1 .TH ovs\-ofctl 8 "January 2010" "Open vSwitch" "Open vSwitch Manual"
5 ovs\-ofctl \- administer OpenFlow switches
9 [\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand \fR[\fIswitch\fR] [\fIargs\fR\&...]
14 program is a command line tool for monitoring and administering
15 OpenFlow switches. It can also show the current state of an OpenFlow
16 switch, including features, configuration, and table entries.
18 .SS "OpenFlow Switch Management Commands"
20 These commands allow \fBovs\-ofctl\fR to monitor and administer an OpenFlow
21 switch. It is able to show the current state of a switch, including
22 features, configuration, and table entries.
24 Most of these commands take an argument that specifies the method for
25 connecting to an OpenFlow switch. The following connection methods
29 .so lib/vconn-active.man
32 This is short for \fBunix:\fIfile\fR, as long as \fIfile\fR does not
36 This is short for \fBunix:@RUNDIR@/\fIbridge\fB.mgmt\fR, as long as
37 \fIbridge\fR does not contain a colon.
39 .IP [\fItype\fB@\fR]\fIdp\fR
40 Attempts to look up the bridge associated with \fIdp\fR and open as
41 above. If \fItype\fR is given, it specifies the datapath provider of
42 \fIdp\fR, otherwise the default provider \fBsystem\fR is assumed.
47 Prints to the console information on \fIswitch\fR, including
48 information on its flow tables and ports.
51 \fBstatus \fIswitch\fR [\fIkey\fR]
52 Prints to the console a series of key-value pairs that report the
53 status of \fIswitch\fR. If \fIkey\fR is specified, only the key-value
54 pairs whose key names begin with \fIkey\fR are printed. If \fIkey\fR is
55 omitted, all key-value pairs are printed.
58 \fBdump-tables \fIswitch\fR
59 Prints to the console statistics for each of the flow tables used by
63 \fBdump-ports \fIswitch\fR [\fInetdev\fR]
64 Prints to the console statistics for network devices associated with
65 \fIswitch\fR. If \fInetdev\fR is specified, only the statistics
66 associated with that device will be printed. \fInetdev\fR can be an
67 OpenFlow assigned port number or device name, e.g. \fBeth0\fR.
70 \fBmod-port \fIswitch\fR \fInetdev\fR \fIaction\fR
71 Modify characteristics of an interface monitored by \fIswitch\fR.
72 \fInetdev\fR can be referred to by its OpenFlow assigned port number or
73 the device name, e.g. \fBeth0\fR. The \fIaction\fR may be any one of the
78 Enables the interface. This is equivalent to ``ifconfig up'' on a Unix
82 Disables the interface. This is equivalent to ``ifconfig down'' on a Unix
86 When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will be sent out this
87 interface. This is the default posture for monitored ports.
90 When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will not be sent out
91 this interface. This is primarily useful to prevent loops when a
92 spanning tree protocol is not in use.
97 \fBdump-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
98 Prints to the console all flow entries in \fIswitch\fR's
99 tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted, all flows
100 in the switch are retrieved. See \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the
101 syntax of \fIflows\fR. The output format is described in
102 \fBTable Entry Output\fR.
105 \fBdump-aggregate \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
106 Prints to the console aggregate statistics for flows in
107 \fIswitch\fR's tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted,
108 the statistics are aggregated across all flows in the switch's flow
109 tables. See \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
110 The output format is descrbed in \fBTable Entry Output\fR.
113 \fBadd-flow \fIswitch flow\fR
114 Add the flow entry as described by \fIflow\fR to the \fIswitch\fR's
115 tables. The flow entry is in the format described in \fBFlow Syntax\fR,
119 \fBadd-flows \fIswitch file\fR
120 Add flow entries as described in \fIfile\fR to \fIswitch\fR's
121 tables. Each line in \fIfile\fR is a flow entry in the format
122 described in \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below.
