1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2 <database title="Open vSwitch Configuration Database">
4 A database with this schema holds the configuration for one Open
5 vSwitch daemon. The top-level configuration for the daemon is the
6 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table, which must have exactly one
7 record. Records in other tables are significant only when they
8 can be reached directly or indirectly from the <ref
9 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table. Records that are not reachable from
10 the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table are automatically deleted
11 from the database, except for records in a few distinguished
15 <h2>Common Columns</h2>
18 Most tables contain two special columns, named <code>other_config</code>
19 and <code>external_ids</code>. These columns have the same form and
20 purpose each place that they appear, so we describe them here to save space
25 <dt><code>other_config</code>: map of string-string pairs</dt>
28 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used features. Supported keys,
29 along with the forms taken by their values, are documented individually
33 A few tables do not have <code>other_config</code> columns because no
34 key-value pairs have yet been defined for them.
38 <dt><code>external_ids</code>: map of string-string pairs</dt>
40 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
41 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
42 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
43 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
44 unique. In some cases, where key-value pairs have been defined that are
45 likely to be widely useful, they are documented individually for each
50 <table name="Open_vSwitch" title="Open vSwitch configuration.">
51 Configuration for an Open vSwitch daemon. There must be exactly
52 one record in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table.
54 <group title="Configuration">
55 <column name="bridges">
56 Set of bridges managed by the daemon.
60 SSL used globally by the daemon.
63 <column name="external_ids" key="system-id">
64 A unique identifier for the Open vSwitch's physical host.
65 The form of the identifier depends on the type of the host.
66 On a Citrix XenServer, this will likely be the same as
67 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-system-uuid"/>.
70 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-system-uuid">
71 The Citrix XenServer universally unique identifier for the physical
72 host as displayed by <code>xe host-list</code>.
76 <group title="Status">
77 <column name="next_cfg">
78 Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies
79 any part of the database configuration and wishes to wait for
80 Open vSwitch to finish applying the changes, it may increment
84 <column name="cur_cfg">
85 Sequence number that Open vSwitch sets to the current value of
86 <ref column="next_cfg"/> after it finishes applying a set of
87 configuration changes.
90 <column name="capabilities">
91 Describes functionality supported by the hardware and software platform
92 on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients should not modify this
93 column. See the <ref table="Capability"/> description for defined
94 capability categories and the meaning of associated
95 <ref table="Capability"/> records.
98 <group title="Statistics">
100 The <code>statistics</code> column contains key-value pairs that
101 report statistics about a system running an Open vSwitch. These are
102 updated periodically (currently, every 5 seconds). Key-value pairs
103 that cannot be determined or that do not apply to a platform are
107 <column name="other_config" key="enable-statistics"
108 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
109 Statistics are disabled by default to avoid overhead in the common
110 case when statistics gathering is not useful. Set this value to
111 <code>true</code> to enable populating the <ref column="statistics"/>
112 column or to <code>false</code> to explicitly disable it.
115 <column name="statistics" key="cpu"
116 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
118 Number of CPU processors, threads, or cores currently online and
119 available to the operating system on which Open vSwitch is running,
120 as an integer. This may be less than the number installed, if some
121 are not online or if they are not available to the operating
125 Open vSwitch userspace processes are not multithreaded, but the
126 Linux kernel-based datapath is.
130 <column name="statistics" key="load_average">
131 A comma-separated list of three floating-point numbers,
132 representing the system load average over the last 1, 5, and 15
133 minutes, respectively.
136 <column name="statistics" key="memory">
138 A comma-separated list of integers, each of which represents a
139 quantity of memory in kilobytes that describes the operating
140 system on which Open vSwitch is running. In respective order,
145 <li>Total amount of RAM allocated to the OS.</li>
146 <li>RAM allocated to the OS that is in use.</li>
147 <li>RAM that can be flushed out to disk or otherwise discarded
148 if that space is needed for another purpose. This number is
149 necessarily less than or equal to the previous value.</li>
150 <li>Total disk space allocated for swap.</li>
151 <li>Swap space currently in use.</li>
155 On Linux, all five values can be determined and are included. On
156 other operating systems, only the first two values can be
157 determined, so the list will only have two values.
161 <column name="statistics" key="process_NAME">
163 One such key-value pair, with <code>NAME</code> replaced by
164 a process name, will exist for each running Open vSwitch
165 daemon process, with <var>name</var> replaced by the
166 daemon's name (e.g. <code>process_ovs-vswitchd</code>). The
167 value is a comma-separated list of integers. The integers
168 represent the following, with memory measured in kilobytes
169 and durations in milliseconds:
173 <li>The process's virtual memory size.</li>
174 <li>The process's resident set size.</li>
175 <li>The amount of user and system CPU time consumed by the
177 <li>The number of times that the process has crashed and been
178 automatically restarted by the monitor.</li>
179 <li>The duration since the process was started.</li>
180 <li>The duration for which the process has been running.</li>
184 The interpretation of some of these values depends on whether the
185 process was started with the <option>--monitor</option>. If it
186 was not, then the crash count will always be 0 and the two
187 durations will always be the same. If <option>--monitor</option>
188 was given, then the crash count may be positive; if it is, the
189 latter duration is the amount of time since the most recent crash
194 There will be one key-value pair for each file in Open vSwitch's
195 ``run directory'' (usually <code>/var/run/openvswitch</code>)
196 whose name ends in <code>.pid</code>, whose contents are a
197 process ID, and which is locked by a running process. The
198 <var>name</var> is taken from the pidfile's name.
202 Currently Open vSwitch is only able to obtain all of the above
203 detail on Linux systems. On other systems, the same key-value
204 pairs will be present but the values will always be the empty
209 <column name="statistics" key="file_systems">
211 A space-separated list of information on local, writable file
212 systems. Each item in the list describes one file system and
213 consists in turn of a comma-separated list of the following:
217 <li>Mount point, e.g. <code>/</code> or <code>/var/log</code>.
218 Any spaces or commas in the mount point are replaced by
220 <li>Total size, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
221 <li>Amount of storage in use, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
225 This key-value pair is omitted if there are no local, writable
226 file systems or if Open vSwitch cannot obtain the needed
233 <group title="Version Reporting">
235 These columns report the types and versions of the hardware and
236 software running Open vSwitch. We recommend in general that software
237 should test whether specific features are supported instead of relying
238 on version number checks. These values are primarily intended for
239 reporting to human administrators.
242 <column name="ovs_version">
243 The Open vSwitch version number, e.g. <code>1.1.0</code>.
244 If Open vSwitch was configured with a build number, then it is
245 also included, e.g. <code>1.1.0+build6579</code>.
248 <column name="db_version">
250 The database schema version number in the form
251 <code><var>major</var>.<var>minor</var>.<var>tweak</var></code>,
252 e.g. <code>1.2.3</code>. Whenever the database schema is changed in
253 a non-backward compatible way (e.g. deleting a column or a table),
254 <var>major</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
255 in a backward compatible way (e.g. adding a new column),
256 <var>minor</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
257 cosmetically (e.g. reindenting its syntax), <var>tweak</var> is
262 The schema version is part of the database schema, so it can also be
263 retrieved by fetching the schema using the Open vSwitch database
268 <column name="system_type">
270 An identifier for the type of system on top of which Open vSwitch
271 runs, e.g. <code>XenServer</code> or <code>KVM</code>.
274 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
275 appropriate value for this column.
279 <column name="system_version">
281 The version of the system identified by <ref column="system_type"/>,
282 e.g. <code>5.6.100-39265p</code> on XenServer 5.6.100 build 39265.
285 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
286 appropriate value for this column.
292 <group title="Database Configuration">
294 These columns primarily configure the Open vSwitch database
295 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
296 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The OVSDB database also uses the <ref
297 column="ssl"/> settings.
301 The Open vSwitch switch does read the database configuration to
302 determine remote IP addresses to which in-band control should apply.
305 <column name="manager_options">
306 Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should
307 connect or to which it should listen, along with options for how these
308 connection should be configured. See the <ref table="Manager"/> table
309 for more information.
313 <group title="Common Columns">
314 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
315 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
317 <column name="other_config"/>
318 <column name="external_ids"/>
322 <table name="Bridge">
324 Configuration for a bridge within an
325 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>.
328 A <ref table="Bridge"/> record represents an Ethernet switch with one or
329 more ``ports,'' which are the <ref table="Port"/> records pointed to by
330 the <ref table="Bridge"/>'s <ref column="ports"/> column.
333 <group title="Core Features">
335 Bridge identifier. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
336 bytes long. Must be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and
340 <column name="ports">
341 Ports included in the bridge.
344 <column name="mirrors">
345 Port mirroring configuration.
348 <column name="netflow">
349 NetFlow configuration.
352 <column name="sflow">
356 <column name="flood_vlans">
358 VLAN IDs of VLANs on which MAC address learning should be disabled,
359 so that packets are flooded instead of being sent to specific ports
360 that are believed to contain packets' destination MACs. This should
361 ordinarily be used to disable MAC learning on VLANs used for
362 mirroring (RSPAN VLANs). It may also be useful for debugging.
365 SLB bonding (see the <ref table="Port" column="bond_mode"/> column in
366 the <ref table="Port"/> table) is incompatible with
367 <code>flood_vlans</code>. Consider using another bonding mode or
368 a different type of mirror instead.
373 <group title="OpenFlow Configuration">
374 <column name="controller">
376 OpenFlow controller set. If unset, then no OpenFlow controllers
381 If there are primary controllers, removing all of them clears the
382 flow table. If there are no primary controllers, adding one also
383 clears the flow table. Other changes to the set of controllers, such
384 as adding or removing a service controller, adding another primary
385 controller to supplement an existing primary controller, or removing
386 only one of two primary controllers, have no effect on the flow
391 <column name="flow_tables">
392 Configuration for OpenFlow tables. Each pair maps from an OpenFlow
393 table ID to configuration for that table.
396 <column name="fail_mode">
397 <p>When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible
398 for setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to
399 the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up.
