1 How to Install Open vSwitch on Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD
2 ========================================================
4 This document describes how to build and install Open vSwitch on a
5 generic Linux, FreeBSD, or NetBSD host. For specifics around installation
6 on a specific platform, please see one of these files:
11 - [INSTALL.XenServer.md]
13 - [INSTALL.Windows.md]
19 To compile the userspace programs in the Open vSwitch distribution,
20 you will need the following software:
24 - A C compiler, such as:
28 * Clang. Clang 3.4 and later provide useful static semantic
29 analysis and thread-safety checks. For Ubuntu, there are
30 nightly built packages available on clang's website.
32 * MSVC 2013. See [INSTALL.Windows] for additional Windows build
35 While OVS may be compatible with other compilers, optimal
36 support for atomic operations may be missing, making OVS very
37 slow (see lib/ovs-atomic.h).
39 - libssl, from OpenSSL, is optional but recommended if you plan to
40 connect the Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. libssl is
41 required to establish confidentiality and authenticity in the
42 connections from an Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. If
43 libssl is installed, then Open vSwitch will automatically build
46 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
48 - patch (The utility that is used to patch files).
50 On Linux, you may choose to compile the kernel module that comes with
51 the Open vSwitch distribution or to use the kernel module built into
52 the Linux kernel (version 3.3 or later). See the [FAQ.md] question
53 "What features are not available in the Open vSwitch kernel datapath that
54 ships as part of the upstream Linux kernel?" for more information on
55 this trade-off. You may also use the userspace-only implementation,
56 at some cost in features and performance (see [INSTALL.userspace.md]
57 for details). To compile the kernel module on Linux, you must also
58 install the following:
60 - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to [README.md] for a
61 list of supported versions.
63 The Open vSwitch datapath requires bridging support
64 (CONFIG_BRIDGE) to be built as a kernel module. (This is common
65 in kernels provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module
66 must not be loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running
67 (check with "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod
68 bridge") before starting the datapath.
70 For optional support of ingress policing, you must enable kernel
71 configuration options NET_CLS_BASIC, NET_SCH_INGRESS, and
72 NET_ACT_POLICE, either built-in or as modules. (NET_CLS_POLICE is
73 obsolete and not needed.)
75 To use GRE tunneling on Linux 2.6.37 or newer, kernel support
76 for GRE demultiplexing (CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_DEMUX) must be compiled
77 in or available as a module. Also, on kernels before 3.11, the
78 ip_gre module, for GRE tunnels over IP (NET_IPGRE), must not be
79 loaded or compiled in.
81 To configure HTB or HFSC quality of service with Open vSwitch,
82 you must enable the respective configuration options.
84 To use Open vSwitch support for TAP devices, you must enable
87 - To build a kernel module, you need the same version of GCC that
88 was used to build that kernel.
90 - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
91 the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
92 each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
93 corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
96 If you are working from a Git tree or snapshot (instead of from a
97 distribution tarball), or if you modify the Open vSwitch build system
98 or the database schema, you will also need the following software:
100 - Autoconf version 2.63 or later.
102 - Automake version 1.10 or later.
104 - libtool version 2.4 or later. (Older versions might work too.)
106 To run the unit tests, you also need:
108 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
111 The ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage will include an E-R diagram, in
112 formats other than plain text, only if you have the following:
114 - "dot" from graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org/).
116 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
119 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
121 If you are going to extensively modify Open vSwitch, please consider
122 installing the following to obtain better warnings:
124 - "sparse" version 0.4.4 or later
125 (http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/sparse/dist/).
129 - clang, version 3.4 or later
131 Also, you may find the ovs-dev script found in utilities/ovs-dev.py useful.
133 Installation Requirements
134 -------------------------
136 The machine on which Open vSwitch is to be installed must have the
139 - libc compatible with the libc used for build.
141 - libssl compatible with the libssl used for build, if OpenSSL was
144 - On Linux, the same kernel version configured as part of the build.
