1 <database title="Open vSwitch Configuration Database">
2 <p>A database with this schema holds the configuration for one Open
3 vSwitch daemon. The root of the configuration for the daemon is
4 the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table, which must have exactly one
5 record. Records in other tables are significant only when they
6 can be reached directly or indirectly from the
7 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table.</p>
9 <table name="Open_vSwitch" title="Open vSwitch configuration.">
10 Configuration for an Open vSwitch daemon. There must be exactly one record
11 in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table.
13 <group title="Configuration">
14 <column name="bridges">
15 Set of bridges managed by the daemon.
18 <column name="managers">
19 Remote database clients to which the Open vSwitch's database server
20 should connect or to which it should listen.
24 SSL used globally by the daemon.
27 <column name="external_ids">
28 Key-value pairs that identify this Open vSwitch's role in
29 external systems. The currently defined key-value pairs are:
31 <dt><code>system-uuid</code></dt>
32 <dd>A universally unique identifier for the Open vSwitch's
33 physical host. The form of the identifier depends on the
34 type of the host. On a Citrix XenServer, this is the host
35 UUID displayed by, e.g., <code>xe host-list</code>.</dd>
40 <group title="Status">
41 <column name="next_cfg">
42 Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies
43 any part of the database configuration and wishes to wait for
44 Open vSwitch to finish applying the changes, it may increment
48 <column name="cur_cfg">
49 Sequence number that Open vSwitch sets to the current value of
50 <ref column="next_cfg"/> after it finishes applying a set of
51 configuration changes.
54 <column name="capabilities">
55 Describes functionality supported by the hardware and software platform
56 on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients should not modify this
57 column. See the <ref table="Capability"/> description for defined
58 capability categories and the meaning of associated
59 <ref table="Capability"/> records.
62 <column name="statistics">
64 Key-value pairs that report statistics about a running Open_vSwitch
65 daemon. The current implementation updates these counters
66 periodically. In the future, we plan to, instead, update them only
67 when they are queried (e.g. using an OVSDB <code>select</code>
68 operation) and perhaps at other times, but not on any regular
71 The currently defined key-value pairs are listed below. Some Open
72 vSwitch implementations may not support some statistics, in which
73 case those key-value pairs are omitted.</p>
75 <dt><code>load-average</code></dt>
77 System load average multiplied by 100 and rounded to the nearest
86 Configuration for a bridge within an
87 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>.
90 A <ref table="Bridge"/> record represents an Ethernet switch with one or
91 more ``ports,'' which are the <ref table="Port"/> records pointed to by
92 the <ref table="Bridge"/>'s <ref column="ports"/> column.
95 <group title="Core Features">
97 Bridge identifier. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
98 bytes long. Must be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and
102 <column name="ports">
103 Ports included in the bridge.
106 <column name="mirrors">
107 Port mirroring configuration.
110 <column name="netflow">
111 NetFlow configuration.
114 <column name="sflow">
118 <column name="flood_vlans">
119 VLAN IDs of VLANs on which MAC address learning should be disabled, so
120 that packets are flooded instead of being sent to specific ports that
121 are believed to contain packets' destination MACs. This should
122 ordinarily be used to disable MAC learning on VLANs used for mirroring
123 (RSPAN VLANs). It may also be useful for debugging.
127 <group title="OpenFlow Configuration">
128 <column name="controller">
129 OpenFlow controller set. If unset, then no OpenFlow controllers
133 <column name="datapath_id">
134 Reports the OpenFlow datapath ID in use. Exactly 16 hex
135 digits. (Setting this column will have no useful effect. Set
136 <ref column="other_config"/>:<code>other-config</code>
141 <group title="Other Features">
142 <column name="datapath_type">
143 Name of datapath provider. The kernel datapath has
144 type <code>system</code>. The userspace datapath has
145 type <code>netdev</code>.
148 <column name="external_ids">
149 Key-value pairs that identify this bridge's role in external systems.
150 The currently defined key-value pairs are:
152 <dt><code>network-uuids</code></dt>
153 <dd>Semicolon-delimited set of universally unique identifier(s) for
154 the network with which this bridge is associated. The form of the
155 identifier(s) depends on the type of the host. On a Citrix
156 XenServer host, the network identifiers are RFC 4122 UUIDs as
157 displayed by, e.g., <code>xe network-list</code>.</dd>
161 <column name="other_config">
162 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used bridge
163 features. The currently defined key-value pairs are:
165 <dt><code>datapath-id</code></dt>
167 digits to set the OpenFlow datapath ID to a specific
169 <dt><code>hwaddr</code></dt>
170 <dd>An Ethernet address in the form
171 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
172 to set the hardware address of the local port and influence the
179 <table name="Port" table="Port or bond configuration.">
180 <p>A port within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
181 <p>Most commonly, a port has exactly one ``interface,'' pointed to by its
182 <ref column="interfaces"/> column. Such a port logically
183 corresponds to a port on a physical Ethernet switch. A port
184 with more than one interface is a ``bonded port'' (see
185 <ref group="Bonding Configuration"/>).</p>
186 <p>Some properties that one might think as belonging to a port are actually
187 part of the port's <ref table="Interface"/> members.</p>
190 Port name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
191 bytes long. May be the same as the interface name, for
192 non-bonded ports. Must otherwise be unique among the names of
193 ports, interfaces, and bridges on a host.
