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
12 ``root set'' tables noted below.
15 <table name="Open_vSwitch" title="Open vSwitch configuration.">
16 Configuration for an Open vSwitch daemon. There must be exactly
17 one record in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table.
19 <group title="Configuration">
20 <column name="bridges">
21 Set of bridges managed by the daemon.
25 SSL used globally by the daemon.
28 <column name="other_config">
29 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used Open vSwitch features. The
30 currently defined key-value pairs are:
32 <dt><code>enable-statistics</code></dt>
34 Set to <code>true</code> to enable populating the <ref
35 column="statistics"/> column or <code>false</code> (the default)
36 disable populating it.
41 <column name="external_ids">
42 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate
43 with Open vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System
44 integrators should either use the Open vSwitch development
45 mailing list to coordinate on common key-value definitions, or
46 choose key names that are likely to be unique. The currently
47 defined common key-value pairs are:
49 <dt><code>system-id</code></dt>
50 <dd>A unique identifier for the Open vSwitch's physical host.
51 The form of the identifier depends on the type of the host.
52 On a Citrix XenServer, this will likely be the same as
53 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-system-uuid"/>.</dd>
54 <dt><code>xs-system-uuid</code></dt>
55 <dd>The Citrix XenServer universally unique identifier for the
56 physical host as displayed by <code>xe host-list</code>.</dd>
61 <group title="Status">
62 <column name="next_cfg">
63 Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies
64 any part of the database configuration and wishes to wait for
65 Open vSwitch to finish applying the changes, it may increment
69 <column name="cur_cfg">
70 Sequence number that Open vSwitch sets to the current value of
71 <ref column="next_cfg"/> after it finishes applying a set of
72 configuration changes.
75 <column name="capabilities">
76 Describes functionality supported by the hardware and software platform
77 on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients should not modify this
78 column. See the <ref table="Capability"/> description for defined
79 capability categories and the meaning of associated
80 <ref table="Capability"/> records.
83 <column name="statistics">
85 Key-value pairs that report statistics about a system running an Open
86 vSwitch. These are updated periodically (currently, every 5
87 seconds). Key-value pairs that cannot be determined or that do not
88 apply to a platform are omitted.
92 Statistics are disabled unless <ref column="other-config"
93 key="enable-statistics"/> is set to <code>true</code>.
97 <dt><code>cpu</code></dt>
100 Number of CPU processors, threads, or cores currently online and
101 available to the operating system on which Open vSwitch is
102 running, as an integer. This may be less than the number
103 installed, if some are not online or if they are not available to
104 the operating system.
107 Open vSwitch userspace processes are not multithreaded, but the
108 Linux kernel-based datapath is.
112 <dt><code>load_average</code></dt>
115 A comma-separated list of three floating-point numbers,
116 representing the system load average over the last 1, 5, and 15
117 minutes, respectively.
121 <dt><code>memory</code></dt>
124 A comma-separated list of integers, each of which represents a
125 quantity of memory in kilobytes that describes the operating
126 system on which Open vSwitch is running. In respective order,
131 <li>Total amount of RAM allocated to the OS.</li>
132 <li>RAM allocated to the OS that is in use.</li>
133 <li>RAM that can be flushed out to disk or otherwise discarded
134 if that space is needed for another purpose. This number is
135 necessarily less than or equal to the previous value.</li>
136 <li>Total disk space allocated for swap.</li>
137 <li>Swap space currently in use.</li>
141 On Linux, all five values can be determined and are included. On
142 other operating systems, only the first two values can be
143 determined, so the list will only have two values.
147 <dt><code>process_</code><var>name</var></dt>
150 One such key-value pair will exist for each running Open vSwitch
151 daemon process, with <var>name</var> replaced by the daemon's
152 name (e.g. <code>process_ovs-vswitchd</code>). The value is a
153 comma-separated list of integers. The integers represent the
154 following, with memory measured in kilobytes and durations in
159 <li>The process's virtual memory size.</li>
160 <li>The process's resident set size.</li>
161 <li>The amount of user and system CPU time consumed by the
163 <li>The number of times that the process has crashed and been
164 automatically restarted by the monitor.</li>
165 <li>The duration since the process was started.</li>
166 <li>The duration for which the process has been running.</li>
170 The interpretation of some of these values depends on whether the
171 process was started with the <option>--monitor</option>. If it
172 was not, then the crash count will always be 0 and the two
173 durations will always be the same. If <option>--monitor</option>
174 was given, then the crash count may be positive; if it is, the
175 latter duration is the amount of time since the most recent crash
180 There will be one key-value pair for each file in Open vSwitch's
181 ``run directory'' (usually <code>/var/run/openvswitch</code>)
182 whose name ends in <code>.pid</code>, whose contents are a
183 process ID, and which is locked by a running process. The
184 <var>name</var> is taken from the pidfile's name.
188 Currently Open vSwitch is only able to obtain all of the above
189 detail on Linux systems. On other systems, the same key-value
190 pairs will be present but the values will always be the empty
195 <dt><code>file_systems</code></dt>
198 A space-separated list of information on local, writable file
199 systems. Each item in the list describes one file system and
200 consists in turn of a comma-separated list of the following:
204 <li>Mount point, e.g. <code>/</code> or <code>/var/log</code>.
205 Any spaces or commas in the mount point are replaced by
207 <li>Total size, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
208 <li>Amount of storage in use, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
212 This key-value pair is omitted if there are no local, writable
213 file systems or if Open vSwitch cannot obtain the needed
221 <group title="Version Reporting">
223 These columns report the types and versions of the hardware and
224 software running Open vSwitch. We recommend in general that software
225 should test whether specific features are supported instead of relying
226 on version number checks. These values are primarily intended for
227 reporting to human administrators.
230 <column name="ovs_version">
231 The Open vSwitch version number, e.g. <code>1.1.0</code>.
232 If Open vSwitch was configured with a build number, then it is
233 also included, e.g. <code>1.1.0+build6579</code>.
236 <column name="db_version">
238 The database schema version number in the form
239 <code><var>major</var>.<var>minor</var>.<var>tweak</var></code>,
240 e.g. <code>1.2.3</code>. Whenever the database schema is changed in
241 a non-backward compatible way (e.g. deleting a column or a table),
242 <var>major</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
243 in a backward compatible way (e.g. adding a new column),
244 <var>minor</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
245 cosmetically (e.g. reindenting its syntax), <var>tweak</var> is
250 The schema version is part of the database schema, so it can also be
251 retrieved by fetching the schema using the Open vSwitch database
256 <column name="system_type">
258 An identifier for the type of system on top of which Open vSwitch
259 runs, e.g. <code>XenServer</code> or <code>KVM</code>.
262 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
263 appropriate value for this column.
267 <column name="system_version">
269 The version of the system identified by <ref column="system_type"/>,
270 e.g. <code>5.6.100-39265p</code> on XenServer 5.6.100 build 39265.
273 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
274 appropriate value for this column.
280 <group title="Database Configuration">
282 These columns primarily configure the Open vSwitch database
283 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
284 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The OVSDB database also uses the <ref
285 column="ssl"/> settings.
289 The Open vSwitch switch does read the database configuration to
290 determine remote IP addresses to which in-band control should apply.
293 <column name="manager_options">
294 Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should
295 connect or to which it should listen, along with options for how these
296 connection should be configured. See the <ref table="Manager"/> table
297 for more information.
302 <table name="Bridge">
304 Configuration for a bridge within an
305 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>.
308 A <ref table="Bridge"/> record represents an Ethernet switch with one or
309 more ``ports,'' which are the <ref table="Port"/> records pointed to by
310 the <ref table="Bridge"/>'s <ref column="ports"/> column.
313 <group title="Core Features">
315 Bridge identifier. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
316 bytes long. Must be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and
320 <column name="ports">
321 Ports included in the bridge.
324 <column name="mirrors">
325 Port mirroring configuration.
328 <column name="netflow">
329 NetFlow configuration.
332 <column name="sflow">
336 <column name="flood_vlans">
338 VLAN IDs of VLANs on which MAC address learning should be disabled,
339 so that packets are flooded instead of being sent to specific ports
340 that are believed to contain packets' destination MACs. This should
341 ordinarily be used to disable MAC learning on VLANs used for
342 mirroring (RSPAN VLANs). It may also be useful for debugging.
345 SLB bonding (see the <ref table="Port" column="bond_mode"/> column in
346 the <ref table="Port"/> table) is incompatible with
347 <code>flood_vlans</code>. Consider using another bonding mode or
348 a different type of mirror instead.
353 <group title="OpenFlow Configuration">
354 <column name="controller">
355 OpenFlow controller set. If unset, then no OpenFlow controllers
359 <column name="fail_mode">
360 <p>When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible
361 for setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to
362 the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up.
363 If the connection to the controller stays down long enough,
364 no packets can pass through the switch at all. This setting
365 determines the switch's response to such a situation. It may be set
366 to one of the following:
368 <dt><code>standalone</code></dt>
369 <dd>If no message is received from the controller for three
370 times the inactivity probe interval
371 (see <ref column="inactivity_probe"/>), then Open vSwitch
372 will take over responsibility for setting up flows. In
373 this mode, Open vSwitch causes the bridge to act like an
374 ordinary MAC-learning switch. Open vSwitch will continue
375 to retry connecting to the controller in the background
376 and, when the connection succeeds, it will discontinue its
377 standalone behavior.</dd>
378 <dt><code>secure</code></dt>
379 <dd>Open vSwitch will not set up flows on its own when the
380 controller connection fails or when no controllers are
381 defined. The bridge will continue to retry connecting to
382 any defined controllers forever.</dd>
385 <p>If this value is unset, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
386 <p>When more than one controller is configured,
387 <ref column="fail_mode"/> is considered only when none of the
388 configured controllers can be contacted.</p>
391 <column name="datapath_id">
392 Reports the OpenFlow datapath ID in use. Exactly 16 hex digits.
393 (Setting this column has no useful effect. Set <ref
394 column="other-config" key="datapath-id"/> instead.)
