1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2 <database name="ovn-nb" title="OVN Northbound Database">
4 This database is the interface between OVN and the cloud management system
5 (CMS), such as OpenStack, running above it. The CMS produces almost all of
6 the contents of the database. The <code>ovn-northd</code> program
7 monitors the database contents, transforms it, and stores it into the <ref
8 db="OVN_Southbound"/> database.
12 We generally speak of ``the'' CMS, but one can imagine scenarios in
13 which multiple CMSes manage different parts of an OVN deployment.
19 Each of the tables in this database contains a special column, named
20 <code>external_ids</code>. This column has the same form and purpose each
25 <dt><code>external_ids</code>: map of string-string pairs</dt>
27 Key-value pairs for use by the CMS. The CMS might use certain pairs, for
28 example, to identify entities in its own configuration that correspond to
29 those in this database.
33 <table name="Logical_Switch" title="L2 logical switch">
35 Each row represents one L2 logical switch.
40 A name for the logical switch. This name has no special meaning or purpose
41 other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb
42 database. There is no requirement for the name to be unique. The
43 logical switch's UUID should be used as the unique identifier.
49 The logical ports connected to the logical switch.
53 It is an error for multiple logical switches to include the same
59 Access control rules that apply to packets within the logical switch.
62 <group title="Common Columns">
63 <column name="external_ids">
64 See <em>External IDs</em> at the beginning of this document.
69 <table name="Logical_Port" title="L2 logical switch port">
71 A port within an L2 logical switch.
74 <group title="Core Features">
77 The logical port name.
81 For entities (VMs or containers) that are spawned in the hypervisor,
82 the name used here must match those used in the <ref key="iface-id"
83 table="Interface" column="external_ids" db="Open_vSwitch"/> in the
84 <ref db="Open_vSwitch"/> database's <ref table="Interface"
85 db="Open_vSwitch"/> table, because hypervisors use <ref key="iface-id"
86 table="Interface" column="external_ids" db="Open_vSwitch"/> as a lookup
87 key to identify the network interface of that entity.
91 For containers that share a VIF within a VM, the name can be any
92 unique identifier. See <code>Containers</code>, below, for more
99 Specify a type for this logical port. Logical ports can be used to
100 model other types of connectivity into an OVN logical switch. The
101 following types are defined:
105 <dt>(empty string)</dt>
107 A VM (or VIF) interface.
110 <dt><code>router</code></dt>
112 A connection to a logical router.
115 <dt><code>localnet</code></dt>
117 A connection to a locally accessible network from each
118 <code>ovn-controller</code> instance. A logical switch can only
119 have a single <code>localnet</code> port attached and at most one
120 regular logical port. This is used to model direct connectivity to
124 <dt><code>vtep</code></dt>
126 A port to a logical switch on a VTEP gateway.
132 <group title="Options">
133 <column name="options">
134 This column provides key/value settings specific to the logical port
135 <ref column="type"/>. The type-specific options are described
139 <group title="Options for router ports">
141 These options apply when <ref column="type"/> is <code>router</code>.
145 If a given logical switch has multiple <code>router</code> ports, the
146 <ref table="Logical_Router_Port"/> rows that they reference must be
147 all on the same <ref table="Logical_Router"/> (for different
151 <column name="options" key="router-port" type='{"type": "uuid"}'>
152 Required. The UUID of the <ref table="Logical_Router_Port"/> to
153 which this logical switch port is connected.
157 <group title="Options for localnet ports">
159 These options apply when <ref column="type"/> is
160 <code>localnet</code>.
163 <column name="options" key="network_name">
164 Required. The name of the network to which the <code>localnet</code>
165 port is connected. Each hypervisor, via <code>ovn-controller</code>,
166 uses its local configuration to determine exactly how to connect to
167 this locally accessible network.
171 <group title="Options for vtep ports">
173 These options apply when <ref column="type"/> is <code>vtep</code>.
176 <column name="options" key="vtep-physical-switch">
177 Required. The name of the VTEP gateway.
180 <column name="options" key="vtep-logical-switch">
181 Required. A logical switch name connected by the VTEP gateway.
186 <group title="Containers">
188 When a large number of containers are nested within a VM, it may be too
189 expensive to dedicate a VIF to each container. OVN can use VLAN tags
190 to support such cases. Each container is assigned a VLAN ID and each
191 packet that passes between the hypervisor and the VM is tagged with the
192 appropriate ID for the container. Such VLAN IDs never appear on a
193 physical wire, even inside a tunnel, so they need not be unique except
194 relative to a single VM on a hypervisor.