125 \fBmod-flows \fIswitch flow\fR
126 Modify the actions in entries from the \fIswitch\fR's tables
127 that match \fIflow\fR. When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option,
128 wildcards are not treated as active for matching purposes. See
129 \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
132 \fBdel-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflow\fR]
133 Deletes entries from the \fIswitch\fR's tables that match
134 \fIflow\fR. When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option, wildcards are
135 not treated as active for matching purposes. If \fIflow\fR is
136 omitted and the \fB--strict\fR option is not used, all flows in the
137 switch's tables are removed. See \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the
138 syntax of \fIflows\fR.
141 \fBmonitor \fIswitch\fR [\fImiss-len\fR]
142 Connects to \fIswitch\fR and prints to the console all OpenFlow
143 messages received. Usually, \fIswitch\fR should specify a connection
144 named on \fBovs\-openflowd\fR(8)'s \fB-l\fR or \fB--listen\fR command line
147 If \fImiss-len\fR is provided, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR sends an OpenFlow ``set
148 configuration'' message at connection setup time that requests
149 \fImiss-len\fR bytes of each packet that misses the flow table. The
150 OpenFlow reference implementation does not send these messages to the
151 \fBovs\-ofctl monitor\fR client connection unless a nonzero value is
152 specified on this argument.
154 This command may be useful for debugging switch or controller
157 .SS "OpenFlow Switch and Controller Commands"
159 The following commands, like those in the previous section, may be
160 applied to OpenFlow switches, using any of the connection methods
161 described in that section. Unlike those commands, these may also be
162 applied to OpenFlow controllers.
165 \fBprobe \fItarget\fR
166 Sends a single OpenFlow echo-request message to \fItarget\fR and waits
167 for the response. With the \fB-t\fR or \fB--timeout\fR option, this
168 command can test whether an OpenFlow switch or controller is up and
172 \fBping \fItarget \fR[\fIn\fR]
173 Sends a series of 10 echo request packets to \fItarget\fR and times
174 each reply. The echo request packets consist of an OpenFlow header
175 plus \fIn\fR bytes (default: 64) of randomly generated payload. This
176 measures the latency of individual requests.
179 \fBbenchmark \fItarget n count\fR
180 Sends \fIcount\fR echo request packets that each consist of an
181 OpenFlow header plus \fIn\fR bytes of payload and waits for each
182 response. Reports the total time required. This is a measure of the
183 maximum bandwidth to \fItarget\fR for round-trips of \fIn\fR-byte
188 Some \fBovs\-ofctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a flow or
189 flows. Such flow descriptions comprise a series
190 \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
191 space. (Embedding spaces into a flow description normally requires
192 quoting to prevent the shell from breaking the description into
195 The following field assignments describe how a flow matches a packet.
196 If any of these assignments is omitted from the flow syntax, the field
197 is treated as a wildcard; thus, if all of them are omitted, the
198 resulting flow matches all packets. The string \fB*\fR or \fBANY\fR
199 may be specified to explicitly mark any of these fields as a wildcard.
200 (\fB*\fR should be quoted to protect it from shell expansion.)
202 .IP \fBin_port=\fIport_no\fR
203 Matches physical port \fIport_no\fR. Switch ports are numbered as
204 displayed by \fBovs\-ofctl show\fR.
206 .IP \fBdl_vlan=\fIvlan\fR
207 Matches IEEE 802.1q Virtual LAN tag \fIvlan\fR. Specify \fB0xffff\fR
208 as \fIvlan\fR to match packets that are not tagged with a Virtual LAN;
209 otherwise, specify a number between 0 and 4095, inclusive, as the
210 12-bit VLAN ID to match.
212 .IP \fBdl_vlan_pcp=\fIpriority\fR
213 Matches IEEE 802.1q Priority Code Point (PCP) \fIpriority\fR, which is
214 specified as a value between 0 and 7, inclusive. A higher value
215 indicates a higher frame priority level.
217 .IP \fBdl_src=\fImac\fR
218 Matches Ethernet source address \fImac\fR, which is specified as 6 pairs
219 of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons (e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR).