146 - For optional support of ingress policing on Linux, the "tc" program
147 from iproute2 (part of all major distributions and available at
148 http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Net:Iproute2).
150 On Linux you should ensure that /dev/urandom exists. To support TAP
151 devices, you must also ensure that /dev/net/tun exists.
153 Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD
154 =================================================================
156 Once you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in the
157 Base Prerequisites section, follow the procedures below to bootstrap,
158 to configure and to build the code.
160 Bootstrapping the Sources
161 -------------------------
163 This step is not needed if you have downloaded a released tarball.
164 If you pulled the sources directly from an Open vSwitch Git tree or
165 got a Git tree snapshot, then run boot.sh in the top source directory
166 to build the "configure" script.
171 Configuring the Sources
172 -----------------------
174 Configure the package by running the configure script. You can
175 usually invoke configure without any arguments. For example:
179 By default all files are installed under /usr/local. If you want
180 to install into, e.g., /usr and /var instead of /usr/local and
181 /usr/local/var, add options as shown here:
183 `% ./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var`
185 By default, static libraries are built and linked against. If you
186 want to use shared libraries instead:
188 % ./configure --enable-shared
190 To use a specific C compiler for compiling Open vSwitch user
191 programs, also specify it on the configure command line, like so:
193 `% ./configure CC=gcc-4.2`
195 To use 'clang' compiler:
197 `% ./configure CC=clang`
199 To supply special flags to the C compiler, specify them as CFLAGS on
200 the configure command line. If you want the default CFLAGS, which
201 include "-g" to build debug symbols and "-O2" to enable optimizations,
202 you must include them yourself. For example, to build with the
203 default CFLAGS plus "-mssse3", you might run configure as follows:
205 `% ./configure CFLAGS="-g -O2 -mssse3"`
207 To build the Linux kernel module, so that you can run the
208 kernel-based switch, pass the location of the kernel build
209 directory on --with-linux. For example, to build for a running
212 `% ./configure --with-linux=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build`
214 If --with-linux requests building for an unsupported version of
215 Linux, then "configure" will fail with an error message. Please
216 refer to the [FAQ.md] for advice in that case.
218 If you wish to build the kernel module for an architecture other
219 than the architecture of the machine used for the build, you may
220 specify the kernel architecture string using the KARCH variable
221 when invoking the configure script. For example, to build for MIPS
224 `% ./configure --with-linux=/path/to/linux KARCH=mips`
226 If you plan to do much Open vSwitch development, you might want to
227 add --enable-Werror, which adds the -Werror option to the compiler
228 command line, turning warnings into errors. That makes it
229 impossible to miss warnings generated by the build.
231 To build with gcov code coverage support, add --enable-coverage,
234 `% ./configure --enable-coverage`
236 The configure script accepts a number of other options and honors
237 additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
238 configure with the --help option.
240 You can also run configure from a separate build directory. This
241 is helpful if you want to build Open vSwitch in more than one way
242 from a single source directory, e.g. to try out both GCC and Clang
243 builds, or to build kernel modules for more than one Linux version.
246 `% mkdir _gcc && (cd _gcc && ../configure CC=gcc)`
247 `% mkdir _clang && (cd _clang && ../configure CC=clang)`
253 1. Run GNU make in the build directory, e.g.:
257 or if GNU make is installed as "gmake":
261 If you used a separate build directory, run make or gmake from that
267 For improved warnings if you installed "sparse" (see "Prerequisites"),
268 add C=1 to the command line.
270 Some versions of Clang and ccache are not completely compatible.
271 If you see unusual warnings when you use both together, consider
272 disabling ccache for use with Clang.
274 2. Consider running the testsuite. Refer to "Running the Testsuite"
275 below, for instructions.
277 3. Become root by running "su" or another program.
279 4. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
280 running system, by default under /usr/local.