398 <group title="Other Features">
399 <column name="datapath_type">
400 Name of datapath provider. The kernel datapath has
401 type <code>system</code>. The userspace datapath has
402 type <code>netdev</code>.
405 <column name="external_ids">
406 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate
407 with Open vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System
408 integrators should either use the Open vSwitch development
409 mailing list to coordinate on common key-value definitions, or
410 choose key names that are likely to be unique. The currently
411 defined key-value pairs are:
413 <dt><code>bridge-id</code></dt>
414 <dd>A unique identifier of the bridge. On Citrix XenServer this will
415 commonly be the same as
416 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuids"/>.</dd>
417 <dt><code>xs-network-uuids</code></dt>
418 <dd>Semicolon-delimited set of universally unique identifier(s) for
419 the network with which this bridge is associated on a Citrix
420 XenServer host. The network identifiers are RFC 4122 UUIDs as
421 displayed by, e.g., <code>xe network-list</code>.</dd>
425 <column name="other_config">
426 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used bridge
427 features. The currently defined key-value pairs are:
429 <dt><code>datapath-id</code></dt>
431 digits to set the OpenFlow datapath ID to a specific
432 value. May not be all-zero.</dd>
433 <dt><code>disable-in-band</code></dt>
434 <dd>If set to <code>true</code>, disable in-band control on
435 the bridge regardless of controller and manager settings.</dd>
436 <dt><code>hwaddr</code></dt>
437 <dd>An Ethernet address in the form
438 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
439 to set the hardware address of the local port and influence the
441 <dt><code>in-band-queue</code></dt>
443 A queue ID as a nonnegative integer. This sets the OpenFlow queue
444 ID that will be used by flows set up by in-band control on this
445 bridge. If unset, or if the port used by an in-band control flow
446 does not have QoS configured, or if the port does not have a queue
447 with the specified ID, the default queue is used instead.
449 <dt><code>flow-eviction-threshold</code></dt>
451 A number of flows as a nonnegative integer. This sets number
452 of flows at which eviction from the kernel flow table will
454 If there are a large number of flows then increasing this
455 value to around the number of flows present
456 can result in reduced CPU usage and packet loss.
462 Values below 100 will be rounded up to 100.
464 <dt><code>forward-bpdu</code></dt>
466 Option to allow forwarding of BPDU frames when NORMAL
467 action if invoked. Frames with reserved Ethernet addresses
468 (e.g. STP BPDU) will be forwarded when this option is enabled.
469 If the Open vSwitch bridge is used to connect different
470 Ethernet networks, and if Open vSwitch node does not run STP,
471 then this option should be enabled.
472 Default is disabled, set to <code>true</code> to enable.
479 <table name="Port" table="Port or bond configuration.">
480 <p>A port within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
481 <p>Most commonly, a port has exactly one ``interface,'' pointed to by its
482 <ref column="interfaces"/> column. Such a port logically
483 corresponds to a port on a physical Ethernet switch. A port
484 with more than one interface is a ``bonded port'' (see
485 <ref group="Bonding Configuration"/>).</p>
486 <p>Some properties that one might think as belonging to a port are actually
487 part of the port's <ref table="Interface"/> members.</p>
490 Port name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
491 bytes long. May be the same as the interface name, for
492 non-bonded ports. Must otherwise be unique among the names of
493 ports, interfaces, and bridges on a host.
496 <column name="interfaces">
497 The port's interfaces. If there is more than one, this is a
501 <group title="VLAN Configuration">
502 <p>A bridge port must be configured for VLANs in one of two
503 mutually exclusive ways:
505 <li>A ``trunk port'' has an empty value for <ref
506 column="tag"/>. Its <ref column="trunks"/> value may be
507 empty or non-empty.</li>
508 <li>An ``implicitly tagged VLAN port'' or ``access port''
509 has an nonempty value for <ref column="tag"/>. Its
510 <ref column="trunks"/> value must be empty.</li>
512 If <ref column="trunks"/> and <ref column="tag"/> are both
513 nonempty, the configuration is ill-formed.
518 If this is an access port (see above), the port's implicitly
519 tagged VLAN. Must be empty if this is a trunk port.
522 Frames arriving on trunk ports will be forwarded to this
523 port only if they are tagged with the given VLAN (or, if
524 <ref column="tag"/> is 0, then if they lack a VLAN header).
525 Frames arriving on other access ports will be forwarded to
526 this port only if they have the same <ref column="tag"/>
527 value. Frames forwarded to this port will not have an
531 When a frame with a 802.1Q header that indicates a nonzero
532 VLAN is received on an access port, it is discarded.
536 <column name="trunks">
538 If this is a trunk port (see above), the 802.1Q VLAN(s) that
539 this port trunks; if it is empty, then the port trunks all
540 VLANs. Must be empty if this is an access port.
543 Frames arriving on trunk ports are dropped if they are not
544 in one of the specified VLANs. For this purpose, packets
545 that have no VLAN header are treated as part of VLAN 0.
550 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
551 <p>A port that has more than one interface is a ``bonded port.'' Bonding
552 allows for load balancing and fail-over. Some kinds of bonding will
553 work with any kind of upstream switch:</p>
556 <dt><code>balance-slb</code></dt>
558 Balances flows among slaves based on source MAC address and output
559 VLAN, with periodic rebalancing as traffic patterns change.
562 <dt><code>active-backup</code></dt>
564 Assigns all flows to one slave, failing over to a backup slave when
565 the active slave is disabled.
570 The following modes require the upstream switch to support 802.3ad with
571 successful LACP negotiation. If LACP negotiation fails then
572 <code>balance-slb</code> style flow hashing is used as a fallback:
576 <dt><code>balance-tcp</code></dt>
578 Balances flows among slaves based on L2, L3, and L4 protocol
579 information such as destination MAC address, IP address, and TCP
585 <dt><code>stable</code></dt>
587 <p>Attempts to always assign a given flow to the same slave
588 consistently. In an effort to maintain stability, no load
589 balancing is done. Uses a similar hashing strategy to
590 <code>balance-tcp</code>, always taking into account L3 and L4
591 fields even if LACP negotiations are unsuccessful. </p>
592 <p>Slave selection decisions are made based on <ref table="Interface"
593 column="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"/> if set. Otherwise,
594 OpenFlow port number is used. Decisions are consistent across all
595 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> instances with equivalent
596 <ref table="Interface" column="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"/>
601 <p>These columns apply only to bonded ports. Their values are
602 otherwise ignored.</p>
604 <column name="bond_mode">
605 <p>The type of bonding used for a bonded port. Defaults to
606 <code>balance-slb</code> if unset.
610 <column name="bond_updelay">
611 <p>For a bonded port, the number of milliseconds for which carrier must
612 stay up on an interface before the interface is considered to be up.
613 Specify <code>0</code> to enable the interface immediately.</p>
614 <p>This setting is honored only when at least one bonded interface is
615 already enabled. When no interfaces are enabled, then the first bond
616 interface to come up is enabled immediately.</p>
619 <column name="bond_downdelay">
620 For a bonded port, the number of milliseconds for which carrier must
621 stay down on an interface before the interface is considered to be
622 down. Specify <code>0</code> to disable the interface immediately.
625 <column name="bond_fake_iface">
626 For a bonded port, whether to create a fake internal interface with the
627 name of the port. Use only for compatibility with legacy software that
632 <p>Configures LACP on this port. LACP allows directly connected
633 switches to negotiate which links may be bonded. LACP may be enabled
634 on non-bonded ports for the benefit of any switches they may be
635 connected to. <code>active</code> ports are allowed to initiate LACP
636 negotiations. <code>passive</code> ports are allowed to participate
637 in LACP negotiations initiated by a remote switch, but not allowed to
638 initiate such negotiations themselves. Defaults to <code>off</code>
644 <group title="Other Features">
646 Quality of Service configuration for this port.
650 The MAC address to use for this port for the purpose of choosing the
651 bridge's MAC address. This column does not necessarily reflect the
652 port's actual MAC address, nor will setting it change the port's actual
656 <column name="fake_bridge">
657 Does this port represent a sub-bridge for its tagged VLAN within the
658 Bridge? See ovs-vsctl(8) for more information.
661 <column name="external_ids">
663 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with
664 Open vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators
665 should either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to
666 coordinate on common key-value definitions, or choose key names that
667 are likely to be unique.
670 No key-value pairs native to <ref table="Port"/> are currently
671 defined. For fake bridges (see the <ref column="fake_bridge"/>
672 column), external IDs for the fake bridge are defined here by
673 prefixing a <ref table="Bridge"/> <ref table="Bridge"
674 column="external_ids"/> key with <code>fake-bridge-</code>,
675 e.g. <code>fake-bridge-xs-network-uuids</code>.
679 <column name="other_config">
680 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used port features. The
681 currently defined key-value pairs are:
683 <dt><code>bond-rebalance-interval</code></dt>
684 <dd>For an SLB bonded port, the number of milliseconds between
685 successive attempts to rebalance the bond, that is, to
686 move source MACs and their flows from one interface on
687 the bond to another in an attempt to keep usage of each
688 interface roughly equal. The default is 10000 (10
689 seconds), and the minimum is 1000 (1 second).</dd>
690 <dt><code>bond-detect-mode</code></dt>
691 <dd> Sets the method used to detect link failures in a bonded port.
