ovs-vsctl(8) Open vSwitch Manual ovs-vsctl(8)
NAME
ovs-vsctl - utility for querying and configuring ovs-vswitchd
SYNOPSIS
ovs-vsctl [options] -- [options] command [args] [-- [options] command
[args]]...
DESCRIPTION
The ovs-vsctl program configures ovs-vswitchd(8) by providing a
high-level interface to its configuration database. See
ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) for comprehensive documentation of the database
schema.
ovs-vsctl connects to an ovsdb-server process that maintains an Open
vSwitch configuration database. Using this connection, it queries and
possibly applies changes to the database, depending on the supplied
commands. Then, if it applied any changes, by default it waits until
ovs-vswitchd has finished reconfiguring itself before it exits. (If
you use ovs-vsctl when ovs-vswitchd is not running, use --no-wait.)
ovs-vsctl can perform any number of commands in a single run, imple‐
mented as a single atomic transaction against the database.
The ovs-vsctl command line begins with global options (see OPTIONS be‐
low for details). The global options are followed by one or more com‐
mands. Each command should begin with -- by itself as a command-line
argument, to separate it from the following commands. (The -- before
the first command is optional.) The command itself starts with com‐
mand-specific options, if any, followed by the command name and any ar‐
guments. See EXAMPLES below for syntax examples.
Linux VLAN Bridging Compatibility
The ovs-vsctl program supports the model of a bridge implemented by
Open vSwitch, in which a single bridge supports ports on multiple
VLANs. In this model, each port on a bridge is either a trunk port
that potentially passes packets tagged with 802.1Q headers that desig‐
nate VLANs or it is assigned a single implicit VLAN that is never
tagged with an 802.1Q header.
For compatibility with software designed for the Linux bridge,
ovs-vsctl also supports a model in which traffic associated with a
given 802.1Q VLAN is segregated into a separate bridge. A special form
of the add-br command (see below) creates a ``fake bridge'' within an
Open vSwitch bridge to simulate this behavior. When such a ``fake
bridge'' is active, ovs-vsctl will treat it much like a bridge separate
from its ``parent bridge,'' but the actual implementation in Open
vSwitch uses only a single bridge, with ports on the fake bridge as‐
signed the implicit VLAN of the fake bridge of which they are members.
(A fake bridge for VLAN 0 receives packets that have no 802.1Q tag or a
tag with VLAN 0.)
OPTIONS
The following options affect the behavior ovs-vsctl as a whole. Some
individual commands also accept their own options, which are given just
before the command name. If the first command on the command line has
options, then those options must be separated from the global options
by --.
--db=server
Sets server as the database server that ovs-vsctl contacts to
query or modify configuration. server may be an OVSDB active or
passive connection method, as described in ovsdb(7). The de‐
fault is unix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock.
--no-wait
Prevents ovs-vsctl from waiting for ovs-vswitchd to reconfigure
itself according to the modified database. This option should
be used if ovs-vswitchd is not running; otherwise, ovs-vsctl
will not exit until ovs-vswitchd starts.
This option has no effect if the commands specified do not
change the database.
--no-syslog
By default, ovs-vsctl logs its arguments and the details of any
changes that it makes to the system log. This option disables
this logging.
This option is equivalent to --verbose=vsctl:syslog:warn.
--oneline
Modifies the output format so that the output for each command
is printed on a single line. New-line characters that would
otherwise separate lines are printed as \n, and any instances of
\ that would otherwise appear in the output are doubled. Prints
a blank line for each command that has no output. This option
does not affect the formatting of output from the list or find
commands; see Table Formatting Options below.
--dry-run
Prevents ovs-vsctl from actually modifying the database.
-t secs
--timeout=secs
By default, or with a secs of 0, ovs-vsctl waits forever for a
response from the database. This option limits runtime to ap‐
proximately secs seconds. If the timeout expires, ovs-vsctl
will exit with a SIGALRM signal. (A timeout would normally hap‐
pen only if the database cannot be contacted, or if the system
is overloaded.)
--retry
Without this option, if ovs-vsctl connects outward to the data‐
base server (the default) then ovs-vsctl will try to connect
once and exit with an error if the connection fails (which usu‐
ally means that ovsdb-server is not running).
With this option, or if --db specifies that ovs-vsctl should
listen for an incoming connection from the database server, then
ovs-vsctl will wait for a connection to the database forever.
Regardless of this setting, --timeout always limits how long
ovs-vsctl will wait.
Table Formatting Options
These options control the format of output from the list and find com‐
mands.
-f format
--format=format
Sets the type of table formatting. The following types of for‐
mat are available:
table 2-D text tables with aligned columns.
list (default)
A list with one column per line and rows separated by a
blank line.
html HTML tables.
csv Comma-separated values as defined in RFC 4180.
json JSON format as defined in RFC 4627. The output is a se‐
quence of JSON objects, each of which corresponds to one
table. Each JSON object has the following members with
the noted values:
caption
The table's caption. This member is omitted if
the table has no caption.
headings
An array with one element per table column. Each
array element is a string giving the corresponding
column's heading.
data An array with one element per table row. Each el‐
ement is also an array with one element per table
column. The elements of this second-level array
are the cells that constitute the table. Cells
that represent OVSDB data or data types are ex‐
pressed in the format described in the OVSDB spec‐
ification; other cells are simply expressed as
text strings.
-d format
--data=format
Sets the formatting for cells within output tables unless the
table format is set to json, in which case json formatting is
always used when formatting cells. The following types of for‐
mat are available:
string (default)
The simple format described in the Database Values sec‐
tion below.
bare The simple format with punctuation stripped off: [] and
{} are omitted around sets, maps, and empty columns,
items within sets and maps are space-separated, and
strings are never quoted. This format may be easier for
scripts to parse.
json The RFC 4627 JSON format as described above.
