ovsdb-client(1) Open vSwitch Manual ovsdb-client(1)
NAME
ovsdb-client - command-line interface to ovsdb-server(1)
SYNOPSIS
Server-Level Commands:
ovsdb-client [options] list-dbs [server]
Database Schema Commands:
ovsdb-client [options] get-schema [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] list-tables [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] list-columns [server] [database] [table]
Database Version Management Commands:
ovsdb-client [options] convert [server] schema
ovsdb-client [options] needs-conversion [server] schema
ovsdb-client [options] get-schema-version [server] [database]
Data Management Commands:
ovsdb-client [options] transact [server] transaction
ovsdb-client [options] query [server] transaction
ovsdb-client [options] dump [server] [database] [table [col‐
umn...]]
ovsdb-client [options] backup [server] [database] > snapshot
ovsdb-client [options] [--force] restore [server] [database] <
snapshot
ovsdb-client [options] monitor [server] [database] table [col‐
umn[,column]...]...
ovsdb-client [options] monitor [server] [database] ALL
ovsdb-client [options] monitor-cond [server] [database] condi‐
tions table [column[,column]...]...
ovsdb-client [options] monitor-cond-since [server] [database]
[last-id] conditions table [column[,column]...]...
ovsdb-client [options] wait [server] database state
Testing Commands:
ovsdb-client [options] lock [server] lock
ovsdb-client [options] steal [server] lock
ovsdb-client [options] unlock [server] lock
Other Commands:
ovsdb-client help
Cluster Options:
[--no-leader-only]
Output formatting options:
[--format=format] [--data=format] [--no-headings] [--pretty]
[--bare] [--timestamp]
Daemon options:
[--pidfile[=pidfile]] [--overwrite-pidfile] [--detach]
[--no-chdir] [--no-self-confinement]
Logging options:
[-v[module[:destination[:level]]]]...
[--verbose[=module[:destination[:level]]]]...
[--log-file[=file]]
Public key infrastructure options:
[--private-key=privkey.pem]
[--certificate=cert.pem]
[--ca-cert=cacert.pem]
[--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem]
SSL connection options:
[--ssl-protocols=protocols]
[--ssl-ciphers=ciphers]
Replay options:
[--record[=directory]] [--replay[=directory]]
Common options:
[-h | --help] [-V | --version]
DESCRIPTION
The ovsdb-client program is a command-line client for interacting with
a running ovsdb-server process. Each command connects to the specified
OVSDB server, which may be an OVSDB active or passive connection
method, as described in ovsdb(7). The default server is unix:/usr/lo‐
cal/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock and the default database is
Open_vSwitch.
ovsdb-client supports the method1,method2,...,methodN syntax described
in ovsdb(7) for connecting to a cluster. When this syntax is used,
ovsdb-client tries the cluster members in random order until it finds
the cluster leader. Specify the --no-leader-only option to instead ac‐
cept any server that is connected to the cluster.
For an introduction to OVSDB and its implementation in Open vSwitch,
see ovsdb(7).
The following sections describe the commands that ovsdb-client sup‐
ports.
Server-Level Commands
Most ovsdb-client commands work with an individual database, but these
commands apply to an entire database server.
list-dbs [server]
Connects to server, retrieves the list of known databases, and
prints them one per line. These database names are the ones
that other commands may use for database.
Database Schema Commands
These commands obtain the schema from a database and print it or part
of it.
get-schema [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints it in JSON format.
list-tables [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints a table listing the name of each table within the data‐
base.
list-columns [server] [database] table
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints a table listing the name and type of each column. If ta‐
ble is specified, only columns in that table are listed; other‐
wise, the tables include columns in all tables.
Database Version Management Commands
An OVSDB schema has a schema version number, and an OVSDB database em‐
beds a particular version of an OVSDB schema. These version numbers
take the form x.y.z, e.g. 1.2.3. The OVSDB implementation does not en‐
force a particular version numbering scheme, but schemas managed within
the Open vSwitch project use the following approach. Whenever the
database schema is changed in a non-backward compatible way (e.g.
deleting a column or a table), x is incremented (and y and z are reset
to 0). When the database schema is changed in a backward compatible
way (e.g. adding a new column), y is incremented (and z is reset to 0).
When the database schema is changed cosmetically (e.g. reindenting its
syntax), z is incremented.