400 If the connection to the controller stays down long enough,
401 no packets can pass through the switch at all. This setting
402 determines the switch's response to such a situation. It may be set
403 to one of the following:
405 <dt><code>standalone</code></dt>
406 <dd>If no message is received from the controller for three
407 times the inactivity probe interval
408 (see <ref column="inactivity_probe"/>), then Open vSwitch
409 will take over responsibility for setting up flows. In
410 this mode, Open vSwitch causes the bridge to act like an
411 ordinary MAC-learning switch. Open vSwitch will continue
412 to retry connecting to the controller in the background
413 and, when the connection succeeds, it will discontinue its
414 standalone behavior.</dd>
415 <dt><code>secure</code></dt>
416 <dd>Open vSwitch will not set up flows on its own when the
417 controller connection fails or when no controllers are
418 defined. The bridge will continue to retry connecting to
419 any defined controllers forever.</dd>
422 <p>If this value is unset, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
423 <p>When more than one controller is configured,
424 <ref column="fail_mode"/> is considered only when none of the
425 configured controllers can be contacted.</p>
427 Changing <ref column="fail_mode"/> when no primary controllers are
428 configured clears the flow table.
432 <column name="datapath_id">
433 Reports the OpenFlow datapath ID in use. Exactly 16 hex digits.
434 (Setting this column has no useful effect. Set <ref
435 column="other-config" key="datapath-id"/> instead.)
438 <column name="other_config" key="datapath-id">
439 Exactly 16 hex digits to set the OpenFlow datapath ID to a specific
440 value. May not be all-zero.
443 <column name="other_config" key="disable-in-band"
444 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
445 If set to <code>true</code>, disable in-band control on the bridge
446 regardless of controller and manager settings.
449 <column name="other_config" key="in-band-queue"
450 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 4294967295}'>
451 A queue ID as a nonnegative integer. This sets the OpenFlow queue ID
452 that will be used by flows set up by in-band control on this bridge.
453 If unset, or if the port used by an in-band control flow does not have
454 QoS configured, or if the port does not have a queue with the specified
455 ID, the default queue is used instead.
459 <group title="Spanning Tree Configuration">
460 The IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol
461 that ensures loop-free topologies. It allows redundant links to
462 be included in the network to provide automatic backup paths if
463 the active links fails.
465 <column name="stp_enable">
466 Enable spanning tree on the bridge. By default, STP is disabled
467 on bridges. Bond, internal, and mirror ports are not supported
468 and will not participate in the spanning tree.
471 <column name="other_config" key="stp-system-id">
472 The bridge's STP identifier (the lower 48 bits of the bridge-id)
474 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
475 By default, the identifier is the MAC address of the bridge.
478 <column name="other_config" key="stp-priority"
479 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
480 The bridge's relative priority value for determining the root
481 bridge (the upper 16 bits of the bridge-id). A bridge with the
482 lowest bridge-id is elected the root. By default, the priority
486 <column name="other_config" key="stp-hello-time"
487 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 10}'>
488 The interval between transmissions of hello messages by
489 designated ports, in seconds. By default the hello interval is
493 <column name="other_config" key="stp-max-age"
494 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 6, "maxInteger": 40}'>
495 The maximum age of the information transmitted by the bridge
496 when it is the root bridge, in seconds. By default, the maximum
500 <column name="other_config" key="stp-forward-delay"
501 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 4, "maxInteger": 30}'>
502 The delay to wait between transitioning root and designated
503 ports to <code>forwarding</code>, in seconds. By default, the
504 forwarding delay is 15 seconds.
508 <group title="Other Features">
509 <column name="datapath_type">
510 Name of datapath provider. The kernel datapath has
511 type <code>system</code>. The userspace datapath has
512 type <code>netdev</code>.
515 <column name="external_ids" key="bridge-id">
516 A unique identifier of the bridge. On Citrix XenServer this will
517 commonly be the same as
518 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuids"/>.
521 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuids">
522 Semicolon-delimited set of universally unique identifier(s) for the
523 network with which this bridge is associated on a Citrix XenServer
524 host. The network identifiers are RFC 4122 UUIDs as displayed by,
525 e.g., <code>xe network-list</code>.
528 <column name="other_config" key="hwaddr">
529 An Ethernet address in the form
530 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
531 to set the hardware address of the local port and influence the
535 <column name="other_config" key="flow-eviction-threshold"
536 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
538 A number of flows as a nonnegative integer. This sets number of
539 flows at which eviction from the kernel flow table will be triggered.
540 If there are a large number of flows then increasing this value to
541 around the number of flows present can result in reduced CPU usage
545 The default is 1000. Values below 100 will be rounded up to 100.
549 <column name="other_config" key="forward-bpdu"
550 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
551 Option to allow forwarding of BPDU frames when NORMAL action is
552 invoked. Frames with reserved Ethernet addresses (e.g. STP
553 BPDU) will be forwarded when this option is enabled and the
554 switch is not providing that functionality. If STP is enabled
555 on the port, STP BPDUs will never be forwarded. If the Open
556 vSwitch bridge is used to connect different Ethernet networks,
557 and if Open vSwitch node does not run STP, then this option
558 should be enabled. Default is disabled, set to
559 <code>true</code> to enable.
563 <group title="Bridge Status">
565 Status information about bridges.
567 <column name="status">
568 Key-value pairs that report bridge status.
570 <column name="status" key="stp_bridge_id">
572 The bridge-id (in hex) used in spanning tree advertisements.
573 Configuring the bridge-id is described in the
574 <code>stp-system-id</code> and <code>stp-priority</code> keys
575 of the <code>other_config</code> section earlier.
578 <column name="status" key="stp_designated_root">
580 The designated root (in hex) for this spanning tree.
583 <column name="status" key="stp_root_path_cost">
585 The path cost of reaching the designated bridge. A lower
591 <group title="Common Columns">
592 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
593 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
595 <column name="other_config"/>
596 <column name="external_ids"/>
600 <table name="Port" table="Port or bond configuration.">
601 <p>A port within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
602 <p>Most commonly, a port has exactly one ``interface,'' pointed to by its
603 <ref column="interfaces"/> column. Such a port logically
604 corresponds to a port on a physical Ethernet switch. A port
605 with more than one interface is a ``bonded port'' (see
606 <ref group="Bonding Configuration"/>).</p>
607 <p>Some properties that one might think as belonging to a port are actually
608 part of the port's <ref table="Interface"/> members.</p>
611 Port name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
612 bytes long. May be the same as the interface name, for
613 non-bonded ports. Must otherwise be unique among the names of
614 ports, interfaces, and bridges on a host.
617 <column name="interfaces">
618 The port's interfaces. If there is more than one, this is a
622 <group title="VLAN Configuration">
623 <p>Bridge ports support the following types of VLAN configuration:</p>
628 A trunk port carries packets on one or more specified VLANs
629 specified in the <ref column="trunks"/> column (often, on every
630 VLAN). A packet that ingresses on a trunk port is in the VLAN
631 specified in its 802.1Q header, or VLAN 0 if the packet has no
632 802.1Q header. A packet that egresses through a trunk port will
633 have an 802.1Q header if it has a nonzero VLAN ID.
637 Any packet that ingresses on a trunk port tagged with a VLAN that
638 the port does not trunk is dropped.
645 An access port carries packets on exactly one VLAN specified in the
646 <ref column="tag"/> column. Packets egressing on an access port
647 have no 802.1Q header.
651 Any packet with an 802.1Q header with a nonzero VLAN ID that
652 ingresses on an access port is dropped, regardless of whether the
653 VLAN ID in the header is the access port's VLAN ID.
657 <dt>native-tagged</dt>
659 A native-tagged port resembles a trunk port, with the exception that
660 a packet without an 802.1Q header that ingresses on a native-tagged
661 port is in the ``native VLAN'' (specified in the <ref column="tag"/>
665 <dt>native-untagged</dt>
667 A native-untagged port resembles a native-tagged port, with the
668 exception that a packet that egresses on a native-untagged port in
669 the native VLAN will not have an 802.1Q header.
673 A packet will only egress through bridge ports that carry the VLAN of
674 the packet, as described by the rules above.
677 <column name="vlan_mode">
679 The VLAN mode of the port, as described above. When this column is
680 empty, a default mode is selected as follows:
684 If <ref column="tag"/> contains a value, the port is an access
685 port. The <ref column="trunks"/> column should be empty.
688 Otherwise, the port is a trunk port. The <ref column="trunks"/>
689 column value is honored if it is present.
696 For an access port, the port's implicitly tagged VLAN. For a
697 native-tagged or native-untagged port, the port's native VLAN. Must
698 be empty if this is a trunk port.
702 <column name="trunks">
704 For a trunk, native-tagged, or native-untagged port, the 802.1Q VLAN
705 or VLANs that this port trunks; if it is empty, then the port trunks
706 all VLANs. Must be empty if this is an access port.
709 A native-tagged or native-untagged port always trunks its native
710 VLAN, regardless of whether <ref column="trunks"/> includes that
715 <column name="other_config" key="priority-tags"
716 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
718 An 802.1Q header contains two important pieces of information: a VLAN
719 ID and a priority. A frame with a zero VLAN ID, called a
720 ``priority-tagged'' frame, is supposed to be treated the same way as
721 a frame without an 802.1Q header at all (except for the priority).
725 However, some network elements ignore any frame that has 802.1Q
726 header at all, even when the VLAN ID is zero. Therefore, by default
727 Open vSwitch does not output priority-tagged frames, instead omitting
728 the 802.1Q header entirely if the VLAN ID is zero. Set this key to
729 <code>true</code> to enable priority-tagged frames on a port.
733 Regardless of this setting, Open vSwitch omits the 802.1Q header on
734 output if both the VLAN ID and priority would be zero.
738 All frames output to native-tagged ports have a nonzero VLAN ID, so
739 this setting is not meaningful on native-tagged ports.
744 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
745 <p>A port that has more than one interface is a ``bonded port.'' Bonding
746 allows for load balancing and fail-over. Some kinds of bonding will
747 work with any kind of upstream switch:</p>
750 <dt><code>balance-slb</code></dt>
752 Balances flows among slaves based on source MAC address and output
753 VLAN, with periodic rebalancing as traffic patterns change.
756 <dt><code>active-backup</code></dt>
758 Assigns all flows to one slave, failing over to a backup slave when
759 the active slave is disabled.
