<info@openflowswitch.org>
-Prerequisites
--------------
+Build Methods
+=============
+
+There are two principal ways to build and install this distribution:
+
+ - Using "configure" and "make" in the ordinary way. See
+ Building Conventionally below for detailed instructions.
-To compile the userspace programs in the OpenFlow reference
-distribution, you will need the following software:
+ - As a set of Debian packages. Refer to Building Debian
+ Packages, below, for instructions.
+
+Base Prerequisites
+------------------
+
+Regardless of how it is built, OpenFlow has a common set of
+prerequisites. To compile the userspace programs in the OpenFlow
+reference distribution, you will need the following software:
- A make program, e.g. GNU make
(http://www.gnu.org/software/make/). BSD make should also work.
- libssl, from OpenSSL (http://www.openssl.org/), is optional but
recommended. libssl is required to establish confidentiality
and authenticity in the connections among OpenFlow switches and
- controllers. To enable, compile with --enable-ssl=yes
+ controllers. To enable, configure with --enable-ssl=yes
If you are working from a Git tree or snapshot (instead of from a
distribution tarball), or if you modify the OpenFlow build system, you
- pkg-config (http://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/wiki/). We test
with version 0.22.
-The optional Linux module has additional prerequisites, described
-later in the section "Building and Testing the Linux Kernel-Based
-Switch".
+Debian Prerequisites
+--------------------
+
+To build Debian packages from the OpenFlow distribution, you will need
+to install a number of Debian packages in addition to the base
+prerequisites listed above. These additional prerequisites may be
+found listed as "Build-Depends" in debian/control in the source tree.
+To check that they are installed, first install the dpkg-dev package,
+then run dpkg-checkbuilddeps from the top level of the OpenFlow source
+tree.
-Building Userspace Programs
----------------------------
+To build Debian packages without being root, also install the
+"fakeroot" package.
-The OpenFlow distribution includes two implementations of the switch:
-one entirely in userspace, for portability and ease of installation,
-and another with a Linux kernel module component that is more
-difficult to install but should also yield better performance. These
-instructions describe how to build the userspace components of the
-OpenFlow distribution. Refer to "Building and Testing the Linux
-Kernel-Based Switch", below, for additional instructions on how to
-build the optional Linux kernel module.
+Kernel-Based Switch Prerequisites
+---------------------------------
+
+The OpenFlow distribution also includes a Linux kernel module that can
+be used to achieve higher switching performance. To compile the
+kernel module, you must install the following in addition to the
+software listed in the "Base Prerequisites" section above:
+
+ - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to README for a
+ list of supported versions.
+
+ The OpenFlow datapath requires bridging support (CONFIG_BRIDGE)
+ to be built as a kernel module. (This is common in kernels
+ provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module must not be
+ loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running (check with
+ "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod bridge")
+ before starting the datapath.
+
+ In kernels prior to 2.6.9, VLAN support (CONFIG_VLAN_8021Q) must
+ be compiled either directly or as a module. Failure to do this
+ will cause an error on module insertion due to the
+ "dev_change_flags" symbol being undefined.
+
+ - The correct version of GCC for the kernel that you are building
+ the module against:
+
+ * To build a kernel module for a Linux 2.6 kernel, you need
+ the same version of GCC that was used to build that kernel
+ (usually version 4.0 or later).
+
+ * To build a kernel module for a Linux 2.4 kernel, you need an
+ earlier version of GCC, typically GCC 2.95, 3.3, or 3.4.
+
+ - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
+ the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
+ each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
+ corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
+ infrastructure.
+
+Building Conventionally
+=======================
+
+This section explains how to build and install the OpenFlow
+distribution in the ordinary way using "configure" and "make".
+
+0. Check that you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in
+ the Base Prerequisites section. If you want to compile the Linux
+ kernel module, also check that the prequisites listed under
+ Kernel-Based Switch Prequisites are installed.
1. In the top source directory, configure the package by running the
configure script. You can usually invoke configure without any
% ./configure CC=gcc-4.2
+ To build the Linux kernel module, so that you can run the
+ kernel-based switch, add --with-l26 or --with-l24 option, or both,
+ to the configure script's command line. Refer to Building the
+ Linux Kernel-Based Switch, below, for more information.