692 Options are <code>carrier</code> and <code>miimon</code>. Defaults
693 to <code>carrier</code> which uses each interface's carrier to detect
694 failures. When set to <code>miimon</code>, will check for failures
695 by polling each interface's MII. </dd>
696 <dt><code>bond-miimon-interval</code></dt>
697 <dd> The number of milliseconds between successive attempts to
698 poll each interface's MII. Only relevant on ports which use
699 <code>miimon</code> to detect failures. </dd>
700 <dt><code>bond-hash-basis</code></dt>
701 <dd> An integer hashed along with flows when choosing output slaves.
702 When changed, all flows will be assigned different hash values
703 possibly causing slave selection decisions to change.</dd>
704 <dt><code>lacp-system-id</code></dt>
705 <dd> The LACP system ID of this <ref table="Port"/>. The system ID
706 of a LACP bond is used to identify itself to its partners. Must
707 be a nonzero MAC address.</dd>
708 <dt><code>lacp-system-priority</code></dt>
709 <dd> The LACP system priority of this <ref table="Port"/>. In
710 LACP negotiations, link status decisions are made by the system
711 with the numerically lower priority. Must be a number between 1
713 <dt><code>lacp-time</code></dt>
715 <p>The LACP timing which should be used on this
716 <ref table="Port"/>. Possible values are <code>fast</code>,
717 <code>slow</code> and a positive number of milliseconds. By
718 default <code>slow</code> is used. When configured to be
719 <code>fast</code> LACP heartbeats are requested at a rate of once
720 per second causing connectivity problems to be detected more
721 quickly. In <code>slow</code> mode, heartbeats are requested at
722 a rate of once every 30 seconds.</p>
724 <p>Users may manually set a heartbeat transmission rate to increase
725 the fault detection speed further. When manually set, OVS
726 expects the partner switch to be configured with the same
727 transmission rate. Manually setting <code>lacp-time</code> to
728 something other than <code>fast</code> or <code>slow</code> is
729 not supported by the LACP specification.</p>
731 <dt><code>lacp-heartbeat</code></dt>
732 <dd> Treats LACP like a simple heartbeat protocol for link state
733 monitoring. Most features of the LACP protocol are disabled when
734 this mode is in use.</dd>
740 <table name="Interface" title="One physical network device in a Port.">
741 An interface within a <ref table="Port"/>.
743 <group title="Core Features">
745 Interface name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8 bytes
746 long. May be the same as the port name, for non-bonded ports. Must
747 otherwise be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and bridges
752 <p>Ethernet address to set for this interface. If unset then the
753 default MAC address is used:</p>
755 <li>For the local interface, the default is the lowest-numbered MAC
756 address among the other bridge ports, either the value of the
757 <ref table="Port" column="mac"/> in its <ref table="Port"/> record,
758 if set, or its actual MAC (for bonded ports, the MAC of its slave
759 whose name is first in alphabetical order). Internal ports and
760 bridge ports that are used as port mirroring destinations (see the
761 <ref table="Mirror"/> table) are ignored.</li>
762 <li>For other internal interfaces, the default MAC is randomly
764 <li>External interfaces typically have a MAC address associated with
767 <p>Some interfaces may not have a software-controllable MAC
771 <column name="ofport">
772 <p>OpenFlow port number for this interface. Unlike most columns, this
773 column's value should be set only by Open vSwitch itself. Other
774 clients should set this column to an empty set (the default) when
775 creating an <ref table="Interface"/>.</p>
776 <p>Open vSwitch populates this column when the port number becomes
777 known. If the interface is successfully added,
778 <ref column="ofport"/> will be set to a number between 1 and 65535
779 (generally either in the range 1 to 65279, inclusive, or 65534, the
780 port number for the OpenFlow ``local port''). If the interface
781 cannot be added then Open vSwitch sets this column
786 <group title="System-Specific Details">
788 The interface type, one of:
790 <dt><code>system</code></dt>
791 <dd>An ordinary network device, e.g. <code>eth0</code> on Linux.
792 Sometimes referred to as ``external interfaces'' since they are
793 generally connected to hardware external to that on which the Open
794 vSwitch is running. The empty string is a synonym for
795 <code>system</code>.</dd>
796 <dt><code>internal</code></dt>
797 <dd>A simulated network device that sends and receives traffic. An
798 internal interface whose <ref column="name"/> is the same as its
799 bridge's <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="name"/> is called the
800 ``local interface.'' It does not make sense to bond an internal
801 interface, so the terms ``port'' and ``interface'' are often used
802 imprecisely for internal interfaces.</dd>
803 <dt><code>tap</code></dt>
804 <dd>A TUN/TAP device managed by Open vSwitch.</dd>
805 <dt><code>gre</code></dt>
806 <dd>An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
807 tunnel. Each tunnel must be uniquely identified by the
808 combination of <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>,
809 <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/>, and
810 <ref column="options" key="in_key"/>. Note that if two ports
811 are defined that are the same except one has an optional
812 identifier and the other does not, the more specific one is
813 matched first. <ref column="options" key="in_key"/> is considered
814 more specific than <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/> if a port
815 defines one and another port defines the other. The following
816 options may be specified in the <ref column="options"/> column:
818 <dt><code>remote_ip</code></dt>
819 <dd>Required. The tunnel endpoint.</dd>
822 <dt><code>local_ip</code></dt>
823 <dd>Optional. The destination IP that received packets must
824 match. Default is to match all addresses.</dd>
827 <dt><code>in_key</code></dt>
828 <dd>Optional. The GRE key that received packets must contain.
829 It may either be a 32-bit number (no key and a key of 0 are
830 treated as equivalent) or the word <code>flow</code>. If
831 <code>flow</code> is specified then any key will be accepted
832 and the key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field
833 for matching in the flow table. The ovs-ofctl manual page
834 contains additional information about matching fields in
835 OpenFlow flows. Default is no key.</dd>
838 <dt><code>out_key</code></dt>
839 <dd>Optional. The GRE key to be set on outgoing packets. It may
840 either be a 32-bit number or the word <code>flow</code>. If
841 <code>flow</code> is specified then the key may be set using
842 the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow vendor extension (0
843 is used in the absence of an action). The ovs-ofctl manual
844 page contains additional information about the Nicira OpenFlow
845 vendor extensions. Default is no key.</dd>
848 <dt><code>key</code></dt>
849 <dd>Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
850 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.</dd>
853 <dt><code>tos</code></dt>
854 <dd>Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the
855 encapsulating packet. It may also be the word
856 <code>inherit</code>, in which case the ToS will be copied from
857 the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be
858 0). Note that the ECN fields are always inherited. Default is
862 <dt><code>ttl</code></dt>
863 <dd>Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet.
864 It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the
865 TTL will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
866 (otherwise it will be the system default, typically 64).
867 Default is the system default TTL.</dd>
870 <dt><code>csum</code></dt>
871 <dd>Optional. Compute GRE checksums on outgoing packets.
872 Checksums present on incoming packets will be validated
873 regardless of this setting. Note that GRE checksums
874 impose a significant performance penalty as they cover the
875 entire packet. As the contents of the packet is typically
876 covered by L3 and L4 checksums, this additional checksum only
877 adds value for the GRE and encapsulated Ethernet headers.
878 Default is disabled, set to <code>true</code> to enable.</dd>
881 <dt><code>df_inherit</code></dt>
882 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be copied
883 from the inner IP headers (those of the encapsulated traffic)
884 to the outer (tunnel) headers. Default is disabled; set to
885 <code>true</code> to enable.</dd>
888 <dt><code>df_default</code></dt>
889 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be set by
890 default on tunnel headers if the <code>df_inherit</code> option
891 is not set, or if the encapsulated packet is not IP. Default
892 is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
895 <dt><code>pmtud</code></dt>
896 <dd>Optional. Enable tunnel path MTU discovery. If enabled
897 ``ICMP Destination Unreachable - Fragmentation Needed''
898 messages will be generated for IPv4 packets with the DF bit set
899 and IPv6 packets above the minimum MTU if the packet size
900 exceeds the path MTU minus the size of the tunnel headers.
901 Note that this option causes behavior that is typically
902 reserved for routers and therefore is not entirely in
903 compliance with the IEEE 802.1D specification for bridges.
904 Default is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
907 <dt><code>header_cache</code></dt>
908 <dd>Optional. Enable caching of tunnel headers and the output
909 path. This can lead to a significant performance increase
910 without changing behavior. In general it should not be
911 necessary to adjust this setting. However, the caching can
912 bypass certain components of the IP stack (such as IP tables)
913 and it may be useful to disable it if these features are
914 required or as a debugging measure. Default is enabled, set to
915 <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
918 <dt><code>ipsec_gre</code></dt>
919 <dd>An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation
920 over IPv4 IPsec tunnel. Each tunnel (including those of type
921 <code>gre</code>) must be uniquely identified by the
922 combination of <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/> and
923 <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/>. Note that if two ports are
924 defined that are the same except one has an optional identifier and
925 the other does not, the more specific one is matched first.
926 An authentication method of <ref column="options" key="peer_cert"/>
927 or <ref column="options" key="psk"/> must be defined. The
928 following options may be specified in the <ref column="options"/>
931 <dt><code>remote_ip</code></dt>
932 <dd>Required. The tunnel endpoint.</dd>
935 <dt><code>local_ip</code></dt>
936 <dd>Optional. The destination IP that received packets must
937 match. Default is to match all addresses.</dd>
940 <dt><code>peer_cert</code></dt>
941 <dd>Required for certificate authentication. A string
942 containing the peer's certificate in PEM format.
