+-------------------------------+ +-------------------------------+
</pre>
- <h3>Life Cycle of a VIF</h3>
+ <h2>Chassis Setup</h2>
+
+ <p>
+ Each chassis in an OVN deployment must be configured with an Open vSwitch
+ bridge dedicated for OVN's use, called the <dfn>integration bridge</dfn>.
+ System startup scripts create this bridge prior to starting
+ <code>ovn-controller</code>. The ports on the integration bridge include:
+ </p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ On any chassis, tunnel ports that OVN uses to maintain logical network
+ connectivity. <code>ovn-controller</code> adds, updates, and removes
+ these tunnel ports.
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ On a hypervisor, any VIFs that are to be attached to logical networks.
+ The hypervisor itself, or the integration between Open vSwitch and the
+ hypervisor (described in <code>IntegrationGuide.md</code>) takes care of
+ this. (This is not part of OVN or new to OVN; this is pre-existing
+ integration work that has already been done on hypervisors that support
+ OVS.)
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ On a gateway, the physical port used for logical network connectivity.
+ System startup scripts add this port to the bridge prior to starting
+ <code>ovn-controller</code>. This can be a patch port to another bridge,
+ instead of a physical port, in more sophisticated setups.
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>
+ Other ports should not be attached to the integration bridge. In
+ particular, physical ports attached to the underlay network (as opposed to
+ gateway ports, which are physical ports attached to logical networks) must
+ not be attached to the integration bridge. Underlay physical ports should
+ instead be attached to a separate Open vSwitch bridge (they need not be
+ attached to any bridge at all, in fact).
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The integration bridge must be configured with failure mode ``secure'' to
+ avoid switching packets between isolated logical networks before
+ <code>ovn-controller</code> starts up. See <code>Controller Failure
+ Settings</code> in <code>ovs-vsctl</code>(8) for more information.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The customary name for the integration bridge is <code>br-int</code>, but
+ another name may be used.
+ </p>
+
+ <h2>Life Cycle of a VIF</h2>
<p>
Tables and their schemas presented in isolation are difficult to