196 <column name="interfaces">
197 The port's interfaces. If there is more than one, this is a
201 <group title="VLAN Configuration">
202 <p>A bridge port must be configured for VLANs in one of two
203 mutually exclusive ways:
205 <li>A ``trunk port'' has an empty value for <ref
206 column="tag"/>. Its <ref column="trunks"/> value may be
207 empty or non-empty.</li>
208 <li>An ``implicitly tagged VLAN port'' or ``access port''
209 has an nonempty value for <ref column="tag"/>. Its
210 <ref column="trunks"/> value must be empty.</li>
212 If <ref column="trunks"/> and <ref column="tag"/> are both
213 nonempty, the configuration is ill-formed.
218 If this is an access port (see above), the port's implicitly
219 tagged VLAN. Must be empty if this is a trunk port.
222 Frames arriving on trunk ports will be forwarded to this
223 port only if they are tagged with the given VLAN (or, if
224 <ref column="tag"/> is 0, then if they lack a VLAN header).
225 Frames arriving on other access ports will be forwarded to
226 this port only if they have the same <ref column="tag"/>
227 value. Frames forwarded to this port will not have an
231 When a frame with a 802.1Q header that indicates a nonzero
232 VLAN is received on an access port, it is discarded.
236 <column name="trunks">
238 If this is a trunk port (see above), the 802.1Q VLAN(s) that
239 this port trunks; if it is empty, then the port trunks all
240 VLANs. Must be empty if this is an access port.
243 Frames arriving on trunk ports are dropped if they are not
244 in one of the specified VLANs. For this purpose, packets
245 that have no VLAN header are treated as part of VLAN 0.
250 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
251 <p>A port that has more than one interface is a ``bonded port.''
252 Bonding allows for load balancing and fail-over. Open vSwitch
253 supports ``source load balancing'' (SLB) bonding, which
254 assigns flows to slaves based on source MAC address, with
255 periodic rebalancing as traffic patterns change. This form of
256 bonding does not require 802.3ad or other special support from
257 the upstream switch to which the slave devices are
260 <p>These columns apply only to bonded ports. Their values are
261 otherwise ignored.</p>
263 <column name="bond_updelay">
264 <p>For a bonded port, the number of milliseconds for which carrier must
265 stay up on an interface before the interface is considered to be up.
266 Specify <code>0</code> to enable the interface immediately.</p>
267 <p>This setting is honored only when at least one bonded interface is
268 already enabled. When no interfaces are enabled, then the first bond
269 interface to come up is enabled immediately.</p>
272 <column name="bond_downdelay">
273 For a bonded port, the number of milliseconds for which carrier must
274 stay down on an interface before the interface is considered to be
275 down. Specify <code>0</code> to disable the interface immediately.
278 <column name="bond_fake_iface">
279 For a bonded port, whether to create a fake internal interface with the
280 name of the port. Use only for compatibility with legacy software that
285 <group title="Other Features">
287 Quality of Service configuration for this port.
291 The MAC address to use for this port for the purpose of choosing the
292 bridge's MAC address. This column does not necessarily reflect the
293 port's actual MAC address, nor will setting it change the port's actual
297 <column name="fake_bridge">
298 Does this port represent a sub-bridge for its tagged VLAN within the
299 Bridge? See ovs-vsctl(8) for more information.
302 <column name="external_ids">
303 Key-value pairs that identify this port's role in external systems. No
304 key-value pairs native to <ref table="Port"/> are currently defined.
305 For fake bridges (see the <ref column="fake_bridge"/> column), external
306 IDs for the fake bridge are defined here by prefixing a
307 <ref table="Bridge"/> <ref table="Bridge" column="external_ids"/> key
308 with <code>fake-bridge-</code>,
309 e.g. <code>fake-bridge-network-uuids</code>.