+
The configure script accepts a number of other options and honors
additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
configure with the --help option.
- Runtime logging configuration utility: utilities/vlogconf.
-3. (Optional) Run "make install" to install the executables and
- manpages into the running system, by default under /usr/local.
+ If you passed --with-l26 to configure, "make" will also build the
+ following kernel modules:
-Testing Userspace Programs
---------------------------
+ - datapath/linux-2.6/openflow_mod.ko
-0. The commands below must run as root, so log in as root, or use a
- program such as "su" to become root temporarily.
+ - datapath/linux-2.6/hwtable_<table>_mod.ko for each <table>
+ specified on --enable-hw-tables (if any).
-1. Start the OpenFlow controller running in the background, by running
- the "controller" program with a command like the following:
+ If you passed --with-l24 to configure, "make" will also build the
+ following kernel modules:
- # controller ptcp: &
+ - datapath/linux-2.4/openflow_mod.o
- This command causes the controller to bind to port 975 (the
- default) awaiting connections from OpenFlow switches. See
- controller(8) for details.
-
-2. On the same machine, use the "switch" program to start an OpenFlow
- switch, specifying network devices to use as switch ports on the -i
- option as a comma-separated list, like so:
+ - datapath/linux-2.6/hwtable_<table>_mod.o for each <table>
+ specified on --enable-hw-tables (if any).
- # switch tcp:127.0.0.1 -i eth1,eth2
-
- The network devices that you specify should not have configured IP
- addresses.
+3. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
+ running system, by default under /usr/local.
-3. The controller causes each switch that connects to it to act like a
- learning Ethernet switch. Thus, devices plugged into the specified
- network ports should now be able to send packets to each other, as
- if they were plugged into ports on a conventional Ethernet switch.
+4. If you built kernel modules, you may load them with "insmod", e.g.:
-Troubleshooting: if the commands above do not work, try using the -v
-or --verbose option on the controller or switch commands, which will
-cause a large amount of debug output from each program.
+ (Linux 2.6)
+ % insmod datapath/linux-2.6/openflow_mod.ko
-Remote switches: These instructions assume that the controller and the
-switch are running on the same machine. This is an easy configuration
-for testing, but a more conventional setup would run a controller on
-one machine and one or more switches on different machines. To do so,
-simply specify the IP address of the controller as the first argument
-to the switch program (in place of 127.0.0.1). (Note: The userspace
-switch must be connected to the controller over a "control network"
-that is physically separate from the one that the switch and
-controller are controlling. The kernel-based switch does not have
-this limitation.)
+ (Linux 2.4)
+ % insmod datapath/linux-2.4/compat24_mod.o
+ % insmod datapath/linux-2.4/openflow_mod.o
-Secure operation over SSL
--------------------------
+ After you load the openflow module, you may load one hardware switch
+ table module (if any were built) to enable support for that hardware
+ switching table.
-The instructions above set up OpenFlow for operation over a plaintext
-TCP connection. Production use of OpenFlow should use SSL[*] to
-ensure confidentiality and authenticity of traffic among switches and
-controllers. The source must be configured with --enable-ssl=yes to
-build with SSL support.
+ The insmod program must be run as root. You may need to specify a
+ full path to insmod, e.g. /sbin/insmod. To verify that the modules
+ have been loaded, run "/sbin/lsmod" and check that openflow_mod is
+ listed.
-To use SSL with OpenFlow, you must set up a public-key infrastructure
-(PKI) including a pair of certificate authorities (CAs), one for
-controllers and one for switches. If you have an established PKI,
-OpenFlow can use it directly. Otherwise, refer to "Establishing a
-Public Key Infrastructure" below.
+4. Test the userspace programs, as described under Testing Userspace
+ Programs below.
-To configure the controller to listen for SSL connections on port 976
-(the default), invoke it as follows:
+5. If you built the kernel module, test the kernel-based switch, as
+ described under Testing the Kernel-Based Implementation below.
