1 .TH dpctl 8 "May 2008" "OpenFlow" "OpenFlow Manual"
4 dpctl \- administer OpenFlow datapaths
8 [\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand \fR[\fIswitch\fR] [\fIargs\fR&...]
13 program is a command line tool for monitoring and administering OpenFlow
14 datapaths. It is able to show the current state of a datapath,
15 including features, configuration, and tables entries. When using the
16 OpenFlow kernel module,
18 is used to add, delete, modify, and monitor datapaths.
20 Most \fBdpctl\fR commands take an argument that specifies the
21 method for connecting to an OpenFlow switch. The following connection
22 methods are supported:
26 The local Netlink datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR. This form requires
27 that the local host has the OpenFlow kernel module for Linux loaded.
30 \fBssl:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
31 The specified SSL \fIport\fR (default: 976) on the given remote
32 \fIhost\fR. The \fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, and
33 \fB--ca-cert\fR options are mandatory when this form is used.
36 \fBtcp:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
37 The specified TCP \fIport\fR (default: 975) on the given remote
42 The Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.
46 With the \fBdpctl\fR program, datapaths running in the kernel can be
47 created, deleted, modified, and monitored. A single machine may
48 host up to 32 datapaths (numbered 0 to 31). In most situations,
49 a machine hosts only one datapath.
51 A newly created datapath is not associated with any of the
52 host's network devices thus does not process any incoming
53 traffic. To intercept and process traffic on a given network device, the
54 network device must be explicitly added to a datapath through the
57 The following commands manage local datapaths.
60 \fBadddp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
61 Creates datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host. This will
62 fail if \fIdp_idx\fR is not in the range 0 to 31, or if the datapath
63 with that number already exists on the host.
66 \fBdeldp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
67 Deletes datapath \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host. \fIdp_idx\fR must be
68 an existing datapath. All of a datapath's network devices must be
69 explicitly removed before the datapath can be deleted (see \fBdelif\fR
73 \fBaddif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR
74 Adds \fInetdev\fR to the list of network devices datapath
75 \fIdp_idx\fR monitors, where \fIdp_idx\fR is the ID of an existing
76 datapath, and \fInetdev\fR is the name of one of the host's
77 network devices, e.g. \fBeth0\fR. Once a network device has been added
78 to a datapath, the datapath has complete ownership of the network device's
79 traffic and the network device appears silent to the rest of the system.
82 \fBdelif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR
83 Removes \fInetdev\fR from the list of network devices datapath
84 \fIdp_idx\fR monitors.
87 \fBmonitor nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
88 Prints to the console all OpenFlow packets sent by datapath
89 \fIdp_idx\fR to its controller, where \fIdp_idx\fR is the ID of an
93 The following commands can be apply to OpenFlow switches regardless of
94 the connection method.
98 Prints to the console information on datapath \fIswitch\fR including
99 information on its flow tables and ports.
102 \fBdump-tables \fIswitch\fR
103 Prints to the console statistics for each of the flow tables used by
104 datapath \fIswitch\fR.
107 \fBdump-ports \fIswitch\fR
108 Prints to the console statistics for each of the network devices
109 associated with datapath \fIswitch\fR.
112 \fBdump-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
113 Prints to the console all flow entries in datapath \fIswitch\fR's
114 tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted, all flows
115 in the datapath are retrieved. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the
116 syntax of \fIflows\fR.
119 \fBdump-aggregate \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
120 Prints to the console aggregate statistics for flows in datapath
121 \fSWITCH\fR's tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted,
122 the statistics are aggregated across all flows in the datapath's flow
123 tables. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
126 \fBadd-flow \fIswitch flow\fR
127 Add the flow entry as described by \fIflow\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's
128 tables. The flow entry is in the format described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR,
132 \fBadd-flows \fIswitch file\fR
133 Add flow entries as described in \fIfile\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's
134 tables. Each line in \fIfile\fR is a flow entry in the format
135 described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below.
138 \fBdel-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflow\fR]
139 Deletes entries from the datapath \fIswitch\fR's tables that match
140 \fIflow\fR. If \fIflow\fR is omitted, all flows in the datapath's
141 tables are removed. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of
145 The following commands can be used regardless of the connection
146 method. They apply to OpenFlow switches and controllers.
