1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2 <database title="Open vSwitch Configuration Database">
4 A database with this schema holds the configuration for one Open
5 vSwitch daemon. The top-level configuration for the daemon is the
6 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table, which must have exactly one
7 record. Records in other tables are significant only when they
8 can be reached directly or indirectly from the <ref
9 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table. Records that are not reachable from
10 the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table are automatically deleted
11 from the database, except for records in a few distinguished
15 <h2>Common Columns</h2>
18 Most tables contain two special columns, named <code>other_config</code>
19 and <code>external_ids</code>. These columns have the same form and
20 purpose each place that they appear, so we describe them here to save space
25 <dt><code>other_config</code>: map of string-string pairs</dt>
28 Key-value pairs for configuring rarely used features. Supported keys,
29 along with the forms taken by their values, are documented individually
33 A few tables do not have <code>other_config</code> columns because no
34 key-value pairs have yet been defined for them.
38 <dt><code>external_ids</code>: map of string-string pairs</dt>
40 Key-value pairs for use by external frameworks that integrate with Open
41 vSwitch, rather than by Open vSwitch itself. System integrators should
42 either use the Open vSwitch development mailing list to coordinate on
43 common key-value definitions, or choose key names that are likely to be
44 unique. In some cases, where key-value pairs have been defined that are
45 likely to be widely useful, they are documented individually for each
50 <table name="Open_vSwitch" title="Open vSwitch configuration.">
51 Configuration for an Open vSwitch daemon. There must be exactly
52 one record in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table.
54 <group title="Configuration">
55 <column name="bridges">
56 Set of bridges managed by the daemon.
60 SSL used globally by the daemon.
63 <column name="external_ids" key="system-id">
64 A unique identifier for the Open vSwitch's physical host.
65 The form of the identifier depends on the type of the host.
66 On a Citrix XenServer, this will likely be the same as
67 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-system-uuid"/>.
70 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-system-uuid">
71 The Citrix XenServer universally unique identifier for the physical
72 host as displayed by <code>xe host-list</code>.
75 <column name="other_config" key="stats-update-interval"
76 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 5000}'>
78 Interval for updating statistics to the database, in milliseconds.
79 This option will affect the update of the <code>statistics</code>
80 column in the following tables: <code>Port</code>, <code>Interface
81 </code>, <code>Mirror</code>.
84 Default value is 5000 ms.
87 Getting statistics more frequently can be achieved via OpenFlow.
91 <column name="other_config" key="flow-restore-wait"
92 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
94 When <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> starts up, it has an empty flow table
95 and therefore it handles all arriving packets in its default fashion
96 according to its configuration, by dropping them or sending them to
97 an OpenFlow controller or switching them as a standalone switch.
98 This behavior is ordinarily desirable. However, if
99 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is restarting as part of a ``hot-upgrade,''
100 then this leads to a relatively long period during which packets are
104 This option allows for improvement. When <code>ovs-vswitchd</code>
105 starts with this value set as <code>true</code>, it will neither
106 flush or expire previously set datapath flows nor will it send and
107 receive any packets to or from the datapath. When this value is
108 later set to <code>false</code>, <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> will
109 start receiving packets from the datapath and re-setup the flows.
112 Thus, with this option, the procedure for a hot-upgrade of
113 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> becomes roughly the following:
117 Stop <code>ovs-vswitchd</code>.
120 Set <ref column="other_config" key="flow-restore-wait"/>
121 to <code>true</code>.
124 Start <code>ovs-vswitchd</code>.
127 Use <code>ovs-ofctl</code> (or some other program, such as an
128 OpenFlow controller) to restore the OpenFlow flow table
129 to the desired state.
132 Set <ref column="other_config" key="flow-restore-wait"/>
133 to <code>false</code> (or remove it entirely from the database).
137 The <code>ovs-ctl</code>'s ``restart'' and ``force-reload-kmod''
138 functions use the above config option during hot upgrades.
142 <column name="other_config" key="flow-limit"
143 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
146 number of flows allowed in the datapath flow table. Internally OVS
147 will choose a flow limit which will likely be lower than this number,
148 based on real time network conditions.
151 The default is 200000.
155 <column name="other_config" key="n-dpdk-rxqs"
156 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
158 Specifies the number of rx queues to be created for each dpdk
159 interface. If not specified or specified to 0, one rx queue will
160 be created for each dpdk interface by default.