943 Additionally the host's certificate must be specified
944 with the <code>certificate</code> option.</dd>
947 <dt><code>certificate</code></dt>
948 <dd>Required for certificate authentication. The name of a
949 PEM file containing a certificate that will be presented
950 to the peer during authentication.</dd>
953 <dt><code>private_key</code></dt>
954 <dd>Optional for certificate authentication. The name of
955 a PEM file containing the private key associated with
956 <code>certificate</code>. If <code>certificate</code>
957 contains the private key, this option may be omitted.</dd>
960 <dt><code>psk</code></dt>
961 <dd>Required for pre-shared key authentication. Specifies a
962 pre-shared key for authentication that must be identical on
963 both sides of the tunnel.</dd>
966 <dt><code>in_key</code></dt>
967 <dd>Optional. The GRE key that received packets must contain.
968 It may either be a 32-bit number (no key and a key of 0 are
969 treated as equivalent) or the word <code>flow</code>. If
970 <code>flow</code> is specified then any key will be accepted
971 and the key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field
972 for matching in the flow table. The ovs-ofctl manual page
973 contains additional information about matching fields in
974 OpenFlow flows. Default is no key.</dd>
977 <dt><code>out_key</code></dt>
978 <dd>Optional. The GRE key to be set on outgoing packets. It may
979 either be a 32-bit number or the word <code>flow</code>. If
980 <code>flow</code> is specified then the key may be set using
981 the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow vendor extension (0
982 is used in the absence of an action). The ovs-ofctl manual
983 page contains additional information about the Nicira OpenFlow
984 vendor extensions. Default is no key.</dd>
987 <dt><code>key</code></dt>
988 <dd>Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
989 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.</dd>
992 <dt><code>tos</code></dt>
993 <dd>Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the
994 encapsulating packet. It may also be the word
995 <code>inherit</code>, in which case the ToS will be copied from
996 the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be
997 0). Note that the ECN fields are always inherited. Default is
1001 <dt><code>ttl</code></dt>
1002 <dd>Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet.
1003 It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the
1004 TTL will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
1005 (otherwise it will be the system default, typically 64).
1006 Default is the system default TTL.</dd>
1009 <dt><code>csum</code></dt>
1010 <dd>Optional. Compute GRE checksums on outgoing packets.
1011 Checksums present on incoming packets will be validated
1012 regardless of this setting. Note that GRE checksums
1013 impose a significant performance penalty as they cover the
1014 entire packet. As the contents of the packet is typically
1015 covered by L3 and L4 checksums, this additional checksum only
1016 adds value for the GRE and encapsulated Ethernet headers.
1017 Default is disabled, set to <code>true</code> to enable.</dd>
1020 <dt><code>df_inherit</code></dt>
1021 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be copied
1022 from the inner IP headers (those of the encapsulated traffic)
1023 to the outer (tunnel) headers. Default is disabled; set to
1024 <code>true</code> to enable.</dd>
1027 <dt><code>df_default</code></dt>
1028 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be set by
1029 default on tunnel headers if the <code>df_inherit</code> option
1030 is not set, or if the encapsulated packet is not IP. Default
1031 is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
1034 <dt><code>pmtud</code></dt>
1035 <dd>Optional. Enable tunnel path MTU discovery. If enabled
1036 ``ICMP Destination Unreachable - Fragmentation Needed''
1037 messages will be generated for IPv4 packets with the DF bit set
1038 and IPv6 packets above the minimum MTU if the packet size
1039 exceeds the path MTU minus the size of the tunnel headers.
1040 Note that this option causes behavior that is typically
1041 reserved for routers and therefore is not entirely in
1042 compliance with the IEEE 802.1D specification for bridges.
1043 Default is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
1046 <dt><code>capwap</code></dt>
1047 <dd>Ethernet tunneling over the UDP transport portion of CAPWAP
1048 (RFC 5415). This allows interoperability with certain switches
1049 where GRE is not available. Note that only the tunneling component
1050 of the protocol is implemented. Due to the non-standard use of
1051 CAPWAP, UDP ports 58881 and 58882 are used as the source and
1052 destination ports respectively. Each tunnel must be uniquely
1053 identified by the combination of
1054 <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/> and
1055 <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/>. If two ports are defined
1056 that are the same except one includes
1057 <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/> and the other does not, the
1058 more specific one is matched first. CAPWAP support is not
1059 available on all platforms. Currently it is only supported in the
1060 Linux kernel module with kernel versions >= 2.6.25. The following
1061 options may be specified in the <ref column="options"/> column:
1063 <dt><code>remote_ip</code></dt>
1064 <dd>Required. The tunnel endpoint.</dd>
1067 <dt><code>local_ip</code></dt>
1068 <dd>Optional. The destination IP that received packets must
1069 match. Default is to match all addresses.</dd>
1072 <dt><code>tos</code></dt>
1073 <dd>Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the
1074 encapsulating packet. It may also be the word
1075 <code>inherit</code>, in which case the ToS will be copied from
1076 the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be
1077 0). Note that the ECN fields are always inherited. Default is
1081 <dt><code>ttl</code></dt>
1082 <dd>Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet.
1083 It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the
1084 TTL will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
1085 (otherwise it will be the system default, typically 64).
1086 Default is the system default TTL.</dd>
1089 <dt><code>in_key</code></dt>
1090 <dd>Optional. The WSI key that received packets must contain.
1091 It may either be a 64-bit number (no key and a key of 0 are
1092 treated as equivalent) or the word <code>flow</code>. If
1093 <code>flow</code> is specified then any key will be accepted
1094 and the key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field
1095 for matching in the flow table. The ovs-ofctl manual page
1096 contains additional information about matching fields in
1097 OpenFlow flows. Default is no key.</dd>
1100 <dt><code>out_key</code></dt>
1101 <dd>Optional. The WSI key to be set on outgoing packets. It may
1102 either be a 64-bit number or the word <code>flow</code>. If
1103 <code>flow</code> is specified then the key may be set using
1104 the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow vendor extension (0
1105 is used in the absence of an action). The ovs-ofctl manual
1106 page contains additional information about the Nicira OpenFlow
1107 vendor extensions. Default is no key.</dd>
1110 <dt><code>key</code></dt>
1111 <dd>Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
1112 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.</dd>
1115 <dt><code>df_inherit</code></dt>
1116 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be copied
1117 from the inner IP headers (those of the encapsulated traffic)
1118 to the outer (tunnel) headers. Default is disabled; set to
1119 <code>true</code> to enable.</dd>
1122 <dt><code>df_default</code></dt>
1123 <dd>Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be set by
1124 default on tunnel headers if the <code>df_inherit</code> option
1125 is not set, or if the encapsulated packet is not IP. Default
1126 is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
1129 <dt><code>pmtud</code></dt>
1130 <dd>Optional. Enable tunnel path MTU discovery. If enabled
1131 ``ICMP Destination Unreachable - Fragmentation Needed''
1132 messages will be generated for IPv4 packets with the DF bit set
1133 and IPv6 packets above the minimum MTU if the packet size
1134 exceeds the path MTU minus the size of the tunnel headers.
1135 Note that this option causes behavior that is typically
1136 reserved for routers and therefore is not entirely in
1137 compliance with the IEEE 802.1D specification for bridges.
1138 Default is enabled; set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
1141 <dt><code>header_cache</code></dt>
1142 <dd>Optional. Enable caching of tunnel headers and the output
1143 path. This can lead to a significant performance increase
1144 without changing behavior. In general it should not be
1145 necessary to adjust this setting. However, the caching can
1146 bypass certain components of the IP stack (such as IP tables)
1147 and it may be useful to disable it if these features are
1148 required or as a debugging measure. Default is enabled, set to
1149 <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
1152 <dt><code>patch</code></dt>
1155 A pair of virtual devices that act as a patch cable. The <ref
1156 column="options"/> column must have the following key-value pair:
1159 <dt><code>peer</code></dt>
1161 The <ref column="name"/> of the <ref table="Interface"/> for
1162 the other side of the patch. The named <ref
1163 table="Interface"/>'s own <code>peer</code> option must specify
1164 this <ref table="Interface"/>'s name. That is, the two patch
1165 interfaces must have reversed <ref column="name"/> and
1166 <code>peer</code> values.
1170 <dt><code>null</code></dt>
1171 <dd>An ignored interface.</dd>
1175 <column name="options">
1176 Configuration options whose interpretation varies based on
1177 <ref column="type"/>.
1181 <group title="Interface Status">
1183 Status information about interfaces attached to bridges, updated every
1184 5 seconds. Not all interfaces have all of these properties; virtual
1185 interfaces don't have a link speed, for example. Non-applicable
1186 columns will have empty values.
1188 <column name="admin_state">
1190 The administrative state of the physical network link.
1194 <column name="link_state">
1196 The observed state of the physical network link. This is ordinarily
1197 the link's carrier status. If the interface's <ref table="Port"/> is
1198 a bond configured for miimon monitoring, it is instead the network
1199 link's miimon status.
1203 <column name="link_speed">
1205 The negotiated speed of the physical network link.
1206 Valid values are positive integers greater than 0.
1210 <column name="duplex">
1212 The duplex mode of the physical network link.
1218 The MTU (maximum transmission unit); i.e. the largest
1219 amount of data that can fit into a single Ethernet frame.
