, data structures, algorithms, and the like. Computer-readable instructions can be implemented on various system configurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based, programmable consumer electronics, combinations thereof, and the like.

It should be appreciated that the logical operations described herein are implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on a computing system such as those described herein) and/or (2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within the computing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performance and other requirements of the computing system. Accordingly, the logical operations may be implemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereof. Thus, although the routine 300 is described as running on a system, it can be appreciated that the routine 300 and other operations described herein can be executed on an individual computing device or several devices.

Referring to FIG. 3, operation 301 illustrates receiving, from a first microservice instance, a request for an event timer for a timed event. In an embodiment, the request may define a duration for the event timer.

Operation 301 may be followed by operation 303. Operation 303 illustrates in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance.

Operation 303 may be followed by operation 305. Operation 305 illustrates in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance.

Operation 305 may be followed by operation 307. Operation 307 illustrates in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database. In an embodiment, the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances.

Operation 307 may be followed by operation 309. Operation 309 illustrates in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event.

Referring to FIG. 4, illustrated is another example operational procedure for providing an event timer for event synchronization in a 5G network comprising a plurality of computing devices hosting a plurality of clusters comprising one or more containers. The event timer may be configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the 5G network. Such an operational procedure can be provided by services shown in FIGs. 1 and 2. The operational procedure may be implemented in a system comprising one or more computing devices. Referring to FIG. 4, operation 401 illustrates receiving, from a first microservice instance executing in the 5G network, a request for an event timer for a timed event. In an embodiment, the request defining a duration for the event timer.

Operation 401 may be followed by operation 403. Operation 403 illustrates in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance executing in the 5G network.

Operation 403 may be followed by operation 405. Operation 405 illustrates in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance.

Operation 405 may be followed by operation 407. Operation 407 illustrates in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database. In an embodiment, the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances.

Operation 407 may be followed by operation 409. Operation 409 illustrates in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event.

Operation 409 may be followed by operation 411. Operation 411 illustrates in response to execution of the callback, deleting the event timer’s entry in the database.

The various aspects of the disclosure are described herein with regard to certain examples and embodiments, which are intended to illustrate but not to limit the disclosure. It should be appreciated that the subject matter presented herein may be implemented as a computer process, a computer-controlled apparatus, or a computing system or an article of manufacture, such as a computer-readable storage medium. While the subject matter described herein is presented in the general context of program modules that execute on one or more computing devices, those skilled in the art will recognize that other implementations may be performed in combination with other types of program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the subject matter described herein may be practiced on or in conjunction with other computer system configurations beyond those described herein, including multiprocessor systems. The embodiments described herein may also be practiced in distributed computing environments, where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. Networks established by or on behalf of a user to provide one or more services (such as various types of cloud-based computing or storage) accessible via the Internet and/or other networks to a distributed set of clients may be referred to as a service provider. Such a network may include one or more data centers such as data center 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, which are configured to host physical and/or virtualized computer servers, storage devices, networking equipment and the like, that may be used to implement and distribute the infrastructure and services offered by the service provider.

In some embodiments, a server that implements a portion or all of one or more of the technologies described herein, including the techniques to implement the capturing of network traffic may include a general-purpose computer system that includes or is configured to access one or more computer-accessible media. FIG. 5 illustrates such a general-purpose computing device 500. In the illustrated embodiment, computing device 500 includes one or more processors 510a, 510b, and/or 510n (which may be referred herein singularly as "a processor 510" or in the plural as "the processors 510") coupled to a system memory 520 via an input/output (I/O) interface 530. Computing device 500 further includes a network interface 540 coupled to I/O interface 530.

In various embodiments, computing device 500 may be a uniprocessor system including one processor 510 or a multiprocessor system including several processors 510 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitable number). Processors 510 may be any suitable processors capable of executing instructions. For example, in various embodiments, processors 510 may be general-purpose or embedded processors implementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x56, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA. In multiprocessor systems, each of processors 510 may commonly, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA. System memory 520 may be configured to store instructions and data accessible by processor(s) 510. In various embodiments, system memory 520 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In the illustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementing one or more desired functions, such as those methods, techniques and data described above, are shown stored within system memory 520 as code 525 and data 526.