Some OVSDB databases and schemas, especially very old ones, do not have
a version number.
Schema version numbers and Open vSwitch version numbers are indepen‐
dent.
These commands work with different versions of OVSDB schemas and data‐
bases.
convert [server] schema
Reads an OVSDB schema in JSON format, as specified in the OVSDB
specification, from schema, then connects to server and requests
the server to convert the database whose name is specified in
schema to the schema also specified in schema.
The conversion is atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable.
Following the schema change, the server notifies clients that
use the set_db_change_aware RPC introduced in Open vSwitch 2.9
and cancels their outstanding transactions and monitors. The
server disconnects other clients, enabling them to notice the
change when they reconnect.
This command can do simple ``upgrades'' and ``downgrades'' on a
database's schema. The data in the database must be valid when
interpreted under schema, with only one exception: data for ta‐
bles and columns that do not exist in schema are ignored.
Columns that exist in schema but not in the database are set to
their default values. All of schema's constraints apply in
full.
Some uses of this command can cause unrecoverable data loss.
For example, converting a database from a schema that has a
given column or table to one that does not will delete all data
in that column or table. Back up critical databases before con‐
verting them.
This command works with clustered and standalone databases.
Standalone databases may also be converted (offline) with
ovsdb-tool's convert command.
needs-conversion [server] schema
Reads the schema from schema, then connects to server and re‐
quests the schema from the database whose name is specified in
schema. If the two schemas are the same, prints no on stdout;
if they differ, prints yes.
get-schema-version [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints its version number on stdout. If database was created
before schema versioning was introduced, then it will not have a
version number and this command will print a blank line.
get-schema-cksum [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints its checksum on stdout. If database does not include a
checksum, prints a blank line.
Data Management Commands
These commands read or modify the data in a database.
transact [server] transaction
Connects to server, sends it the specified transaction, which
must be a JSON array appropriate for use as the params to a
JSON-RPC transact request, and prints the received reply on std‐
out.
query [server] transaction
This commands acts like a read-only version of transact. It
connects to server, sends it the specified transaction, which
must be a JSON array appropriate for use as the params to a
JSON-RPC transact request, and prints the received reply on std‐
out. To ensure that the transaction does not modify the data‐
base, this command appends an abort operation to the set of op‐
erations included in transaction before sending it to the data‐
base, and then removes the abort result from the reply (if it is
present).
dump [server] [database] [table [column...]]
Connects to server, retrieves all of the data in database, and
prints it on stdout as a series of tables. If table is speci‐
fied, only that table is retrieved. If at least one column is
specified, only those columns are retrieved.
backup [server] [database] > snapshot
Connects to server, retrieves a snapshot of the schema and data
in database, and prints it on stdout in the format used for
OVSDB standalone and active-backup databases. This is an appro‐
priate way to back up any remote database. The database snap‐
shot that it outputs is suitable to be served up directly by
ovsdb-server or used as the input to ovsdb-client restore.
Another way to back up a standalone or active-backup database is
to copy its database file, e.g. with cp. This is safe even if
the database is in use.
The output does not include ephemeral columns, which by design
do not survive across restarts of ovsdb-server.
[--force] restore [server] [database] < snapshot
Reads snapshot, which must be a OVSDB standalone or active-
backup database (possibly but not necessarily created by
ovsdb-client backup). Then, connects to server, verifies that
database and snapshot have the same schema, then deletes all of
the data in database and replaces it by snapshot. The replace‐
ment happens atomically, in a single transaction.
UUIDs for rows in the restored database will differ from those
in snapshot, because the OVSDB protocol does not allow clients
to specify row UUIDs. Another way to restore a standalone or
active-backup database, which does also restore row UUIDs, is to
stop the server or servers, replace the database file by the
snapshot, then restart the database. Either way, ephemeral
columns are not restored, since by design they do not survive
across restarts of ovsdb-server.
Normally restore exits with a failure if snapshot and the
server's database have different schemas. In such a case, it is
a good idea to convert the database to the new schema before
restoring, e.g. with ovsdb-client convert. Use --force to pro‐
ceed regardless of schema differences even though the restore
might fail with an error or succeed with surprising results.
monitor [server] [database] table [column[,column]...]...
monitor-cond [server] [database] conditions table [column[,col‐
umn]...]...
monitor-cond-since [server] [database] [last-id] conditions table [col‐
umn[,column]...]...