- # controller -v pssl: --private-key=PRIVKEY --certificate=CERT \
- --ca-cert=CACERT
+Building the Linux Kernel-Based Switch
+--------------------------------------
-where PRIVKEY is a file containing the controller's private key, CERT
-is a file containing the controller CA's certificate for the
-controller's public key, and CACERT is a file containing the root
-certificate for the switch CA. If, for example, your PKI was created
-with the instructions below, then the invocation would look like:
+To build the kernel module, follow the build process described above,
+but pass the location of the kernel build directory as an additional
+argument to the configure script, as described under step 1 in that
+section. Specify the location on --with-l26 for Linux 2.6, --with-l24
+for Linux 2.4. For example, to build for a running instance of Linux
+2.6:
- # controller -v pssl: --private-key=ctl-privkey.pem \
- --certificate=ctl-cert.pem --ca-cert=pki/switchca/cacert.pem
+ % ./configure --with-l26=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
-To configure a switch to connect to a controller running on port 976
-(the default) on host 192.168.1.2 over SSL, invoke it as follows:
+To build for a running instance of Linux 2.4:
- # switch -v ssl:192.168.1.2 -i INTERFACES --private-key=PRIVKEY \
- --certificate=CERT --ca-cert=CACERT
+ % ./configure --with-l24=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
-where INTERFACES is the command-separated list of network device
-interfaces, PRIVKEY is a file containing the switch's private key,
-CERT is a file containing the switch CA's certificate for the switch's
-public key, and CACERT is a file containing the root certificate for
-the controller CA. If, for example, your PKI was created with the
-instructions below, then the invocation would look like:
+If you wish to build OpenFlow for an architecture other than the
+architecture used for compilation, you may specify the kernel
+architecture string using the KARCH variable when invoking the
+configure script. For example, to build OpenFlow for MIPS with Linux
+2.4:
- # secchan -v -i INTERFACES ssl:192.168.1.2 --private-key=sc-privkey.pem \
- --certificate=sc-cert.pem --ca-cert=pki/controllerca/cacert.pem
+ % ./configure --with-l24=/path/to/linux-2.4 KARCH=mips
-[*] To be specific, OpenFlow uses TLS version 1.0 or later (TLSv1), as
- specified by RFC 2246, which is very similar to SSL version 3.0.
- TLSv1 was released in January 1999, so all current software and
- hardware should implement it.
+If you have hardware that supports accelerated OpenFlow switching, and
+you have obtained a hardware table module for your hardware and
+extracted it into the OpenFlow reference distribution source tree,
+then you may also enable building support for the hardware switching
+table with --enable-hw-tables. For example, if your hardware
+switching table is in a directory named datapath/hwtable-foomatic, you
+could compile support for it with the running Linux 2.6 kernel like
+so:
-Establishing a Public Key Infrastructure
-----------------------------------------
+ % ./configure --with-l26=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build \
+ --enable-hw-tables=foomatic
-If you do not have a PKI, the ofp-pki script included with OpenFlow
-can help. To create an initial PKI structure, invoke it as:
- % ofp-pki new-pki
-which will create and populate a new directory named "pki" under the
-current directory.
+For more information about hardware table modules, please read
+README.hwtables at the root of the OpenFlow distribution tree.
-The pki directory contains two important subdirectories. The
-controllerca subdirectory contains controller certificate authority
-related files, including the following:
+Building Debian Packages
+========================
- - cacert.pem: Root certificate for the controller certificate
- authority. This file must be provided to the switch or secchan
- program with the --ca-cert option to enable it to authenticate
- valid controllers.
+Follow these instructions to build Debian packages for OpenFlow.
- - private/cakey.pem: Private signing key for the controller
- certificate authority. This file must be kept secret. There is
- no need for switches or controllers to have a copy of it.
+0. Check that you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in
+ the Base Prerequisites and Debian Prerequisites sections above.
-The switchca subdirectory contains switch certificate authority
-related files, analogous to those in the controllerca subdirectory:
+1. In the top source directory, run the following command, as root:
- - cacert.pem: Root certificate for the switch certificate
- authority. This file must be provided to the controller program
- with the --ca-cert option to enable it to authenticate valid
- switches.