282 5. If you built kernel modules, you may install and load them, e.g.:
284 `% make modules_install`
285 `% /sbin/modprobe openvswitch`
287 To verify that the modules have been loaded, run "/sbin/lsmod" and
288 check that openvswitch is listed.
290 If the `modprobe` operation fails, look at the last few kernel log
291 messages (e.g. with `dmesg | tail`):
293 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
294 br_should_route_hook (owned by bridge)" means that the bridge
295 module is loaded. Run `/sbin/rmmod bridge` to remove it.
297 If `/sbin/rmmod bridge` fails with "ERROR: Module bridge does
298 not exist in /proc/modules", then the bridge is compiled into
299 the kernel, rather than as a module. Open vSwitch does not
300 support this configuration (see "Build Requirements", above).
302 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
303 dp_ioctl_hook (owned by ofdatapath)" means that the ofdatapath
304 module from the OpenFlow reference implementation is loaded.
305 Run `/sbin/rmmod ofdatapath` to remove it. (You might have to
306 delete any existing datapaths beforehand, using the "dpctl"
307 program included with the OpenFlow reference implementation.
308 "ovs-dpctl" will not work.)
310 - Otherwise, the most likely problem is that Open vSwitch was
311 built for a kernel different from the one into which you are
312 trying to load it. Run `modinfo` on openvswitch.ko and on
313 a module built for the running kernel, e.g.:
316 % /sbin/modinfo openvswitch.ko
317 % /sbin/modinfo /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/bridge/bridge.ko
320 Compare the "vermagic" lines output by the two commands. If
321 they differ, then Open vSwitch was built for the wrong kernel.
323 - If you decide to report a bug or ask a question related to
324 module loading, please include the output from the `dmesg` and
325 `modinfo` commands mentioned above.
327 There is an optional module parameter to openvswitch.ko called
328 vlan_tso that enables TCP segmentation offload over VLANs on NICs
329 that support it. Many drivers do not expose support for TSO on VLANs
330 in a way that Open vSwitch can use but there is no way to detect
331 whether this is the case. If you know that your particular driver can
332 handle it (for example by testing sending large TCP packets over VLANs)
333 then passing in a value of 1 may improve performance. Modules built for
334 Linux kernels 2.6.37 and later, as well as specially patched versions
335 of earlier kernels, do not need this and do not have this parameter. If
336 you do not understand what this means or do not know if your driver
337 will work, do not set this.
339 6. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
341 `% mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvswitch`
342 `% ovsdb-tool create /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema`
347 Before starting ovs-vswitchd itself, you need to start its
348 configuration database, ovsdb-server. Each machine on which Open
349 vSwitch is installed should run its own copy of ovsdb-server.
350 Configure it to use the database you created during installation (as
351 explained above), to listen on a Unix domain socket, to connect to any
352 managers specified in the database itself, and to use the SSL
353 configuration in the database:
355 % ovsdb-server --remote=punix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock \
356 --remote=db:Open_vSwitch,Open_vSwitch,manager_options \
357 --private-key=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,private_key \
358 --certificate=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,certificate \
359 --bootstrap-ca-cert=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,ca_cert \
362 (If you built Open vSwitch without SSL support, then omit
363 --private-key, --certificate, and --bootstrap-ca-cert.)
365 Then initialize the database using ovs-vsctl. This is only
366 necessary the first time after you create the database with
367 ovsdb-tool (but running it at any time is harmless):
369 % ovs-vsctl --no-wait init
371 Then start the main Open vSwitch daemon, telling it to connect to the
372 same Unix domain socket:
374 % ovs-vswitchd --pidfile --detach
376 Now you may use ovs-vsctl to set up bridges and other Open vSwitch
377 features. For example, to create a bridge named br0 and add ports
378 eth0 and vif1.0 to it:
380 % ovs-vsctl add-br br0
381 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0
382 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vif1.0
384 Please refer to ovs-vsctl(8) for more details.
389 When you upgrade Open vSwitch from one version to another, you should
390 also upgrade the database schema:
392 1. Stop the Open vSwitch daemons, e.g.:
395 % kill `cd /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch && cat ovsdb-server.pid ovs-vswitchd.pid`
398 2. Install the new Open vSwitch release.