--no-headings
This option suppresses the heading row that otherwise appears in
the first row of table output.
--pretty
By default, JSON in output is printed as compactly as possible.
This option causes JSON in output to be printed in a more read‐
able fashion. Members of objects and elements of arrays are
printed one per line, with indentation.
This option does not affect JSON in tables, which is always
printed compactly.
--bare Equivalent to --format=list --data=bare --no-headings.
--max-column-width=n
For table output only, limits the width of any column in the
output to n columns. Longer cell data is truncated to fit, as
necessary. Columns are always wide enough to display the column
names, if the heading row is printed.
Public Key Infrastructure Options
-p privkey.pem
--private-key=privkey.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as
ovs-vsctl's identity for outgoing SSL connections.
-c cert.pem
--certificate=cert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the
private key specified on -p or --private-key to be trustworthy.
The certificate must be signed by the certificate authority (CA)
that the peer in SSL connections will use to verify it.
-C cacert.pem
--ca-cert=cacert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate that
ovs-vsctl should use to verify certificates presented to it by
SSL peers. (This may be the same certificate that SSL peers use
to verify the certificate specified on -c or --certificate, or
it may be a different one, depending on the PKI design in use.)
-C none
--ca-cert=none
Disables verification of certificates presented by SSL peers.
This introduces a security risk, because it means that certifi‐
cates cannot be verified to be those of known trusted hosts.
--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem
When cacert.pem exists, this option has the same effect as -C or
--ca-cert. If it does not exist, then ovs-vsctl will attempt to
obtain the CA certificate from the SSL peer on its first SSL
connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is success‐
ful, it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and
from then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a cer‐
tificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained.
This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
attack obtaining the initial CA certificate, but it may be use‐
ful for bootstrapping.
This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA certifi‐
cate as part of the SSL certificate chain. The SSL protocol
does not require the server to send the CA certificate.
This option is mutually exclusive with -C and --ca-cert.
--peer-ca-cert=peer-cacert.pem
Specifies a PEM file that contains one or more additional cer‐
tificates to send to SSL peers. peer-cacert.pem should be the
CA certificate used to sign ovs-vsctl's own certificate, that
is, the certificate specified on -c or --certificate. If
ovs-vsctl's certificate is self-signed, then --certificate and
--peer-ca-cert should specify the same file.
This option is not useful in normal operation, because the SSL
peer must already have the CA certificate for the peer to have
any confidence in ovs-vsctl's identity. However, this offers a
way for a new installation to bootstrap the CA certificate on
its first SSL connection.
-v[spec]
--verbose=[spec]
Sets logging levels. Without any spec, sets the log level for
every module and destination to dbg. Otherwise, spec is a list
of words separated by spaces or commas or colons, up to one from
each category below:
• A valid module name, as displayed by the vlog/list com‐
mand on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log level change to the
specified module.
• syslog, console, or file, to limit the log level change
to only to the system log, to the console, or to a file,
respectively. (If --detach is specified, ovs-vsctl
closes its standard file descriptors, so logging to the
console will have no effect.)
On Windows platform, syslog is accepted as a word and is
only useful along with the --syslog-target option (the
word has no effect otherwise).
• off, emer, err, warn, info, or dbg, to control the log
level. Messages of the given severity or higher will be
logged, and messages of lower severity will be filtered
out. off filters out all messages. See ovs-appctl(8)
for a definition of each log level.
Case is not significant within spec.
Regardless of the log levels set for file, logging to a file
will not take place unless --log-file is also specified (see be‐
low).
For compatibility with older versions of OVS, any is accepted as
a word but has no effect.
-v
--verbose
Sets the maximum logging verbosity level, equivalent to --ver‐
bose=dbg.
-vPATTERN:destination:pattern
--verbose=PATTERN:destination:pattern
Sets the log pattern for destination to pattern. Refer to
ovs-appctl(8) for a description of the valid syntax for pattern.
-vFACILITY:facility
--verbose=FACILITY:facility
Sets the RFC5424 facility of the log message. facility can be
one of kern, user, mail, daemon, auth, syslog, lpr, news, uucp,
clock, ftp, ntp, audit, alert, clock2, local0, local1, local2,
local3, local4, local5, local6 or local7. If this option is not
specified, daemon is used as the default for the local system
syslog and local0 is used while sending a message to the target
provided via the --syslog-target option.
--log-file[=file]
Enables logging to a file. If file is specified, then it is
used as the exact name for the log file. The default log file
name used if file is omitted is /usr/local/var/log/open‐
vswitch/ovs-vsctl.log.
--syslog-target=host:port
Send syslog messages to UDP port on host, in addition to the
system syslog. The host must be a numerical IP address, not a
hostname.
--syslog-method=method
Specify method how syslog messages should be sent to syslog dae‐
mon. Following forms are supported:
• libc, use libc syslog() function. Downside of using this
options is that libc adds fixed prefix to every message
before it is actually sent to the syslog daemon over
/dev/log UNIX domain socket.
• unix:file, use UNIX domain socket directly. It is possi‐
ble to specify arbitrary message format with this option.
However, rsyslogd 8.9 and older versions use hard coded
parser function anyway that limits UNIX domain socket
use. If you want to use arbitrary message format with
older rsyslogd versions, then use UDP socket to localhost
IP address instead.
• udp:ip:port, use UDP socket. With this method it is pos‐
sible to use arbitrary message format also with older
rsyslogd. When sending syslog messages over UDP socket
extra precaution needs to be taken into account, for ex‐
ample, syslog daemon needs to be configured to listen on
the specified UDP port, accidental iptables rules could
be interfering with local syslog traffic and there are
some security considerations that apply to UDP sockets,
but do not apply to UNIX domain sockets.
• null, discards all messages logged to syslog.