164 <column name="other_config" key="pmd-cpu-mask">
166 Specifies CPU mask for setting the cpu affinity of PMD (Poll
167 Mode Driver) threads. Value should be in the form of hex string,
168 similar to the dpdk EAL '-c COREMASK' option input or the 'taskset'
172 The lowest order bit corresponds to the first CPU core. A set bit
173 means the corresponding core is available and a pmd thread will be
174 created and pinned to it. If the input does not cover all cores,
175 those uncovered cores are considered not set.
178 If not specified, one pmd thread will be created for each numa node
179 and pinned to any available core on the numa node by default.
183 <column name="other_config" key="n-handler-threads"
184 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
186 Specifies the number of threads for software datapaths to use for
187 handling new flows. The default the number of online CPU cores minus
188 the number of revalidators.
191 This configuration is per datapath. If you have more than one
192 software datapath (e.g. some <code>system</code> bridges and some
193 <code>netdev</code> bridges), then the total number of threads is
194 <code>n-handler-threads</code> times the number of software
199 <column name="other_config" key="n-revalidator-threads"
200 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
202 Specifies the number of threads for software datapaths to use for
203 revalidating flows in the datapath. Typically, there is a direct
204 correlation between the number of revalidator threads, and the number
205 of flows allowed in the datapath. The default is the number of cpu
206 cores divided by four plus one. If <code>n-handler-threads</code> is
207 set, the default changes to the number of cpu cores minus the number
211 This configuration is per datapath. If you have more than one
212 software datapath (e.g. some <code>system</code> bridges and some
213 <code>netdev</code> bridges), then the total number of threads is
214 <code>n-handler-threads</code> times the number of software
220 <group title="Status">
221 <column name="next_cfg">
222 Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies
223 any part of the database configuration and wishes to wait for
224 Open vSwitch to finish applying the changes, it may increment
225 this sequence number.
228 <column name="cur_cfg">
229 Sequence number that Open vSwitch sets to the current value of
230 <ref column="next_cfg"/> after it finishes applying a set of
231 configuration changes.
234 <group title="Statistics">
236 The <code>statistics</code> column contains key-value pairs that
237 report statistics about a system running an Open vSwitch. These are
238 updated periodically (currently, every 5 seconds). Key-value pairs
239 that cannot be determined or that do not apply to a platform are
243 <column name="other_config" key="enable-statistics"
244 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
245 Statistics are disabled by default to avoid overhead in the common
246 case when statistics gathering is not useful. Set this value to
247 <code>true</code> to enable populating the <ref column="statistics"/>
248 column or to <code>false</code> to explicitly disable it.
251 <column name="statistics" key="cpu"
252 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
254 Number of CPU processors, threads, or cores currently online and
255 available to the operating system on which Open vSwitch is running,
256 as an integer. This may be less than the number installed, if some
257 are not online or if they are not available to the operating
261 Open vSwitch userspace processes are not multithreaded, but the
262 Linux kernel-based datapath is.
266 <column name="statistics" key="load_average">
267 A comma-separated list of three floating-point numbers,
268 representing the system load average over the last 1, 5, and 15
269 minutes, respectively.
272 <column name="statistics" key="memory">
274 A comma-separated list of integers, each of which represents a
275 quantity of memory in kilobytes that describes the operating
276 system on which Open vSwitch is running. In respective order,
281 <li>Total amount of RAM allocated to the OS.</li>
282 <li>RAM allocated to the OS that is in use.</li>
283 <li>RAM that can be flushed out to disk or otherwise discarded
284 if that space is needed for another purpose. This number is
285 necessarily less than or equal to the previous value.</li>
286 <li>Total disk space allocated for swap.</li>
287 <li>Swap space currently in use.</li>
291 On Linux, all five values can be determined and are included. On
292 other operating systems, only the first two values can be
293 determined, so the list will only have two values.
297 <column name="statistics" key="process_NAME">
299 One such key-value pair, with <code>NAME</code> replaced by
300 a process name, will exist for each running Open vSwitch
301 daemon process, with <var>name</var> replaced by the
302 daemon's name (e.g. <code>process_ovs-vswitchd</code>). The
303 value is a comma-separated list of integers. The integers
304 represent the following, with memory measured in kilobytes
305 and durations in milliseconds:
309 <li>The process's virtual memory size.</li>
310 <li>The process's resident set size.</li>
311 <li>The amount of user and system CPU time consumed by the
313 <li>The number of times that the process has crashed and been
314 automatically restarted by the monitor.</li>
315 <li>The duration since the process was started.</li>
316 <li>The duration for which the process has been running.</li>
320 The interpretation of some of these values depends on whether the
321 process was started with the <option>--monitor</option>. If it
322 was not, then the crash count will always be 0 and the two
323 durations will always be the same. If <option>--monitor</option>
324 was given, then the crash count may be positive; if it is, the
325 latter duration is the amount of time since the most recent crash
330 There will be one key-value pair for each file in Open vSwitch's
331 ``run directory'' (usually <code>/var/run/openvswitch</code>)
332 whose name ends in <code>.pid</code>, whose contents are a
333 process ID, and which is locked by a running process. The
334 <var>name</var> is taken from the pidfile's name.