+ % dpkg-buildpackage
- - private/cakey.pem: Private signing key for the switch
- certificate authority. This file must be kept secret. There is
- no need for switches or controllers to have a copy of it.
+ Alternatively, if you installed the "fakeroot" package, you may run
+ dpkg-buildpackage as an ordinary user with the following syntax:
-After you create the initial structure, you can create keys and
-certificates for switches and controllers with ofp-pki. To create a
-controller private key and certificate in files named ctl-privkey.pem
-and ctl-cert.pem, for example, you could run:
- % ofp-pki req+sign ctl controller
-ctl-privkey.pem and ctl-cert.pem would need to be copied to the
-controller for its use at runtime (they could then be deleted from
-their original locations). The --private-key and --certificate
-options of controller, respectively, would point to these files.
+ % dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot
-Analogously, to create a switch private key and certificate in files
-named sc-privkey.pem and sc-cert.pem, for example, you could run:
- % ofp-pki req+sign sc switch
-sc-privkey.pem and sc-cert.pem would need to be copied to the switch
-for its use at runtime (they could then be deleted from their original
-locations). The --private-key and --certificate options,
-respectively, of switch and secchan would point to these files.
+ The following packages will be built in the directory above the
+ source tree:
-Building and Testing the Linux Kernel-Based Switch
---------------------------------------------------
+ - openflow-controller: The OpenFlow controller. Depends on
+ openflow-pki (see below).
-The OpenFlow distribution also includes a Linux kernel module that can
-be used to achieve higher switching performance at a cost in
-portability and ease of installation. Compiling the kernel module has
-the following prerequisites in addition to those listed in the
-"Prerequisites" section above:
+ - openflow-switch: Install this package on a machine that acts
+ as an OpenFlow userspace or kernel switch.
- - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to README for a
- list of supported versions.
+ - openflow-datapath-source: Source code for OpenFlow's Linux
+ kernel module.
- The OpenFlow datapath requires bridging support (CONFIG_BRIDGE)
- to be built as a kernel module. (This is common in kernels
- provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module must not be
- loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running (check with
- "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod bridge")
- before starting the datapath.
+ - openflow-pki: Public-key infrastructure for OpenFlow. Install
+ this package on a machine that acts as an OpenFlow PKI server
+ (see "Establishing a Public Key Infrastructure" below).
- - The correct version of GCC for the kernel that you are building
- the module against:
+ - openflow-common: Files and utilities required by more than one
+ of the above packages.
- * To build a kernel module for a Linux 2.6 kernel, you need
- the same version of GCC that was used to build that kernel
- (usually version 4.0 or later).
+2. To set up an OpenFlow controller, install the openflow-controller
+ package and its dependencies. You may configure it by editing
+ /etc/default/openflow-controller, e.g. to enable non-SSL
+ connections, which are disabled by default. If you change the
+ default settings, you will need to restart the controller by
+ running:
- * To build a kernel module for a Linux 2.4 kernel, you need an
- earlier version of GCC, typically GCC 2.95, 3.3, or 3.4.
+ % /etc/init.d/openflow-controller restart
- - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
- the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
- each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
- corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
- infrastructure.
+3. To set up an OpenFlow switch, install the openflow-switch package
+ and its dependencies. If it is to be a kernel-based switch, also
+ install openflow-datapath-source, then follow the instructions in
+ /usr/share/doc/openflow-datapath-source/README.Debian to build and
+ install the kernel module.
-To build the kernel module, follow the build process described under
-"Building Userspace Programs" above, but pass the location of the
-kernel build directory as an additional argument to the configure
-script, as described under step 1 in that section. Specify the
-location on --with-l26 for Linux 2.6, --with-l24 for Linux 2.4. For
-example, to build for a running instance of Linux 2.6:
+ You may configure the switch one of the following ways:
- % ./configure --with-l26=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
+ - Completely by hand, as described under the Testing section
+ below.
-To build for a running instance of Linux 2.4:
+ For the userspace switch, this is the only supported form of
+ configuration.