The default is taken from the OVS_SYSLOG_METHOD environment
variable; if it is unset, the default is libc.
-h
--help Prints a brief help message to the console.
-V
--version
Prints version information to the console.
COMMANDS
The commands implemented by ovs-vsctl are described in the sections be‐
low.
Open vSwitch Commands
These commands work with an Open vSwitch as a whole.
init Initializes the Open vSwitch database, if it is empty. If the
database has already been initialized, this command has no ef‐
fect.
Any successful ovs-vsctl command automatically initializes the
Open vSwitch database if it is empty. This command is provided
to initialize the database without executing any other command.
show Prints a brief overview of the database contents.
emer-reset
Reset the configuration into a clean state. It deconfigures
OpenFlow controllers, OVSDB servers, and SSL, and deletes port
mirroring, fail_mode, NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX configuration.
This command also removes all other-config keys from all data‐
base records, except that other-config:hwaddr is preserved if it
is present in a Bridge record. Other networking configuration
is left as-is.
Bridge Commands
These commands examine and manipulate Open vSwitch bridges.
[--may-exist] add-br bridge
Creates a new bridge named bridge. Initially the bridge will
have no ports (other than bridge itself).
Without --may-exist, attempting to create a bridge that exists
is an error. With --may-exist, this command does nothing if
bridge already exists as a real bridge.
[--may-exist] add-br bridge parent vlan
Creates a ``fake bridge'' named bridge within the existing Open
vSwitch bridge parent, which must already exist and must not it‐
self be a fake bridge. The new fake bridge will be on 802.1Q
VLAN vlan, which must be an integer between 0 and 4095. The
parent bridge must not already have a fake bridge for vlan.
Initially bridge will have no ports (other than bridge itself).
Without --may-exist, attempting to create a bridge that exists
is an error. With --may-exist, this command does nothing if
bridge already exists as a VLAN bridge under parent for vlan.
[--if-exists] del-br bridge
Deletes bridge and all of its ports. If bridge is a real
bridge, this command also deletes any fake bridges that were
created with bridge as parent, including all of their ports.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a bridge that does not
exist is an error. With --if-exists, attempting to delete a
bridge that does not exist has no effect.
[--real|--fake] list-br
Lists all existing real and fake bridges on standard output, one
per line. With --real or --fake, only bridges of that type are
returned.
br-exists bridge
Tests whether bridge exists as a real or fake bridge. If so,
ovs-vsctl exits successfully with exit code 0. If not,
ovs-vsctl exits unsuccessfully with exit code 2.
br-to-vlan bridge
If bridge is a fake bridge, prints the bridge's 802.1Q VLAN as a
decimal integer. If bridge is a real bridge, prints 0.
br-to-parent bridge
If bridge is a fake bridge, prints the name of its parent
bridge. If bridge is a real bridge, print bridge.
br-set-external-id bridge key [value]
Sets or clears an ``external ID'' value on bridge. These values
are intended to identify entities external to Open vSwitch with
which bridge is associated, e.g. the bridge's identifier in a
virtualization management platform. The Open vSwitch database
schema specifies well-known key values, but key and value are
otherwise arbitrary strings.
If value is specified, then key is set to value for bridge,
overwriting any previous value. If value is omitted, then key
is removed from bridge's set of external IDs (if it was
present).
For real bridges, the effect of this command is similar to that
of a set or remove command in the external-ids column of the
Bridge table. For fake bridges, it actually modifies keys with
names prefixed by fake-bridge- in the Port table.
br-get-external-id bridge [key]
Queries the external IDs on bridge. If key is specified, the
output is the value for that key or the empty string if key is
unset. If key is omitted, the output is key=value, one per
line, for each key-value pair.
For real bridges, the effect of this command is similar to that
of a get command in the external-ids column of the Bridge table.
For fake bridges, it queries keys with names prefixed by
fake-bridge- in the Port table.
Port Commands
These commands examine and manipulate Open vSwitch ports. These com‐
mands treat a bonded port as a single entity.
list-ports bridge
Lists all of the ports within bridge on standard output, one per
line. The local port bridge is not included in the list.
[--may-exist] add-port bridge port [column[:key]=value]...
Creates on bridge a new port named port from the network device
of the same name.
Optional arguments set values of column in the Port record cre‐
ated by the command. For example, tag=9 would make the port an
access port for VLAN 9. The syntax is the same as that for the
set command (see Database Commands below).
Without --may-exist, attempting to create a port that exists is
an error. With --may-exist, this command does nothing if port
already exists on bridge and is not a bonded port.
[--if-exists] del-port [bridge] port
Deletes port. If bridge is omitted, port is removed from what‐
ever bridge contains it; if bridge is specified, it must be the
real or fake bridge that contains port.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a port that does not
exist is an error. With --if-exists, attempting to delete a
port that does not exist has no effect.
[--if-exists] --with-iface del-port [bridge] iface
Deletes the port named iface or that has an interface named
iface. If bridge is omitted, the port is removed from whatever
bridge contains it; if bridge is specified, it must be the real
or fake bridge that contains the port.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete the port for an inter‐
face that does not exist is an error. With --if-exists, at‐
tempting to delete the port for an interface that does not exist
has no effect.
port-to-br port
Prints the name of the bridge that contains port on standard
output.
Bond Commands
These commands work with ports that have more than one interface, which
Open vSwitch calls ``bonds.''
[--fake-iface] add-bond bridge port iface... [column[:key]=value]...
Creates on bridge a new port named port that bonds together the
network devices given as each iface. At least two interfaces
must be named. If the interfaces are DPDK enabled then the
transaction will need to include operations to explicitly set
the interface type to 'dpdk'.
Optional arguments set values of column in the Port record cre‐
ated by the command. The syntax is the same as that for the set
command (see Database Commands below).