400 3. Upgrade the database, in one of the following two ways:
402 - If there is no important data in your database, then you may
403 delete the database file and recreate it with ovsdb-tool,
404 following the instructions under "Building and Installing Open
405 vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD".
407 - If you want to preserve the contents of your database, back it
408 up first, then use "ovsdb-tool convert" to upgrade it, e.g.:
410 `% ovsdb-tool convert /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema`
412 4. Start the Open vSwitch daemons as described under "Building and
413 Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above.
417 Upgrading Open vSwitch from one version to the next version with minimum
418 disruption of traffic going through the system that is using that Open vSwitch
419 needs some considerations:
421 1. If the upgrade only involves upgrading the userspace utilities and daemons
422 of Open vSwitch, make sure that the new userspace version is compatible with
423 the previously loaded kernel module.
425 2. An upgrade of userspace daemons means that they have to be restarted.
426 Restarting the daemons means that the OpenFlow flows in the ovs-vswitchd daemon
427 will be lost. One way to restore the flows is to let the controller
428 re-populate it. Another way is to save the previous flows using a utility
429 like ovs-ofctl and then re-add them after the restart. Restoring the old flows
430 is accurate only if the new Open vSwitch interfaces retain the old 'ofport'
433 3. When the new userspace daemons get restarted, they automatically flush
434 the old flows setup in the kernel. This can be expensive if there are hundreds
435 of new flows that are entering the kernel but userspace daemons are busy
436 setting up new userspace flows from either the controller or an utility like
437 ovs-ofctl. Open vSwitch database provides an option to solve this problem
438 through the other_config:flow-restore-wait column of the Open_vSwitch table.
439 Refer to the ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage for details.
441 4. If the upgrade also involves upgrading the kernel module, the old kernel
442 module needs to be unloaded and the new kernel module should be loaded. This
443 means that the kernel network devices belonging to Open vSwitch is recreated
444 and the kernel flows are lost. The downtime of the traffic can be reduced
445 if the userspace daemons are restarted immediately and the userspace flows
446 are restored as soon as possible.
448 The ovs-ctl utility's "restart" function only restarts the userspace daemons,
449 makes sure that the 'ofport' values remain consistent across restarts, restores
450 userspace flows using the ovs-ofctl utility and also uses the
451 other_config:flow-restore-wait column to keep the traffic downtime to the
452 minimum. The ovs-ctl utility's "force-reload-kmod" function does all of the
453 above, but also replaces the old kernel module with the new one. Open vSwitch
454 startup scripts for Debian, XenServer and RHEL use ovs-ctl's functions and it
455 is recommended that these functions be used for other software platforms too.
460 This section describe Open vSwitch's built-in support for various test
461 suites. You must bootstrap, configure and build Open vSwitch (steps are
462 in "Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD"
463 above) before you run the tests described here. You do not need to
464 install Open vSwitch or to build or load the kernel module to run
465 these test suites. You do not need supervisor privilege to run these
471 Open vSwitch includes a suite of self-tests. Before you submit patches
472 upstream, we advise that you run the tests and ensure that they pass.
473 If you add new features to Open vSwitch, then adding tests for those
474 features will ensure your features don't break as developers modify
475 other areas of Open vSwitch.
477 Refer to "Testsuites" above for prerequisites.
479 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, one at a time:
481 This takes under 5 minutes on a modern desktop system.
483 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, up to 8 in parallel:
484 `make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j8`
485 This takes under a minute on a modern 4-core desktop system.
487 To see a list of all the available tests, run:
488 `make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--list`
490 To run only a subset of tests, e.g. test 123 and tests 477 through 484:
491 `make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='123 477-484'`
492 (Tests do not have inter-dependencies, so you may run any subset.)