198 These columns are used for VIFs that represent nested containers using
199 shared VIFs. For VMs and for containers that have dedicated VIFs, they
203 <column name="parent_name">
204 The VM interface through which the nested container sends its network
205 traffic. This must match the <ref column="name"/> column for some
206 other <ref table="Logical_Port"/>.
211 The VLAN tag in the network traffic associated with a container's
216 When <ref column="type"/> is set to <code>localnet</code>, this can
217 be set to indicate that the port represents a connection to a
218 specific VLAN on a locally accessible network. The VLAN ID is used to
219 match incoming traffic and is also added to outgoing traffic.
224 <group title="Port State">
226 This column is populated by <code>ovn-northd</code>, rather than by the
227 CMS plugin as is most of this database. When a logical port is bound
228 to a physical location in the OVN Southbound database <ref
229 db="OVN_Southbound" table="Binding"/> table, <code>ovn-northd</code>
230 sets this column to <code>true</code>; otherwise, or if the port
231 becomes unbound later, it sets it to <code>false</code>. This allows
232 the CMS to wait for a VM's (or container's) networking to become active
233 before it allows the VM (or container) to start.
236 <column name="enabled">
237 This column is used to administratively set port state. If this column
238 is empty or is set to <code>true</code>, the port is enabled. If this
239 column is set to <code>false</code>, the port is disabled. A disabled
240 port has all ingress and egress traffic dropped.
245 <group title="Addressing">
246 <column name="addresses">
248 Addresses owned by the logical port.
252 Each element in the set must take one of the following forms:
256 <dt><code><var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var></code></dt>
259 An Ethernet address owned by the logical port. Like a physical
260 Ethernet NIC, a logical port ordinarily has a single fixed
265 When a OVN logical switch processes a unicast Ethernet frame
266 whose destination MAC address is in a logical port's <ref
267 column="addresses"/> column, it delivers it only to that port, as
268 if a MAC learning process had learned that MAC address on the
273 <dt><code><var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var> <var>a</var>.<var>b</var>.<var>c</var>.<var>d</var></code></dt>
276 This form has all the effects of the previous form. It also
277 indicates that the logical port owns the given IPv4 address.
281 The OVN logical switch uses this information to synthesize
282 responses to ARP requests without traversing the physical
283 network. The OVN logical router connected to the logical switch,
284 if any, uses this information to avoid issuing ARP requests for
285 logical switch ports.
289 <dt><code>unknown</code></dt>
291 This indicates that the logical port has an unknown set of Ethernet
292 addresses. When an OVN logical switch processes a unicast Ethernet
293 frame whose destination MAC address is not in any logical port's
294 <ref column="addresses"/> column, it delivers it to the port (or
295 ports) whose <ref column="addresses"/> columns include
296 <code>unknown</code>.
301 <column name="port_security">
303 A set of L2 (Ethernet) addresses from which the logical port is
304 allowed to send packets and to which it is allowed to receive
305 packets. If this column is empty, all addresses are permitted.
306 Logical ports are always allowed to receive packets addressed to
307 multicast and broadcast addresses.
311 Each member of the set is an Ethernet address in the form
312 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
316 This specification will be extended to support L3 port security.
321 <group title="Common Columns">
322 <column name="external_ids">
323 See <em>External IDs</em> at the beginning of this document.
328 <table name="ACL" title="Access Control List (ACL) rule">
330 Each row in this table represents one ACL rule for a logical switch
331 that points to it through its <ref column="acls"/> column. The <ref
332 column="action"/> column for the highest-<ref column="priority"/>
333 matching row in this table determines a packet's treatment. If no row
334 matches, packets are allowed by default. (Default-deny treatment is
335 possible: add a rule with <ref column="priority"/> 0, <code>0</code> as
336 <ref column="match"/>, and <code>deny</code> as <ref column="action"/>.)