312 <column name="other_config">
313 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used port features. The
314 currently defined key-value pairs are:
316 <dt><code>hwaddr</code></dt>
317 <dd>An Ethernet address in the form
318 <code><var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var></code>.</dd>
319 <dt><code>bond-rebalance-interval</code></dt>
320 <dd>For a bonded port, the number of milliseconds between
321 successive attempts to rebalance the bond, that is, to
322 move source MACs and their flows from one interface on
323 the bond to another in an attempt to keep usage of each
324 interface roughly equal. The default is 10000 (10
325 seconds), and the minimum is 1000 (1 second).</dd>
331 <table name="Interface" title="One physical network device in a Port.">
332 An interface within a <ref table="Port"/>.
334 <group title="Core Features">
336 Interface name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8 bytes
337 long. May be the same as the port name, for non-bonded ports. Must
338 otherwise be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and bridges
343 <p>Ethernet address to set for this interface. If unset then the
344 default MAC address is used:</p>
346 <li>For the local interface, the default is the lowest-numbered MAC
347 address among the other bridge ports, either the value of the
348 <ref table="Port" column="mac"/> in its <ref table="Port"/> record,
349 if set, or its actual MAC (for bonded ports, the MAC of its slave
350 whose name is first in alphabetical order). Internal ports and
351 bridge ports that are used as port mirroring destinations (see the
352 <ref table="Mirror"/> table) are ignored.</li>
353 <li>For other internal interfaces, the default MAC is randomly
355 <li>External interfaces typically have a MAC address associated with
358 <p>Some interfaces may not have a software-controllable MAC
362 <column name="ofport">
363 <p>OpenFlow port number for this interface. Unlike most columns, this
364 column's value should be set only by Open vSwitch itself. Other
365 clients should set this column to an empty set (the default) when
366 creating an <ref table="Interface"/>.</p>
367 <p>Open vSwitch populates this column when the port number becomes
368 known. If the interface is successfully added,
369 <ref column="ofport"/> will be set to a number between 1 and 65535
370 (generally either in the range 1 to 65280, exclusive, or 65534, the
371 port number for the OpenFlow ``local port''). If the interface
372 cannot be added then Open vSwitch sets this column
377 <group title="System-Specific Details">
379 The interface type, one of:
381 <dt><code>system</code></dt>
382 <dd>An ordinary network device, e.g. <code>eth0</code> on Linux.
383 Sometimes referred to as ``external interfaces'' since they are
384 generally connected to hardware external to that on which the Open
385 vSwitch is running. The empty string is a synonym for
386 <code>system</code>.</dd>
387 <dt><code>internal</code></dt>
388 <dd>A simulated network device that sends and receives traffic. An
389 internal interface whose <ref column="name"/> is the same as its
390 bridge's <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="name"/> is called the
391 ``local interface.'' It does not make sense to bond an internal
392 interface, so the terms ``port'' and ``interface'' are often used
393 imprecisely for internal interfaces.</dd>
394 <dt><code>tap</code></dt>
395 <dd>A TUN/TAP device managed by Open vSwitch.</dd>
396 <dt><code>gre</code></dt>
397 <dd>An Ethernet over RFC 1702 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
398 tunnel. Each tunnel must be uniquely identified by the
399 combination of <code>remote_ip</code>, <code>local_ip</code>, and
400 <code>in_key</code>. Note that if two ports are defined that are
401 the same except one has an optional identifier and the other does
402 not, the more specific one is matched first. <code>in_key</code>
403 is considered more specific than <code>local_ip</code> if a port
404 defines one and another port defines the other. The arguments
407 <dt><code>remote_ip</code></dt>
408 <dd>Required. The tunnel endpoint.</dd>
411 <dt><code>local_ip</code></dt>
412 <dd>Optional. The destination IP that received packets must
413 match. Default is to match all addresses.</dd>
416 <dt><code>in_key</code></dt>
417 <dd>Optional. The GRE key that received packets must contain.
418 It may either be a 32-bit number (no key and a key of 0 are
419 treated as equivalent) or the word <code>flow</code>. If
420 <code>flow</code> is specified then any key will be accepted
421 and the key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field
422 for matching in the flow table. The ovs-ofctl manual page
423 contains additional information about matching fields in
424 OpenFlow flows. Default is no key.</dd>
427 <dt><code>out_key</code></dt>
428 <dd>Optional. The GRE key to be set on outgoing packets. It may
429 either be a 32-bit number or the word <code>flow</code>. If
430 <code>flow</code> is specified then the key may be set using
431 the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow vendor extension (0
432 is used in the absense of an action). The ovs-ofctl manual
433 page contains additional information about the Nicira OpenFlow
434 vendor extensions. Default is no key.</dd>
437 <dt><code>key</code></dt>
438 <dd>Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
439 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.</dd>
442 <dt><code>tos</code></dt>
443 <dd>Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the
444 encapsulating packet. It may also be the word
445 <code>inherit</code>, in which case the ToS will be copied from
446 the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be
447 0). Note that the ECN fields are always inherited. Default is
451 <dt><code>ttl</code></dt>
452 <dd>Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet.
453 It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the
454 TTL will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
455 (otherwise it will be the system default, typically 64).