221 .IP \fBdl_dst=\fImac\fR
222 Matches Ethernet destination address \fImac\fR.
224 .IP \fBdl_type=\fIethertype\fR
225 Matches Ethernet protocol type \fIethertype\fR, which is specified as an
226 integer between 0 and 65535, inclusive, either in decimal or as a
227 hexadecimal number prefixed by \fB0x\fR (e.g. \fB0x0806\fR to match ARP
230 .IP \fBnw_src=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
231 Matches IPv4 source address \fIip\fR, which may be specified as an
232 IP address or host name (e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or
233 \fBwww.example.com\fR). The optional \fInetmask\fR allows restricting a
234 match to an IPv4 address prefix. The netmask may be specified as a dotted
235 quad (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a CIDR block
236 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR).
238 .IP \fBnw_dst=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
239 Matches IPv4 destination address \fIip\fR.
241 .IP \fBnw_proto=\fIproto\fR
242 Matches IP protocol type \fIproto\fR, which is specified as a decimal
243 number between 0 and 255, inclusive (e.g. 6 to match TCP packets).
245 .IP \fBnw_tos=\fItos\fR
246 Matches IP ToS/DSCP field \fItos\fR, which is specified as a decimal
247 number between 0 and 255, inclusive. Note that the two lower reserved
248 bits are ignored for matching purposes.
250 .IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fR
251 Matches UDP or TCP source port \fIport\fR, which is specified as a decimal
252 number between 0 and 65535, inclusive (e.g. 80 to match packets originating
255 .IP \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fR
256 Matches UDP or TCP destination port \fIport\fR.
258 .IP \fBicmp_type=\fItype\fR
259 Matches ICMP message with \fItype\fR, which is specified as a decimal
260 number between 0 and 255, inclusive.
262 .IP \fBicmp_code=\fIcode\fR
263 Matches ICMP messages with \fIcode\fR.
266 The following shorthand notations are also available:
269 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR.
272 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=1\fR.
275 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=6\fR.
278 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=17\fR.
281 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR.
284 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands require an additional field:
286 .IP \fBactions=\fR[\fItarget\fR][\fB,\fItarget\fR...]\fR
287 Specifies a comma-separated list of actions to take on a packet when the
288 flow entry matches. If no \fItarget\fR is specified, then packets
289 matching the flow are dropped. The \fItarget\fR may be a decimal port
290 number designating the physical port on which to output the packet, or one
291 of the following keywords:
294 .IP \fBoutput\fR:\fIport\fR
295 Outputs the packet on the port specified by \fIport\fR.
298 Subjects the packet to the device's normal L2/L3 processing. (This
299 action is not implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)
302 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
303 which it was received and any ports on which flooding is disabled
304 (typically, these would be ports disabled by the IEEE 802.1D spanning
308 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
309 which it was received.
311 .IP \fBcontroller\fR:\fImax_len\fR
312 Sends the packet to the OpenFlow controller as a ``packet in''
313 message. If \fImax_len\fR is a number, then it specifies the maximum
314 number of bytes that should be sent. If \fImax_len\fR is \fBALL\fR or
315 omitted, then the entire packet is sent.
318 Outputs the packet on the ``local port,'' which corresponds to the
319 \fBof\fIn\fR network device (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR in
320 \fBovs\-openflowd\fR(8) for information on the \fBof\fIn\fR network device).
323 Discards the packet, so no further processing or forwarding takes place.
324 If a drop action is used, no other actions may be specified.
326 .IP \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR:\fIvlan_vid\fR
327 Modifies the VLAN id on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
328 as necessary to match the value specified. If the VLAN tag is added,
329 a priority of zero is used (see the \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR action to set
332 .IP \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR:\fIvlan_pcp\fR
333 Modifies the VLAN priority on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
334 as necessary to match the value specified. Valid values are between 0
335 (lowest) and 7 (highest). If the VLAN tag is added, a vid of zero is used
336 (see the \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR action to set this).