494 To run tests matching a keyword, e.g. "ovsdb":
495 `make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-k ovsdb'`
497 To see a complete list of test options:
498 `make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--help`
500 The results of a testing run are reported in tests/testsuite.log.
501 Please report test failures as bugs and include the testsuite.log in
504 If you have "valgrind" installed, then you can also run the testsuite
505 under valgrind by using "make check-valgrind" in place of "make
506 check". All the same options are available via TESTSUITEFLAGS. When
507 you do this, the "valgrind" results for test `<N>` are reported in files
508 named `tests/testsuite.dir/<N>/valgrind.*`. You may find that the
509 valgrind results are easier to interpret if you put "-q" in
510 ~/.valgrindrc, since that reduces the amount of output.
512 Sometimes a few tests may fail on some runs but not others. This is
513 usually a bug in the testsuite, not a bug in Open vSwitch itself. If
514 you find that a test fails intermittently, please report it, since the
515 developers may not have noticed.
520 OFTest is an OpenFlow protocol testing suite. Open vSwitch includes a
521 Makefile target to run OFTest with Open vSwitch in "dummy mode". In
522 this mode of testing, no packets travel across physical or virtual
523 networks. Instead, Unix domain sockets stand in as simulated
524 networks. This simulation is imperfect, but it is much easier to set
525 up, does not require extra physical or virtual hardware, and does not
526 require supervisor privileges.
528 To run OFTest with Open vSwitch, first read and follow the
529 instructions under "Testsuites" above. Second, obtain a copy of
530 OFTest and install its prerequisites. You need a copy of OFTest that
531 includes commit 406614846c5 (make ovs-dummy platform work again).
532 This commit was merged into the OFTest repository on Feb 1, 2013, so
533 any copy of OFTest more recent than that should work. Testing OVS in
534 dummy mode does not require root privilege, so you may ignore that
537 Optionally, add the top-level OFTest directory (containing the "oft"
538 program) to your $PATH. This slightly simplifies running OFTest later.
540 To run OFTest in dummy mode, run the following command from your Open
541 vSwitch build directory:
542 `make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary>`
543 where `<oft-binary>` is the absolute path to the "oft" program in
546 If you added "oft" to your $PATH, you may omit the OFT variable
549 By default, "check-oftest" passes "oft" just enough options to enable
550 dummy mode. You can use OFTFLAGS to pass additional options. For
551 example, to run just the basic.Echo test instead of all tests (the
552 default) and enable verbose logging:
553 `make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary> OFTFLAGS='--verbose -T basic.Echo'`
555 If you use OFTest that does not include commit 4d1f3eb2c792 (oft:
556 change default port to 6653), merged into the OFTest repository in
557 October 2013, then you need to add an option to use the IETF-assigned
559 `make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary> OFTFLAGS='--port=6653'`
561 Please interpret OFTest results cautiously. Open vSwitch can fail a
562 given test in OFTest for many reasons, including bugs in Open vSwitch,
563 bugs in OFTest, bugs in the "dummy mode" integration, and differing
564 interpretations of the OpenFlow standard and other standards.
566 Open vSwitch has not been validated against OFTest. Please do report
567 test failures that you believe to represent bugs in Open vSwitch.
568 Include the precise versions of Open vSwitch and OFTest in your bug
569 report, plus any other information needed to reproduce the problem.