With --fake-iface, a fake interface with the name port is cre‐
ated. This should only be used for compatibility with legacy
software that requires it.
Without --may-exist, attempting to create a port that exists is
an error. With --may-exist, this command does nothing if port
already exists on bridge and bonds together exactly the speci‐
fied interfaces.
[--may-exist] add-bond-iface bond iface
Adds iface as a new bond interface to the existing port bond.
If bond previously had only one port, this transforms it into a
bond.
Without --may-exist, attempting to add an iface that is already
part of bond is an error. With --may-exist, this command does
nothing if iface is already part of bond. (It is still an error
if iface is an interface of some other port or bond.)
[--if-exists] del-bond-iface [bond] iface
Removes iface from its port. If bond is omitted, iface is re‐
moved from whatever port contains it; if bond is specified, it
must be the port that contains bond.
If removing iface causes its port to have only a single inter‐
face, then that port transforms from a bond into an ordinary
port. It is an error if iface is the only interface in its
port.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete an interface that does
not exist is an error. With --if-exists, attempting to delete
an interface that does not exist has no effect.
Interface Commands
These commands examine the interfaces attached to an Open vSwitch
bridge. These commands treat a bonded port as a collection of two or
more interfaces, rather than as a single port.
list-ifaces bridge
Lists all of the interfaces within bridge on standard output,
one per line. The local port bridge is not included in the
list.
iface-to-br iface
Prints the name of the bridge that contains iface on standard
output.
Conntrack Zone Commands
These commands query and modify datapath CT zones, Timeout Policies and
Limits.
[--may-exist] add-zone-tp datapath zone=zone_id policies
Creates a conntrack zone timeout policy with zone_id in data‐
path. The policies consist of key=value pairs, separated by
spaces. For example, icmp_first=30 icmp_reply=60 specifies a
30-second timeout policy for the first ICMP packet and a 60-sec‐
ond policy for ICMP reply packets. See the CT_Timeout_Policy
table in ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) for the supported keys.
Without --may-exist, attempting to add a policy for zone_id that
already has a policy is an error.
With --may-exist, this command does nothing if policy for
zone_id already exists.
[--if-exists] del-zone-tp datapath zone=zone_id
Delete the timeout policy associated with zone_id from datapath.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a policy for zone that
does not exist or doesn't have a policy is an error. With
--if-exists, attempting to delete a a policy that does not exist
has no effect.
list-zone-tp datapath
Prints the timeout policies of all zones in datapath.
set-zone-limit datapath zone_id|default zone_limit
Sets a conntrack zone limit with zone_id|default in datapath.
The limit with value 0 means unlimited.
[--if-exists] del-zone-limit datapath zone_id|default
Delete the limit associated with zone_id from datapath.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a limit for zone that
does not exist or doesn't have a limit is an error. With
--if-exists, attempting to delete a limit that does not exist
has no effect.
list-zone-limits datapath
Prints the limits of all zones in datapath.
Datapath Capabilities Command
The command query datapath capabilities.
list-dp-cap datapath
Prints the datapath's capabilities.
OpenFlow Controller Connectivity
ovs-vswitchd can perform all configured bridging and switching locally,
or it can be configured to communicate with one or more external Open‐
Flow controllers. The switch is typically configured to connect to a
primary controller that takes charge of the bridge's flow table to im‐
plement a network policy. In addition, the switch can be configured to
listen to connections from service controllers. Service controllers
are typically used for occasional support and maintenance, e.g. with
ovs-ofctl.
get-controller bridge
Prints the configured controller target.
del-controller bridge
Deletes the configured controller target.
set-controller bridge target...
Sets the configured controller target or targets. Each target
may use any of the following forms:
ssl:host[:port]
tcp:host[:port]
The specified port on the given host, which can be ex‐
pressed either as a DNS name (if built with unbound li‐
brary) or an IP address in IPv4 or IPv6 address format.
Wrap IPv6 addresses in square brackets, e.g.
tcp:[::1]:6653. On Linux, use %device to designate a
scope for IPv6 link-level addresses, e.g.
tcp:[fe80::1234%eth0]:6653. For ssl, the --private-key,
--certificate, and --ca-cert options are mandatory.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6653.
unix:file
On POSIX, a Unix domain server socket named file.
On Windows, connect to a local named pipe that is repre‐
sented by a file created in the path file to mimic the
behavior of a Unix domain socket.
pssl:[port][:host]
ptcp:[port][:host]
Listens for OpenFlow connections on port. The default
port is 6653. By default, connections are allowed from
any IPv4 address. Specify host as an IPv4 address or a
bracketed IPv6 address (e.g. ptcp:6653:[::1]). On Linux,
use %device to designate a scope for IPv6 link-level ad‐
dresses, e.g. ptcp:6653:[fe80::1234%eth0]. DNS names can
be used if built with unbound library. For pssl, the
--private-key,--certificate, and --ca-cert options are
mandatory.
punix:file
Listens for OpenFlow connections on the Unix domain
server socket named file.
Controller Failure Settings
When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible for
setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to the
controller fails, no new network connections can be set up. If the
connection to the controller stays down long enough, no packets can
pass through the switch at all.
If the value is standalone, or if neither of these settings is set,
ovs-vswitchd will take over responsibility for setting up flows when no
message has been received from the controller for three times the inac‐
tivity probe interval. In this mode, ovs-vswitchd causes the datapath
to act like an ordinary MAC-learning switch. ovs-vswitchd will con‐
tinue to retry connecting to the controller in the background and, when
the connection succeeds, it discontinues its standalone behavior.
If this option is set to secure, ovs-vswitchd will not set up flows on
its own when the controller connection fails.
get-fail-mode bridge
Prints the configured failure mode.
del-fail-mode bridge
Deletes the configured failure mode.
set-fail-mode bridge standalone|secure
Sets the configured failure mode.