456 Default is the system default TTL.</dd>
459 <dt><code>csum</code></dt>
460 <dd>Optional. Compute GRE checksums for outgoing packets and
461 require checksums for incoming packets. Default is enabled,
462 set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
465 <dt><code>pmtud</code></dt>
466 <dd>Optional. Enable tunnel path MTU discovery. If enabled
467 ``ICMP destination unreachable - fragmentation'' needed
468 messages will be generated for IPv4 packets with the DF bit set
469 and IPv6 packets above the minimum MTU if the packet size
470 exceeds the path MTU minus the size of the tunnel headers. It
471 also forces the encapsulating packet DF bit to be set (it is
472 always set if the inner packet implies path MTU discovery).
473 Note that this option causes behavior that is typically
474 reserved for routers and therefore is not entirely in
475 compliance with the IEEE 802.1D specification for bridges.
476 Default is enabled, set to <code>false</code> to disable.</dd>
479 <dt><code>patch</code></dt>
480 <dd>A pair of virtual devices that act as a patch cable. A
481 <code>peer</code> argument is required that indicates the name
482 of the other side of the patch. Since a patch must work in
483 pairs, a second patch interface must be declared with the
484 <code>name</code> and <code>peer</code> arguments reversed.</dd>
488 <column name="options">
489 Configuration options whose interpretation varies based on
490 <ref column="type"/>.
494 <group title="Ingress Policing">
495 <column name="ingress_policing_burst">
496 <p>Maximum burst size for data received on this interface, in kb. The
497 default burst size if set to <code>0</code> is 1000 kb. This value
498 has no effect if <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>
499 is <code>0</code>.</p>
500 <p>The burst size should be at least the size of the interface's
504 <column name="ingress_policing_rate">
505 <p>Maximum rate for data received on this interface, in kbps. Data
506 received faster than this rate is dropped. Set to <code>0</code> to
507 disable policing.</p>
508 <p>The meaning of ``ingress'' is from Open vSwitch's perspective. If
509 configured on a physical interface, then it limits the rate at which
510 traffic is allowed into the system from the outside. If configured
511 on a virtual interface that is connected to a virtual machine, then
512 it limits the rate at which the guest is able to transmit.</p>
516 <group title="Other Features">
517 <column name="external_ids">
518 <p>Key-value pairs that identify this interface's role in external
519 systems. All of the currently defined key-value pairs specifically
520 apply to an interface that represents a virtual Ethernet interface
521 connected to a virtual machine. These key-value pairs should not be
522 present for other types of interfaces. Keys whose names end
523 in <code>-uuid</code> have values that uniquely identify the entity
524 in question. For a Citrix XenServer hypervisor, these values are
525 UUIDs in RFC 4122 format. Other hypervisors may use other
527 <p>The currently defined key-value pairs are:</p>
529 <dt><code>vif-uuid</code></dt>
530 <dd>The virtual interface associated with this interface.</dd>
531 <dt><code>network-uuid</code></dt>
532 <dd>The virtual network to which this interface is attached.</dd>
533 <dt><code>vm-uuid</code></dt>
534 <dd>The VM to which this interface belongs.</dd>
535 <dt><code>vif-mac</code></dt>
536 <dd>The MAC address programmed into the "virtual hardware" for this
538 form <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
539 For Citrix XenServer, this is the value of the <code>MAC</code>
540 field in the VIF record for this interface.</dd>
544 <column name="statistics">
546 Key-value pairs that report interface statistics. The current
547 implementation updates these counters periodically. In the future,
548 we plan to, instead, update them when an interface is created, when
549 they are queried (e.g. using an OVSDB <code>select</code> operation),
550 and just before an interface is deleted due to virtual interface
551 hot-unplug or VM shutdown, and perhaps at other times, but not on any
552 regular periodic basis.</p>
554 The currently defined key-value pairs are listed below. These are
555 the same statistics reported by OpenFlow in its <code>struct
556 ofp_port_stats</code> structure. If an interface does not support a
557 given statistic, then that pair is omitted.</p>
560 Successful transmit and receive counters:
562 <dt><code>rx_packets</code></dt>
563 <dd>Number of received packets.</dd>
564 <dt><code>rx_bytes</code></dt>
565 <dd>Number of received bytes.</dd>
566 <dt><code>tx_packets</code></dt>
567 <dd>Number of transmitted packets.</dd>
568 <dt><code>tx_bytes</code></dt>
569 <dd>Number of transmitted bytes.</dd>
575 <dt><code>rx_dropped</code></dt>
576 <dd>Number of packets dropped by RX.</dd>
577 <dt><code>rx_frame_err</code></dt>
578 <dd>Number of frame alignment errors.</dd>
579 <dt><code>rx_over_err</code></dt>
580 <dd>Number of packets with RX overrun.</dd>
581 <dt><code>rx_crc_err</code></dt>
582 <dd>Number of CRC errors.</dd>
583 <dt><code>rx_errors</code></dt>
585 Total number of receive errors, greater than or equal
586 to the sum of the above.