Connects to server and monitors the contents of rows that match
conditions in table in database. By default, the initial con‐
tents of table are printed, followed by each change as it oc‐
curs. If conditions empty, all rows will be monitored. If at
least one column is specified, only those columns are monitored.
The following column names have special meanings:
!initial
Do not print the initial contents of the specified
columns.
!insert
Do not print newly inserted rows.
!delete
Do not print deleted rows.
!modify
Do not print modifications to existing rows.
Multiple [column[,column]...] groups may be specified as sepa‐
rate arguments, e.g. to apply different reporting parameters to
each group. Whether multiple groups or only a single group is
specified, any given column may only be mentioned once on the
command line.
conditions is a JSON array of <condition> as defined in RFC 7047
5.1 with the following change: A condition can be either a 3-el‐
ement JSON array as described in the RFC or a boolean value.
If --detach is used with monitor, monitor-cond or moni‐
tor-cond-since, then ovsdb-client detaches after it has success‐
fully received and printed the initial contents of table.
The monitor command uses RFC 7047 "monitor" method to open a
monitor session with the server. The monitor-cond and moni‐
tor-cond-since commandls uses RFC 7047 extension "monitor_cond"
and "monitor_cond_since" methods. See ovsdb-server(1) for de‐
tails.
monitor [server] [database] ALL
Connects to server and monitors the contents of all tables in
database. Prints initial values and all kinds of changes to all
columns in the database. The --detach option causes
ovsdb-client to detach after it successfully receives and prints
the initial database contents.
The monitor command uses RFC 7047 "monitor" method to open a
monitor session with the server.
wait [server] database state
Waits for database on server to enter a desired state, which may
be one of:
added Waits until a database with the given name has been added
to server.
connected
Waits until a database with the given name has been added
to server. Then, if database is clustered, additionally
waits until it has joined and connected to its cluster.
removed
Waits until database has been removed from the database
server. This can also be used to wait for a database to
complete leaving its cluster, because ovsdb-server re‐
moves a database at that point.
database is mandatory for this command because it is often used
to check for databases that have not yet been added to the
server, so that the ovsdb-client semantics of acting on a de‐
fault database do not work.
This command acts on a particular database server, not on a
cluster, so server must name a single server, not a comma-delim‐
ited list of servers.
Testing commands
These commands are mostly of interest for testing the correctness of
the OVSDB server.
lock [server] lock
steal [server] lock
unlock [server] lock
Connects to server and issues corresponding RFC 7047 lock opera‐
tions on lock. Prints json reply or subsequent update messages.
The --detach option causes ovsdb-client to detach after it suc‐
cessfully receives and prints the initial reply.
When running with the --detach option, lock, steal, unlock and
exit commands can be issued by using ovs-appctl. exit command
causes the ovsdb-client to close its ovsdb-server connection be‐
fore exit. The lock, steal and unlock commands can be used to
issue additional lock operations over the same ovsdb-server con‐
nection. All above commands take a single lock argument, which
does not have to be the same as the lock that ovsdb-client
started with.
OPTIONS
Output Formatting Options
Much of the output from ovsdb-client is in the form of tables. The
following options controlling output formatting:
-f format
--format=format
Sets the type of table formatting. The following types of for‐
mat are available:
table (default)
2-D text tables with aligned columns.
list 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 of ovs-vsctl(8).
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.
--timestamp
For the monitor, monitor-cond and monitor-cond-since commands,
add a timestamp to each table update. Most output formats add
the timestamp on a line of its own just above the table. The
JSON output format puts the timestamp in a member of the top-
level JSON object named time.
-t
--timeout=secs
Limits ovsdb-client runtime to approximately secs seconds. If
the timeout expires, ovsdb-client will exit with a SIGALRM sig‐
nal.
Daemon Options
The daemon options apply only to the monitor, monitor-cond and moni‐
tor-cond-since commands. With any other command, they have no effect.
The following options are valid on POSIX based platforms.
--pidfile[=pidfile]
Causes a file (by default, ovsdb-client.pid) to be created indi‐
cating the PID of the running process. If the pidfile argument
is not specified, or if it does not begin with /, then it is
created in /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.
If --pidfile is not specified, no pidfile is created.