764 The following modes require the upstream switch to support 802.3ad with
765 successful LACP negotiation:
769 <dt><code>balance-tcp</code></dt>
771 Balances flows among slaves based on L2, L3, and L4 protocol
772 information such as destination MAC address, IP address, and TCP
776 <dt><code>stable</code></dt>
778 <p>Attempts to always assign a given flow to the same slave
779 consistently. In an effort to maintain stability, no load
780 balancing is done. Uses a similar hashing strategy to
781 <code>balance-tcp</code>, always taking into account L3 and L4
782 fields even if LACP negotiations are unsuccessful. </p>
783 <p>Slave selection decisions are made based on <ref table="Interface"
784 column="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"/> if set. Otherwise,
785 OpenFlow port number is used. Decisions are consistent across all
786 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> instances with equivalent
787 <ref table="Interface" column="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"/>
792 <p>These columns apply only to bonded ports. Their values are
793 otherwise ignored.</p>
795 <column name="bond_mode">
796 <p>The type of bonding used for a bonded port. Defaults to
797 <code>active-backup</code> if unset.
801 <column name="other_config" key="bond-hash-basis"
802 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
803 An integer hashed along with flows when choosing output slaves in load
804 balanced bonds. When changed, all flows will be assigned different
805 hash values possibly causing slave selection decisions to change. Does
806 not affect bonding modes which do not employ load balancing such as
807 <code>active-backup</code>.
810 <group title="Link Failure Detection">
812 An important part of link bonding is detecting that links are down so
813 that they may be disabled. These settings determine how Open vSwitch
814 detects link failure.
817 <column name="other_config" key="bond-detect-mode"
818 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["carrier", "miimon"]]}'>
819 The means used to detect link failures. Defaults to
820 <code>carrier</code> which uses each interface's carrier to detect
821 failures. When set to <code>miimon</code>, will check for failures
822 by polling each interface's MII.
825 <column name="other_config" key="bond-miimon-interval"
826 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
827 The interval, in milliseconds, between successive attempts to poll
828 each interface's MII. Relevant only when <ref column="other_config"
829 key="bond-detect-mode"/> is <code>miimon</code>.
832 <column name="bond_updelay">
834 The number of milliseconds for which carrier must stay up on an
835 interface before the interface is considered to be up. Specify
836 <code>0</code> to enable the interface immediately.
840 This setting is honored only when at least one bonded interface is
841 already enabled. When no interfaces are enabled, then the first
842 bond interface to come up is enabled immediately.
846 <column name="bond_downdelay">
847 The number of milliseconds for which carrier must stay down on an
848 interface before the interface is considered to be down. Specify
849 <code>0</code> to disable the interface immediately.
853 <group title="LACP Configuration">
855 LACP, the Link Aggregation Control Protocol, is an IEEE standard that
856 allows switches to automatically detect that they are connected by
857 multiple links and aggregate across those links. These settings
858 control LACP behavior.
862 Configures LACP on this port. LACP allows directly connected
863 switches to negotiate which links may be bonded. LACP may be enabled
864 on non-bonded ports for the benefit of any switches they may be
865 connected to. <code>active</code> ports are allowed to initiate LACP
866 negotiations. <code>passive</code> ports are allowed to participate
867 in LACP negotiations initiated by a remote switch, but not allowed to
868 initiate such negotiations themselves. If LACP is enabled on a port
869 whose partner switch does not support LACP, the bond will be
870 disabled. Defaults to <code>off</code> if unset.
873 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-system-id">
874 The LACP system ID of this <ref table="Port"/>. The system ID of a
875 LACP bond is used to identify itself to its partners. Must be a
876 nonzero MAC address. Defaults to the bridge Ethernet address if
880 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-system-priority"
881 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
882 The LACP system priority of this <ref table="Port"/>. In LACP
883 negotiations, link status decisions are made by the system with the
884 numerically lower priority.
887 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-time">
889 The LACP timing which should be used on this <ref table="Port"/>.
890 Possible values are <code>fast</code>, <code>slow</code> and a
891 positive number of milliseconds. By default <code>slow</code> is
892 used. When configured to be <code>fast</code> LACP heartbeats are
893 requested at a rate of once per second causing connectivity
894 problems to be detected more quickly. In <code>slow</code> mode,
895 heartbeats are requested at a rate of once every 30 seconds.
899 Users may manually set a heartbeat transmission rate to increase
900 the fault detection speed further. When manually set, OVS expects
901 the partner switch to be configured with the same transmission
902 rate. Manually setting <code>lacp-time</code> to something other
903 than <code>fast</code> or <code>slow</code> is not supported by the
908 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-heartbeat"
909 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
910 Treat LACP like a simple heartbeat protocol for link state
911 monitoring. Most features of the LACP protocol are disabled
912 when this mode is in use. The default if not specified is
917 <group title="SLB Configuration">
919 These settings control behavior when a bond is in
920 <code>balance-slb</code> mode, regardless of whether the bond was
921 intentionally configured in SLB mode or it fell back to SLB mode
922 because LACP negotiation failed.
925 <column name="other_config" key="bond-rebalance-interval"
926 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 10000}'>
927 For a load balanced bonded port, the number of milliseconds between
928 successive attempts to rebalance the bond, that is, to move flows
929 from one interface on the bond to another in an attempt to keep usage
930 of each interface roughly equal. If zero, load balancing is disabled
931 on the bond (carrier status changes still cause flows to move). If
932 less than 1000ms, the rebalance interval will be 1000ms.
936 <column name="bond_fake_iface">
937 For a bonded port, whether to create a fake internal interface with the
938 name of the port. Use only for compatibility with legacy software that
943 <group title="Spanning Tree Configuration">
944 <column name="other_config" key="stp-enable"
945 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
946 If spanning tree is enabled on the bridge, member ports are
947 enabled by default (with the exception of bond, internal, and
948 mirror ports which do not work with STP). If this column's
949 value is <code>false</code> spanning tree is disabled on the
953 <column name="other_config" key="stp-port-num"
954 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 255}'>
955 The port number used for the lower 8 bits of the port-id. By
956 default, the numbers will be assigned automatically. If any
957 port's number is manually configured on a bridge, then they
961 <column name="other_config" key="stp-port-priority"
962 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 255}'>
963 The port's relative priority value for determining the root
964 port (the upper 8 bits of the port-id). A port with a lower
965 port-id will be chosen as the root port. By default, the
969 <column name="other_config" key="stp-path-cost"
970 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
971 Spanning tree path cost for the port. A lower number indicates
972 a faster link. By default, the cost is based on the maximum
977 <group title="Other Features">
979 Quality of Service configuration for this port.
983 The MAC address to use for this port for the purpose of choosing the
984 bridge's MAC address. This column does not necessarily reflect the
985 port's actual MAC address, nor will setting it change the port's actual
989 <column name="fake_bridge">
990 Does this port represent a sub-bridge for its tagged VLAN within the
991 Bridge? See ovs-vsctl(8) for more information.
994 <column name="external_ids" key="fake-bridge-id-*">
995 External IDs for a fake bridge (see the <ref column="fake_bridge"/>
996 column) are defined by prefixing a <ref table="Bridge"/> <ref
997 table="Bridge" column="external_ids"/> key with
998 <code>fake-bridge-</code>,
999 e.g. <code>fake-bridge-xs-network-uuids</code>.
1003 <group title="Port Status">
1005 Status information about ports attached to bridges.
1007 <column name="status">
1008 Key-value pairs that report port status.
1010 <column name="status" key="stp_port_id">
1012 The port-id (in hex) used in spanning tree advertisements for
1013 this port. Configuring the port-id is described in the
1014 <code>stp-port-num</code> and <code>stp-port-priority</code>
1015 keys of the <code>other_config</code> section earlier.
1018 <column name="status" key="stp_state"
1019 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1020 ["disabled", "listening", "learning",
1021 "forwarding", "blocking"]]}'>
1023 STP state of the port.
1026 <column name="status" key="stp_sec_in_state"
1027 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
1029 The amount of time (in seconds) port has been in the current
1033 <column name="status" key="stp_role"
1034 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1035 ["root", "designated", "alternate"]]}'>
1037 STP role of the port.
1042 <group title="Port Statistics">
1044 Key-value pairs that report port statistics.
1046 <group title="Statistics: STP transmit and receive counters">
1047 <column name="statistics" key="stp_tx_count">
1048 Number of STP BPDUs sent on this port by the spanning
1051 <column name="statistics" key="stp_rx_count">
1052 Number of STP BPDUs received on this port and accepted by the
1053 spanning tree library.
1055 <column name="statistics" key="stp_error_count">
1056 Number of bad STP BPDUs received on this port. Bad BPDUs
1057 include runt packets and those with an unexpected protocol ID.
1062 <group title="Common Columns">
1063 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
1064 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
1066 <column name="other_config"/>
1067 <column name="external_ids"/>
1071 <table name="Interface" title="One physical network device in a Port.">
1072 An interface within a <ref table="Port"/>.
1074 <group title="Core Features">
1075 <column name="name">
1076 Interface name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8 bytes
1077 long. May be the same as the port name, for non-bonded ports. Must
1078 otherwise be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and bridges
1083 <p>Ethernet address to set for this interface. If unset then the
1084 default MAC address is used:</p>
1086 <li>For the local interface, the default is the lowest-numbered MAC
1087 address among the other bridge ports, either the value of the
1088 <ref table="Port" column="mac"/> in its <ref table="Port"/> record,
1089 if set, or its actual MAC (for bonded ports, the MAC of its slave
1090 whose name is first in alphabetical order). Internal ports and
1091 bridge ports that are used as port mirroring destinations (see the
1092 <ref table="Mirror"/> table) are ignored.</li>
1093 <li>For other internal interfaces, the default MAC is randomly
1095 <li>External interfaces typically have a MAC address associated with
1096 their hardware.</li>
1098 <p>Some interfaces may not have a software-controllable MAC
1102 <column name="ofport">
1103 <p>OpenFlow port number for this interface. Unlike most columns, this
1104 column's value should be set only by Open vSwitch itself. Other
1105 clients should set this column to an empty set (the default) when
1106 creating an <ref table="Interface"/>.</p>
1107 <p>Open vSwitch populates this column when the port number becomes
1108 known. If the interface is successfully added,
1109 <ref column="ofport"/> will be set to a number between 1 and 65535
1110 (generally either in the range 1 to 65279, inclusive, or 65534, the
1111 port number for the OpenFlow ``local port''). If the interface
1112 cannot be added then Open vSwitch sets this column
1117 <group title="System-Specific Details">
1118 <column name="type">
1120 The interface type, one of:
1124 <dt><code>system</code></dt>
1125 <dd>An ordinary network device, e.g. <code>eth0</code> on Linux.