150 Connects to \fIvconn\fR and sends a single OpenFlow echo-request
151 packet and waits for the response. With the \fB-t\fR or
152 \fB--timeout\fR option, this command can test whether an OpenFlow
153 switch or controller is up and running.
156 \fBping \fIvconn \fR[\fIn\fR]
157 Sends a series of 10 echo request packets to \fIvconn\fR and times
158 each reply. The echo request packets consist of an OpenFlow header
159 plus \fIn\fR bytes (default: 64) of randomly generated payload. This
160 measures the latency of individual requests.
163 \fBbenchmark \fIvconn n count\fR
164 Sends \fIcount\fR echo request packets that each consist of an
165 OpenFlow header plus \fIn\fR bytes of payload and waits for each
166 response. Reports the total time required. This is a measure of the
167 maximum bandwidth to \fIvconn\fR for round-trips of \fIn\fR-byte
172 Some \fBdpctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a flow or
173 flows. Such flow descriptions comprise a series
174 \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
177 The following field assignments describe how a flow matches a packet.
178 If any of these assignments is omitted from the flow syntax, the field
179 is treated as a wildcard; thus, if all of them are omitted, the
180 resulting flow matches all packets. The string \fB*\fR or \fBANY\fR
181 may be specified a value to explicitly mark any of these fields as a
184 .IP \fBin_port=\fIport_no\fR
185 Matches physical port \fIport_no\fR. Switch ports are numbered as
186 displayed by \fBdpctl show\fR.
188 .IP \fBdl_vlan=\fIvlan\fR
189 Matches IEEE 802.1q virtual LAN tag \fIvlan\fR. Specify \fB0xffff\fR
190 as \fIvlan\fR to match packets that are not tagged with a virtual LAN;
191 otherwise, specify a number between 0 and 4095, inclusive, as the
192 12-bit VLAN ID to match.
194 .IP \fBdl_src=\fImac\fR
195 Matches Ethernet source address \fImac\fR, which should be specified
196 as 6 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons,
197 e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR.
199 .IP \fBdl_dst=\fImac\fR
200 Matches Ethernet destination address \fImac\fR.
202 .IP \fBdl_type=\fIethertype\fR
203 Matches Ethernet protocol type \fIethertype\fR, which should be
204 specified as a integer between 0 and 65535, inclusive, either in
205 decimal or as a hexadecimal number prefixed by \fB0x\fR,
206 e.g. \fB0x0806\fR to match ARP packets.
208 .IP \fBnw_src=\fIip\fR
209 Matches IPv4 source address \fIip\fR, which should be specified as an
210 IP address or host name, e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or
211 \fBwww.example.com\fR.
213 .IP \fBnw_dst=\fInw_dst\fR
214 Matches IPv4 destination address \fIip\fR.
216 .IP \fBnw_proto=\fIproto\fR
217 Matches IP protocol type \fIproto\fR, which should be specified as a
218 decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive, e.g. 6 to match TCP
221 .IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fR
222 Matches UDP or TCP source port \fIport\fR, which should be specified
223 as a decimal number between 0 and 65535, inclusive, e.g. 80 to match
224 packets originating from a HTTP server.
226 .IP \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fR
227 Matches UDP or TCP destination port \fIport\fR.
230 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands require an additional field:
232 .IP \fIactions\fB=\fItarget\fR[\fB,\fItarget\fR...]\fR
233 Specifies a comma-separated list of actions to take on a packet when the
234 flow entry matches. The \fItarget\fR may be a decimal port number
235 designating the physical port on which to output the packet, or one of
236 the following keywords:
239 .IP \fBoutput\fR:\fIport\fR
240 Outputs the packet on the port specified by \fIport\fR.
243 Subjects the packet to the device's normal L2/L3 processing. (This
244 action is not implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)
247 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
248 which it was received and any ports on which flooding is disabled
249 (typically, these would be ports disabled by the IEEE 802.1D spanning
253 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
254 which it was received.
256 .IP \fBcontroller\fR:\fImax_len\fR
257 Sends the packet to the OpenFlow controller as a ``packet in''
258 message. If \fImax_len\fR is a number, then it specifies the maximum
259 number of bytes that should be sent. If \fImax_len\fR is \fBALL\fR or
260 omitted, then the entire packet is sent.