- % ./configure --with-l24=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
+ - By editing /etc/default/openflow-switch. You must at least
+ configure some network devices, by uncommenting NETDEVS and
+ adding the appropriate devices to the list, e.g. NETDEVS="eth0
+ eth1".
-If you have hardware that supports accelerated OpenFlow switching, and
-you have obtained a hardware table module for your hardware and
-extracted it into the OpenFlow reference distribution source tree,
-then you may also enable building support for the hardware switching
-table with --enable-hw-tables. For example, if your hardware
-switching table is in a directory named datapath/hwtable-foomatic, you
-could compile support for it with the running Linux 2.6 kernel like
-so:
+ After you edit this file, you will need to start the switch by
+ running:
- % ./configure --with-l26=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build \
- --enable-hw-tables=foomatic
+ % /etc/init.d/openflow-switch restart
-For more information about hardware table modules, please read
-README.hwtables at the root of the OpenFlow distribution tree.
+ This form of configuration is not supported for the userspace
+ switch.
-In addition to the binaries listed under step 2 in "Building Userspace
-Programs" above, "make" will build the following kernel modules:
+ - By running the ofp-switch-setup program. This interactive
+ program will walk you through all the steps of configuring an
+ OpenFlow switch, including configuration of SSL certificates.
+ Run it without arguments, as root:
- datapath/linux-2.6/openflow_mod.ko (if --with-l26 was specified)
- datapath/linux-2.4/openflow_mod.o (if --with-l24 was specified)
+ % ofp-switch-setup
-"make" will also build a kernel module for each hardware switch table
-enabled with --enable-hw-tables.
+ This form of configuration is not supported for the userspace
+ switch.
-Once you have built the kernel modules, activating them requires only
-running "insmod", e.g.:
+Testing
+=======
- (Linux 2.6)
- % insmod datapath/linux-2.6/openflow_mod.ko
+Testing Userspace Programs
+--------------------------
- (Linux 2.4)
- % insmod datapath/linux-2.4/compat24_mod.o
- % insmod datapath/linux-2.4/openflow_mod.o
+0. The commands below must run as root, so log in as root, or use a
+ program such as "su" to become root temporarily.
+
+1. Start the OpenFlow controller running in the background, by running
+ the "controller" program with a command like the following:
+
+ # controller ptcp: &
+
+ This command causes the controller to bind to port 975 (the
+ default) awaiting connections from OpenFlow switches. See
+ controller(8) for details.
+
+2. On the same machine, use the "switch" program to start an OpenFlow
+ switch, specifying network devices to use as switch ports on the -i
+ option as a comma-separated list, like so:
-After you load the openflow module, you may load one hardware switch
-table module (if any were built) to enable support for that hardware
-switching table.
+ # switch tcp:127.0.0.1 -i eth1,eth2
+
+ The network devices that you specify should not have configured IP
+ addresses.
-The insmod program must be run as root. You may need to specify a
-full path to insmod, which is usually in the /sbin directory. To
-verify that the modules have been loaded, run "lsmod" (also in /sbin)
-and check that openflow_mod appears in the result.
+3. The controller causes each switch that connects to it to act like a
+ learning Ethernet switch. Thus, devices plugged into the specified
+ network ports should now be able to send packets to each other, as
+ if they were plugged into ports on a conventional Ethernet switch.
+
+Troubleshooting: if the commands above do not work, try using the -v
+or --verbose option on the controller or switch commands, which will
+cause a large amount of debug output from each program.
+
+Remote switches: These instructions assume that the controller and the
+switch are running on the same machine. This is an easy configuration
+for testing, but a more conventional setup would run a controller on
+one machine and one or more switches on different machines. To do so,
+simply specify the IP address of the controller as the first argument
+to the switch program (in place of 127.0.0.1). (Note: The userspace
+switch must be connected to the controller over a "control network"
+that is physically separate from the one that the switch and
+controller are controlling. The kernel-based switch does not have
+this limitation.)
Testing the Kernel-Based Implementation
---------------------------------------
network. There are two ways to do this:
- Use a "control network" that is completely separate from the
- "data network" to be controlled. To do so, configure a
- network device (one that has not been added to the datapath
- with "dpctl addif") to access the control network in the usual
- way.