1126 Sometimes referred to as ``external interfaces'' since they are
1127 generally connected to hardware external to that on which the Open
1128 vSwitch is running. The empty string is a synonym for
1129 <code>system</code>.</dd>
1131 <dt><code>internal</code></dt>
1132 <dd>A simulated network device that sends and receives traffic. An
1133 internal interface whose <ref column="name"/> is the same as its
1134 bridge's <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="name"/> is called the
1135 ``local interface.'' It does not make sense to bond an internal
1136 interface, so the terms ``port'' and ``interface'' are often used
1137 imprecisely for internal interfaces.</dd>
1139 <dt><code>tap</code></dt>
1140 <dd>A TUN/TAP device managed by Open vSwitch.</dd>
1142 <dt><code>gre</code></dt>
1144 An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
1145 tunnel. See <ref group="Tunnel Options"/> for information on
1146 configuring GRE tunnels.
1149 <dt><code>ipsec_gre</code></dt>
1151 An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
1155 <dt><code>capwap</code></dt>
1157 An Ethernet tunnel over the UDP transport portion of CAPWAP (RFC
1158 5415). This allows interoperability with certain switches that do
1159 not support GRE. Only the tunneling component of the protocol is
1160 implemented. UDP ports 58881 and 58882 are used as the source and
1161 destination ports respectively. CAPWAP is currently supported only
1162 with the Linux kernel datapath with kernel version 2.6.26 or later.
1165 <dt><code>patch</code></dt>
1167 A pair of virtual devices that act as a patch cable.
1170 <dt><code>null</code></dt>
1171 <dd>An ignored interface.</dd>
1176 <group title="Tunnel Options">
1178 These options apply to interfaces with <ref column="type"/> of
1179 <code>gre</code>, <code>ipsec_gre</code>, and <code>capwap</code>.
1183 Each tunnel must be uniquely identified by the combination of <ref
1184 column="type"/>, <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>, <ref
1185 column="options" key="local_ip"/>, and <ref column="options"
1186 key="in_key"/>. If two ports are defined that are the same except one
1187 has an optional identifier and the other does not, the more specific
1188 one is matched first. <ref column="options" key="in_key"/> is
1189 considered more specific than <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/> if
1190 a port defines one and another port defines the other.
1193 <column name="options" key="remote_ip">
1195 Required. The tunnel endpoint. Unicast and multicast endpoints are
1200 When a multicast endpoint is specified, a routing table lookup occurs
1201 only when the tunnel is created. Following a routing change, delete
1202 and then re-create the tunnel to force a new routing table lookup.
1206 <column name="options" key="local_ip">
1207 Optional. The destination IP that received packets must match.
1208 Default is to match all addresses. Must be omitted when <ref
1209 column="options" key="remote_ip"/> is a multicast address.
1212 <column name="options" key="in_key">
1213 <p>Optional. The key that received packets must contain, one of:</p>
1217 <code>0</code>. The tunnel receives packets with no key or with a
1218 key of 0. This is equivalent to specifying no <ref column="options"
1219 key="in_key"/> at all.
1222 A positive 32-bit (for GRE) or 64-bit (for CAPWAP) number. The
1223 tunnel receives only packets with the specified key.
1226 The word <code>flow</code>. The tunnel accepts packets with any
1227 key. The key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field for
1228 matching in the flow table. The <code>ovs-ofctl</code> manual page
1229 contains additional information about matching fields in OpenFlow
1238 <column name="options" key="out_key">
1239 <p>Optional. The key to be set on outgoing packets, one of:</p>
1243 <code>0</code>. Packets sent through the tunnel will have no key.
1244 This is equivalent to specifying no <ref column="options"
1245 key="out_key"/> at all.
1248 A positive 32-bit (for GRE) or 64-bit (for CAPWAP) number. Packets
1249 sent through the tunnel will have the specified key.
1252 The word <code>flow</code>. Packets sent through the tunnel will
1253 have the key set using the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow
1254 vendor extension (0 is used in the absence of an action). The
1255 <code>ovs-ofctl</code> manual page contains additional information
1256 about the Nicira OpenFlow vendor extensions.
1261 <column name="options" key="key">
1262 Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
1263 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.
1266 <column name="options" key="tos">
1267 Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the encapsulating
1268 packet. It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case
1269 the ToS will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
1270 (otherwise it will be 0). The ECN fields are always inherited.
1274 <column name="options" key="ttl">
1275 Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet. It may also
1276 be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the TTL will be copied
1277 from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be the
1278 system default, typically 64). Default is the system default TTL.
1281 <column name="options" key="df_inherit" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1282 Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be copied from the
1283 inner IP headers (those of the encapsulated traffic) to the outer
1284 (tunnel) headers. Default is disabled; set to <code>true</code> to
1288 <column name="options" key="df_default"
1289 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1290 Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be set by default on
1291 tunnel headers if the <code>df_inherit</code> option is not set, or if
1292 the encapsulated packet is not IP. Default is enabled; set to
1293 <code>false</code> to disable.
1296 <column name="options" key="pmtud" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1297 Optional. Enable tunnel path MTU discovery. If enabled ``ICMP
1298 Destination Unreachable - Fragmentation Needed'' messages will be
1299 generated for IPv4 packets with the DF bit set and IPv6 packets above
1300 the minimum MTU if the packet size exceeds the path MTU minus the size
1301 of the tunnel headers. Note that this option causes behavior that is
1302 typically reserved for routers and therefore is not entirely in
1303 compliance with the IEEE 802.1D specification for bridges. Default is
1304 enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.
1307 <group title="Tunnel Options: gre only">
1309 Only <code>gre</code> interfaces support these options.
1312 <column name="options" key="header_cache" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1313 Enable caching of tunnel headers and the output path. This can lead
1314 to a significant performance increase without changing behavior. In
1315 general it should not be necessary to adjust this setting. However,
1316 the caching can bypass certain components of the IP stack (such as
1317 <code>iptables</code>) and it may be useful to disable it if these
1318 features are required or as a debugging measure. Default is enabled,
1319 set to <code>false</code> to disable.
1323 <group title="Tunnel Options: gre and ipsec_gre only">
1325 Only <code>gre</code> and <code>ipsec_gre</code> interfaces support
1329 <column name="options" key="csum" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1331 Optional. Compute GRE checksums on outgoing packets. Default is
1332 disabled, set to <code>true</code> to enable. Checksums present on
1333 incoming packets will be validated regardless of this setting.
1337 GRE checksums impose a significant performance penalty because they
1338 cover the entire packet. The encapsulated L3, L4, and L7 packet
1339 contents typically have their own checksums, so this additional
1340 checksum only adds value for the GRE and encapsulated L2 headers.
1344 This option is supported for <code>ipsec_gre</code>, but not useful
1345 because GRE checksums are weaker than, and redundant with, IPsec
1346 payload authentication.
1351 <group title="Tunnel Options: ipsec_gre only">
1353 Only <code>ipsec_gre</code> interfaces support these options.
1356 <column name="options" key="peer_cert">
1357 Required for certificate authentication. A string containing the
1358 peer's certificate in PEM format. Additionally the host's
1359 certificate must be specified with the <code>certificate</code>
1363 <column name="options" key="certificate">
1364 Required for certificate authentication. The name of a PEM file
1365 containing a certificate that will be presented to the peer during
1369 <column name="options" key="private_key">
1370 Optional for certificate authentication. The name of a PEM file
1371 containing the private key associated with <code>certificate</code>.
1372 If <code>certificate</code> contains the private key, this option may
1376 <column name="options" key="psk">
1377 Required for pre-shared key authentication. Specifies a pre-shared
1378 key for authentication that must be identical on both sides of the
1384 <group title="Patch Options">
1386 Only <code>patch</code> interfaces support these options.
1389 <column name="options" key="peer">
1390 The <ref column="name"/> of the <ref table="Interface"/> for the other
1391 side of the patch. The named <ref table="Interface"/>'s own
1392 <code>peer</code> option must specify this <ref table="Interface"/>'s
1393 name. That is, the two patch interfaces must have reversed <ref
1394 column="name"/> and <code>peer</code> values.
1398 <group title="Interface Status">
1400 Status information about interfaces attached to bridges, updated every
1401 5 seconds. Not all interfaces have all of these properties; virtual
1402 interfaces don't have a link speed, for example. Non-applicable
1403 columns will have empty values.
1405 <column name="admin_state">
1407 The administrative state of the physical network link.
1411 <column name="link_state">
1413 The observed state of the physical network link. This is ordinarily
1414 the link's carrier status. If the interface's <ref table="Port"/> is
1415 a bond configured for miimon monitoring, it is instead the network
1416 link's miimon status.
1420 <column name="link_resets">
1422 The number of times Open vSwitch has observed the
1423 <ref column="link_state"/> of this <ref table="Interface"/> change.
1427 <column name="link_speed">
1429 The negotiated speed of the physical network link.
1430 Valid values are positive integers greater than 0.
1434 <column name="duplex">
1436 The duplex mode of the physical network link.
1442 The MTU (maximum transmission unit); i.e. the largest
1443 amount of data that can fit into a single Ethernet frame.
1444 The standard Ethernet MTU is 1500 bytes. Some physical media
1445 and many kinds of virtual interfaces can be configured with
1449 This column will be empty for an interface that does not
1450 have an MTU as, for example, some kinds of tunnels do not.
1454 <column name="lacp_current">
1455 Boolean value indicating LACP status for this interface. If true, this
1456 interface has current LACP information about its LACP partner. This
1457 information may be used to monitor the health of interfaces in a LACP
1458 enabled port. This column will be empty if LACP is not enabled.
1461 <column name="status">
1462 Key-value pairs that report port status. Supported status values are
1463 <ref column="type"/>-dependent; some interfaces may not have a valid
1464 <ref column="status" key="driver_name"/>, for example.
1467 <column name="status" key="driver_name">
1468 The name of the device driver controlling the network adapter.
1471 <column name="status" key="driver_version">
1472 The version string of the device driver controlling the network
1476 <column name="status" key="firmware_version">
1477 The version string of the network adapter's firmware, if available.
1480 <column name="status" key="source_ip">
1481 The source IP address used for an IPv4 tunnel end-point, such as
1482 <code>gre</code> or <code>capwap</code>.