Manager Connectivity
These commands manipulate the manager_options column in the
Open_vSwitch table and rows in the Managers table. When ovsdb-server
is configured to use the manager_options column for OVSDB connections
(as described in the startup scripts provided with Open vSwitch; the
corresponding ovsdb-server command option is --re‐
mote=db:Open_vSwitch,Open_vSwitch,manager_options), this allows the ad‐
ministrator to use ovs-vsctl to configure database connections.
get-manager
Prints the configured manager(s).
del-manager
Deletes the configured manager(s).
set-manager target...
Sets the configured manager target or targets. Each target may
be an OVSDB active or passive connection method, e.g. pssl:6640,
as described in ovsdb(7).
SSL Configuration
When ovs-vswitchd is configured to connect over SSL for management or
controller connectivity, the following parameters are required:
private-key
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the vir‐
tual switch's identity for SSL connections to the controller.
certificate
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager,
that certifies the virtual switch's private key, identifying a
trustworthy switch.
ca-cert
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to ver‐
ify that the virtual switch is connected to a trustworthy con‐
troller.
These files are read only once, at ovs-vswitchd startup time. If their
contents change, ovs-vswitchd must be killed and restarted.
These SSL settings apply to all SSL connections made by the virtual
switch.
get-ssl
Prints the SSL configuration.
del-ssl
Deletes the current SSL configuration.
[--bootstrap] set-ssl private-key certificate ca-cert
Sets the SSL configuration. The --bootstrap option is described
below.
CA Certificate Bootstrap
Ordinarily, all of the files named in the SSL configuration must exist
when ovs-vswitchd starts. However, if the ca-cert file does not exist
and the --bootstrap option is given, then ovs-vswitchd will attempt to
obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL connec‐
tion and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful, it will
immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then on all SSL
connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA
certificate thus obtained.
This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack
obtaining the initial CA certificate, but it may be useful for boot‐
strapping.
This option is only useful if the controller sends its CA certificate
as part of the SSL certificate chain. The SSL protocol does not re‐
quire the controller to send the CA certificate.
Auto-Attach Commands
The IETF Auto-Attach SPBM draft standard describes a compact method of
using IEEE 802.1AB Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) together with a
IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) network to automatically at‐
tach network devices to individual services in a SPB network. The in‐
tent here is to allow network applications and devices using OVS to be
able to easily take advantage of features offered by industry standard
SPB networks. A fundamental element of the Auto-Attach feature is to
map traditional VLANs onto SPB I_SIDs. These commands manage the Auto-
Attach I-SID/VLAN mappings.
add-aa-mapping bridge i-sid vlan
Creates a new Auto-Attach mapping on bridge for i-sid and vlan.
del-aa-mapping bridge i-sid vlan
Deletes an Auto-Attach mapping on bridge for i-sid and vlan.
get-aa-mapping bridge
Lists all of the Auto-Attach mappings within bridge on standard
output.
Database Commands
These commands query and modify the contents of ovsdb tables. They are
a slight abstraction of the ovsdb interface and as such they operate at
a lower level than other ovs-vsctl commands.
Identifying Tables, Records, and Columns
Each of these commands has a table parameter to identify a table within
the database. Many of them also take a record parameter that identi‐
fies a particular record within a table. The record parameter may be
the UUID for a record, and many tables offer additional ways to iden‐
tify records. Some commands also take column parameters that identify
a particular field within the records in a table.
For a list of tables and their columns, see ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) or
see the table listing from the --help option.
Record names must be specified in full and with correct capitalization,
except that UUIDs may be abbreviated to their first 4 (or more) hex
digits, as long as that is unique within the table. Names of tables
and columns are not case-sensitive, and - and _ are treated inter‐
changeably. Unique abbreviations of table and column names are accept‐
able, e.g. net or n is sufficient to identify the NetFlow table.
Database Values
Each column in the database accepts a fixed type of data. The cur‐
rently defined basic types, and their representations, are:
integer
A decimal integer in the range -2**63 to 2**63-1, inclusive.
real A floating-point number.
Boolean
True or false, written true or false, respectively.
string An arbitrary Unicode string, except that null bytes are not al‐
lowed. Quotes are optional for most strings that begin with an
English letter or underscore and consist only of letters, under‐
scores, hyphens, and periods. However, true and false and
strings that match the syntax of UUIDs (see below) must be en‐
closed in double quotes to distinguish them from other basic
types. When double quotes are used, the syntax is that of
strings in JSON, e.g. backslashes may be used to escape special
characters. The empty string must be represented as a pair of
double quotes ("").
UUID Either a universally unique identifier in the style of RFC 4122,
e.g. f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6, or an @name defined
by a get or create command within the same ovs-vsctl invocation.
Multiple values in a single column may be separated by spaces or a sin‐
gle comma. When multiple values are present, duplicates are not al‐
lowed, and order is not important. Conversely, some database columns
can have an empty set of values, represented as [], and square brackets
may optionally enclose other non-empty sets or single values as well.
For a column accepting a set of integers, database commands accept a
range. A range is represented by two integers separated by -. A range
is inclusive. A range has a maximum size of 4096 elements. If more ele‐
ments are needed, they can be specified in separate ranges.
A few database columns are ``maps'' of key-value pairs, where the key
and the value are each some fixed database type. These are specified
in the form key=value, where key and value follow the syntax for the
column's key type and value type, respectively. When multiple pairs
are present (separated by spaces or a comma), duplicate keys are not
allowed, and again the order is not important. Duplicate values are
allowed. An empty map is represented as {}. Curly braces may option‐
ally enclose non-empty maps as well (but use quotes to prevent the
shell from expanding other-config={0=x,1=y} into other-config=0=x
other-config=1=y, which may not have the desired effect).
Database Command Syntax
[--if-exists] [--columns=column[,column]...] list table [record]...