593 <dt><code>tx_dropped</code></dt>
594 <dd>Number of packets dropped by TX.</dd>
595 <dt><code>collisions</code></dt>
596 <dd>Number of collisions.</dd>
597 <dt><code>tx_errors</code></dt>
599 Total number of transmit errors, greater
600 than or equal to the sum of the above.
609 <table name="QoS" title="Quality of Service configuration">
610 <p>Quality of Service (QoS) configuration for each Port that
614 <p>The type of QoS to implement. The <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
615 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
616 identifies the types that a switch actually supports. The currently
617 defined types are listed below:</p>
619 <dt><code>linux-htb</code></dt>
620 <dd>Linux ``hierarchy token bucket'' classifier.</dd>
624 <column name="queues">
625 <p>A map from queue numbers to <ref table="Queue"/> records. The
626 supported range of queue numbers depend on <ref column="type"/>. The
627 queue numbers are the same as the <code>queue_id</code> used in
628 OpenFlow in <code>struct ofp_action_enqueue</code> and other
629 structures. Queue 0 is used by OpenFlow output actions that do not
630 specify a specific queue.</p>
633 <column name="other_config">
634 <p>Key-value pairs for configuring QoS features that depend on
635 <ref column="type"/>.</p>
636 <p>The <code>linux-htb</code> class supports the following key-value
639 <dt><code>max-rate</code></dt>
640 <dd>Maximum rate shared by all queued traffic, in bit/s.
641 Optional. If not specified, for physical interfaces, the
642 default is the link rate. For other interfaces or if the
643 link rate cannot be determined, the default is currently 100
649 <table name="Queue" title="QoS output queue.">
650 <p>A configuration for a port output queue, used in configuring Quality of
651 Service (QoS) features. May be referenced by <ref column="queues"
652 table="QoS"/> column in <ref table="QoS"/> table.</p>
654 <column name="other_config">
655 <p>Key-value pairs for configuring the output queue. The supported
656 key-value pairs and their meanings depend on the <ref column="type"/>
657 of the <ref column="QoS"/> records that reference this row.</p>
658 <p>The key-value pairs defined for <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS"
659 column="type"/> of <code>min-rate</code> are:</p>
661 <dt><code>min-rate</code></dt>
662 <dd>Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s. Required.</dd>
664 <p>The key-value pairs defined for <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS"
665 column="type"/> of <code>linux-htb</code> are:</p>
667 <dt><code>min-rate</code></dt>
668 <dd>Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s. Required.</dd>
669 <dt><code>max-rate</code></dt>
670 <dd>Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
671 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even
672 if excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
674 <dt><code>burst</code></dt>
675 <dd>Burst size, in bits. This is the maximum amount of ``credits''
676 that a queue can accumulate while it is idle. Optional. Details of
677 the <code>linux-htb</code> implementation require a minimum burst
678 size, so a too-small <code>burst</code> will be silently
680 <dt><code>priority</code></dt>
681 <dd>A nonnegative 32-bit integer. Defaults to 0 if
682 unspecified. A queue with a smaller <code>priority</code>
683 will receive all the excess bandwidth that it can use before
684 a queue with a larger value receives any. Specific priority
685 values are unimportant; only relative ordering matters.</dd>
690 <table name="Mirror" title="Port mirroring (SPAN/RSPAN).">
691 <p>A port mirror within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
692 <p>A port mirror configures a bridge to send selected frames to special
693 ``mirrored'' ports, in addition to their normal destinations. Mirroring
694 traffic may also be referred to as SPAN or RSPAN, depending on the
695 mechanism used for delivery.</p>
698 Arbitrary identifier for the <ref table="Mirror"/>.
701 <group title="Selecting Packets for Mirroring">
702 <column name="select_all">
703 If true, every packet arriving or departing on any port is
704 selected for mirroring.
707 <column name="select_dst_port">
708 Ports on which departing packets are selected for mirroring.
711 <column name="select_src_port">
712 Ports on which arriving packets are selected for mirroring.
715 <column name="select_vlan">
716 VLANs on which packets are selected for mirroring. An empty set
717 selects packets on all VLANs.