1485 <column name="status" key="tunnel_egress_iface">
1486 Egress interface for tunnels. Currently only relevant for GRE and
1487 CAPWAP tunnels. On Linux systems, this column will show the name of
1488 the interface which is responsible for routing traffic destined for the
1489 configured <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>. This could be an
1490 internal interface such as a bridge port.
1493 <column name="status" key="tunnel_egress_iface_carrier"
1494 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["down", "up"]]}'>
1495 Whether carrier is detected on <ref column="status"
1496 key="tunnel_egress_iface"/>.
1500 <group title="Statistics">
1502 Key-value pairs that report interface statistics. The current
1503 implementation updates these counters periodically. Future
1504 implementations may update them when an interface is created, when they
1505 are queried (e.g. using an OVSDB <code>select</code> operation), and
1506 just before an interface is deleted due to virtual interface hot-unplug
1507 or VM shutdown, and perhaps at other times, but not on any regular
1511 These are the same statistics reported by OpenFlow in its <code>struct
1512 ofp_port_stats</code> structure. If an interface does not support a
1513 given statistic, then that pair is omitted.
1515 <group title="Statistics: Successful transmit and receive counters">
1516 <column name="statistics" key="rx_packets">
1517 Number of received packets.
1519 <column name="statistics" key="rx_bytes">
1520 Number of received bytes.
1522 <column name="statistics" key="tx_packets">
1523 Number of transmitted packets.
1525 <column name="statistics" key="tx_bytes">
1526 Number of transmitted bytes.
1529 <group title="Statistics: Receive errors">
1530 <column name="statistics" key="rx_dropped">
1531 Number of packets dropped by RX.
1533 <column name="statistics" key="rx_frame_err">
1534 Number of frame alignment errors.
1536 <column name="statistics" key="rx_over_err">
1537 Number of packets with RX overrun.
1539 <column name="statistics" key="rx_crc_err">
1540 Number of CRC errors.
1542 <column name="statistics" key="rx_errors">
1543 Total number of receive errors, greater than or equal to the sum of
1547 <group title="Statistics: Transmit errors">
1548 <column name="statistics" key="tx_dropped">
1549 Number of packets dropped by TX.
1551 <column name="statistics" key="collisions">
1552 Number of collisions.
1554 <column name="statistics" key="tx_errors">
1555 Total number of transmit errors, greater than or equal to the sum of
1561 <group title="Ingress Policing">
1563 These settings control ingress policing for packets received on this
1564 interface. On a physical interface, this limits the rate at which
1565 traffic is allowed into the system from the outside; on a virtual
1566 interface (one connected to a virtual machine), this limits the rate at
1567 which the VM is able to transmit.
1570 Policing is a simple form of quality-of-service that simply drops
1571 packets received in excess of the configured rate. Due to its
1572 simplicity, policing is usually less accurate and less effective than
1573 egress QoS (which is configured using the <ref table="QoS"/> and <ref
1574 table="Queue"/> tables).
1577 Policing is currently implemented only on Linux. The Linux
1578 implementation uses a simple ``token bucket'' approach:
1582 The size of the bucket corresponds to <ref
1583 column="ingress_policing_burst"/>. Initially the bucket is full.
1586 Whenever a packet is received, its size (converted to tokens) is
1587 compared to the number of tokens currently in the bucket. If the
1588 required number of tokens are available, they are removed and the
1589 packet is forwarded. Otherwise, the packet is dropped.
1592 Whenever it is not full, the bucket is refilled with tokens at the
1593 rate specified by <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>.
1597 Policing interacts badly with some network protocols, and especially
1598 with fragmented IP packets. Suppose that there is enough network
1599 activity to keep the bucket nearly empty all the time. Then this token
1600 bucket algorithm will forward a single packet every so often, with the
1601 period depending on packet size and on the configured rate. All of the
1602 fragments of an IP packets are normally transmitted back-to-back, as a
1603 group. In such a situation, therefore, only one of these fragments
1604 will be forwarded and the rest will be dropped. IP does not provide
1605 any way for the intended recipient to ask for only the remaining
1606 fragments. In such a case there are two likely possibilities for what
1607 will happen next: either all of the fragments will eventually be
1608 retransmitted (as TCP will do), in which case the same problem will
1609 recur, or the sender will not realize that its packet has been dropped
1610 and data will simply be lost (as some UDP-based protocols will do).
1611 Either way, it is possible that no forward progress will ever occur.
1613 <column name="ingress_policing_rate">
1615 Maximum rate for data received on this interface, in kbps. Data
1616 received faster than this rate is dropped. Set to <code>0</code>
1617 (the default) to disable policing.
1621 <column name="ingress_policing_burst">
1622 <p>Maximum burst size for data received on this interface, in kb. The
1623 default burst size if set to <code>0</code> is 1000 kb. This value
1624 has no effect if <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>
1625 is <code>0</code>.</p>
1627 Specifying a larger burst size lets the algorithm be more forgiving,
1628 which is important for protocols like TCP that react severely to
1629 dropped packets. The burst size should be at least the size of the
1630 interface's MTU. Specifying a value that is numerically at least as
1631 large as 10% of <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/> helps TCP come
1632 closer to achieving the full rate.
1637 <group title="Connectivity Fault Management">
1639 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) allows a group of
1640 Maintenance Points (MPs) called a Maintenance Association (MA) to
1641 detect connectivity problems with each other. MPs within a MA should
1642 have complete and exclusive interconnectivity. This is verified by
1643 occasionally broadcasting Continuity Check Messages (CCMs) at a
1644 configurable transmission interval.
1648 According to the 802.1ag specification, each Maintenance Point should
1649 be configured out-of-band with a list of Remote Maintenance Points it
1650 should have connectivity to. Open vSwitch differs from the
1651 specification in this area. It simply assumes the link is faulted if
1652 no Remote Maintenance Points are reachable, and considers it not
1656 <column name="cfm_mpid">
1657 A Maintenance Point ID (MPID) uniquely identifies each endpoint within
1658 a Maintenance Association. The MPID is used to identify this endpoint
1659 to other Maintenance Points in the MA. Each end of a link being
1660 monitored should have a different MPID. Must be configured to enable
1661 CFM on this <ref table="Interface"/>.
1664 <column name="cfm_fault">
1666 Indicates a connectivity fault triggered by an inability to receive
1667 heartbeats from any remote endpoint. When a fault is triggered on
1668 <ref table="Interface"/>s participating in bonds, they will be
1672 Faults can be triggered for several reasons. Most importantly they
1673 are triggered when no CCMs are received for a period of 3.5 times the
1674 transmission interval. Faults are also triggered when any CCMs
1675 indicate that a Remote Maintenance Point is not receiving CCMs but
1676 able to send them. Finally, a fault is triggered if a CCM is
1677 received which indicates unexpected configuration. Notably, this
1678 case arises when a CCM is received which advertises the local MPID.
1682 <column name="cfm_remote_mpids">
1683 When CFM is properly configured, Open vSwitch will occasionally
1684 receive CCM broadcasts. These broadcasts contain the MPID of the
1685 sending Maintenance Point. The list of MPIDs from which this
1686 <ref table="Interface"/> is receiving broadcasts from is regularly
1687 collected and written to this column.
1690 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_interval"
1691 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
1692 The interval, in milliseconds, between transmissions of CFM heartbeats.
1693 Three missed heartbeat receptions indicate a connectivity fault.
1697 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_extended"
1698 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1699 When <code>true</code>, the CFM module operates in extended mode. This
1700 causes it to use a nonstandard destination address to avoid conflicting
1701 with compliant implementations which may be running concurrently on the
1702 network. Furthermore, extended mode increases the accuracy of the
1703 <code>cfm_interval</code> configuration parameter by breaking wire
1704 compatibility with 802.1ag compliant implementations. Defaults to
1707 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_opstate"
1708 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["down", "up"]]}'>
1709 When <code>down</code>, the CFM module marks all CCMs it generates as
1710 operationally down without triggering a fault. This allows remote
1711 maintenance points to choose not to forward traffic to the
1712 <ref table="Interface"/> on which this CFM module is running.
1713 Currently, in Open vSwitch, the opdown bit of CCMs affects
1714 <ref table="Interface"/>s participating in bonds, and the bundle
1715 OpenFlow action. This setting is ignored when CFM is not in extended
1716 mode. Defaults to <code>up</code>.
1719 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_ccm_vlan"
1720 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 4095}'>
1721 When set, the CFM module will apply a VLAN tag to all CCMs it generates
1722 with the given value.
1727 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
1728 <column name="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"
1729 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
1730 Used in <code>stable</code> bond mode to make slave
1731 selection decisions. Allocating <ref column="other_config"
1732 key="bond-stable-id"/> values consistently across interfaces
1733 participating in a bond will guarantee consistent slave selection
1734 decisions across <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> instances when using
1735 <code>stable</code> bonding mode.
1738 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-port-id"
1739 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
1740 The LACP port ID of this <ref table="Interface"/>. Port IDs are
1741 used in LACP negotiations to identify individual ports
1742 participating in a bond.
1745 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-port-priority"
1746 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
1747 The LACP port priority of this <ref table="Interface"/>. In LACP
1748 negotiations <ref table="Interface"/>s with numerically lower
1749 priorities are preferred for aggregation.
1752 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-aggregation-key"
1753 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
1754 The LACP aggregation key of this <ref table="Interface"/>. <ref
1755 table="Interface"/>s with different aggregation keys may not be active
1756 within a given <ref table="Port"/> at the same time.
1760 <group title="Virtual Machine Identifiers">
1762 These key-value pairs specifically apply to an interface that
1763 represents a virtual Ethernet interface connected to a virtual
1764 machine. These key-value pairs should not be present for other types
1765 of interfaces. Keys whose names end in <code>-uuid</code> have
1766 values that uniquely identify the entity in question. For a Citrix
1767 XenServer hypervisor, these values are UUIDs in RFC 4122 format.
1768 Other hypervisors may use other formats.
1771 <column name="external_ids" key="attached-mac">
1772 The MAC address programmed into the ``virtual hardware'' for this
1773 interface, in the form
1774 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
1775 For Citrix XenServer, this is the value of the <code>MAC</code> field
1776 in the VIF record for this interface.
1779 <column name="external_ids" key="iface-id">
1780 A system-unique identifier for the interface. On XenServer, this will
1781 commonly be the same as <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-vif-uuid"/>.