+ "data network" to be controlled ("out-of-band control"). To
+ do so, configure a network device (one that has not been added
+ to the datapath with "dpctl addif") to access the control
+ network in the usual way.
+
+ - Use the same network for control and for data ("in-band
+ control"). For this purpose, each datapath nl:K has a
+ corresponding virtual network device named ofK.
- - Use the same network for control and for data. For this
- purpose, each datapath nl:K has a corresponding virtual
- network device named ofK. Start by bringing up of0 before you
- start the secure channel:
+ When in-band control is used, the location of the controller
+ may be configured manually or discovered automatically:
- # ifconfig of0 up
+ * Manual configuration: Start by bringing up of0 before
+ you start the secure channel:
- Before the secure channel starts up, the of0 device cannot
- send or receive any packets, so the next step depends on
- whether connectivity is required to configure the device's IP
- address:
+ # ifconfig of0 up
- . If the switch has a static IP address, you may configure
- its IP address now, e.g.:
+ Before the secure channel starts up, the of0 device
+ cannot send or receive any packets, so the next step
+ depends on whether connectivity is required to configure
+ the device's IP address:
- # ifconfig of0 192.168.1.1
+ . If the switch has a static IP address, you may
+ configure its IP address now, e.g.:
- . If the switch does not have a static IP address, e.g. its
- IP address is obtained dynamically via DHCP, then proceed
- to step 4. The DHCP client will not be able to contact
- the DHCP server until the secure channel has started up.
+ # ifconfig of0 192.168.1.1
+
+ . If the switch does not have a static IP address,
+ e.g. its IP address is obtained dynamically via
+ DHCP, then proceed to step 4. The DHCP client will
+ not be able to contact the DHCP server until the
+ secure channel has started up.
+
+ * Controller discovery: No special setup is required at
+ the switch, but you must specially configure a DHCP
+ server to give out the switch's IP address and to tell
+ it the location of the controller. See secchan(8) for
+ details.
4. Run secchan on the datapath host to start the secure channel
connecting the datapath to a remote controller. (See secchan(8)
- for usage details). The channel should be configured to connect to
- the controller's IP address on the port configured in step 2.
+ for usage details). The details depend on how you configured the
+ network in step 3:
+
+ - If you are using in-band control and controller discovery,
+ invoke secchan something like this:
+
+ # secchan -v nl:0
+
+ The secure channel should connect to the controller after it
+ obtains its own IP address and the controller's location via
+ DHCP. This can take a few seconds. Switch setup is now
+ complete.
- If the controller is running on host 192.168.1.2 port 975 (the
- default port) and the datapath ID is 0, the secchan invocation
- would look like:
+ - Otherwise, the secure channel should be configured to connect
+ to the controller's IP address on the port configured in step
+ 2. If the controller is running on host 192.168.1.2 port 975
+ (the default port) and the datapath ID is 0, the secchan
+ invocation would look like:
- # secchan -v nl:0 tcp:192.168.1.2
+ # secchan -v nl:0 tcp:192.168.1.2
- If you are using separate control and data networks, or if the
- networks are combined and the switch has a static IP address, the
- secure channel should quickly connect to the controller. Setup is
- now complete. Otherwise, proceed to step 5.
+ If you are using out-of-band control, or if you are using
+ in-band control and the switch has a static IP address, the
+ secure channel should quickly connect to the controller.
+ Setup is now complete. Otherwise, proceed to step 5.
5. If you are using the same network for control and data, and the
switch obtains its IP address dynamically, then you may now obtain
secure channel will only be able to connect to the controller after
an IP address has been obtained.
+Configuration
+=============
+
+Secure operation over SSL
+-------------------------
+
+The instructions above set up OpenFlow for operation over a plaintext
+TCP connection. Production use of OpenFlow should use SSL[*] to
+ensure confidentiality and authenticity of traffic among switches and
+controllers. The source must be configured with --enable-ssl=yes to
+build with SSL support.
+
+To use SSL with OpenFlow, you must set up a public-key infrastructure
+(PKI) including a pair of certificate authorities (CAs), one for
+controllers and one for switches. If you have an established PKI,
+OpenFlow can use it directly. Otherwise, refer to "Establishing a
+Public Key Infrastructure" below.