339 <column name="priority">
341 The ACL rule's priority. Rules with numerically higher priority
342 take precedence over those with lower. If two ACL rules with
343 the same priority both match, then the one actually applied to a
348 Return traffic from an <code>allow-related</code> flow is always
349 allowed and cannot be changed through an ACL.
353 <column name="direction">
354 <p>Direction of the traffic to which this rule should apply:</p>
357 <code>from-lport</code>: Used to implement filters on traffic
358 arriving from a logical port. These rules are applied to the
359 logical switch's ingress pipeline.
362 <code>to-lport</code>: Used to implement filters on traffic
363 forwarded to a logical port. These rules are applied to the
364 logical switch's egress pipeline.
369 <column name="match">
371 The packets that the ACL should match, in the same expression
372 language used for the <ref column="match" table="Logical_Flow"
373 db="OVN_Southbound"/> column in the OVN Southbound database's
374 <ref table="Logical_Flow" db="OVN_Southbound"/> table. The
375 <code>outport</code> logical port is only available in the
376 <code>to-lport</code> direction (the <code>inport</code> is
377 available in both directions).
381 By default all traffic is allowed. When writing a more
382 restrictive policy, it is important to remember to allow flows
383 such as ARP and IPv6 neighbor discovery packets.
387 <column name="action">
388 <p>The action to take when the ACL rule matches:</p>
391 <code>allow</code>: Forward the packet.
395 <code>allow-related</code>: Forward the packet and related traffic
396 (e.g. inbound replies to an outbound connection).
400 <code>drop</code>: Silently drop the packet.
404 <code>reject</code>: Drop the packet, replying with a RST for TCP or
405 ICMP unreachable message for other IP-based protocols.
406 <code>Not implemented--currently treated as drop</code>
413 If set to <code>true</code>, packets that match the ACL will trigger a
414 log message on the transport node or nodes that perform ACL processing.
415 Logging may be combined with any <ref column="action"/>.
419 Logging is not yet implemented.
423 <group title="Common Columns">
424 <column name="external_ids">
425 See <em>External IDs</em> at the beginning of this document.
430 <table name="Logical_Router" title="L3 logical router">
432 Each row represents one L3 logical router.
437 A name for the logical router. This name has no special meaning or purpose
438 other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb
439 database. There is no requirement for the name to be unique. The
440 logical router's UUID should be used as the unique identifier.
444 <column name="ports">
448 <column name="default_gw">
449 IP address to use as default gateway, if any.
452 <group title="Common Columns">
453 <column name="external_ids">
454 See <em>External IDs</em> at the beginning of this document.
459 <table name="Logical_Router_Port" title="L3 logical router port">
461 A port within an L3 logical router.
465 Exactly one <ref table="Logical_Router"/> row must reference a given
471 A name for the logical router port. This name has no special meaning or purpose
472 other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb
473 database. There is no requirement for the name to be unique. The
474 logical router port's UUID should be used as the unique identifier.
478 <column name="network">
479 The IP address of the router and the netmask. For example,
480 <code>192.168.0.1/24</code> indicates that the router's IP address is
481 192.168.0.1 and that packets destined to 192.168.0.<var>x</var> should be
486 The Ethernet address that belongs to this router port.
489 <column name="enabled">
490 This column is used to administratively set port state. If this column
491 is empty or is set to <code>true</code>, the port is enabled. If this
492 column is set to <code>false</code>, the port is disabled. A disabled
493 port has all ingress and egress traffic dropped.
496 <group title="Attachment">
498 A given router port serves one of two purposes:
503 To attach a logical switch to a logical router. A logical router
504 port of this type is referenced by exactly one <ref
505 table="Logical_Port"/> of type <code>router</code>. The <ref
506 column="peer"/> column is empty.
510 To connect one logical router to another. This requires a pair of
511 logical router ports, each connected to a different router. Each
512 router port in the pair specifies the other in its <ref
513 column="peer"/> column. No <ref table="Logical_Switch"/> refers to
520 For a router port used to connect two logical routers, this
521 identifies the other router port in the pair.
525 For a router port attached to a logical switch, this column is empty.
530 <group title="Common Columns">
531 <column name="external_ids">
532 See <em>External IDs</em> at the beginning of this document.