1784 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-vif-uuid">
1785 The virtual interface associated with this interface.
1788 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuid">
1789 The virtual network to which this interface is attached.
1792 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-vm-uuid">
1793 The VM to which this interface belongs.
1797 <group title="VLAN Splinters">
1799 The ``VLAN splinters'' feature increases Open vSwitch compatibility
1800 with buggy network drivers in old versions of Linux that do not
1801 properly support VLANs when VLAN devices are not used, at some cost
1802 in memory and performance.
1806 When VLAN splinters are enabled on a particular interface, Open vSwitch
1807 creates a VLAN device for each in-use VLAN. For sending traffic tagged
1808 with a VLAN on the interface, it substitutes the VLAN device. Traffic
1809 received on the VLAN device is treated as if it had been received on
1810 the interface on the particular VLAN.
1814 VLAN splinters consider a VLAN to be in use if:
1819 The VLAN is the <ref table="Port" column="tag"/> value in any <ref
1820 table="Port"/> record.
1824 The VLAN is listed within the <ref table="Port" column="trunks"/>
1825 column of the <ref table="Port"/> record of an interface on which
1826 VLAN splinters are enabled.
1828 An empty <ref table="Port" column="trunks"/> does not influence the
1829 in-use VLANs: creating 4,096 VLAN devices is impractical because it
1830 will exceed the current 1,024 port per datapath limit.
1834 An OpenFlow flow within any bridge matches the VLAN.
1839 The same set of in-use VLANs applies to every interface on which VLAN
1840 splinters are enabled. That is, the set is not chosen separately for
1841 each interface but selected once as the union of all in-use VLANs based
1846 It does not make sense to enable VLAN splinters on an interface for an
1847 access port, or on an interface that is not a physical port.
1851 VLAN splinters are deprecated. When broken device drivers are no
1852 longer in widespread use, we will delete this feature.
1855 <column name="other_config" key="enable-vlan-splinters"
1856 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1858 Set to <code>true</code> to enable VLAN splinters on this interface.
1859 Defaults to <code>false</code>.
1863 VLAN splinters increase kernel and userspace memory overhead, so do
1864 not use them unless they are needed.
1869 <group title="Common Columns">
1870 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
1871 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
1873 <column name="other_config"/>
1874 <column name="external_ids"/>
1878 <table name="Flow_Table" title="OpenFlow table configuration">
1879 <p>Configuration for a particular OpenFlow table.</p>
1881 <column name="name">
1882 The table's name. Set this column to change the name that controllers
1883 will receive when they request table statistics, e.g. <code>ovs-ofctl
1884 dump-tables</code>. The name does not affect switch behavior.
1887 <column name="flow_limit">
1888 If set, limits the number of flows that may be added to the table. Open
1889 vSwitch may limit the number of flows in a table for other reasons,
1890 e.g. due to hardware limitations or for resource availability or
1891 performance reasons.
1894 <column name="overflow_policy">
1896 Controls the switch's behavior when an OpenFlow flow table modification
1897 request would add flows in excess of <ref column="flow_limit"/>. The
1898 supported values are:
1902 <dt><code>refuse</code></dt>
1904 Refuse to add the flow or flows. This is also the default policy
1905 when <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is unset.
1908 <dt><code>evict</code></dt>
1910 Delete the flow that will expire soonest. See <ref column="groups"/>
1916 <column name="groups">
1918 When <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is <code>evict</code>, this
1919 controls how flows are chosen for eviction when the flow table would
1920 otherwise exceed <ref column="flow_limit"/> flows. Its value is a set
1921 of NXM fields or sub-fields, each of which takes one of the forms
1922 <code><var>field</var>[]</code> or
1923 <code><var>field</var>[<var>start</var>..<var>end</var>]</code>,
1924 e.g. <code>NXM_OF_IN_PORT[]</code>. Please see
1925 <code>nicira-ext.h</code> for a complete list of NXM field names.
1929 When a flow must be evicted due to overflow, the flow to evict is
1930 chosen through an approximation of the following algorithm:
1935 Divide the flows in the table into groups based on the values of the
1936 specified fields or subfields, so that all of the flows in a given
1937 group have the same values for those fields. If a flow does not
1938 specify a given field, that field's value is treated as 0.
1942 Consider the flows in the largest group, that is, the group that
1943 contains the greatest number of flows. If two or more groups all
1944 have the same largest number of flows, consider the flows in all of
1949 Among the flows under consideration, choose the flow that expires
1950 soonest for eviction.
1955 The eviction process only considers flows that have an idle timeout or
1956 a hard timeout. That is, eviction never deletes permanent flows.
1957 (Permanent flows do count against <ref column="flow_limit"/>.
1961 Open vSwitch ignores any invalid or unknown field specifications.
1965 When <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is not <code>evict</code>, this
1966 column has no effect.
1971 <table name="QoS" title="Quality of Service configuration">
1972 <p>Quality of Service (QoS) configuration for each Port that
1975 <column name="type">
1976 <p>The type of QoS to implement. The <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
1977 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
1978 identifies the types that a switch actually supports. The currently
1979 defined types are listed below:</p>
1981 <dt><code>linux-htb</code></dt>
1983 Linux ``hierarchy token bucket'' classifier. See tc-htb(8) (also at
1984 <code>http://linux.die.net/man/8/tc-htb</code>) and the HTB manual
1985 (<code>http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm</code>)
1986 for information on how this classifier works and how to configure it.
1990 <dt><code>linux-hfsc</code></dt>
1992 Linux "Hierarchical Fair Service Curve" classifier.
1993 See <code>http://linux-ip.net/articles/hfsc.en/</code> for
1994 information on how this classifier works.
1999 <column name="queues">
2000 <p>A map from queue numbers to <ref table="Queue"/> records. The
2001 supported range of queue numbers depend on <ref column="type"/>. The
2002 queue numbers are the same as the <code>queue_id</code> used in
2003 OpenFlow in <code>struct ofp_action_enqueue</code> and other
2004 structures. Queue 0 is used by OpenFlow output actions that do not
2005 specify a specific queue.</p>
2008 <group title="Configuration for linux-htb and linux-hfsc">
2010 The <code>linux-htb</code> and <code>linux-hfsc</code> classes support
2011 the following key-value pair:
2014 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate" type='{"type": "integer"}'>
2015 Maximum rate shared by all queued traffic, in bit/s. Optional. If not
2016 specified, for physical interfaces, the default is the link rate. For
2017 other interfaces or if the link rate cannot be determined, the default
2018 is currently 100 Mbps.
2022 <group title="Common Columns">
2023 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2024 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2026 <column name="other_config"/>
2027 <column name="external_ids"/>
2031 <table name="Queue" title="QoS output queue.">
2032 <p>A configuration for a port output queue, used in configuring Quality of
2033 Service (QoS) features. May be referenced by <ref column="queues"
2034 table="QoS"/> column in <ref table="QoS"/> table.</p>
2036 <column name="dscp">
2037 If set, Open vSwitch will mark all traffic egressing this
2038 <ref table="Queue"/> with the given DSCP bits. Traffic egressing the
2039 default <ref table="Queue"/> is only marked if it was explicitly selected
2040 as the <ref table="Queue"/> at the time the packet was output. If unset,
2041 the DSCP bits of traffic egressing this <ref table="Queue"/> will remain
2045 <group title="Configuration for linux-htb QoS">
2047 <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS" column="type"/>
2048 <code>linux-htb</code> may use <code>queue_id</code>s less than 61440.
2049 It has the following key-value pairs defined.
2052 <column name="other_config" key="min-rate"
2053 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2054 Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.
2057 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate"
2058 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2059 Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
2060 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even
2061 if excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
2065 <column name="other_config" key="burst"
2066 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2067 Burst size, in bits. This is the maximum amount of ``credits'' that a
2068 queue can accumulate while it is idle. Optional. Details of the
2069 <code>linux-htb</code> implementation require a minimum burst size, so
2070 a too-small <code>burst</code> will be silently ignored.
2073 <column name="other_config" key="priority"
2074 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 4294967295}'>
2075 A queue with a smaller <code>priority</code> will receive all the
2076 excess bandwidth that it can use before a queue with a larger value
2077 receives any. Specific priority values are unimportant; only relative
2078 ordering matters. Defaults to 0 if unspecified.
2082 <group title="Configuration for linux-hfsc QoS">
2084 <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS" column="type"/>
2085 <code>linux-hfsc</code> may use <code>queue_id</code>s less than 61440.
2086 It has the following key-value pairs defined.
2089 <column name="other_config" key="min-rate"
2090 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2091 Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.
2094 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate"
2095 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2096 Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
2097 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even if
2098 excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
2103 <group title="Common Columns">
2104 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2105 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2107 <column name="other_config"/>
2108 <column name="external_ids"/>
2112 <table name="Mirror" title="Port mirroring.">
2113 <p>A port mirror within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
2114 <p>A port mirror configures a bridge to send selected frames to special
2115 ``mirrored'' ports, in addition to their normal destinations. Mirroring
2116 traffic may also be referred to as SPAN or RSPAN, depending on how
2117 the mirrored traffic is sent.</p>
2119 <column name="name">
2120 Arbitrary identifier for the <ref table="Mirror"/>.
2123 <group title="Selecting Packets for Mirroring">
2125 To be selected for mirroring, a given packet must enter or leave the
2126 bridge through a selected port and it must also be in one of the
2130 <column name="select_all">
2131 If true, every packet arriving or departing on any port is
2132 selected for mirroring.
2135 <column name="select_dst_port">
2136 Ports on which departing packets are selected for mirroring.
2139 <column name="select_src_port">
2140 Ports on which arriving packets are selected for mirroring.
2143 <column name="select_vlan">
2144 VLANs on which packets are selected for mirroring. An empty set
2145 selects packets on all VLANs.