+
+To configure the controller to listen for SSL connections on port 976
+(the default), invoke it as follows:
+
+ # controller -v pssl: --private-key=PRIVKEY --certificate=CERT \
+ --ca-cert=CACERT
+
+where PRIVKEY is a file containing the controller's private key, CERT
+is a file containing the controller CA's certificate for the
+controller's public key, and CACERT is a file containing the root
+certificate for the switch CA. If, for example, your PKI was created
+with the instructions below, then the invocation would look like:
+
+ # controller -v pssl: --private-key=ctl-privkey.pem \
+ --certificate=ctl-cert.pem --ca-cert=pki/switchca/cacert.pem
+
+To configure a switch to connect to a controller running on port 976
+(the default) on host 192.168.1.2 over SSL, invoke it as follows:
+
+ # switch -v ssl:192.168.1.2 -i INTERFACES --private-key=PRIVKEY \
+ --certificate=CERT --ca-cert=CACERT
+
+where INTERFACES is the command-separated list of network device
+interfaces, PRIVKEY is a file containing the switch's private key,
+CERT is a file containing the switch CA's certificate for the switch's
+public key, and CACERT is a file containing the root certificate for
+the controller CA. If, for example, your PKI was created with the
+instructions below, then the invocation would look like:
+
+ # secchan -v -i INTERFACES ssl:192.168.1.2 --private-key=sc-privkey.pem \
+ --certificate=sc-cert.pem --ca-cert=pki/controllerca/cacert.pem
+
+[*] To be specific, OpenFlow uses TLS version 1.0 or later (TLSv1), as
+ specified by RFC 2246, which is very similar to SSL version 3.0.
+ TLSv1 was released in January 1999, so all current software and
+ hardware should implement it.
+
+Establishing a Public Key Infrastructure
+----------------------------------------
+
+If you do not have a PKI, the ofp-pki script included with OpenFlow
+can help. To create an initial PKI structure, invoke it as:
+ % ofp-pki init
+which will create and populate a new PKI directory. The default
+location for the PKi directory depends on how the OpenFlow tree was
+configured (to see the configured default, look for the --dir option
+description in the output of "ofp-pki --help").
+
+The pki directory contains two important subdirectories. The
+controllerca subdirectory contains controller certificate authority
+related files, including the following:
+
+ - cacert.pem: Root certificate for the controller certificate
+ authority. This file must be provided to the switch or secchan
+ program with the --ca-cert option to enable it to authenticate
+ valid controllers.
+
+ - private/cakey.pem: Private signing key for the controller
+ certificate authority. This file must be kept secret. There is
+ no need for switches or controllers to have a copy of it.
+
+The switchca subdirectory contains switch certificate authority
+related files, analogous to those in the controllerca subdirectory:
+
+ - cacert.pem: Root certificate for the switch certificate
+ authority. This file must be provided to the controller program
+ with the --ca-cert option to enable it to authenticate valid
+ switches.
+
+ - private/cakey.pem: Private signing key for the switch
+ certificate authority. This file must be kept secret. There is
+ no need for switches or controllers to have a copy of it.
+
+After you create the initial structure, you can create keys and
+certificates for switches and controllers with ofp-pki. To create a
+controller private key and certificate in files named ctl-privkey.pem
+and ctl-cert.pem, for example, you could run:
+ % ofp-pki req+sign ctl controller
+ctl-privkey.pem and ctl-cert.pem would need to be copied to the
+controller for its use at runtime (they could then be deleted from
+their original locations). The --private-key and --certificate
+options of controller, respectively, would point to these files.
+
+Analogously, to create a switch private key and certificate in files
+named sc-privkey.pem and sc-cert.pem, for example, you could run:
+ % ofp-pki req+sign sc switch
+sc-privkey.pem and sc-cert.pem would need to be copied to the switch
+for its use at runtime (they could then be deleted from their original
+locations). The --private-key and --certificate options,
+respectively, of switch and secchan would point to these files.
+
Bug Reporting
-------------
projects / openvswitch / blobdiff