Lists the data in each specified record. If no records are
specified, lists all the records in table.
If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are
listed, in the specified order. Otherwise, all columns are
listed, in alphabetical order by column name.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if any specified record does
not exist. With --if-exists, the command ignores any record
that does not exist, without producing any output.
[--columns=column[,column]...] find table [column[:key]=value]...
Lists the data in each record in table whose column equals value
or, if key is specified, whose column contains a key with the
specified value. The following operators may be used where = is
written in the syntax summary:
= != < > <= >=
Selects records in which column[:key] equals, does not
equal, is less than, is greater than, is less than or
equal to, or is greater than or equal to value, respec‐
tively.
Consider column[:key] and value as sets of elements.
Identical sets are considered equal. Otherwise, if the
sets have different numbers of elements, then the set
with more elements is considered to be larger. Other‐
wise, consider a element from each set pairwise, in in‐
creasing order within each set. The first pair that dif‐
fers determines the result. (For a column that contains
key-value pairs, first all the keys are compared, and
values are considered only if the two sets contain iden‐
tical keys.)
{=} {!=}
Test for set equality or inequality, respectively.
{<=} Selects records in which column[:key] is a subset of
value. For example, flood-vlans{<=}1,2 selects records
in which the flood-vlans column is the empty set or con‐
tains 1 or 2 or both.
{<} Selects records in which column[:key] is a proper subset
of value. For example, flood-vlans{<}1,2 selects records
in which the flood-vlans column is the empty set or con‐
tains 1 or 2 but not both.
{>=} {>}
Same as {<=} and {<}, respectively, except that the rela‐
tionship is reversed. For example, flood-vlans{>=}1,2
selects records in which the flood-vlans column contains
both 1 and 2.
The following operators are available only in Open vSwitch 2.16
and later:
{in} Selects records in which every element in column[:key] is
also in value. (This is the same as {<=}.)
{not-in}
Selects records in which every element in column[:key] is
not in value.
For arithmetic operators (= != < > <= >=), when key is specified
but a particular record's column does not contain key, the
record is always omitted from the results. Thus, the condition
other-config:mtu!=1500 matches records that have a mtu key whose
value is not 1500, but not those that lack an mtu key.
For the set operators, when key is specified but a particular
record's column does not contain key, the comparison is done
against an empty set. Thus, the condition other-con‐
fig:mtu{!=}1500 matches records that have a mtu key whose value
is not 1500 and those that lack an mtu key.
Don't forget to escape < or > from interpretation by the shell.
If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are
listed, in the specified order. Otherwise all columns are
listed, in alphabetical order by column name.
The UUIDs shown for rows created in the same ovs-vsctl invoca‐
tion will be wrong.
[--if-exists] [--id=@name] get table record [column[:key]]...
Prints the value of each specified column in the given record in
table. For map columns, a key may optionally be specified, in
which case the value associated with key in the column is
printed, instead of the entire map.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist or
key is specified, if key does not exist in record. With
--if-exists, a missing record yields no output and a missing key
prints a blank line.
If @name is specified, then the UUID for record may be referred
to by that name later in the same ovs-vsctl invocation in con‐
texts where a UUID is expected.
Both --id and the column arguments are optional, but usually at
least one or the other should be specified. If both are omit‐
ted, then get has no effect except to verify that record exists
in table.
--id and --if-exists cannot be used together.
[--if-exists] set table record column[:key]=value...
Sets the value of each specified column in the given record in
table to value. For map columns, a key may optionally be speci‐
fied, in which case the value associated with key in that column
is changed (or added, if none exists), instead of the entire
map.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist.
With --if-exists, this command does nothing if record does not
exist.
[--if-exists] add table record column [key=]value...
Adds the specified value or key-value pair to column in record
in table. If column is a map, then key is required, otherwise
it is prohibited. If key already exists in a map column, then
the current value is not replaced (use the set command to re‐
place an existing value).
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist.
With --if-exists, this command does nothing if record does not
exist.
[--if-exists] remove table record column value...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key=value...
Removes the specified values or key-value pairs from column in
record in table. The first form applies to columns that are not
maps: each specified value is removed from the column. The sec‐
ond and third forms apply to map columns: if only a key is spec‐
ified, then any key-value pair with the given key is removed,
regardless of its value; if a value is given then a pair is re‐
moved only if both key and value match.
It is not an error if the column does not contain the specified
key or value or pair.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist.
With --if-exists, this command does nothing if record does not
exist.
[--if-exists] clear table record column...
Sets each column in record in table to the empty set or empty
map, as appropriate. This command applies only to columns that
are allowed to be empty.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist.
With --if-exists, this command does nothing if record does not
exist.
[--id=(@name | uuid] create table column[:key]=value...
Creates a new record in table and sets the initial values of
each column. Columns not explicitly set will receive their de‐
fault values. Outputs the UUID of the new row.
If @name is specified, then the UUID for the new row may be re‐
ferred to by that name elsewhere in the same ovs-vsctl invoca‐
tion in contexts where a UUID is expected. Such references may
precede or follow the create command.
If a valid uuid is specified, then it is used as the UUID of the
new row.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
Records in the Open vSwitch database are significant only
when they can be reached directly or indirectly from the
Open_vSwitch table. Except for records in the QoS or
Queue tables, records that are not reachable from the
Open_vSwitch table are automatically deleted from the
database. This deletion happens immediately, without
waiting for additional ovs-vsctl commands or other data‐
base activity. Thus, a create command must generally be
accompanied by additional commands within the same
ovs-vsctl invocation to add a chain of references to the
newly created record from the top-level Open_vSwitch
record. The EXAMPLES section gives some examples that
show how to do this.
[--if-exists] destroy table record...
Deletes each specified record from table. Unless --if-exists is
specified, each records must exist.