In one embodiment, I/O interface 530 may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic between the processor 510, system memory 520, and any peripheral devices in the device, including network interface 540 or other peripheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface 530 may perform any necessary protocol, timing, or other data transformations to convert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory 520) into a format suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor 510). In some embodiments, I/O interface 530 may include support for devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/O interface 530 may be split into two or more separate components. Also, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface 530, such as an interface to system memory 520, may be incorporated directly into processor 510. Network interface 540 may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between computing device 500 and other device or devices 560 attached to a network or network(s)550, such as other computer systems or devices as illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, for example. In various embodiments, network interface 540 may support communication via any suitable wired or wireless general data networks, such as types of Ethernet networks, for example. Additionally, network interface 540 may support communication via telecommunications/telephony networks such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communications networks, via storage area networks such as Fibre Channel SANs or via any other suitable type of network and/or protocol. In some embodiments, system memory 520 may be one embodiment of a computer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions and data as described above for FIGS. 1-4 for implementing embodiments of the corresponding methods and apparatus. However, in other embodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon different types of computer-accessible media. A computer-accessible medium may include non-transitory storage media or memory media, such as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CD coupled to computing device 500 via I/O interface 530. A non-transitory computer-accessible storage medium may also include any volatile or non-volatile media, such as RAM (e.g. SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., that may be included in some embodiments of computing device 500 as system memory 520 or another type of memory. Further, a computer- accessible medium may include transmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals, conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or a wireless link, such as may be implemented via network interface 540. Portions or all of multiple computing devices, such as those illustrated in FIG. 5, may be used to implement the described functionality in various embodiments; for example, software components running on a variety of different devices and servers may collaborate to provide the functionality. In some embodiments, portions of the described functionality may be implemented using storage devices, network devices, or special-purpose computer systems, in addition to or instead of being implemented using general- purpose computer systems. The term "computing device," as used herein, refers to at least all these types of devices and is not limited to these types of devices.

Various storage devices and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage for the computing devices described herein. Computer-readable media as discussed herein may refer to a mass storage device, such as a solid-state drive, a hard disk or CD-ROM drive. However, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readable media can be any available computer storage media that can be accessed by a computing device.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer storage media may include volatile and non volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. For example, computer media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computing devices discussed herein. For purposes of the claims, the phrase “computer storage medium,” “computer-readable storage medium” and variations thereof, does not include waves, signals, and/or other transitory and/or intangible communication media, per se.

Encoding the software modules presented herein also may transform the physical structure of the computer-readable media presented herein. The specific transformation of physical structure may depend on various factors, in different implementations of this description. Examples of such factors may include, but are not limited to, the technology used to implement the computer- readable media, whether the computer-readable media is characterized as primary or secondary storage, and the like. For example, if the computer-readable media is implemented as semiconductor-based memory, the software disclosed herein may be encoded on the computer- readable media by transforming the physical state of the semiconductor memory. For example, the software may transform the state of transistors, capacitors, or other discrete circuit elements constituting the semiconductor memory. The software also may transform the physical state of such components in order to store data thereupon.

As another example, the computer-readable media disclosed herein may be implemented using magnetic or optical technology. In such implementations, the software presented herein may transform the physical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software is encoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magnetic characteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media. These transformations also may include altering the physical features or characteristics of particular locations within given optical media, to change the optical characteristics of those locations. Other transformations of physical media are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoing examples provided only to facilitate this discussion.

In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types of physical transformations take place in the disclosed computing devices in order to store and execute the software components and/or functionality presented herein. It is also contemplated that the disclosed computing devices may not include all of the illustrated components shown in FIG. 8, may include other components that are not explicitly shown in FIG. 8, or may utilize an architecture completely different than that shown in FIG. 8.

Although the various configurations have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended representations is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, "can," "could," "might," "may," "e.g.," and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term "or" is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular feature, characteristic, step, module, or block is necessary or indispensable. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions disclosed herein. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of certain of the inventions disclosed herein.

It should be appreciated any reference to “first,” “second,” etc. items and/or abstract concepts within the description is not intended to and should not be construed to necessarily correspond to any reference of “first,” “second,” etc. elements of the claims. In particular, within this Summary and/or the following Detailed Description, items and/or abstract concepts such as, for example, individual computing devices and/or operational states of the computing cluster may be distinguished by numerical designations without such designations corresponding to the claims or even other paragraphs of the Summary and/or Detailed Description. For example, any designation of a “first operational state” and “second operational state” of the computing cluster within a paragraph of this disclosure is used solely to distinguish two different operational states of the computing cluster within that specific paragraph - not any other paragraph and particularly not the claims.

In closing, although the various techniques have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended representations is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

The disclosure presented herein also encompasses the subject matter set forth in the following clauses:

Clause 1: A method for providing, by a central timer service, an event timer for event synchronization across a plurality of Kubernetes clusters in a cloud computing environment, the cloud computing environment comprising a plurality of computing devices executing a plurality of Kubernetes clusters comprising one or more containers, the event timer configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the cloud computing environment, the method comprising: receiving, from a first microservice instance, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer executes independently of the first and second microservice instances; and in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event regardless of a number of microservice instances that have requested the event timer. Clause 2: The method of clause 1, further comprising maintaining execution of the event timer when the first microservice is terminated.