574 Ryu is an OpenFlow controller written in Python that includes an
575 extensive OpenFlow testsuite. Open vSwitch includes a Makefile target
576 to run Ryu in "dummy mode". See "OFTest" above for an explanation of
579 To run Ryu tests with Open vSwitch, first read and follow the
580 instructions under "Testsuites" above. Second, obtain a copy of Ryu,
581 install its prerequisites, and build it. You do not need to install
582 Ryu (some of the tests do not get installed, so it does not help).
584 To run Ryu tests, run the following command from your Open vSwitch
586 `make check-ryu RYUDIR=<ryu-source-dir>`
587 where `<ryu-source-dir>` is the absolute path to the root of the Ryu
588 source distribution. The default `<ryu-source-dir>` is `$srcdir/../ryu`
589 where $srcdir is your Open vSwitch source directory, so if this
590 default is correct then you make simply run `make check-ryu`.
592 Open vSwitch has not been validated against Ryu. Please do report
593 test failures that you believe to represent bugs in Open vSwitch.
594 Include the precise versions of Open vSwitch and Ryu in your bug
595 report, plus any other information needed to reproduce the problem.
600 Requires: Vagrant (version 1.7.0 or later) and a compatible hypervisor
602 You must bootstrap and configure the sources (steps are in "Building
603 and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above) before
604 you run the steps described here.
606 A Vagrantfile is provided allowing to compile and provision the source
607 tree as found locally in a virtual machine using the following commands:
612 This will bring up w Fedora 20 VM by default, alternatively the
613 `Vagrantfile` can be modified to use a different distribution box as
614 base. Also, the VM can be reprovisioned at any time:
618 OVS out-of-tree compilation environment can be set up with:
621 vagrant provision --provision-with configure_ovs,build_ovs
623 This will set up an out-of-tree build environment in /home/vagrant/build.
624 The source code can be found in /vagrant. Out-of-tree build is preferred
625 to work around limitations of the sync file systems.
627 To recompile and reinstall OVS using RPM:
630 vagrant provision --provision-with configure_ovs,install_rpm
632 Continuous Integration with Travis-CI
633 -------------------------------------
635 A .travis.yml file is provided to automatically build Open vSwitch with
636 various build configurations and run the testsuite using travis-ci.
637 Builds will be performed with gcc, sparse and clang with the -Werror
638 compiler flag included, therefore the build will fail if a new warning
641 The CI build is triggered via git push (regardless of the specific
642 branch) or pull request against any Open vSwitch GitHub repository that
643 is linked to travis-ci.
645 Instructions to setup travis-ci for your GitHub repository:
647 1. Go to http://travis-ci.org/ and sign in using your GitHub ID.
648 2. Go to the "Repositories" tab and enable the ovs repository. You
649 may disable builds for pushes or pull requests.
650 3. In order to avoid forks sending build failures to the upstream
651 mailing list, the notification email recipient is encrypted. If you
652 want to receive email notification for build failures, replace the
653 the encrypted string:
654 3.1) Install the travis-ci CLI (Requires ruby >=2.0):
656 3.2) In your Open vSwitch repository:
657 travis encrypt mylist@mydomain.org
658 3.3) Add/replace the notifications section in .travis.yml and fill
659 in the secure string as returned by travis encrypt:
666 (You may remove/omit the notifications section to fall back to
667 default notification behaviour which is to send an email directly
668 to the author and committer of the failing commit. Note that the
669 email is only sent if the author/committer have commit rights for
670 the particular GitHub repository).
672 4. Pushing a commit to the repository which breaks the build or the
673 testsuite will now trigger a email sent to mylist@mydomain.org
678 Please report problems to bugs@openvswitch.org.
680 [README.md]:README.md
681 [INSTALL.Debian.md]:INSTALL.Debian.md
682 [INSTALL.Fedora.md]:INSTALL.Fedora.md
683 [INSTALL.RHEL.md]:INSTALL.RHEL.md
684 [INSTALL.XenServer.md]:INSTALL.XenServer.md
685 [INSTALL.NetBSD.md]:INSTALL.NetBSD.md
686 [INSTALL.DPDK.md]:INSTALL.DPDK.md
687 [INSTALL.userspace.md]:INSTALL.userspace.md