--all destroy table
Deletes all records from the table.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
The destroy command is only useful for records in the QoS
or Queue tables. Records in other tables are automati‐
cally deleted from the database when they become unreach‐
able from the Open_vSwitch table. This means that delet‐
ing the last reference to a record is sufficient for
deleting the record itself. For records in these tables,
destroy is silently ignored. See the EXAMPLES section
below for more information.
wait-until table record [column[:key]=value]...
Waits until table contains a record named record whose column
equals value or, if key is specified, whose column contains a
key with the specified value. This command supports the same
operators and semantics described for the find command above.
If no column[:key]=value arguments are given, this command waits
only until record exists. If more than one such argument is
given, the command waits until all of them are satisfied.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
Usually wait-until should be placed at the beginning of a
set of ovs-vsctl commands. For example, wait-until
bridge br0 -- get bridge br0 datapath_id waits until a
bridge named br0 is created, then prints its datapath_id
column, whereas get bridge br0 datapath_id -- wait-until
bridge br0 will abort if no bridge named br0 exists when
ovs-vsctl initially connects to the database.
Consider specifying --timeout=0 along with --wait-until, to pre‐
vent ovs-vsctl from terminating after waiting only at most 5
seconds.
comment [arg]...
This command has no effect on behavior, but any database log
record created by the command will include the command and its
arguments.
EXAMPLES
Create a new bridge named br0 and add port eth0 to it:
ovs-vsctl add-br br0
ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0
Alternatively, perform both operations in a single atomic transaction:
ovs-vsctl add-br br0 -- add-port br0 eth0
Delete bridge br0, reporting an error if it does not exist:
ovs-vsctl del-br br0
Delete bridge br0 if it exists:
ovs-vsctl --if-exists del-br br0
Set the qos column of the Port record for eth0 to point to a new QoS
record, which in turn points with its queue 0 to a new Queue record:
ovs-vsctl -- set port eth0 qos=@newqos -- --id=@newqos create
qos type=linux-htb other-config:max-rate=1000000
queues:0=@newqueue -- --id=@newqueue create queue other-con‐
fig:min-rate=1000000 other-config:max-rate=1000000
CONFIGURATION COOKBOOK
Port Configuration
Add an ``internal port'' vlan10 to bridge br0 as a VLAN access port for
VLAN 10, and configure it with an IP address:
ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vlan10 tag=10 -- set Interface vlan10
type=internal
ip addr add 192.168.0.123/24 dev vlan10
Add a GRE tunnel port gre0 to remote IP address 1.2.3.4 to bridge br0:
ovs-vsctl add-port br0 gre0 -- set Interface gre0 type=gre op‐
tions:remote_ip=1.2.3.4
Port Mirroring
Mirror all packets received or sent on eth0 or eth1 onto eth2, assuming
that all of those ports exist on bridge br0 (as a side-effect this
causes any packets received on eth2 to be ignored):
ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 mirrors=@m \
-- --id=@eth0 get Port eth0 \
-- --id=@eth1 get Port eth1 \
-- --id=@eth2 get Port eth2 \
-- --id=@m create Mirror name=mymirror select-dst-
port=@eth0,@eth1 select-src-port=@eth0,@eth1 output-port=@eth2
Remove the mirror created above from br0, which also destroys the Mir‐
ror record (since it is now unreferenced):
ovs-vsctl -- --id=@rec get Mirror mymirror \
-- remove Bridge br0 mirrors @rec
The following simpler command also works:
ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 mirrors
Quality of Service (QoS)
Create a linux-htb QoS record that points to a few queues and use it on
eth0 and eth1:
ovs-vsctl -- set Port eth0 qos=@newqos \
-- set Port eth1 qos=@newqos \
-- --id=@newqos create QoS type=linux-htb other-con‐
fig:max-rate=1000000000 queues=0=@q0,1=@q1 \
-- --id=@q0 create Queue other-config:min-rate=100000000
other-config:max-rate=100000000 \
-- --id=@q1 create Queue other-config:min-rate=500000000
Deconfigure the QoS record above from eth1 only:
ovs-vsctl clear Port eth1 qos
To deconfigure the QoS record from both eth0 and eth1 and then delete
the QoS record (which must be done explicitly because unreferenced QoS
records are not automatically destroyed):
ovs-vsctl -- destroy QoS eth0 -- clear Port eth0 qos -- clear
Port eth1 qos
(This command will leave two unreferenced Queue records in the data‐
base. To delete them, use "ovs-vsctl list Queue" to find their UUIDs,
then "ovs-vsctl destroy Queue uuid1 uuid2" to destroy each of them or
use "ovs-vsctl -- --all destroy Queue" to delete all records.)
Connectivity Monitoring
Monitor connectivity to a remote maintenance point on eth0.