1220 The standard Ethernet MTU is 1500 bytes. Some physical media
1221 and many kinds of virtual interfaces can be configured with
1225 This column will be empty for an interface that does not
1226 have an MTU as, for example, some kinds of tunnels do not.
1230 <column name="status">
1232 Key-value pairs that report port status. Supported status values are
1233 <ref column="type"/>-dependent; some interfaces may not have a valid
1234 <ref column="status" key="driver_name"/>, for example.
1236 <p>The currently defined key-value pairs are:</p>
1238 <dt><code>driver_name</code></dt>
1239 <dd>The name of the device driver controlling the network
1243 <dt><code>driver_version</code></dt>
1244 <dd>The version string of the device driver controlling the
1245 network adapter.</dd>
1248 <dt><code>firmware_version</code></dt>
1249 <dd>The version string of the network adapter's firmware, if
1253 <dt><code>source_ip</code></dt>
1254 <dd>The source IP address used for an IPv4 tunnel end-point,
1255 such as <code>gre</code> or <code>capwap</code>.</dd>
1258 <dt><code>tunnel_egress_iface</code></dt>
1259 <dd>Egress interface for tunnels. Currently only relevant for GRE
1260 and CAPWAP tunnels. On Linux systems, this column will show
1261 the name of the interface which is responsible for routing
1262 traffic destined for the configured
1263 <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>. This could be an
1264 internal interface such as a bridge port.</dd>
1267 <dt><code>tunnel_egress_iface_carrier</code></dt>
1268 <dd>Whether a carrier is detected on
1269 <ref column="status" key="tunnel_egress_iface"/>. Valid values
1270 are <code>down</code> and <code>up</code>.</dd>
1275 <group title="Ingress Policing">
1277 These settings control ingress policing for packets received on this
1278 interface. On a physical interface, this limits the rate at which
1279 traffic is allowed into the system from the outside; on a virtual
1280 interface (one connected to a virtual machine), this limits the rate at
1281 which the VM is able to transmit.
1284 Policing is a simple form of quality-of-service that simply drops
1285 packets received in excess of the configured rate. Due to its
1286 simplicity, policing is usually less accurate and less effective than
1287 egress QoS (which is configured using the <ref table="QoS"/> and <ref
1288 table="Queue"/> tables).
1291 Policing is currently implemented only on Linux. The Linux
1292 implementation uses a simple ``token bucket'' approach:
1296 The size of the bucket corresponds to <ref
1297 column="ingress_policing_burst"/>. Initially the bucket is full.
1300 Whenever a packet is received, its size (converted to tokens) is
1301 compared to the number of tokens currently in the bucket. If the
1302 required number of tokens are available, they are removed and the
1303 packet is forwarded. Otherwise, the packet is dropped.
1306 Whenever it is not full, the bucket is refilled with tokens at the
1307 rate specified by <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>.
1311 Policing interacts badly with some network protocols, and especially
1312 with fragmented IP packets. Suppose that there is enough network
1313 activity to keep the bucket nearly empty all the time. Then this token
1314 bucket algorithm will forward a single packet every so often, with the
1315 period depending on packet size and on the configured rate. All of the
1316 fragments of an IP packets are normally transmitted back-to-back, as a
1317 group. In such a situation, therefore, only one of these fragments
1318 will be forwarded and the rest will be dropped. IP does not provide
1319 any way for the intended recipient to ask for only the remaining
1320 fragments. In such a case there are two likely possibilities for what
1321 will happen next: either all of the fragments will eventually be
1322 retransmitted (as TCP will do), in which case the same problem will
1323 recur, or the sender will not realize that its packet has been dropped
1324 and data will simply be lost (as some UDP-based protocols will do).
1325 Either way, it is possible that no forward progress will ever occur.
1327 <column name="ingress_policing_rate">
1329 Maximum rate for data received on this interface, in kbps. Data
1330 received faster than this rate is dropped. Set to <code>0</code>
1331 (the default) to disable policing.
1335 <column name="ingress_policing_burst">
1336 <p>Maximum burst size for data received on this interface, in kb. The
1337 default burst size if set to <code>0</code> is 1000 kb. This value
1338 has no effect if <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>
1339 is <code>0</code>.</p>
1341 Specifying a larger burst size lets the algorithm be more forgiving,
1342 which is important for protocols like TCP that react severely to
1343 dropped packets. The burst size should be at least the size of the
1344 interface's MTU. Specifying a value that is numerically at least as
1345 large as 10% of <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/> helps TCP come
1346 closer to achieving the full rate.
1351 <group title="Connectivity Fault Management">
1353 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) allows a group of
1354 Maintenance Points (MPs) called a Maintenance Association (MA) to
1355 detect connectivity problems with each other. MPs within a MA should
1356 have complete and exclusive interconnectivity. This is verified by
1357 occasionally broadcasting Continuity Check Messages (CCMs) at a
1358 configurable transmission interval.
1362 According to the 802.1ag specification, each Maintenance Point should
1363 be configured out-of-band with a list of Remote Maintenance Points it
1364 should have connectivity to. Open vSwitch differs from the
1365 specification in this area. It simply assumes the link is faulted if
1366 no Remote Maintenance Points are reachable, and considers it not
1370 <column name="cfm_mpid">
1371 A Maintenance Point ID (MPID) uniquely identifies each endpoint within
1372 a Maintenance Association. The MPID is used to identify this endpoint
1373 to other Maintenance Points in the MA. Each end of a link being
1374 monitored should have a different MPID. Must be configured to enable
1375 CFM on this <ref table="Interface"/>.
1378 <column name="cfm_fault">
1380 Indicates a connectivity fault triggered by an inability to receive
1381 heartbeats from any remote endpoint. When a fault is triggered on
1382 <ref table="Interface"/>s participating in bonds, they will be
1386 Faults can be triggered for several reasons. Most importantly they
1387 are triggered when no CCMs are received for a period of 3.5 times the
1388 transmission interval. Faults are also triggered when any CCMs
1389 indicate that a Remote Maintenance Point is not receiving CCMs but
1390 able to send them. Finally, a fault is triggered if a CCM is
1391 received which indicates unexpected configuration. Notably, this
1392 case arises when a CCM is received which advertises the local MPID.
1397 <group title="Other Features">
1399 <column name="lacp_current">
1400 Boolean value indicating LACP status for this interface. If true, this
1401 interface has current LACP information about its LACP partner. This
1402 information may be used to monitor the health of interfaces in a LACP
1403 enabled port. This column will be empty if LACP is not enabled.
1406 <column name="external_ids">
1407 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate
1408 with Open vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System
1409 integrators should either use the Open vSwitch development
1410 mailing list to coordinate on common key-value definitions, or
1411 choose key names that are likely to be unique. The currently
1412 defined common key-value pairs are:
1414 <dt><code>attached-mac</code></dt>
1416 The MAC address programmed into the ``virtual hardware'' for this
1417 interface, in the form
1418 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
1419 For Citrix XenServer, this is the value of the <code>MAC</code>
1420 field in the VIF record for this interface.</dd>
1421 <dt><code>iface-id</code></dt>
1422 <dd>A system-unique identifier for the interface. On XenServer,
1423 this will commonly be the same as
1424 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-vif-uuid"/>.</dd>
1427 Additionally the following key-value pairs specifically
1428 apply to an interface that represents a virtual Ethernet interface
1429 connected to a virtual machine. These key-value pairs should not be
1430 present for other types of interfaces. Keys whose names end
1431 in <code>-uuid</code> have values that uniquely identify the entity
1432 in question. For a Citrix XenServer hypervisor, these values are
1433 UUIDs in RFC 4122 format. Other hypervisors may use other
1436 <p>The currently defined key-value pairs for XenServer are:</p>
1438 <dt><code>xs-vif-uuid</code></dt>
1439 <dd>The virtual interface associated with this interface.</dd>
1440 <dt><code>xs-network-uuid</code></dt>
1441 <dd>The virtual network to which this interface is attached.</dd>
1442 <dt><code>xs-vm-uuid</code></dt>
1443 <dd>The VM to which this interface belongs.</dd>
1447 <column name="other_config">
1448 Key-value pairs for rarely used interface features.
1450 <dt><code>cfm_interval</code></dt>
1451 <dd> The transmission interval of CFM heartbeats in milliseconds.
1452 Three missed heartbeat receptions indicate a connectivity fault.
1453 Defaults to 1000ms. </dd>
1454 <dt><code>cfm_extended</code></dt>
1455 <dd> When true, the CFM module operates in extended mode. This causes
1456 it to use a nonstandard destination address to avoid conflicting
1457 with compliant implementations which may be running concurrently on
1458 the network. Furthermore, extended mode increases the accuracy of
1459 the <code>cfm_interval</code> configuration parameter by breaking
1460 wire compatibility with 802.1ag compliant implementations.
1461 Defaults to false.</dd>
1462 <dt><code>bond-stable-id</code></dt>
1463 <dd> A positive integer using in <code>stable</code> bond mode to
1464 make slave selection decisions. Allocating
1465 <ref column="other_config" key="bond-stable-id"/> values
1466 consistently across interfaces participating in a bond will
1467 guarantee consistent slave selection decisions across
1468 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> instances when using <code>stable</code>
1470 <dt><code>lacp-port-id</code></dt>
1471 <dd> The LACP port ID of this <ref table="Interface"/>. Port IDs are
1472 used in LACP negotiations to identify individual ports
1473 participating in a bond. Must be a number between 1 and
1475 <dt><code>lacp-port-priority</code></dt>
1476 <dd> The LACP port priority of this <ref table="Interface"/>. In
1477 LACP negotiations <ref table="Interface"/>s with numerically lower
1478 priorities are preferred for aggregation. Must be a number between
1480 <dt><code>lacp-aggregation-key</code></dt>
1481 <dd> The LACP aggregation key of this <ref table="Interface"/>.