263 Outputs the packet on the ``local port,'' which corresponds to the
264 \fBof\fIn\fR network device (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR in
265 \fBsecchan\fR(8) for information on the \fBof\fIn\fR network device).
267 .IP \fBmod_vlan\fR:\fIvlan_id\fR
268 Modifies the VLAN tag on a packet. If \fIvlan_id\fR is a number, then
269 the VLAN tag is added or modified as necessary to match the value
270 specified. If \fIvlan_id\fR is \fBSTRIP\fR, then the VLAN tag is
271 stripped from the packet if one is present. (This action is not
272 implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)
276 (The OpenFlow protocol supports other actions that \fBdpctl\fR does
277 not yet expose to the user.)
280 The \fBadd-flow\fR, \fBadd-flows\fR, and \fBdel-flows\fR commands
281 support an additional optional field:
283 .IP \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
284 Sets the priority of the flow to be added or deleted to \fIvalue\fR,
285 which should be a number between 0 and 65535, inclusive. If this
286 field is not specified, it defaults to 32768.
289 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands support additional
293 \fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
294 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
295 inactivity. A value of 0 prevents a flow from expiring due to
296 inactivity. The default is 60 seconds.
298 .IP \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
299 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
300 regardless of activity. A value of 0 (the default) gives the flow no
301 hard expiration deadline.
304 The \fBdump-flows\fR and \fBdump-aggregate\fR commands support an
305 additional optional field:
307 .IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
308 If specified, limits the flows about which statistics are gathered to
309 those in the table with the given \fInumber\fR. Tables are numbered
310 as shown by the \fBdump-tables\fR command.
312 If this field is not specified, or if \fInumber\fR is given as
313 \fB255\fR, statistics are gathered about flows from all tables.
317 \fB-t\fR, \fB--timeout=\fIsecs\fR
318 Limits \fBdpctl\fR runtime to approximately \fIsecs\fR seconds. If
319 the timeout expires, \fBdpctl\fR will exit with a \fBSIGALRM\fR
323 \fB-p\fR, \fB--private-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR
324 Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the
325 identity for SSL connections to a switch.
328 \fB-c\fR, \fB--certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR
329 Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
330 controller's certificate authority (CA), that certifies the
331 private key to identify a trustworthy controller.
334 \fB-C\fR, \fB--ca-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR
335 Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that
336 a switch is trustworthy.
339 .BR \-h ", " \-\^\-help
340 Prints a brief help message to the console.
343 \fB-v\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]], \fB--verbose=\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]]
344 Sets the logging level for \fImodule\fR in \fIfacility\fR to
345 \fIlevel\fR. The \fImodule\fR may be any valid module name (as
346 displayed by the \fB--list\fR action on \fBvlogconf\fR(8)), or the
347 special name \fBANY\fR to set the logging levels for all modules. The
348 \fIfacility\fR may be \fBsyslog\fR or \fBconsole\fR to set the levels
349 for logging to the system log or to the console, respectively, or
350 \fBANY\fR to set the logging levels for both facilities. If it is
351 omitted, \fIfacility\fR defaults to \fBANY\fR. The \fIlevel\fR must
352 be one of \fBemer\fR, \fBerr\fR, \fBwarn\fR, or \fBdbg\fR, designating
353 the minimum severity of a message for it to be logged. If it is
354 omitted, \fIlevel\fR defaults to \fBdbg\fR.
357 \fB-v\fR, \fB--verbose\fR
358 Sets the maximum logging verbosity level, equivalent to
359 \fB--verbose=ANY:ANY:dbg\fR.
362 .BR \-V ", " \-\^\-version
363 Prints version information to the console.
367 A typical dpctl command sequence for controlling an OpenFlow kernel module:
370 Create datapath numbered 0:
372 .B % dpctl adddp nl:0
375 Add two network devices to the new datapath:
377 .B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth0
378 .B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth1
381 Monitor traffic received by the datapath (exit with control-C):
383 .B % dpctl monitor nl:0
387 View the datapath's table stats after some traffic has passed through:
389 .B % dpctl dump-tables nl:0
392 View the flow entries in the datapath:
394 .B % dpctl dump-flows nl:0
397 Remove network devices from the datapath when finished:
399 .B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth0
400 .B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth1
405 .B % dpctl deldp nl:0