--overwrite-pidfile
By default, when --pidfile is specified and the specified pid‐
file already exists and is locked by a running process,
ovsdb-client refuses to start. Specify --overwrite-pidfile to
cause it to instead overwrite the pidfile.
When --pidfile is not specified, this option has no effect.
--detach
Runs ovsdb-client as a background process. The process forks,
and in the child it starts a new session, closes the standard
file descriptors (which has the side effect of disabling logging
to the console), and changes its current directory to the root
(unless --no-chdir is specified). After the child completes its
initialization, the parent exits.
--monitor
Creates an additional process to monitor the ovsdb-client dae‐
mon. If the daemon dies due to a signal that indicates a pro‐
gramming error (SIGABRT, SIGALRM, SIGBUS, SIGFPE, SIGILL, SIG‐
PIPE, SIGSEGV, SIGXCPU, or SIGXFSZ) then the monitor process
starts a new copy of it. If the daemon dies or exits for an‐
other reason, the monitor process exits.
This option is normally used with --detach, but it also func‐
tions without it.
--no-chdir
By default, when --detach is specified, ovsdb-client changes its
current working directory to the root directory after it de‐
taches. Otherwise, invoking ovsdb-client from a carelessly cho‐
sen directory would prevent the administrator from unmounting
the file system that holds that directory.
Specifying --no-chdir suppresses this behavior, preventing
ovsdb-client from changing its current working directory. This
may be useful for collecting core files, since it is common be‐
havior to write core dumps into the current working directory
and the root directory is not a good directory to use.
This option has no effect when --detach is not specified.
--no-self-confinement
By default daemon will try to self-confine itself to work with
files under well-known directories determined during build. It
is better to stick with this default behavior and not to use
this flag unless some other Access Control is used to confine
daemon. Note that in contrast to other access control implemen‐
tations that are typically enforced from kernel-space (e.g. DAC
or MAC), self-confinement is imposed from the user-space daemon
itself and hence should not be considered as a full confinement
strategy, but instead should be viewed as an additional layer of
security.
--user Causes ovsdb-client to run as a different user specified in
"user:group", thus dropping most of the root privileges. Short
forms "user" and ":group" are also allowed, with current user or
group are assumed respectively. Only daemons started by the root
user accepts this argument.
On Linux, daemons will be granted CAP_IPC_LOCK and
CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICES before dropping root privileges. Daemons
that interact with a datapath, such as ovs-vswitchd, will be
granted three additional capabilities, namely CAP_NET_ADMIN,
CAP_NET_BROADCAST and CAP_NET_RAW. The capability change will
apply even if the new user is root.
On Windows, this option is not currently supported. For security
reasons, specifying this option will cause the daemon process
not to start.
Logging Options
-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, ovsdb-client
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/ovsdb-client.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.
Public Key Infrastructure Options
-p privkey.pem
--private-key=privkey.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as
ovsdb-client'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
ovsdb-client 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 ovsdb-client 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.
SSL Connection Options
--ssl-protocols=protocols
Specifies, in a comma- or space-delimited list, the SSL proto‐
cols ovsdb-client will enable for SSL connections. Supported
protocols include TLSv1, TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2. Regardless of
order, the highest protocol supported by both sides will be cho‐
sen when making the connection. The default when this option is
omitted is TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2.
--ssl-ciphers=ciphers
Specifies, in OpenSSL cipher string format, the ciphers
ovsdb-client will support for SSL connections. The default when
this option is omitted is HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5.
Other Options
--record[=directory]
Sets the process in "recording" mode, in which it will record
all the connections, data from streams (Unix domain and network
sockets) and some other important necessary bits, so they could
be replayed later. Recorded data is stored in replay files in
specified directory. If directory does not begin with /, it is
interpreted as relative to /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch. If
directory is not specified, /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch will
be used.
--replay[=directory]
Sets the process in "replay" mode, in which it will read infor‐
mation about connections, data from streams (Unix domain and
network sockets) and some other necessary bits directly from re‐
play files instead of using real sockets. Replay files from the
directory will be used. If directory does not begin with /, it
is interpreted as relative to /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.
If directory is not specified, /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch
will be used.
-h
--help Prints a brief help message to the console.
-V
--version
Prints version information to the console.
SEE ALSO
ovsdb(7), ovsdb-server(1), ovsdb-client(1).
Open vSwitch 3.4.1 ovsdb-client(1)