1482 <ref table="Interface"/>s with different aggregation keys may not
1483 be active within a given <ref table="Port"/> at the same time. Must
1484 be a number between 1 and 65535.</dd>
1488 <column name="statistics">
1490 Key-value pairs that report interface statistics. The current
1491 implementation updates these counters periodically. In the future,
1492 we plan to, instead, update them when an interface is created, when
1493 they are queried (e.g. using an OVSDB <code>select</code> operation),
1494 and just before an interface is deleted due to virtual interface
1495 hot-unplug or VM shutdown, and perhaps at other times, but not on any
1496 regular periodic basis.</p>
1498 The currently defined key-value pairs are listed below. These are
1499 the same statistics reported by OpenFlow in its <code>struct
1500 ofp_port_stats</code> structure. If an interface does not support a
1501 given statistic, then that pair is omitted.</p>
1504 Successful transmit and receive counters:
1506 <dt><code>rx_packets</code></dt>
1507 <dd>Number of received packets.</dd>
1508 <dt><code>rx_bytes</code></dt>
1509 <dd>Number of received bytes.</dd>
1510 <dt><code>tx_packets</code></dt>
1511 <dd>Number of transmitted packets.</dd>
1512 <dt><code>tx_bytes</code></dt>
1513 <dd>Number of transmitted bytes.</dd>
1519 <dt><code>rx_dropped</code></dt>
1520 <dd>Number of packets dropped by RX.</dd>
1521 <dt><code>rx_frame_err</code></dt>
1522 <dd>Number of frame alignment errors.</dd>
1523 <dt><code>rx_over_err</code></dt>
1524 <dd>Number of packets with RX overrun.</dd>
1525 <dt><code>rx_crc_err</code></dt>
1526 <dd>Number of CRC errors.</dd>
1527 <dt><code>rx_errors</code></dt>
1529 Total number of receive errors, greater than or equal
1530 to the sum of the above.
1537 <dt><code>tx_dropped</code></dt>
1538 <dd>Number of packets dropped by TX.</dd>
1539 <dt><code>collisions</code></dt>
1540 <dd>Number of collisions.</dd>
1541 <dt><code>tx_errors</code></dt>
1543 Total number of transmit errors, greater
1544 than or equal to the sum of the above.
1553 <table name="QoS" title="Quality of Service configuration">
1554 <p>Quality of Service (QoS) configuration for each Port that
1557 <column name="type">
1558 <p>The type of QoS to implement. The <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
1559 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
1560 identifies the types that a switch actually supports. The currently
1561 defined types are listed below:</p>
1563 <dt><code>linux-htb</code></dt>
1565 Linux ``hierarchy token bucket'' classifier. See tc-htb(8) (also at
1566 <code>http://linux.die.net/man/8/tc-htb</code>) and the HTB manual
1567 (<code>http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm</code>)
1568 for information on how this classifier works and how to configure it.
1572 <dt><code>linux-hfsc</code></dt>
1574 Linux "Hierarchical Fair Service Curve" classifier.
1575 See <code>http://linux-ip.net/articles/hfsc.en/</code> for
1576 information on how this classifier works.
1581 <column name="queues">
1582 <p>A map from queue numbers to <ref table="Queue"/> records. The
1583 supported range of queue numbers depend on <ref column="type"/>. The
1584 queue numbers are the same as the <code>queue_id</code> used in
1585 OpenFlow in <code>struct ofp_action_enqueue</code> and other
1586 structures. Queue 0 is used by OpenFlow output actions that do not
1587 specify a specific queue.</p>
1590 <column name="other_config">
1591 <p>Key-value pairs for configuring QoS features that depend on
1592 <ref column="type"/>.</p>
1593 <p>The <code>linux-htb</code> and <code>linux-hfsc</code> classes support
1594 the following key-value pairs:</p>
1596 <dt><code>max-rate</code></dt>
1597 <dd>Maximum rate shared by all queued traffic, in bit/s.
1598 Optional. If not specified, for physical interfaces, the
1599 default is the link rate. For other interfaces or if the
1600 link rate cannot be determined, the default is currently 100
1605 <column name="external_ids">
1606 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
1607 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
1608 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
1609 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
1610 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
1614 <table name="Queue" title="QoS output queue.">
1615 <p>A configuration for a port output queue, used in configuring Quality of
1616 Service (QoS) features. May be referenced by <ref column="queues"
1617 table="QoS"/> column in <ref table="QoS"/> table.</p>
1619 <column name="other_config">
1620 <p>Key-value pairs for configuring the output queue. The supported
1621 key-value pairs and their meanings depend on the <ref column="type"/>
1622 of the <ref column="QoS"/> records that reference this row.</p>
1623 <p>The key-value pairs defined for <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS"
1624 column="type"/> of <code>min-rate</code> are:</p>
1626 <dt><code>min-rate</code></dt>
1627 <dd>Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s. Required. The
1628 floor value is 1500 bytes/s (12,000 bit/s).</dd>
1630 <p>The key-value pairs defined for <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS"
1631 column="type"/> of <code>linux-htb</code> are:</p>
1633 <dt><code>min-rate</code></dt>
1634 <dd>Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.</dd>
1635 <dt><code>max-rate</code></dt>
1636 <dd>Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
1637 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even
1638 if excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
1640 <dt><code>burst</code></dt>
1641 <dd>Burst size, in bits. This is the maximum amount of ``credits''
1642 that a queue can accumulate while it is idle. Optional. Details of
1643 the <code>linux-htb</code> implementation require a minimum burst
1644 size, so a too-small <code>burst</code> will be silently
1646 <dt><code>priority</code></dt>
1647 <dd>A nonnegative 32-bit integer. Defaults to 0 if
1648 unspecified. A queue with a smaller <code>priority</code>
1649 will receive all the excess bandwidth that it can use before
1650 a queue with a larger value receives any. Specific priority
1651 values are unimportant; only relative ordering matters.</dd>
1653 <p>The key-value pairs defined for <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS"
1654 column="type"/> of <code>linux-hfsc</code> are:</p>
1656 <dt><code>min-rate</code></dt>
1657 <dd>Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.</dd>
1658 <dt><code>max-rate</code></dt>
1659 <dd>Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
1660 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even
1661 if excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
1666 <column name="external_ids">
1667 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
1668 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
1669 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
1670 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
1671 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
1675 <table name="Mirror" title="Port mirroring (SPAN/RSPAN/ERSPAN).">
1676 <p>A port mirror within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
1677 <p>A port mirror configures a bridge to send selected frames to special
1678 ``mirrored'' ports, in addition to their normal destinations. Mirroring
1679 traffic may also be referred to as SPAN, RSPAN, or ERSPAN, depending on how
1680 the mirrored traffic is sent.</p>
1682 <column name="name">
1683 Arbitrary identifier for the <ref table="Mirror"/>.
1686 <group title="Selecting Packets for Mirroring">
1688 To be selected for mirroring, a given packet must enter or leave the
1689 bridge through a selected port and it must also be in one of the
1693 <column name="select_all">
1694 If true, every packet arriving or departing on any port is
1695 selected for mirroring.
1698 <column name="select_dst_port">
1699 Ports on which departing packets are selected for mirroring.
1702 <column name="select_src_port">
1703 Ports on which arriving packets are selected for mirroring.
1706 <column name="select_vlan">
1707 VLANs on which packets are selected for mirroring. An empty set
1708 selects packets on all VLANs.