Clause 3: The method of any of clauses 1-2, wherein the request is received via an API operable to receive requests for event timers.

Clause 4: The method of any of clauses 1-3, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to delete the event timer.

Clause 5: The method of any of clauses 1-4, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to update the event timer.

Clause 6: The method of any of clauses 1-5, wherein the callback is provided to the second microservice instance.

Clause 7: The method of clauses 1-6, wherein the execution of the callback can be performed by the first or second microservice instances.

Clause 8: The method of any of clauses 1-7, wherein event timers are identified by a timer ID. Clause 9: A method for providing, by a central timer service, an event timer for event synchronization in a 5G network comprising a plurality of computing devices hosting a plurality of clusters comprising one or more containers, the event timer configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the 5G network, the method comprising: receiving, from a first microservice instance executing in the 5G network, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance executing in the 5G network; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances; in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event; and in response to execution of the callback, deleting the event timer’s entry in the database.

Clause 10: The system of clause 9, further comprising maintaining execution of the event timer when the first microservice is terminated.

Clause 11 : The system of any of clauses 9 and 10, wherein the callback is provided to the second microservice instance.

Clause 12: The system of any clauses 9-11, wherein the execution of the callback can be performed by the first or second microservice instances.

Clause 13: The system of any clauses 9-12, wherein the request is received via an API operable to receive requests for event timers.

Clause 14: The system of any clauses 9-13, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to delete the event timer.

Clause 15: The system of any clauses 9-14, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to update the event timer.

Clause 16: A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to: receive, from a first microservice instance, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determine whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, send a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiate the requested event timer and store a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances; in response to an expiration of the event timer, generate a single callback for processing of the event; and in response to execution of the callback, delete the event timer’s entry in the database.

Clause 17: The computer-readable storage medium of clause 16, further comprising computer- executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to maintain execution of the event timer when the first microservice is terminated.

Clause 18: The computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 16 and 17, wherein the callback is provided to the second microservice instance.

Clause 19: The computer-readable storage medium of any of the clauses 16-18, wherein the execution of the callback can be performed by the first or second microservice instances. Clause 20: The computer-readable storage medium of any of the clauses 16-19, wherein event timers are identified by a timer ID.

Claims

1. A method for providing, by a central timer service, an event timer for event synchronization across multiple clusters in a cloud computing environment, the cloud computing environment comprising a plurality of computing devices executing a plurality of Kubernetes clusters comprising one or more containers, the event timer configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances executing in the cloud computing environment, the method comprising: receiving, from a first microservice instance, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer executes independently of the first and second microservice instances; and in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event regardless of a number of microservice instances that have requested the event timer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining execution of the event timer when the first microservice is terminated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received via an API operable to receive requests for event timers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to delete the event timer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to update the event timer.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the callback is provided to the second microservice instance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the execution of the callback can be performed by the first or second microservice instances.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein event timers are identified by a timer ID.

9. A method for providing, by a central timer service, an event timer for event synchronization in a 5G network comprising a plurality of computing devices hosting a plurality of clusters comprising one or more containers, the event timer configured to provide event synchronization on behalf of microservice instances in the 5G network, the method comprising: receiving, from a first microservice instance executing in the 5G network, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determining whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance executing in the 5G network; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, sending a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiating the requested event timer and storing a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances; in response to an expiration of the event timer, generating a single callback for processing of the event; and in response to execution of the callback, deleting the event timer’s entry in the database.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising maintaining execution of the event timer when the first microservice is terminated.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the callback is provided to the second microservice instance.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the execution of the callback can be performed by the first or second microservice instances.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the request is received via an API operable to receive requests for event timers.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising instantiating an API operable to receive requests to delete the event timer and receive requests to update the event timer.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to: receive, from a first microservice instance, a request for an event timer for a timed event, the request defining a duration for the event timer; in response to the request, determine whether the requested event timer has been started for a second microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has been started, send a state of the requested event timer to the first microservice instance; in response to determining that the requested event timer has not been started, instantiate the requested event timer and store a state of the instantiated event timer in a database, wherein the instantiated event timer is independent of the first and second microservice instances; in response to an expiration of the event timer, generate a single callback for processing of the event; and in response to execution of the callback, delete the event timer’s entry in the database.