diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index e1210cb..c208756 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -1749,4 +1749,9 @@ public class StorageService extends MetricsMBean implements StorageServiceMBean,
         APIClient.set_query_param(queryParams, "cf", APIClient.join(columnFamilies));
         return client.getIntValue("/storage_service/keyspace_scrub/" + keyspaceName, queryParams);
     }
+    @Override
+    public long getUptime() {
+        log("getUptime()");
+        return client.getLongValue("/system/uptime_ms");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
index 3eead26..27ae3f9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
@@ -883,4 +883,6 @@ public interface StorageServiceMBean extends NotificationEmitter {
     public List<CompositeData> getSSTableInfo(String keyspace, String table);
 
     public List<CompositeData> getSSTableInfo();
+    /** retun the system uptime */
+    public long getUptime();
 }