1712 <group title="Mirroring Destination Configuration">
1714 These columns are mutually exclusive. Exactly one of them must be
1718 <column name="output_port">
1719 <p>Output port for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
1720 <p>Specifying a port for mirror output reserves that port exclusively
1721 for mirroring. No frames other than those selected for mirroring
1722 will be forwarded to the port, and any frames received on the port
1723 will be discarded.</p>
1725 The output port may be any kind of port supported by Open vSwitch.
1726 It may be, for example, a physical port (sometimes called SPAN), or a
1727 GRE tunnel (sometimes called ERSPAN).
1731 <column name="output_vlan">
1732 <p>Output VLAN for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
1733 <p>The frames will be sent out all ports that trunk
1734 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, as well as any ports with implicit VLAN
1735 <ref column="output_vlan"/>. When a mirrored frame is sent out a
1736 trunk port, the frame's VLAN tag will be set to
1737 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, replacing any existing tag; when it is
1738 sent out an implicit VLAN port, the frame will not be tagged. This
1739 type of mirroring is sometimes called RSPAN.</p>
1741 The following destination MAC addresses will not be mirrored to a
1742 VLAN to avoid confusing switches that interpret the protocols that
1746 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:00</code></dt>
1747 <dd>IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).</dd>
1749 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:01</code></dt>
1750 <dd>IEEE Pause frame.</dd>
1752 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:0<var>x</var></code></dt>
1753 <dd>Other reserved protocols.</dd>
1755 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cc</code></dt>
1757 Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP),
1758 Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP),
1762 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cd</code></dt>
1763 <dd>Cisco Shared Spanning Tree Protocol PVSTP+.</dd>
1765 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cd:cd:cd</code></dt>
1766 <dd>Cisco STP Uplink Fast.</dd>
1768 <dt><code>01:00:0c:00:00:00</code></dt>
1769 <dd>Cisco Inter Switch Link.</dd>
1771 <p><em>Please note:</em> Mirroring to a VLAN can disrupt a network that
1772 contains unmanaged switches. Consider an unmanaged physical switch
1773 with two ports: port 1, connected to an end host, and port 2,
1774 connected to an Open vSwitch configured to mirror received packets
1775 into VLAN 123 on port 2. Suppose that the end host sends a packet on
1776 port 1 that the physical switch forwards to port 2. The Open vSwitch
1777 forwards this packet to its destination and then reflects it back on
1778 port 2 in VLAN 123. This reflected packet causes the unmanaged
1779 physical switch to replace the MAC learning table entry, which
1780 correctly pointed to port 1, with one that incorrectly points to port
1781 2. Afterward, the physical switch will direct packets destined for
1782 the end host to the Open vSwitch on port 2, instead of to the end
1783 host on port 1, disrupting connectivity. If mirroring to a VLAN is
1784 desired in this scenario, then the physical switch must be replaced
1785 by one that learns Ethernet addresses on a per-VLAN basis. In
1786 addition, learning should be disabled on the VLAN containing mirrored
1787 traffic. If this is not done then intermediate switches will learn
1788 the MAC address of each end host from the mirrored traffic. If
1789 packets being sent to that end host are also mirrored, then they will
1790 be dropped since the switch will attempt to send them out the input
1791 port. Disabling learning for the VLAN will cause the switch to
1792 correctly send the packet out all ports configured for that VLAN. If
1793 Open vSwitch is being used as an intermediate switch, learning can be
1794 disabled by adding the mirrored VLAN to <ref column="flood_vlans"/>
1795 in the appropriate <ref table="Bridge"/> table or tables.</p>
1797 Mirroring to a GRE tunnel has fewer caveats than mirroring to a
1798 VLAN and should generally be preferred.
1803 <group title="Other Features">
1804 <column name="external_ids">
1805 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
1806 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
1807 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
1808 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
1809 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
1814 <table name="Controller" title="OpenFlow controller configuration.">
1815 <p>An OpenFlow controller.</p>
1818 Open vSwitch supports two kinds of OpenFlow controllers:
1822 <dt>Primary controllers</dt>
1825 This is the kind of controller envisioned by the OpenFlow 1.0
1826 specification. Usually, a primary controller implements a network
1827 policy by taking charge of the switch's flow table.
1831 Open vSwitch initiates and maintains persistent connections to
1832 primary controllers, retrying the connection each time it fails or
1833 drops. The <ref table="Bridge" column="fail_mode"/> column in the
1834 <ref table="Bridge"/> table applies to primary controllers.
1838 Open vSwitch permits a bridge to have any number of primary
1839 controllers. When multiple controllers are configured, Open
1840 vSwitch connects to all of them simultaneously. Because
1841 OpenFlow 1.0 does not specify how multiple controllers
1842 coordinate in interacting with a single switch, more than
1843 one primary controller should be specified only if the
1844 controllers are themselves designed to coordinate with each
1845 other. (The Nicira-defined <code>NXT_ROLE</code> OpenFlow
1846 vendor extension may be useful for this.)
1849 <dt>Service controllers</dt>
1852 These kinds of OpenFlow controller connections are intended for
1853 occasional support and maintenance use, e.g. with
1854 <code>ovs-ofctl</code>. Usually a service controller connects only
1855 briefly to inspect or modify some of a switch's state.
1859 Open vSwitch listens for incoming connections from service
1860 controllers. The service controllers initiate and, if necessary,
1861 maintain the connections from their end. The <ref table="Bridge"
1862 column="fail_mode"/> column in the <ref table="Bridge"/> table does
1863 not apply to service controllers.
1867 Open vSwitch supports configuring any number of service controllers.
1873 The <ref column="target"/> determines the type of controller.
1876 <group title="Core Features">
1877 <column name="target">
1878 <p>Connection method for controller.</p>
1880 The following connection methods are currently supported for primary
1884 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
1886 <p>The specified SSL <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
1887 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
1888 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
1889 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a
1890 valid SSL configuration when this form is used.</p>
1891 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
1892 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
1894 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
1895 <dd>The specified TCP <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
1896 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
1897 (not a DNS name).</dd>
1900 The following connection methods are currently supported for service
1904 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
1907 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
1908 (default: 6633). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
1909 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
1910 restricted to the specified local IP address.
1913 The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/> column in the <ref
1914 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a valid SSL
1915 configuration when this form is used.
1917 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
1918 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
1920 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
1922 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
1923 (default: 6633). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
1924 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
1925 restricted to the specified local IP address.
1928 <p>When multiple controllers are configured for a single bridge, the
1929 <ref column="target"/> values must be unique. Duplicate
1930 <ref column="target"/> values yield unspecified results.</p>
1933 <column name="connection_mode">
1934 <p>If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following
1935 strings that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OpenFlow
1936 controller over the network:</p>
1939 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
1940 <dd>In this mode, this controller's OpenFlow traffic travels over the
1941 bridge associated with the controller. With this setting, Open
1942 vSwitch allows traffic to and from the controller regardless of the
1943 contents of the OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch
1944 would never be able to connect to the controller, because it did
1945 not have a flow to enable it.) This is the most common connection
1946 mode because it is not necessary to maintain two independent
1948 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
1949 <dd>In this mode, OpenFlow traffic uses a control network separate
1950 from the bridge associated with this controller, that is, the
1951 bridge does not use any of its own network devices to communicate
1952 with the controller. The control network must be configured
1953 separately, before or after <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
1957 <p>If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
1961 <group title="Controller Failure Detection and Handling">
1962 <column name="max_backoff">
1963 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
1964 Default is implementation-specific.
1967 <column name="inactivity_probe">
1968 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to
1969 controller before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open
1970 vSwitch does not communicate with the controller for the specified
1971 number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not
1972 received for the same additional amount of time, Open vSwitch
1973 assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
1974 Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables
1979 <group title="OpenFlow Rate Limiting">
1980 <column name="controller_rate_limit">
1981 <p>The maximum rate at which packets in unknown flows will be
1982 forwarded to the OpenFlow controller, in packets per second. This
1983 feature prevents a single bridge from overwhelming the controller.
1984 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
1985 <p>In addition, when a high rate triggers rate-limiting, Open
1986 vSwitch queues controller packets for each port and transmits
1987 them to the controller at the configured rate. The number of
1988 queued packets is limited by
1989 the <ref column="controller_burst_limit"/> value. The packet
1990 queue is shared fairly among the ports on a bridge.</p><p>Open
1991 vSwitch maintains two such packet rate-limiters per bridge.
1992 One of these applies to packets sent up to the controller
1993 because they do not correspond to any flow. The other applies
1994 to packets sent up to the controller by request through flow
1995 actions. When both rate-limiters are filled with packets, the
1996 actual rate that packets are sent to the controller is up to
1997 twice the specified rate.</p>
2000 <column name="controller_burst_limit">
2001 In conjunction with <ref column="controller_rate_limit"/>,
2002 the maximum number of unused packet credits that the bridge will
2003 allow to accumulate, in packets. If not specified, the default
2004 is implementation-specific.
2008 <group title="Additional In-Band Configuration">
2009 <p>These values are considered only in in-band control mode (see
2010 <ref column="connection_mode"/>).</p>
2012 <p>When multiple controllers are configured on a single bridge, there
2013 should be only one set of unique values in these columns. If different
2014 values are set for these columns in different controllers, the effect
2017 <column name="local_ip">
2018 The IP address to configure on the local port,
2019 e.g. <code>192.168.0.123</code>. If this value is unset, then
2020 <ref column="local_netmask"/> and <ref column="local_gateway"/> are
2024 <column name="local_netmask">
2025 The IP netmask to configure on the local port,
2026 e.g. <code>255.255.255.0</code>. If <ref column="local_ip"/> is set
2027 but this value is unset, then the default is chosen based on whether
2028 the IP address is class A, B, or C.
2031 <column name="local_gateway">
2032 The IP address of the gateway to configure on the local port, as a
2033 string, e.g. <code>192.168.0.1</code>. Leave this column unset if
2034 this network has no gateway.
2038 <group title="Other Features">
2039 <column name="external_ids">
2040 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
2041 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
2042 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
2043 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
2044 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
2048 <group title="Controller Status">
2049 <column name="is_connected">
2050 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this controller,
2051 <code>false</code> otherwise.
2054 <column name="role">
2055 <p>The level of authority this controller has on the associated
2056 bridge. Possible values are:</p>
2058 <dt><code>other</code></dt>
2059 <dd>Allows the controller access to all OpenFlow features.</dd>
2060 <dt><code>master</code></dt>
2061 <dd>Equivalent to <code>other</code>, except that there may be at
2062 most one master controller at a time. When a controller configures
2063 itself as <code>master</code>, any existing master is demoted to
2064 the <code>slave</code>role.</dd>
2065 <dt><code>slave</code></dt>
2066 <dd>Allows the controller read-only access to OpenFlow features.
2067 Attempts to modify the flow table will be rejected with an
2068 error. Slave controllers do not receive OFPT_PACKET_IN or
2069 OFPT_FLOW_REMOVED messages, but they do receive OFPT_PORT_STATUS
2074 <column name="status">
2075 <p>Key-value pairs that report controller status.</p>
2077 <dt><code>last_error</code></dt>
2078 <dd>A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
2079 to the controller; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
2080 will exist only if an error has occurred.</dd>
2081 <dt><code>state</code></dt>
2082 <dd>The state of the connection to the controller. Possible values
2083 are: <code>VOID</code> (connection is disabled),
2084 <code>BACKOFF</code> (attempting to reconnect at an increasing
2085 period), <code>CONNECTING</code> (attempting to connect),
2086 <code>ACTIVE</code> (connected, remote host responsive), and
2087 <code>IDLE</code> (remote host idle, sending keep-alive). These
2088 values may change in the future. They are provided only for human
2090 <dt><code>sec_since_connect</code></dt>
2091 <dd>The amount of time since this controller last successfully
2092 connected to the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller
2093 has never successfully connected.</dd>
2094 <dt><code>sec_since_disconnect</code></dt>
2095 <dd>The amount of time since this controller last disconnected from
2096 the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller has never
2103 <table name="Manager" title="OVSDB management connection.">
2105 Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database
2110 This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database
2111 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
2112 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The switch does read the table to determine
2113 what connections should be treated as in-band.
