. ns
. IP "\\$1"
..
+.de ST
+. PP
+. RS -0.15in
+. I "\\$1"
+. RE
+. PP
+..
.TH ovs\-vsctl 8 "November 2009" "Open vSwitch" "Open vSwitch Manual"
.ds PN ovs\-vsctl
.
\fBunix:@RUNDIR@/ovsdb\-server\fR. \fIserver\fR must take one of the
following forms:
.RS
-.IP "\fBtcp:\fIip\fB:\fIport\fR"
-Connect to the given TCP \fIport\fR on \fIip\fR.
-.IP "\fBunix:\fIfile\fR"
-Connect to the Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.
+.so ovsdb/remote-active.man
.RE
+.
.IP "\fB\-\-no\-wait\fR"
Prevents \fBovs\-vsctl\fR from waiting for \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR to
reconfigure itself according to the the modified database. This
would otherwise appear in the output are doubled.
Prints a blank line for each command that has no output.
.
+.IP "\fB\-\-dry\-run\fR"
+Prevents \fBovs\-vsctl\fR from actually modifying the database.
+.
+.IP "\fB-t \fIsecs\fR"
+.IQ "\fB--timeout=\fIsecs\fR"
+Limits runtime to approximately \fIsecs\fR seconds. A value of
+zero will cause \fBovs\-vsctl\fR to wait forever. If the timeout expires,
+\fBovs\-vsctl\fR will exit with a \fBSIGALRM\fR signal. If this option is
+not used, \fBovs\-vsctl\fR uses a timeout of five seconds.
+(A timeout would normally happen only if the database cannot be contacted.)
+.
+.so lib/ssl.man
.so lib/vlog.man
.
.SH COMMANDS
\fIkey\fR is unset. If \fIkey\fR is omitted, the output is
\fIkey\fB=\fIvalue\fR, one per line, for each key-value pair.
.
+.SS "OpenFlow Controller Connectivity"
+.
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR can perform all configured bridging and switching
+locally, or it can be configured to connect a given bridge to an
+external OpenFlow controller, such as NOX.
+.
+If a \fIbridge\fR argument is given, the settings apply only to the
+specified bridge. Otherwise, they apply to the Open vSwitch instance,
+and its configuration applies to any bridge that has not been explicitly
+configured through a \fIbridge\fR argument.
+.
+.IP "\fBget\-controller\fR [\fIbridge\fR]"
+Prints the configured controller target.
+.
+.IP "\fBdel\-controller\fR [\fIbridge\fR]"
+Deletes the configured controller target.
+.
+.IP "\fBset\-controller\fR [\fIbridge\fR] \fItarget\fR"
+Sets the configured controller target. The \fItarget\fR may use any of
+the following forms:
+.
+.RS
+.TP
+.so lib/vconn-active.man
+.RE
+.
+.ST "Controller Failure Settings"
+.
+When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible for
+setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to
+the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up. If
+the connection to the controller stays down long enough, no packets
+can pass through the switch at all.
+.ST
+If the value is \fBstandalone\fR, or if neither of these settings
+is set, \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR will take over
+responsibility for setting up
+flows when no message has been received from the controller for three
+times the inactivity probe interval (xxx needs to be exposed). In this mode,
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR causes the datapath to act like an ordinary
+MAC-learning switch. \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR will continue to retry connecting
+to the controller in the background and, when the connection succeeds,
+it discontinues its standalone behavior.
+.ST
+If this option is set to \fBsecure\fR, \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR will not
+set up flows on its own when the controller connection fails.
+.
+.IP "\fBget\-fail\-mode\fR [\fIbridge\fR]"
+Prints the configured failure mode.
+.
+.IP "\fBdel\-fail\-mode\fR [\fIbridge\fR]"
+Deletes the configured failure mode.
+.
+.IP "\fBset\-fail\-mode\fR [\fIbridge\fR] \fBstandalone\fR|\fBsecure\fR"
+Sets the configured failure mode.
+.
+.SS "SSL Configuration"
+When \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is configured to connect over SSL for management or
+controller connectivity, the following parameters are required:
+.TP
+\fBprivate-key\fR
+Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the virtual
+switch's identity for SSL connections to the controller.
+.TP
+\fBcertificate\fR
+Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
+certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager, that
+certifies the virtual switch's private key, identifying a trustworthy
+switch.
+.TP
+\fBca-cert\fR
+Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that
+the virtual switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.
+.PP
+These files are read only once, at \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR startup time. If
+their contents change, \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR must be killed and restarted.
+.PP
+These SSL settings apply to all SSL connections made by the virtual
+switch.
+.
+.IP "\fBget\-ssl\fR"
+Prints the SSL configuration.
+.
+.IP "\fBdel\-ssl\fR"
+Deletes the current SSL configuration.
+.
+.IP "[\fB\-\-bootstrap\fR] \fBset\-ssl\fR \fIprivate-key\fR \fIcertificate\fR \fIca-cert\fR"
+Sets the SSL configuration. The \fB\-\-bootstrap\fR option is described
+below.
+.
+.ST "CA Certificate Bootstrap"
+Ordinarily, all of the files named in the SSL configuration must exist
+when \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR starts. However, if the \fB\-\-bootstrap\fR
+option is given, then \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR will attempt to obtain the
+CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL connection and
+save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful, it will
+immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then on all
+SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed by the
+CA certificate thus obtained.
+.PP
+\fBThis option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
+attack obtaining the initial CA certificate\fR, but it may be useful
+for bootstrapping.
+.PP
+This option is only useful if the controller sends its CA certificate
+as part of the SSL certificate chain. The SSL protocol does not
+require the controller to send the CA certificate, but
+\fBcontroller\fR(8) can be configured to do so with the
+\fB--peer-ca-cert\fR option.
+.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
Create a new bridge named br0 and add port eth0 to it:
.IP