2149 <group title="Mirroring Destination Configuration">
2151 These columns are mutually exclusive. Exactly one of them must be
2155 <column name="output_port">
2156 <p>Output port for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
2157 <p>Specifying a port for mirror output reserves that port exclusively
2158 for mirroring. No frames other than those selected for mirroring
2160 will be forwarded to the port, and any frames received on the port
2161 will be discarded.</p>
2163 The output port may be any kind of port supported by Open vSwitch.
2164 It may be, for example, a physical port (sometimes called SPAN) or a
2169 <column name="output_vlan">
2170 <p>Output VLAN for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
2171 <p>The frames will be sent out all ports that trunk
2172 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, as well as any ports with implicit VLAN
2173 <ref column="output_vlan"/>. When a mirrored frame is sent out a
2174 trunk port, the frame's VLAN tag will be set to
2175 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, replacing any existing tag; when it is
2176 sent out an implicit VLAN port, the frame will not be tagged. This
2177 type of mirroring is sometimes called RSPAN.</p>
2179 The following destination MAC addresses will not be mirrored to a
2180 VLAN to avoid confusing switches that interpret the protocols that
2184 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:00</code></dt>
2185 <dd>IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).</dd>
2187 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:01</code></dt>
2188 <dd>IEEE Pause frame.</dd>
2190 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:0<var>x</var></code></dt>
2191 <dd>Other reserved protocols.</dd>
2193 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cc</code></dt>
2195 Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP),
2196 Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP),
2200 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cd</code></dt>
2201 <dd>Cisco Shared Spanning Tree Protocol PVSTP+.</dd>
2203 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cd:cd:cd</code></dt>
2204 <dd>Cisco STP Uplink Fast.</dd>
2206 <dt><code>01:00:0c:00:00:00</code></dt>
2207 <dd>Cisco Inter Switch Link.</dd>
2209 <p><em>Please note:</em> Mirroring to a VLAN can disrupt a network that
2210 contains unmanaged switches. Consider an unmanaged physical switch
2211 with two ports: port 1, connected to an end host, and port 2,
2212 connected to an Open vSwitch configured to mirror received packets
2213 into VLAN 123 on port 2. Suppose that the end host sends a packet on
2214 port 1 that the physical switch forwards to port 2. The Open vSwitch
2215 forwards this packet to its destination and then reflects it back on
2216 port 2 in VLAN 123. This reflected packet causes the unmanaged
2217 physical switch to replace the MAC learning table entry, which
2218 correctly pointed to port 1, with one that incorrectly points to port
2219 2. Afterward, the physical switch will direct packets destined for
2220 the end host to the Open vSwitch on port 2, instead of to the end
2221 host on port 1, disrupting connectivity. If mirroring to a VLAN is
2222 desired in this scenario, then the physical switch must be replaced
2223 by one that learns Ethernet addresses on a per-VLAN basis. In
2224 addition, learning should be disabled on the VLAN containing mirrored
2225 traffic. If this is not done then intermediate switches will learn
2226 the MAC address of each end host from the mirrored traffic. If
2227 packets being sent to that end host are also mirrored, then they will
2228 be dropped since the switch will attempt to send them out the input
2229 port. Disabling learning for the VLAN will cause the switch to
2230 correctly send the packet out all ports configured for that VLAN. If
2231 Open vSwitch is being used as an intermediate switch, learning can be
2232 disabled by adding the mirrored VLAN to <ref column="flood_vlans"/>
2233 in the appropriate <ref table="Bridge"/> table or tables.</p>
2235 Mirroring to a GRE tunnel has fewer caveats than mirroring to a
2236 VLAN and should generally be preferred.
2241 <group title="Statistics: Mirror counters">
2243 Key-value pairs that report mirror statistics.
2245 <column name="statistics" key="tx_packets">
2246 Number of packets transmitted through this mirror.
2248 <column name="statistics" key="tx_bytes">
2249 Number of bytes transmitted through this mirror.
2253 <group title="Common Columns">
2254 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2255 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2257 <column name="external_ids"/>
2261 <table name="Controller" title="OpenFlow controller configuration.">
2262 <p>An OpenFlow controller.</p>
2265 Open vSwitch supports two kinds of OpenFlow controllers:
2269 <dt>Primary controllers</dt>
2272 This is the kind of controller envisioned by the OpenFlow 1.0
2273 specification. Usually, a primary controller implements a network
2274 policy by taking charge of the switch's flow table.
2278 Open vSwitch initiates and maintains persistent connections to
2279 primary controllers, retrying the connection each time it fails or
2280 drops. The <ref table="Bridge" column="fail_mode"/> column in the
2281 <ref table="Bridge"/> table applies to primary controllers.
2285 Open vSwitch permits a bridge to have any number of primary
2286 controllers. When multiple controllers are configured, Open
2287 vSwitch connects to all of them simultaneously. Because
2288 OpenFlow 1.0 does not specify how multiple controllers
2289 coordinate in interacting with a single switch, more than
2290 one primary controller should be specified only if the
2291 controllers are themselves designed to coordinate with each
2292 other. (The Nicira-defined <code>NXT_ROLE</code> OpenFlow
2293 vendor extension may be useful for this.)
2296 <dt>Service controllers</dt>
2299 These kinds of OpenFlow controller connections are intended for
2300 occasional support and maintenance use, e.g. with
2301 <code>ovs-ofctl</code>. Usually a service controller connects only
2302 briefly to inspect or modify some of a switch's state.
2306 Open vSwitch listens for incoming connections from service
2307 controllers. The service controllers initiate and, if necessary,
2308 maintain the connections from their end. The <ref table="Bridge"
2309 column="fail_mode"/> column in the <ref table="Bridge"/> table does
2310 not apply to service controllers.
2314 Open vSwitch supports configuring any number of service controllers.
2320 The <ref column="target"/> determines the type of controller.
2323 <group title="Core Features">
2324 <column name="target">
2325 <p>Connection method for controller.</p>
2327 The following connection methods are currently supported for primary
2331 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2333 <p>The specified SSL <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
2334 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2335 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
2336 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a
2337 valid SSL configuration when this form is used.</p>
2338 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2339 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
2341 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2342 <dd>The specified TCP <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
2343 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2344 (not a DNS name).</dd>
2347 The following connection methods are currently supported for service
2351 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2354 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2355 (default: 6633). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2356 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2357 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2360 The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/> column in the <ref
2361 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a valid SSL
2362 configuration when this form is used.
2364 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2365 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
2367 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2369 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2370 (default: 6633). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2371 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2372 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2375 <p>When multiple controllers are configured for a single bridge, the
2376 <ref column="target"/> values must be unique. Duplicate
2377 <ref column="target"/> values yield unspecified results.</p>
2380 <column name="connection_mode">
2381 <p>If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following
2382 strings that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OpenFlow
2383 controller over the network:</p>
2386 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
2387 <dd>In this mode, this controller's OpenFlow traffic travels over the
2388 bridge associated with the controller. With this setting, Open
2389 vSwitch allows traffic to and from the controller regardless of the
2390 contents of the OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch
2391 would never be able to connect to the controller, because it did
2392 not have a flow to enable it.) This is the most common connection
2393 mode because it is not necessary to maintain two independent
2395 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
2396 <dd>In this mode, OpenFlow traffic uses a control network separate
2397 from the bridge associated with this controller, that is, the
2398 bridge does not use any of its own network devices to communicate
2399 with the controller. The control network must be configured
2400 separately, before or after <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
2404 <p>If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
2408 <group title="Controller Failure Detection and Handling">
2409 <column name="max_backoff">
2410 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
2411 Default is implementation-specific.
2414 <column name="inactivity_probe">
2415 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to
2416 controller before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open
2417 vSwitch does not communicate with the controller for the specified
2418 number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not
2419 received for the same additional amount of time, Open vSwitch
2420 assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
2421 Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables
2426 <group title="OpenFlow Rate Limiting">
2427 <column name="controller_rate_limit">
2428 <p>The maximum rate at which packets in unknown flows will be
2429 forwarded to the OpenFlow controller, in packets per second. This
2430 feature prevents a single bridge from overwhelming the controller.
2431 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
2432 <p>In addition, when a high rate triggers rate-limiting, Open
2433 vSwitch queues controller packets for each port and transmits
2434 them to the controller at the configured rate. The number of
2435 queued packets is limited by
2436 the <ref column="controller_burst_limit"/> value. The packet
2437 queue is shared fairly among the ports on a bridge.</p><p>Open
2438 vSwitch maintains two such packet rate-limiters per bridge.
2439 One of these applies to packets sent up to the controller
2440 because they do not correspond to any flow. The other applies
2441 to packets sent up to the controller by request through flow
2442 actions. When both rate-limiters are filled with packets, the
2443 actual rate that packets are sent to the controller is up to
2444 twice the specified rate.</p>
2447 <column name="controller_burst_limit">
2448 In conjunction with <ref column="controller_rate_limit"/>,
2449 the maximum number of unused packet credits that the bridge will
2450 allow to accumulate, in packets. If not specified, the default
2451 is implementation-specific.
2455 <group title="Additional In-Band Configuration">
2456 <p>These values are considered only in in-band control mode (see
2457 <ref column="connection_mode"/>).</p>
2459 <p>When multiple controllers are configured on a single bridge, there
2460 should be only one set of unique values in these columns. If different
2461 values are set for these columns in different controllers, the effect
2464 <column name="local_ip">
2465 The IP address to configure on the local port,
2466 e.g. <code>192.168.0.123</code>. If this value is unset, then
2467 <ref column="local_netmask"/> and <ref column="local_gateway"/> are
2471 <column name="local_netmask">
2472 The IP netmask to configure on the local port,
2473 e.g. <code>255.255.255.0</code>. If <ref column="local_ip"/> is set
2474 but this value is unset, then the default is chosen based on whether
2475 the IP address is class A, B, or C.
2478 <column name="local_gateway">
2479 The IP address of the gateway to configure on the local port, as a
2480 string, e.g. <code>192.168.0.1</code>. Leave this column unset if
2481 this network has no gateway.
2485 <group title="Controller Status">
2486 <column name="is_connected">
2487 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this controller,
2488 <code>false</code> otherwise.
2492 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["other", "master", "slave"]]}'>
2493 <p>The level of authority this controller has on the associated
2494 bridge. Possible values are:</p>
2496 <dt><code>other</code></dt>
2497 <dd>Allows the controller access to all OpenFlow features.</dd>
2498 <dt><code>master</code></dt>
2499 <dd>Equivalent to <code>other</code>, except that there may be at
2500 most one master controller at a time. When a controller configures
2501 itself as <code>master</code>, any existing master is demoted to
2502 the <code>slave</code>role.</dd>
2503 <dt><code>slave</code></dt>
2504 <dd>Allows the controller read-only access to OpenFlow features.
2505 Attempts to modify the flow table will be rejected with an
2506 error. Slave controllers do not receive OFPT_PACKET_IN or
2507 OFPT_FLOW_REMOVED messages, but they do receive OFPT_PORT_STATUS
2512 <column name="status" key="last_error">
2513 A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
2514 to the controller; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
2515 will exist only if an error has occurred.