721 <group title="Mirroring Destination Configuration">
722 <column name="output_port">
723 <p>Output port for selected packets, if nonempty. Mutually exclusive
724 with <ref column="output_vlan"/>.</p>
725 <p>Specifying a port for mirror output reserves that port exclusively
726 for mirroring. No frames other than those selected for mirroring
727 will be forwarded to the port, and any frames received on the port
728 will be discarded.</p>
729 <p>This type of mirroring is sometimes called SPAN.</p>
732 <column name="output_vlan">
733 <p>Output VLAN for selected packets, if nonempty. Mutually exclusive
734 with <ref column="output_port"/>.</p>
735 <p>The frames will be sent out all ports that trunk
736 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, as well as any ports with implicit VLAN
737 <ref column="output_vlan"/>. When a mirrored frame is sent out a
738 trunk port, the frame's VLAN tag will be set to
739 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, replacing any existing tag; when it is
740 sent out an implicit VLAN port, the frame will not be tagged. This
741 type of mirroring is sometimes called RSPAN.</p>
742 <p><em>Please note:</em> Mirroring to a VLAN can disrupt a network that
743 contains unmanaged switches. Consider an unmanaged physical switch
744 with two ports: port 1, connected to an end host, and port 2,
745 connected to an Open vSwitch configured to mirror received packets
746 into VLAN 123 on port 2. Suppose that the end host sends a packet on
747 port 1 that the physical switch forwards to port 2. The Open vSwitch
748 forwards this packet to its destination and then reflects it back on
749 port 2 in VLAN 123. This reflected packet causes the unmanaged
750 physical switch to replace the MAC learning table entry, which
751 correctly pointed to port 1, with one that incorrectly points to port
752 2. Afterward, the physical switch will direct packets destined for
753 the end host to the Open vSwitch on port 2, instead of to the end
754 host on port 1, disrupting connectivity. If mirroring to a VLAN is
755 desired in this scenario, then the physical switch must be replaced
756 by one that learns Ethernet addresses on a per-VLAN basis. In
757 addition, learning should be disabled on the VLAN containing mirrored
758 traffic. If this is not done then intermediate switches will learn
759 the MAC address of each end host from the mirrored traffic. If
760 packets being sent to that end host are also mirrored, then they will
761 be dropped since the switch will attempt to send them out the input
762 port. Disabling learning for the VLAN will cause the switch to
763 correctly send the packet out all ports configured for that VLAN. If
764 Open vSwitch is being used as an intermediate switch, learning can be
765 disabled by adding the mirrored VLAN to <ref column="flood_vlans"/>
766 in the appropriate <ref table="Bridge"/> table or tables.</p>
771 <table name="Controller" title="OpenFlow controller configuration.">
772 <p>An OpenFlow controller.</p>
774 <p>Open vSwitch permits a bridge to have any number of OpenFlow
775 controllers. When multiple controllers are configured, Open vSwitch
776 connects to all of them simultaneously. OpenFlow 1.0 does not specify
777 how multiple controllers coordinate in interacting with a single switch,
778 so more than one controller should be specified only if the controllers
779 are themselves designed to coordinate with each other.</p>
781 <group title="Core Features">
782 <column name="target">
783 <p>Connection method for controller.
784 The following connection methods are currently
787 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
789 <p>The specified SSL <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
790 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
791 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
792 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> must point to a valid
793 SSL configuration when this form is used.</p>
794 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
795 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
797 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
798 <dd>The specified TCP <var>port</var> (default: 6633) on the host at
799 the given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
800 (not a DNS name).</dd>
801 <dt><code>discover</code></dt>
803 <p>Enables controller discovery.</p>
804 <p>In controller discovery mode, Open vSwitch broadcasts a DHCP
805 request with vendor class identifier <code>OpenFlow</code> across
806 all of the bridge's network devices. It will accept any valid
807 DHCP reply that has the same vendor class identifier and includes
808 a vendor-specific option with code 1 whose contents are a string
809 specifying the location of the controller in the same format as
810 <ref column="target"/>.</p>
811 <p>The DHCP reply may also, optionally, include a vendor-specific
812 option with code 2 whose contents are a string specifying the URI
813 to the base of the OpenFlow PKI
814 (e.g. <code>http://192.168.0.1/openflow/pki</code>). This URI is
815 used only for bootstrapping the OpenFlow PKI at initial switch
816 setup; <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> does not use it at all.</p>
818 <dt><code>none</code></dt>
819 <dd>Disables the controller.</dd>
821 <p>When multiple controllers are configured for a single bridge, the
822 <ref column="target"/> values must be unique. Duplicate
823 <ref column="target"/> values yield unspecified results.</p>
826 <column name="connection_mode">
827 <p>If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following
828 strings that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OpenFlow
829 controller over the network:</p>
832 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
833 <dd>In this mode, this controller's OpenFlow traffic travels over the
834 bridge associated with the controller. With this setting, Open
835 vSwitch allows traffic to and from the controller regardless of the
836 contents of the OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch
837 would never be able to connect to the controller, because it did
838 not have a flow to enable it.) This is the most common connection
839 mode because it is not necessary to maintain two independent
841 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
842 <dd>In this mode, OpenFlow traffic uses a control network separate
843 from the bridge associated with this controller, that is, the
844 bridge does not use any of its own network devices to communicate
845 with the controller. The control network must be configured
846 separately, before or after <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
850 <p>If not specified, the default is implementation-specific. If
851 <ref column="target"/> is <code>discover</code>, the connection mode
852 is always treated as <code>in-band</code> regardless of the actual
857 <group title="Controller Failure Detection and Handling">
858 <column name="max_backoff">
859 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
860 Default is implementation-specific.
863 <column name="inactivity_probe">
864 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to
865 controller before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open
866 vSwitch does not communicate with the controller for the specified
867 number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not
868 received for the same additional amount of time, Open vSwitch
869 assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
870 Default is implementation-specific.
873 <column name="fail_mode">
874 <p>When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible
875 for setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to
876 the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up.
