From 3fc7dc18368fea514705fd4f08b82dacaea69f89 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Justin Pettit Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:03:52 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] FAQ: Add FAQ entries from website. The openvswitch.org web site has a FAQ. This commit integrates those entries into the FAQ file. Signed-off-by: Justin Pettit --- FAQ | 101 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 101 insertions(+) diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ index 61bbb69c..18ecc913 100644 --- a/FAQ +++ b/FAQ @@ -3,6 +3,107 @@ Frequently Asked Questions ========================== +General +------- + +Q: What is Open vSwitch? + +A: Open vSwitch is a production quality open source software switch + designed to be used as a vswitch in virtualized server environments. A + vswitch forwards traffic between different VMs on the same physical host + and also forwards traffic between VMs and the physical network. Open + vSwitch supports standard management interfaces (e.g. sFlow, NetFlow, + RSPAN, CLI), and is open to programmatic extension and control using + OpenFlow and the OVSDB management protocol. + + Open vSwitch as designed to be compatible with modern switching + chipsets. This means that it can be ported to existing high-fanout + switches allowing the same flexible control of the physical + infrastructure as the virtual infrastructure. It also means that + Open vSwitch will be able to take advantage of on-NIC switching + chipsets as their functionality matures. + +Q: What virtualization platforms can use Open vSwitch? + +A: Open vSwitch can currently run on any Linux-based virtualization + platform (kernel 2.6.18 and newer), including: KVM, VirtualBox, Xen, + Xen Cloud Platform, XenServer. As of Linux 3.3 it is part of the + mainline kernel. The bulk of the code is written in platform- + independent C and is easily ported to other environments. We welcome + inquires about integrating Open vSwitch with other virtualization + platforms. + +Q: How can I try Open vSwitch? + +A: Open vSwitch is as source code to be built on a Linux system. You + can build and experiment with Open vSwitch on any Linux machine. + Packages for various Linux distributions are underway and will be linked + to from this website as they materialize. + + You may also download and run a virtualization platform that already + has Open vSwitch integrated. For example, download the ISO for Xen + Cloud Platform. Be aware that the version integrated with a + particular platform may not be the most recent Open vSwitch release. + +Q: Why would I use Open vSwitch instead of the Linux bridge? + +A: Open vSwitch is specially designed to make it easier to manage VM + network configuration and monitoring state spread across many + physical hosts in dynamic virtualized environments. Please see + WHY-OVS for a more detailed description of how Open vSwitch relates + to the Linux Bridge. + +Q: How is Open vSwitch related to distributed virtual switches like the + VMware vNetwork distributed switch or the Cisco Nexus 1000V? + +A: Distributed vswitch applications (e.g., VMware vNetwork distributed + switch, Cisco Nexus 1000V) provide a centralized way to configure and + monitor the network state of VMs that are spread across many physical + hosts. Open vSwitch is not a distributed vswitch itself, rather it + runs on each physical host and supports remote management in a way + that makes it easier for developers of virtualization/cloud + management platforms to offer distributed vswitch capabilities. + + To aid in distribution, Open vSwitch provides two open protocols that + are specially designed for remote management in virtualized network + environments: OpenFlow, which exposes flow-based forwarding state, + and the OVSDB management protocol, which exposes switch port state. + In addition to the switch implementation itself, Open vSwitch + includes tools (ovs-controller, ovs-ofctl, ovs-vsctl) that developers + can script and extend to provide distributed vswitch capabilities + that are closely integrated with their virtualization management + platform. + +Q: Why doesn't Open vSwitch support distribution? + +A: Open vSwitch is intended to be a useful component for building + flexible network infrastructure. There are many different approaches + to distribution which balance trade-offs between simplicity, + scalability, hardware compatibility, convergence times, logical + forwarding model, etc. The goal of Open vSwitch is to be able to + support all as a primitive building block rather than choose a + particular point in the distributed design space. + +Q: What does it mean for an Open vSwitch release to be "stable"? + +A: A stable Open vSwitch release is code that has been through a + comprehensive testing process and is suitable for production use. + Planned stable releases will occur several times a year. If a + significant bug is identified in a stable release, we will provide an + updated stable release that includes the fix. Developers looking to + test the latest Open vSwitch code can use an "unstable" release or + directly access the code via git. + +Q: How can I contribute to the Open vSwitch Community? + +A: You can start by joining the mailing lists and helping to answer + questions. You can also suggest improvements to documentation or offer + to write a configuration cookbook entry. + + If you have a feature or bug you would like to work on send a mail to + dev mailing list. + + Configuration Problems ---------------------- -- 2.30.2