339 Strips the VLAN tag from a packet if it is present.
341 .IP \fBmod_dl_src\fB:\fImac\fR
342 Sets the source Ethernet address to \fImac\fR.
344 .IP \fBmod_dl_dst\fB:\fImac\fR
345 Sets the destination Ethernet address to \fImac\fR.
347 .IP \fBmod_nw_src\fB:\fIip\fR
348 Sets the IPv4 source address to \fIip\fR.
350 .IP \fBmod_nw_dst\fB:\fIip\fR
351 Sets the IPv4 destination address to \fIip\fR.
353 .IP \fBmod_tp_src\fB:\fIport\fR
354 Sets the TCP or UDP source port to \fIport\fR.
356 .IP \fBmod_tp_dst\fB:\fIport\fR
357 Sets the TCP or UDP destination port to \fIport\fR.
359 .IP \fBmod_nw_tos\fB:\fItos\fR
360 Sets the IP ToS/DSCP field to \fItos\fR. Valid values are between 0 and
361 255, inclusive. Note that the two lower reserved bits are never
367 (The OpenFlow protocol supports other actions that \fBovs\-ofctl\fR does
368 not yet expose to the user.)
371 The \fBadd-flow\fR, \fBadd-flows\fR, and \fBdel-flows\fR commands
372 support an additional optional field:
374 .IP \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
375 The priority at which a wildcarded entry will match in comparison to
376 others. \fIvalue\fR is a number between 0 and 65535, inclusive. A higher
377 \fIvalue\fR will match before a lower one. An exact-match entry will always
378 have priority over an entry containing wildcards, so it has an implicit
379 priority value of 65535. When adding a flow, if the field is not specified,
380 the flow's priority will default to 32768.
383 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands support additional
387 \fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
388 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
389 inactivity. A value of 0 prevents a flow from expiring due to
390 inactivity. The default is 60 seconds.
392 .IP \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
393 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
394 regardless of activity. A value of 0 (the default) gives the flow no
395 hard expiration deadline.
398 The \fBdump-flows\fR, \fBdump-aggregate\fR, \fBdel-flow\fR
399 and \fBdel-flows\fR commands support one additional optional field:
402 \fBout_port=\fIport\fR
403 If set, a matching flow must include an output action to \fIport\fR.
406 The \fBdump-flows\fR and \fBdump-aggregate\fR commands support an
407 additional optional field:
409 .IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
410 If specified, limits the flows about which statistics are gathered to
411 those in the table with the given \fInumber\fR. Tables are numbered
412 as shown by the \fBdump-tables\fR command.
414 If this field is not specified, or if \fInumber\fR is given as
415 \fB255\fR, statistics are gathered about flows from all tables.
417 .SS "Table Entry Output"
419 The \fBdump-tables\fR and \fBdump-aggregate\fR commands print information
420 about the entries in a datapath's tables. Each line of output is a
421 unique flow entry, which begins with some common information:
424 The number of seconds the entry has been in the table.
427 The table that contains the flow. When a packet arrives, the switch
428 begins searching for an entry at the lowest numbered table. Tables are
429 numbered as shown by the \fBdump-tables\fR command.
432 The priority of the entry in relation to other entries within the same
433 table. A higher value will match before a lower one.
436 The number of packets that have matched the entry.
439 The total number of bytes from packets that have matched the entry.
442 The rest of the line consists of a description of the flow entry as
443 described in \fBFlow Syntax\fR, above.
449 Uses strict matching when running flow modification commands.
457 The following examples assume that an OpenFlow switch on the local
458 host has been configured to listen for management connections on a
459 Unix domain socket named \fB@RUNDIR@/openflow.sock\fR, e.g. by
460 specifying \fB--listen=punix:@RUNDIR@/openflow.sock\fR on the
461 \fBovs\-openflowd\fR(8) command line.
464 \fBovs\-ofctl dump-tables unix:@RUNDIR@/openflow.sock\fR
465 Prints out the switch's table stats. (This is more interesting after
466 some traffic has passed through.)
469 \fBovs\-ofctl dump-flows unix:@RUNDIR@/openflow.sock\fR
470 Prints the flow entries in the switch.
475 .BR ovs\-controller (8),
476 .BR ovs\-vswitchd (8)