877 If the connection to the controller stays down long enough,
878 no packets can pass through the switch at all. This setting
879 determines the switch's response to such a situation. It may be set
880 to one of the following:
882 <dt><code>standalone</code></dt>
883 <dd>If no message is received from the controller for three
884 times the inactivity probe interval
885 (see <ref column="inactivity_probe"/>), then Open vSwitch
886 will take over responsibility for setting up flows. In
887 this mode, Open vSwitch causes the bridge to act like an
888 ordinary MAC-learning switch. Open vSwitch will continue
889 to retry connecting to the controller in the background
890 and, when the connection succeeds, it will discontinue its
891 standalone behavior.</dd>
892 <dt><code>secure</code></dt>
893 <dd>Open vSwitch will not set up flows on its own when the
894 controller connection fails. It will continue retry
895 connecting to the controller forever.</dd>
898 <p>If this value is unset, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
899 <p>When more than one controller is configured,
900 <ref column="fail_mode"/> is considered only when none of the
901 configured controllers can be contacted. At that point, the bridge
902 enters secure mode if any of the controllers'
903 <ref column="fail_mode"/> is set to <code>secure</code>. Otherwise,
904 it enters standalone mode if at least one <ref column="fail_mode"/>
905 is set to <code>standalone</code>. If none of the
906 <ref column="fail_mode"/> values are set, the default is
907 implementation-defined.</p>
911 <group title="OpenFlow Rate Limiting">
912 <column name="controller_rate_limit">
913 <p>The maximum rate at which packets in unknown flows will be
914 forwarded to the OpenFlow controller, in packets per second. This
915 feature prevents a single bridge from overwhelming the controller.
916 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
917 <p>In addition, when a high rate triggers rate-limiting, Open
918 vSwitch queues controller packets for each port and transmits
919 them to the controller at the configured rate. The number of
920 queued packets is limited by
921 the <ref column="controller_burst_limit"/> value. The packet
922 queue is shared fairly among the ports on a bridge.</p><p>Open
923 vSwitch maintains two such packet rate-limiters per bridge.
924 One of these applies to packets sent up to the controller
925 because they do not correspond to any flow. The other applies
926 to packets sent up to the controller by request through flow
927 actions. When both rate-limiters are filled with packets, the
928 actual rate that packets are sent to the controller is up to
929 twice the specified rate.</p>
932 <column name="controller_burst_limit">
933 In conjunction with <ref column="controller_rate_limit"/>,
934 the maximum number of unused packet credits that the bridge will
935 allow to accumulate, in packets. If not specified, the default
936 is implementation-specific.
940 <group title="Additional Discovery Configuration">
941 <p>These values are considered only when <ref column="target"/>
942 is <code>discover</code>.</p>
944 <column name="discover_accept_regex">
946 extended regular expression against which the discovered controller
947 location is validated. The regular expression is implicitly
948 anchored at the beginning of the controller location string, as
949 if it begins with <code>^</code>. If not specified, the default
950 is implementation-specific.
953 <column name="discover_update_resolv_conf">
954 Whether to update <code>/etc/resolv.conf</code> when the
955 controller is discovered. If not specified, the default
956 is implementation-specific. Open vSwitch will only modify
957 <code>/etc/resolv.conf</code> if the DHCP response that it receives
958 specifies one or more DNS servers.
962 <group title="Additional In-Band Configuration">
963 <p>These values are considered only in in-band control mode (see
964 <ref column="connection_mode"/>) and only when <ref column="target"/>
965 is not <code>discover</code>. (For controller discovery, the network
966 configuration obtained via DHCP is used instead.)</p>
968 <p>When multiple controllers are configured on a single bridge, there
969 should be only one set of unique values in these columns. If different
970 values are set for these columns in different controllers, the effect
973 <column name="local_ip">
974 The IP address to configure on the local port,
975 e.g. <code>192.168.0.123</code>. If this value is unset, then
976 <ref column="local_netmask"/> and <ref column="local_gateway"/> are
980 <column name="local_netmask">
981 The IP netmask to configure on the local port,
982 e.g. <code>255.255.255.0</code>. If <ref column="local_ip"/> is set
983 but this value is unset, then the default is chosen based on whether
984 the IP address is class A, B, or C.