2117 The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active
2118 connections to remote clients. It can also listen for database
2122 <group title="Core Features">
2123 <column name="target">
2124 <p>Connection method for managers.</p>
2126 The following connection methods are currently supported:
2129 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2132 The specified SSL <var>port</var> (default: 6632) on the host at
2133 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2134 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
2135 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a
2136 valid SSL configuration when this form is used.
2139 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2140 part of Open vSwitch.
2144 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
2146 The specified TCP <var>port</var> (default: 6632) on the host at
2147 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
2150 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2153 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2154 (default: 6632). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2155 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2156 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2159 The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/> column in the <ref
2160 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a valid SSL
2161 configuration when this form is used.
2164 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
2165 part of Open vSwitch.
2168 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
2170 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>
2171 (default: 6632). If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an
2172 IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then connections are
2173 restricted to the specified local IP address.
2176 <p>When multiple managers are configured, the <ref column="target"/>
2177 values must be unique. Duplicate <ref column="target"/> values yield
2178 unspecified results.</p>
2181 <column name="connection_mode">
2183 If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following strings
2184 that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OVSDB client over the
2189 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
2191 In this mode, this connection's traffic travels over a bridge
2192 managed by Open vSwitch. With this setting, Open vSwitch allows
2193 traffic to and from the client regardless of the contents of the
2194 OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch would never be able
2195 to connect to the client, because it did not have a flow to enable
2196 it.) This is the most common connection mode because it is not
2197 necessary to maintain two independent networks.
2199 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
2201 In this mode, the client's traffic uses a control network separate
2202 from that managed by Open vSwitch, that is, Open vSwitch does not
2203 use any of its own network devices to communicate with the client.
2204 The control network must be configured separately, before or after
2205 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
2210 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.
2215 <group title="Client Failure Detection and Handling">
2216 <column name="max_backoff">
2217 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
2218 Default is implementation-specific.
2221 <column name="inactivity_probe">
2222 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client
2223 before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not
2224 communicate with the client for the specified number of seconds, it
2225 will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same
2226 additional amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been
2227 broken and attempts to reconnect. Default is implementation-specific.
2228 A value of 0 disables inactivity probes.
2232 <group title="Other Features">
2233 <column name="external_ids">
2234 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
2235 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
2236 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
2237 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
2238 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
2242 <group title="Status">
2243 <column name="is_connected">
2244 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this manager,
2245 <code>false</code> otherwise.
2248 <column name="status">
2249 <p>Key-value pairs that report manager status.</p>
2251 <dt><code>last_error</code></dt>
2252 <dd>A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
2253 to the manager; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
2254 will exist only if an error has occurred.</dd>
2257 <dt><code>state</code></dt>
2258 <dd>The state of the connection to the manager. Possible values
2259 are: <code>VOID</code> (connection is disabled),
2260 <code>BACKOFF</code> (attempting to reconnect at an increasing
2261 period), <code>CONNECTING</code> (attempting to connect),
2262 <code>ACTIVE</code> (connected, remote host responsive), and
2263 <code>IDLE</code> (remote host idle, sending keep-alive). These
2264 values may change in the future. They are provided only for human
2268 <dt><code>sec_since_connect</code></dt>
2269 <dd>The amount of time since this manager last successfully connected
2270 to the database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
2271 successfully connected.</dd>
2274 <dt><code>sec_since_disconnect</code></dt>
2275 <dd>The amount of time since this manager last disconnected from the
2276 database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
2280 <dt><code>locks_held</code></dt>
2281 <dt><code>locks_waiting</code></dt>
2282 <dt><code>locks_lost</code></dt>
2284 Space-separated lists of the names of OVSDB locks that the
2285 connection holds, is currently waiting to acquire, or has had
2286 stolen by another OVSDB client, respectively. Key-value pairs for
2287 lists that would be empty are omitted.
2291 <dt><code>n_connections</code></dt>
2294 When <ref column="target"/> specifies a connection method that
2295 listens for inbound connections (e.g. <code>ptcp:</code> or
2296 <code>pssl:</code>) and more than one connection is actually
2297 active, the value is the number of active connections.
2298 Otherwise, this key-value pair is omitted.
2301 When multiple connections are active, status columns and
2302 key-value pairs (other than this one) report the status of one
2303 arbitrarily chosen connection.
2311 <table name="NetFlow">
2312 A NetFlow target. NetFlow is a protocol that exports a number of
2313 details about terminating IP flows, such as the principals involved
2316 <column name="targets">
2317 NetFlow targets in the form
2318 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>. The <var>ip</var>
2319 must be specified numerically, not as a DNS name.
2322 <column name="engine_id">
2323 Engine ID to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath index
2327 <column name="engine_type">
2328 Engine type to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath
2329 index if not specified.
2332 <column name="active_timeout">
2333 The interval at which NetFlow records are sent for flows that are
2334 still active, in seconds. A value of <code>0</code> requests the
2335 default timeout (currently 600 seconds); a value of <code>-1</code>
2336 disables active timeouts.
2339 <column name="add_id_to_interface">
2340 <p>If this column's value is <code>false</code>, the ingress and egress
2341 interface fields of NetFlow flow records are derived from OpenFlow port
2342 numbers. When it is <code>true</code>, the 7 most significant bits of
2343 these fields will be replaced by the least significant 7 bits of the
2344 engine id. This is useful because many NetFlow collectors do not
2345 expect multiple switches to be sending messages from the same host, so
2346 they do not store the engine information which could be used to
2347 disambiguate the traffic.</p>
2348 <p>When this option is enabled, a maximum of 508 ports are supported.</p>
2351 <column name="external_ids">
2352 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
2353 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
2354 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
2355 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
2356 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
2361 SSL configuration for an Open_vSwitch.
2363 <column name="private_key">
2364 Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch's
2365 identity for SSL connections to the controller.
2368 <column name="certificate">
2369 Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
2370 certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager,
2371 that certifies the switch's private key, identifying a trustworthy
2375 <column name="ca_cert">
2376 Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify
2377 that the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.
2380 <column name="bootstrap_ca_cert">
2381 If set to <code>true</code>, then Open vSwitch will attempt to
2382 obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL
2383 connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful,
2384 it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then
2385 on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed
2386 by the CA certificate thus obtained. <em>This option exposes the
2387 SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial
2388 CA certificate.</em> It may still be useful for bootstrapping.
2391 <column name="external_ids">
2392 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
2393 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
2394 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
2395 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
2396 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
2400 <table name="sFlow">
2401 <p>An sFlow(R) target. sFlow is a protocol for remote monitoring
2404 <column name="agent">
2405 Name of the network device whose IP address should be reported as the
2406 ``agent address'' to collectors. If not specified, the IP address
2407 defaults to the <ref table="Controller" column="local_ip"/> in the
2408 collector's <ref table="Controller"/>. If an agent IP address cannot be
2409 determined either way, sFlow is disabled.
2412 <column name="header">
2413 Number of bytes of a sampled packet to send to the collector.
2414 If not specified, the default is 128 bytes.
2417 <column name="polling">
2418 Polling rate in seconds to send port statistics to the collector.
2419 If not specified, defaults to 30 seconds.
2422 <column name="sampling">
2423 Rate at which packets should be sampled and sent to the collector.
2424 If not specified, defaults to 400, which means one out of 400
2425 packets, on average, will be sent to the collector.
2428 <column name="targets">
2429 sFlow targets in the form
2430 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>.
2433 <column name="external_ids">
2434 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
2435 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
2436 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
2437 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
2438 unique. No common key-value pairs are currently defined.
2442 <table name="Capability">
2443 <p>Records in this table describe functionality supported by the hardware
2444 and software platform on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients
2445 should not modify this table.</p>
2447 <p>A record in this table is meaningful only if it is referenced by the
2448 <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="capabilities"/> column in the
2449 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table. The key used to reference it, called
2450 the record's ``category,'' determines the meanings of the
2451 <ref column="details"/> column. The following general forms of
2452 categories are currently defined:</p>
2455 <dt><code>qos-<var>type</var></code></dt>
2456 <dd><var>type</var> is supported as the value for
2457 <ref column="type" table="QoS"/> in the <ref table="QoS"/> table.
2461 <column name="details">
2462 <p>Key-value pairs that describe capabilities. The meaning of the pairs
2463 depends on the category key that the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
2464 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
2465 uses to reference this record, as described above.</p>
2467 <p>The presence of a record for category <code>qos-<var>type</var></code>
2468 indicates that the switch supports <var>type</var> as the value of
2469 the <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> column in the <ref table="QoS"/>
2470 table. The following key-value pairs are defined to further describe
2471 QoS capabilities:</p>
2474 <dt><code>n-queues</code></dt>
2475 <dd>Number of supported queues, as a positive integer. Keys in the
2476 <ref table="QoS" column="queues"/> column for <ref table="QoS"/>
2477 records whose <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> value
2478 equals <var>type</var> must range between 0 and this value minus one,