338 Currently Open vSwitch is only able to obtain all of the above
339 detail on Linux systems. On other systems, the same key-value
340 pairs will be present but the values will always be the empty
345 <column name="statistics" key="file_systems">
347 A space-separated list of information on local, writable file
348 systems. Each item in the list describes one file system and
349 consists in turn of a comma-separated list of the following:
353 <li>Mount point, e.g. <code>/</code> or <code>/var/log</code>.
354 Any spaces or commas in the mount point are replaced by
356 <li>Total size, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
357 <li>Amount of storage in use, in kilobytes, as an integer.</li>
361 This key-value pair is omitted if there are no local, writable
362 file systems or if Open vSwitch cannot obtain the needed
369 <group title="Version Reporting">
371 These columns report the types and versions of the hardware and
372 software running Open vSwitch. We recommend in general that software
373 should test whether specific features are supported instead of relying
374 on version number checks. These values are primarily intended for
375 reporting to human administrators.
378 <column name="ovs_version">
379 The Open vSwitch version number, e.g. <code>1.1.0</code>.
382 <column name="db_version">
384 The database schema version number in the form
385 <code><var>major</var>.<var>minor</var>.<var>tweak</var></code>,
386 e.g. <code>1.2.3</code>. Whenever the database schema is changed in
387 a non-backward compatible way (e.g. deleting a column or a table),
388 <var>major</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
389 in a backward compatible way (e.g. adding a new column),
390 <var>minor</var> is incremented. When the database schema is changed
391 cosmetically (e.g. reindenting its syntax), <var>tweak</var> is
396 The schema version is part of the database schema, so it can also be
397 retrieved by fetching the schema using the Open vSwitch database
402 <column name="system_type">
404 An identifier for the type of system on top of which Open vSwitch
405 runs, e.g. <code>XenServer</code> or <code>KVM</code>.
408 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
409 appropriate value for this column.
413 <column name="system_version">
415 The version of the system identified by <ref column="system_type"/>,
416 e.g. <code>5.6.100-39265p</code> on XenServer 5.6.100 build 39265.
419 System integrators are responsible for choosing and setting an
420 appropriate value for this column.
426 <group title="Database Configuration">
428 These columns primarily configure the Open vSwitch database
429 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
430 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The OVSDB database also uses the <ref
431 column="ssl"/> settings.
435 The Open vSwitch switch does read the database configuration to
436 determine remote IP addresses to which in-band control should apply.
439 <column name="manager_options">
440 Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should
441 connect or to which it should listen, along with options for how these
442 connection should be configured. See the <ref table="Manager"/> table
443 for more information.
447 <group title="Common Columns">
448 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
449 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
451 <column name="other_config"/>
452 <column name="external_ids"/>
456 <table name="Bridge">
458 Configuration for a bridge within an
459 <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>.
462 A <ref table="Bridge"/> record represents an Ethernet switch with one or
463 more ``ports,'' which are the <ref table="Port"/> records pointed to by
464 the <ref table="Bridge"/>'s <ref column="ports"/> column.
467 <group title="Core Features">
469 Bridge identifier. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
470 bytes long. Must be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and
474 <column name="ports">
475 Ports included in the bridge.
478 <column name="mirrors">
479 Port mirroring configuration.
482 <column name="netflow">
483 NetFlow configuration.
486 <column name="sflow">
487 sFlow(R) configuration.
490 <column name="ipfix">
494 <column name="flood_vlans">
496 VLAN IDs of VLANs on which MAC address learning should be disabled,
497 so that packets are flooded instead of being sent to specific ports
498 that are believed to contain packets' destination MACs. This should
499 ordinarily be used to disable MAC learning on VLANs used for
500 mirroring (RSPAN VLANs). It may also be useful for debugging.
503 SLB bonding (see the <ref table="Port" column="bond_mode"/> column in
504 the <ref table="Port"/> table) is incompatible with
505 <code>flood_vlans</code>. Consider using another bonding mode or
506 a different type of mirror instead.