987 <column name="local_gateway">
988 The IP address of the gateway to configure on the local port, as a
989 string, e.g. <code>192.168.0.1</code>. Leave this column unset if
990 this network has no gateway.
995 <table name="NetFlow">
996 A NetFlow target. NetFlow is a protocol that exports a number of
997 details about terminating IP flows, such as the principals involved
1000 <column name="targets">
1001 NetFlow targets in the form
1002 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>. The <var>ip</var>
1003 must be specified numerically, not as a DNS name.
1006 <column name="engine_id">
1007 Engine ID to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath index
1011 <column name="engine_type">
1012 Engine type to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath
1013 index if not specified.
1016 <column name="active_timeout">
1017 The interval at which NetFlow records are sent for flows that are
1018 still active, in seconds. A value of <code>0</code> requests the
1019 default timeout (currently 600 seconds); a value of <code>-1</code>
1020 disables active timeouts.
1023 <column name="add_id_to_interface">
1024 <p>If this column's value is <code>false</code>, the ingress and egress
1025 interface fields of NetFlow flow records are derived from OpenFlow port
1026 numbers. When it is <code>true</code>, the 7 most significant bits of
1027 these fields will be replaced by the least significant 7 bits of the
1028 engine id. This is useful because many NetFlow collectors do not
1029 expect multiple switches to be sending messages from the same host, so
1030 they do not store the engine information which could be used to
1031 disambiguate the traffic.</p>
1032 <p>When this option is enabled, a maximum of 508 ports are supported.</p>
1037 SSL configuration for an Open_vSwitch.
1039 <column name="private_key">
1040 Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch's
1041 identity for SSL connections to the controller.
1044 <column name="certificate">
1045 Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
1046 certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager,
1047 that certifies the switch's private key, identifying a trustworthy
1051 <column name="ca_cert">
1052 Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify
1053 that the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.
1056 <column name="bootstrap_ca_cert">
1057 If set to <code>true</code>, then Open vSwitch will attempt to
1058 obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL
1059 connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful,
1060 it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then
1061 on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed
1062 by the CA certificate thus obtained. <em>This option exposes the
1063 SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial
1064 CA certificate.</em> It may still be useful for bootstrapping.
1068 <table name="sFlow">
1069 <p>An sFlow(R) target. sFlow is a protocol for remote monitoring
1072 <column name="agent">
1073 Name of the network device whose IP address should be reported as the
1074 ``agent address'' to collectors. If not specified, the IP address
1075 defaults to the <ref table="Controller" column="local_ip"/> in the
1076 collector's <ref table="Controller"/>. If an agent IP address cannot be
1077 determined either way, sFlow is disabled.
1080 <column name="header">
1081 Number of bytes of a sampled packet to send to the collector.
1082 If not specified, the default is 128 bytes.
1085 <column name="polling">
1086 Polling rate in seconds to send port statistics to the collector.
1087 If not specified, defaults to 30 seconds.
1090 <column name="sampling">
1091 Rate at which packets should be sampled and sent to the collector.
1092 If not specified, defaults to 400, which means one out of 400
1093 packets, on average, will be sent to the collector.
1096 <column name="targets">
1097 sFlow targets in the form
1098 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>.
1102 <table name="Capability">
1103 <p>Records in this table describe functionality supported by the hardware
1104 and software platform on which this Open vSwitch is based. Clients
1105 should not modify this table.</p>
1107 <p>A record in this table is meaningful only if it is referenced by the
1108 <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="capabilities"/> column in the
1109 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table. The key used to reference it, called
1110 the record's ``category,'' determines the meanings of the
1111 <ref column="details"/> column. The following general forms of
1112 categories are currently defined:</p>
1115 <dt><code>qos-<var>type</var></code></dt>
1116 <dd><var>type</var> is supported as the value for
1117 <ref column="type" table="QoS"/> in the <ref table="QoS"/> table.
1121 <column name="details">
1122 <p>Key-value pairs that describe capabilities. The meaning of the pairs
1123 depends on the category key that the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
1124 column="capabilities"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table
1125 uses to reference this record, as described above.</p>
1127 <p>The presence of a record for category <code>qos-<var>type</var></code>
1128 indicates that the switch supports <var>type</var> as the value of
1129 the <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> column in the <ref table="QoS"/>
1130 table. The following key-value pairs are defined to further describe
1131 QoS capabilities:</p>
1134 <dt><code>n-queues</code></dt>
1135 <dd>Number of supported queues, as a positive integer. Keys in the
1136 <ref table="QoS" column="queues"/> column for <ref table="QoS"/>
1137 records whose <ref table="QoS" column="type"/> value
1138 equals <var>type</var> must range between 0 and this value minus one,