ovs-vsctl set Interface eth0 cfm_mpid=1
Deconfigure connectivity monitoring from above:
ovs-vsctl clear Interface eth0 cfm_mpid
NetFlow
Configure bridge br0 to send NetFlow records to UDP port 5566 on host
192.168.0.34, with an active timeout of 30 seconds:
ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 netflow=@nf \
-- --id=@nf create NetFlow targets=\"192.168.0.34:5566\" ac‐
tive-timeout=30
Update the NetFlow configuration created by the previous command to in‐
stead use an active timeout of 60 seconds:
ovs-vsctl set NetFlow br0 active_timeout=60
Deconfigure the NetFlow settings from br0, which also destroys the Net‐
Flow record (since it is now unreferenced):
ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 netflow
sFlow
Configure bridge br0 to send sFlow records to a collector on 10.0.0.1
at port 6343, using eth1's IP address as the source, with specific sam‐
pling parameters:
ovs-vsctl -- --id=@s create sFlow agent=eth1 tar‐
get=\"10.0.0.1:6343\" header=128 sampling=64 polling=10 \
-- set Bridge br0 sflow=@s
Deconfigure sFlow from br0, which also destroys the sFlow record (since
it is now unreferenced):
ovs-vsctl -- clear Bridge br0 sflow
IPFIX
Configure bridge br0 to send one IPFIX flow record per packet sample to
UDP port 4739 on host 192.168.0.34, with Observation Domain ID 123 and
Observation Point ID 456, a flow cache active timeout of 1 minute (60
seconds), maximum flow cache size of 13 flows, and flows sampled on
output port with tunnel info(sampling on input and output port is en‐
abled by default if not disabled) :
ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 ipfix=@i \
-- --id=@i create IPFIX targets=\"192.168.0.34:4739\" obs_do‐
main_id=123 obs_point_id=456 cache_active_timeout=60
cache_max_flows=13 \
other_config:enable-input-sampling=false other_config:enable-
tunnel-sampling=true
Deconfigure the IPFIX settings from br0, which also destroys the IPFIX
record (since it is now unreferenced):
ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 ipfix
802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
Configure bridge br0 to participate in an 802.1D spanning tree:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 stp_enable=true
Set the bridge priority of br0 to 0x7800:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:stp-priority=0x7800
Set the path cost of port eth0 to 10:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:stp-path-cost=10
Deconfigure STP from above:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 stp_enable=false
Multicast Snooping
Configure bridge br0 to enable multicast snooping:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 mcast_snooping_enable=true
Set the multicast snooping aging time br0 to 300 seconds:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:mcast-snooping-aging-
time=300
Set the multicast snooping table size br0 to 2048 entries:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:mcast-snooping-table-
size=2048
Disable flooding of unregistered multicast packets to all ports. When
set to true, the switch will send unregistered multicast packets only
to ports connected to multicast routers. When it is set to false, the
switch will send them to all ports. This command disables the flood of
unregistered packets on bridge br0.
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:mcast-snooping-disable-
flood-unregistered=true
Enable flooding of multicast packets (except Reports) on a specific
port.
ovs-vsctl set Port eth1 other_config:mcast-snooping-flood=true
Enable flooding of Reports on a specific port.
ovs-vsctl set Port eth1 other_config:mcast-snooping-flood-re‐
ports=true
Deconfigure multicasting snooping from above:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 mcast_snooping_enable=false
802.1D-2004 Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP)
Configure bridge br0 to participate in an 802.1D-2004 Rapid Spanning
Tree:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 rstp_enable=true
Set the bridge address of br0 to 00:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa :
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-ad‐
dress=00:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa
Set the bridge priority of br0 to 0x7000. The value must be specified
in decimal notation and should be a multiple of 4096 (if not, it is
rounded down to the nearest multiple of 4096). The default priority
value is 0x800 (32768).
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-priority=28672
Set the bridge ageing time of br0 to 1000 s. The ageing time value
should be between 10 s and 1000000 s. The default value is 300 s.
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-ageing-time=1000
Set the bridge force protocol version of br0 to 0. The force protocol
version has two acceptable values: 0 (STP compatibility mode) and 2
(normal operation).
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-force-protocol-ver‐
sion=0
Set the bridge max age of br0 to 10 s. The max age value should be be‐
tween 6 s and 40 s. The default value is 20 s.
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-max-age=10
Set the bridge forward delay of br0 to 15 s. This value should be be‐
tween 4 s and 30 s. The default value is 15 s.
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-forward-delay=15
Set the bridge transmit hold count of br0 to 7 s. This value should be
between 1 s and 10 s. The default value is 6 s.
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:rstp-transmit-hold-count=7
Enable RSTP on the Port eth0:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-enable=true
Disable RSTP on the Port eth0:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-enable=false
Set the priority of port eth0 to 32. The value must be specified in
decimal notation and should be a multiple of 16 (if not, it is rounded
down to the nearest multiple of 16). The default priority value is 0x80
(128).
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-port-priority=32
Set the port number of port eth0 to 3:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-port-num=3
Set the path cost of port eth0 to 150:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-path-cost=150
Set the admin edge value of port eth0:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-port-admin-edge=true
Set the auto edge value of port eth0:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-port-auto-edge=true
Set the admin point to point MAC value of port eth0. Acceptable values
are 0 (not point-to-point), 1 (point-to-point, the default value) or 2
(automatic detection). The auto-detection mode is not currently imple‐
mented, and the value 2 has the same effect of 0 (not point-to-point).
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-admin-p2p-mac=1
Set the admin port state value of port eth0. true is the default
value.
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-admin-port-state=false
Set the mcheck value of port eth0:
ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:rstp-port-mcheck=true
Deconfigure RSTP from above:
ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 rstp_enable=false
OpenFlow Version
Configure bridge br0 to support OpenFlow versions 1.0, 1.2, and 1.3:
ovs-vsctl set bridge br0 protocols=OpenFlow10,OpenFlow12,Open‐
Flow13
Flow Table Configuration
Make flow table 0 on bridge br0 refuse to accept more than 100 flows:
ovs-vsctl -- --id=@ft create Flow_Table flow_limit=100 over‐
flow_policy=refuse -- set Bridge br0 flow_tables=0=@ft
Make flow table 0 on bridge br0 evict flows, with fairness based on the
matched ingress port, when there are more than 100:
ovs-vsctl -- --id=@ft create Flow_Table flow_limit=100 over‐
flow_policy=evict groups='"NXM_OF_IN_PORT[]"' -- set Bridge br0
flow_tables:0=@ft
EXIT STATUS
0 Successful program execution.
1 Usage, syntax, or configuration file error.
2 The bridge argument to br-exists specified the name of a bridge
that does not exist.
SEE ALSO
ovsdb-server(1), ovs-vswitchd(8), ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5).
Open vSwitch 3.4.1 ovs-vsctl(8)