511 <group title="OpenFlow Configuration">
512 <column name="controller">
514 OpenFlow controller set. If unset, then no OpenFlow controllers
519 If there are primary controllers, removing all of them clears the
520 flow table. If there are no primary controllers, adding one also
521 clears the flow table. Other changes to the set of controllers, such
522 as adding or removing a service controller, adding another primary
523 controller to supplement an existing primary controller, or removing
524 only one of two primary controllers, have no effect on the flow
529 <column name="flow_tables">
530 Configuration for OpenFlow tables. Each pair maps from an OpenFlow
531 table ID to configuration for that table.
534 <column name="fail_mode">
535 <p>When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible
536 for setting up all flows on the switch. Thus, if the connection to
537 the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up.
538 If the connection to the controller stays down long enough,
539 no packets can pass through the switch at all. This setting
540 determines the switch's response to such a situation. It may be set
541 to one of the following:
543 <dt><code>standalone</code></dt>
544 <dd>If no message is received from the controller for three
545 times the inactivity probe interval
546 (see <ref column="inactivity_probe"/>), then Open vSwitch
547 will take over responsibility for setting up flows. In
548 this mode, Open vSwitch causes the bridge to act like an
549 ordinary MAC-learning switch. Open vSwitch will continue
550 to retry connecting to the controller in the background
551 and, when the connection succeeds, it will discontinue its
552 standalone behavior.</dd>
553 <dt><code>secure</code></dt>
554 <dd>Open vSwitch will not set up flows on its own when the
555 controller connection fails or when no controllers are
556 defined. The bridge will continue to retry connecting to
557 any defined controllers forever.</dd>
561 The default is <code>standalone</code> if the value is unset, but
562 future versions of Open vSwitch may change the default.
565 The <code>standalone</code> mode can create forwarding loops on a
566 bridge that has more than one uplink port unless STP is enabled. To
567 avoid loops on such a bridge, configure <code>secure</code> mode or
568 enable STP (see <ref column="stp_enable"/>).
570 <p>When more than one controller is configured,
571 <ref column="fail_mode"/> is considered only when none of the
572 configured controllers can be contacted.</p>
574 Changing <ref column="fail_mode"/> when no primary controllers are
575 configured clears the flow table.
579 <column name="datapath_id">
580 Reports the OpenFlow datapath ID in use. Exactly 16 hex digits.
581 (Setting this column has no useful effect. Set <ref
582 column="other-config" key="datapath-id"/> instead.)
585 <column name="datapath_version">
587 Reports the version number of the Open vSwitch datapath in use.
588 This allows management software to detect and report discrepancies
589 between Open vSwitch userspace and datapath versions. (The <ref
590 column="ovs_version" table="Open_vSwitch"/> column in the <ref
591 table="Open_vSwitch"/> reports the Open vSwitch userspace version.)
592 The version reported depends on the datapath in use:
597 When the kernel module included in the Open vSwitch source tree is
598 used, this column reports the Open vSwitch version from which the
603 When the kernel module that is part of the upstream Linux kernel is
604 used, this column reports <code><unknown></code>.
608 When the datapath is built into the <code>ovs-vswitchd</code>
609 binary, this column reports <code><built-in></code>. A
610 built-in datapath is by definition the same version as the rest of
611 the Open VSwitch userspace.
615 Other datapaths (such as the Hyper-V kernel datapath) currently
616 report <code><unknown></code>.
621 A version discrepancy between <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> and the
622 datapath in use is not normally cause for alarm. The Open vSwitch
623 kernel datapaths for Linux and Hyper-V, in particular, are designed
624 for maximum inter-version compatibility: any userspace version works
625 with with any kernel version. Some reasons do exist to insist on
626 particular user/kernel pairings. First, newer kernel versions add
627 new features, that can only be used by new-enough userspace, e.g.
628 VXLAN tunneling requires certain minimal userspace and kernel
629 versions. Second, as an extension to the first reason, some newer
630 kernel versions add new features for enhancing performance that only
631 new-enough userspace versions can take advantage of.
635 <column name="other_config" key="datapath-id">
636 Exactly 16 hex digits to set the OpenFlow datapath ID to a specific
637 value. May not be all-zero.
640 <column name="other_config" key="dp-desc">
641 Human readable description of datapath. It it a maximum 256
642 byte-long free-form string to describe the datapath for
643 debugging purposes, e.g. <code>switch3 in room 3120</code>.