2518 <column name="status" key="state"
2519 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["VOID", "BACKOFF", "CONNECTING", "ACTIVE", "IDLE"]]}'>
2521 The state of the connection to the controller:
2524 <dt><code>VOID</code></dt>
2525 <dd>Connection is disabled.</dd>
2527 <dt><code>BACKOFF</code></dt>
2528 <dd>Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.</dd>
2530 <dt><code>CONNECTING</code></dt>
2531 <dd>Attempting to connect.</dd>
2533 <dt><code>ACTIVE</code></dt>
2534 <dd>Connected, remote host responsive.</dd>
2536 <dt><code>IDLE</code></dt>
2537 <dd>Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.</dd>
2540 These values may change in the future. They are provided only for
2545 <column name="status" key="sec_since_connect"
2546 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
2547 The amount of time since this controller last successfully connected to
2548 the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller has never
2549 successfully connected.
2552 <column name="status" key="sec_since_disconnect"
2553 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2554 The amount of time since this controller last disconnected from
2555 the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller has never
2560 <group title="Common Columns">
2561 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2562 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2564 <column name="external_ids"/>
2568 <table name="Manager" title="OVSDB management connection.">
2570 Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database
2575 This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database
2576 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
2577 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The switch does read the table to determine
2578 what connections should be treated as in-band.
2582 The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active
2583 connections to remote clients. It can also listen for database
2587 <group title="Core Features">
2588 <column name="target">
2589 <p>Connection method for managers.</p>
2591 The following connection methods are currently supported:
2594 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2597 The specified SSL <var>port</var> (default: 6632) on the host at
2598 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2599 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
2600 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a
2601 valid SSL configuration when this form is used.
2604 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2605 part of Open vSwitch.
2609 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2611 The specified TCP <var>port</var> (default: 6632) on the host at
2612 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2615 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2618 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2619 (default: 6632). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2620 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2621 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2624 The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/> column in the <ref
2625 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a valid SSL
2626 configuration when this form is used.
2629 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2630 part of Open vSwitch.
2633 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2635 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2636 (default: 6632). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2637 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2638 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2641 <p>When multiple managers are configured, the <ref column="target"/>
2642 values must be unique. Duplicate <ref column="target"/> values yield
2643 unspecified results.</p>
2646 <column name="connection_mode">
2648 If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following strings
2649 that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OVSDB client over the
2654 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
2656 In this mode, this connection's traffic travels over a bridge
2657 managed by Open vSwitch. With this setting, Open vSwitch allows
2658 traffic to and from the client regardless of the contents of the
2659 OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch would never be able
2660 to connect to the client, because it did not have a flow to enable
2661 it.) This is the most common connection mode because it is not
2662 necessary to maintain two independent networks.
2664 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
2666 In this mode, the client's traffic uses a control network separate
2667 from that managed by Open vSwitch, that is, Open vSwitch does not
2668 use any of its own network devices to communicate with the client.
2669 The control network must be configured separately, before or after
2670 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
2675 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.
2680 <group title="Client Failure Detection and Handling">
2681 <column name="max_backoff">
2682 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
2683 Default is implementation-specific.
2686 <column name="inactivity_probe">
2687 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client
2688 before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not
2689 communicate with the client for the specified number of seconds, it
2690 will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same
2691 additional amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been
2692 broken and attempts to reconnect. Default is implementation-specific.
2693 A value of 0 disables inactivity probes.
2697 <group title="Status">
2698 <column name="is_connected">
2699 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this manager,
2700 <code>false</code> otherwise.
2703 <column name="status" key="last_error">
2704 A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
2705 to the manager; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
2706 will exist only if an error has occurred.
2709 <column name="status" key="state"
2710 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["VOID", "BACKOFF", "CONNECTING", "ACTIVE", "IDLE"]]}'>
2712 The state of the connection to the manager:
2715 <dt><code>VOID</code></dt>
2716 <dd>Connection is disabled.</dd>
2718 <dt><code>BACKOFF</code></dt>
2719 <dd>Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.</dd>
2721 <dt><code>CONNECTING</code></dt>
2722 <dd>Attempting to connect.</dd>
2724 <dt><code>ACTIVE</code></dt>
2725 <dd>Connected, remote host responsive.</dd>
2727 <dt><code>IDLE</code></dt>
2728 <dd>Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.</dd>
2731 These values may change in the future. They are provided only for
2736 <column name="status" key="sec_since_connect"
2737 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
2738 The amount of time since this manager last successfully connected
2739 to the database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
2740 successfully connected.
2743 <column name="status" key="sec_since_disconnect"
2744 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
2745 The amount of time since this manager last disconnected from the
2746 database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
2750 <column name="status" key="locks_held">
2751 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection
2752 holds. Omitted if the connection does not hold any locks.
2755 <column name="status" key="locks_waiting">
2756 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection is
2757 currently waiting to acquire. Omitted if the connection is not waiting
2761 <column name="status" key="locks_lost">
2762 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection
2763 has had stolen by another OVSDB client. Omitted if no locks have been
2764 stolen from this connection.
2767 <column name="status" key="n_connections"
2768 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 2}'>
2770 When <ref column="target"/> specifies a connection method that
2771 listens for inbound connections (e.g. <code>ptcp:</code> or
2772 <code>pssl:</code>) and more than one connection is actually active,
2773 the value is the number of active connections. Otherwise, this
2774 key-value pair is omitted.
2777 When multiple connections are active, status columns and key-value
2778 pairs (other than this one) report the status of one arbitrarily
2784 <group title="Common Columns">
2785 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2786 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2788 <column name="external_ids"/>
2792 <table name="NetFlow">
2793 A NetFlow target. NetFlow is a protocol that exports a number of
2794 details about terminating IP flows, such as the principals involved
2797 <column name="targets">
2798 NetFlow targets in the form
2799 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>. The <var>ip</var>
2800 must be specified numerically, not as a DNS name.
2803 <column name="engine_id">
2804 Engine ID to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath index
2808 <column name="engine_type">
2809 Engine type to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath
2810 index if not specified.
2813 <column name="active_timeout">
2814 The interval at which NetFlow records are sent for flows that are
2815 still active, in seconds. A value of <code>0</code> requests the
2816 default timeout (currently 600 seconds); a value of <code>-1</code>
2817 disables active timeouts.
2820 <column name="add_id_to_interface">
2821 <p>If this column's value is <code>false</code>, the ingress and egress
2822 interface fields of NetFlow flow records are derived from OpenFlow port
2823 numbers. When it is <code>true</code>, the 7 most significant bits of
2824 these fields will be replaced by the least significant 7 bits of the
2825 engine id. This is useful because many NetFlow collectors do not
2826 expect multiple switches to be sending messages from the same host, so
2827 they do not store the engine information which could be used to
2828 disambiguate the traffic.</p>
2829 <p>When this option is enabled, a maximum of 508 ports are supported.</p>
2832 <group title="Common Columns">
2833 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2834 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2836 <column name="external_ids"/>
2841 SSL configuration for an Open_vSwitch.
2843 <column name="private_key">
2844 Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch's
2845 identity for SSL connections to the controller.
2848 <column name="certificate">
2849 Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
2850 certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager,
2851 that certifies the switch's private key, identifying a trustworthy
2855 <column name="ca_cert">
2856 Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify
2857 that the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.
2860 <column name="bootstrap_ca_cert">
2861 If set to <code>true</code>, then Open vSwitch will attempt to
2862 obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL
2863 connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful,
2864 it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then
2865 on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed
2866 by the CA certificate thus obtained. <em>This option exposes the
2867 SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial
2868 CA certificate.</em> It may still be useful for bootstrapping.
2871 <group title="Common Columns">
2872 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2873 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2875 <column name="external_ids"/>
2879 <table name="sFlow">
2880 <p>An sFlow(R) target. sFlow is a protocol for remote monitoring
2883 <column name="agent">
2884 Name of the network device whose IP address should be reported as the
2885 ``agent address'' to collectors. If not specified, the agent device is
2886 figured from the first target address and the routing table. If the
2887 routing table does not contain a route to the target, the IP address
2888 defaults to the <ref table="Controller" column="local_ip"/> in the
2889 collector's <ref table="Controller"/>. If an agent IP address cannot be
2890 determined any of these ways, sFlow is disabled.
2893 <column name="header">
2894 Number of bytes of a sampled packet to send to the collector.
2895 If not specified, the default is 128 bytes.
2898 <column name="polling">
2899 Polling rate in seconds to send port statistics to the collector.
2900 If not specified, defaults to 30 seconds.
2903 <column name="sampling">
2904 Rate at which packets should be sampled and sent to the collector.
2905 If not specified, defaults to 400, which means one out of 400
2906 packets, on average, will be sent to the collector.
2909 <column name="targets">
2910 sFlow targets in the form
2911 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>.
2914 <group title="Common Columns">
2915 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2916 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2918 <column name="external_ids"/>
2922 <table name="Capability">
2923 <p>Records in this table describe functionality supported by the hardware
2924 and software platform on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients
2925 should not modify this table.</p>
2927 <p>A record in this table is meaningful only if it is referenced by the
2928 <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="capabilities"/> column in the
2929 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table. The key used to reference it, called
2930 the record's ``category,'' determines the meanings of the
2931 <ref column="details"/> column. The following general forms of
2932 categories are currently defined:</p>
2935 <dt><code>qos-<var>type</var></code></dt>
2936 <dd><var>type</var> is supported as the value for
2937 <ref column="type" table="QoS"/> in the <ref table="QoS"/> table.
2941 <column name="details">
2942 <p>Key-value pairs that describe capabilities. The meaning of the pairs
2943 depends on the category key that the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
2944 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
2945 uses to reference this record, as described above.</p>
2947 <p>The presence of a record for category <code>qos-<var>type</var></code>
2948 indicates that the switch supports <var>type</var> as the value of
2949 the <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> column in the <ref table="QoS"/>
2950 table. The following key-value pairs are defined to further describe
2951 QoS capabilities:</p>
2954 <dt><code>n-queues</code></dt>
2955 <dd>Number of supported queues, as a positive integer. Keys in the
2956 <ref table="QoS" column="queues"/> column for <ref table="QoS"/>
2957 records whose <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> value
2958 equals <var>type</var> must range between 0 and this value minus one,