646 <column name="other_config" key="disable-in-band"
647 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
648 If set to <code>true</code>, disable in-band control on the bridge
649 regardless of controller and manager settings.
652 <column name="other_config" key="in-band-queue"
653 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 4294967295}'>
654 A queue ID as a nonnegative integer. This sets the OpenFlow queue ID
655 that will be used by flows set up by in-band control on this bridge.
656 If unset, or if the port used by an in-band control flow does not have
657 QoS configured, or if the port does not have a queue with the specified
658 ID, the default queue is used instead.
661 <column name="protocols">
663 List of OpenFlow protocols that may be used when negotiating
664 a connection with a controller. OpenFlow 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and
665 1.3 are enabled by default if this column is empty.
669 OpenFlow 1.4 is not enabled by default because its implementation is
674 OpenFlow 1.5 has the same risks as OpenFlow 1.4, but it is even more
675 experimental because the OpenFlow 1.5 specification is still under
676 development and thus subject to change. Pass
677 <code>--enable-of15</code> to <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> to allow
678 OpenFlow 1.5 to be enabled.
683 <group title="Spanning Tree Configuration">
685 The IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol
686 that ensures loop-free topologies. It allows redundant links to
687 be included in the network to provide automatic backup paths if
688 the active links fails.
692 These settings configure the slower-to-converge but still widely
693 supported version of Spanning Tree Protocol, sometimes known as
694 802.1D-1998. Open vSwitch also supports the newer Rapid Spanning Tree
695 Protocol (RSTP), documented later in the section titled <code>Rapid
696 Spanning Tree Configuration</code>.
699 <group title="STP Configuration">
700 <column name="stp_enable" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
702 Enable spanning tree on the bridge. By default, STP is disabled
703 on bridges. Bond, internal, and mirror ports are not supported
704 and will not participate in the spanning tree.
708 STP and RSTP are mutually exclusive. If both are enabled, RSTP
713 <column name="other_config" key="stp-system-id">
714 The bridge's STP identifier (the lower 48 bits of the bridge-id)
716 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
717 By default, the identifier is the MAC address of the bridge.
720 <column name="other_config" key="stp-priority"
721 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
722 The bridge's relative priority value for determining the root
723 bridge (the upper 16 bits of the bridge-id). A bridge with the
724 lowest bridge-id is elected the root. By default, the priority
728 <column name="other_config" key="stp-hello-time"
729 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 10}'>
730 The interval between transmissions of hello messages by
731 designated ports, in seconds. By default the hello interval is
735 <column name="other_config" key="stp-max-age"
736 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 6, "maxInteger": 40}'>
737 The maximum age of the information transmitted by the bridge
738 when it is the root bridge, in seconds. By default, the maximum
742 <column name="other_config" key="stp-forward-delay"
743 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 4, "maxInteger": 30}'>
744 The delay to wait between transitioning root and designated
745 ports to <code>forwarding</code>, in seconds. By default, the
746 forwarding delay is 15 seconds.
749 <column name="other_config" key="mcast-snooping-aging-time"
750 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
752 The maximum number of seconds to retain a multicast snooping entry for
753 which no packets have been seen. The default is currently 300
754 seconds (5 minutes). The value, if specified, is forced into a
755 reasonable range, currently 15 to 3600 seconds.
759 <column name="other_config" key="mcast-snooping-table-size"
760 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
762 The maximum number of multicast snooping addresses to learn. The
763 default is currently 2048. The value, if specified, is forced into
764 a reasonable range, currently 10 to 1,000,000.
767 <column name="other_config" key="mcast-snooping-disable-flood-unregistered"
768 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
770 If set to <code>false</code>, unregistered multicast packets are forwarded
772 If set to <code>true</code>, unregistered multicast packets are forwarded
773 to ports connected to multicast routers.
778 <group title="STP Status">
780 These key-value pairs report the status of 802.1D-1998. They are
781 present only if STP is enabled (via the <ref column="stp_enable"/>
784 <column name="status" key="stp_bridge_id">
785 The bridge ID used in spanning tree advertisements, in the form
786 <var>xxxx</var>.<var>yyyyyyyyyyyy</var> where the <var>x</var>s are
787 the STP priority, the <var>y</var>s are the STP system ID, and each
788 <var>x</var> and <var>y</var> is a hex digit.
790 <column name="status" key="stp_designated_root">
791 The designated root for this spanning tree, in the same form as <ref
792 column="status" key="stp_bridge_id"/>. If this bridge is the root,
793 this will have the same value as <ref column="status"
794 key="stp_bridge_id"/>, otherwise it will differ.
796 <column name="status" key="stp_root_path_cost">
797 The path cost of reaching the designated bridge. A lower number is
798 better. The value is 0 if this bridge is the root, otherwise it is
804 <group title="Rapid Spanning Tree">
806 Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), like STP, is a network protocol
807 that ensures loop-free topologies. RSTP superseded STP with the
808 publication of 802.1D-2004. Compared to STP, RSTP converges more
809 quickly and recovers more quickly from failures.
812 <group title="RSTP Configuration">
813 <column name="rstp_enable" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
815 Enable Rapid Spanning Tree on the bridge. By default, RSTP is disabled
816 on bridges. Bond, internal, and mirror ports are not supported
817 and will not participate in the spanning tree.
821 STP and RSTP are mutually exclusive. If both are enabled, RSTP
826 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-address">
827 The bridge's RSTP address (the lower 48 bits of the bridge-id)
829 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
830 By default, the address is the MAC address of the bridge.
833 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-priority"
834 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 61440}'>
835 The bridge's relative priority value for determining the root
836 bridge (the upper 16 bits of the bridge-id). A bridge with the
837 lowest bridge-id is elected the root. By default, the priority
838 is 0x8000 (32768). This value needs to be a multiple of 4096,
839 otherwise it's rounded to the nearest inferior one.
842 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-ageing-time"
843 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 10, "maxInteger": 1000000}'>
844 The Ageing Time parameter for the Bridge. The default value
848 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-force-protocol-version"
849 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
850 The Force Protocol Version parameter for the Bridge. This
851 can take the value 0 (STP Compatibility mode) or 2
852 (the default, normal operation).
855 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-max-age"
856 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 6, "maxInteger": 40}'>
857 The maximum age of the information transmitted by the Bridge
858 when it is the Root Bridge. The default value is 20.
861 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-forward-delay"
862 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 4, "maxInteger": 30}'>
863 The delay used by STP Bridges to transition Root and Designated
864 Ports to Forwarding. The default value is 15.
867 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-transmit-hold-count"
868 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 10}'>
869 The Transmit Hold Count used by the Port Transmit state machine
870 to limit transmission rate. The default value is 6.
874 <group title="RSTP Status">
876 These key-value pairs report the status of 802.1D-2004. They are
877 present only if RSTP is enabled (via the <ref column="rstp_enable"/>
880 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_bridge_id">
881 The bridge ID used in rapid spanning tree advertisements, in the form
882 <var>x</var>.<var>yyy</var>.<var>zzzzzzzzzzzz</var> where
883 <var>x</var> is the RSTP priority, the <var>y</var>s are a locally
884 assigned system ID extension, the <var>z</var>s are the STP system
885 ID, and each <var>x</var>, <var>y</var>, or <var>z</var> is a hex
888 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_root_id">
889 The root of this spanning tree, in the same form as <ref
890 column="rstp_status" key="rstp_bridge_id"/>. If this bridge is the
891 root, this will have the same value as <ref column="rstp_status"
892 key="rstp_bridge_id"/>, otherwise it will differ.
894 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_root_path_cost"
895 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
896 The path cost of reaching the root. A lower number is better. The
897 value is 0 if this bridge is the root, otherwise it is higher.
899 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_designated_id">
900 The RSTP designated ID, in the same form as <ref column="rstp_status"
901 key="rstp_bridge_id"/>.
903 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_designated_port_id">
904 The RSTP designated port ID, as a 4-digit hex number.
906 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_bridge_port_id">
907 The RSTP bridge port ID, as a 4-digit hex number.
912 <group title="Multicast Snooping Configuration">
913 Multicast snooping (RFC 4541) monitors the Internet Group Management
914 Protocol (IGMP) traffic between hosts and multicast routers. The
915 switch uses what IGMP snooping learns to forward multicast traffic
916 only to interfaces that are connected to interested receivers.
917 Currently it supports IGMPv1 and IGMPv2 protocols.
919 <column name="mcast_snooping_enable">
920 Enable multicast snooping on the bridge. For now, the default
925 <group title="Other Features">
926 <column name="datapath_type">
927 Name of datapath provider. The kernel datapath has
928 type <code>system</code>. The userspace datapath has
929 type <code>netdev</code>.
932 <column name="external_ids" key="bridge-id">
933 A unique identifier of the bridge. On Citrix XenServer this will
934 commonly be the same as
935 <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuids"/>.
938 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuids">
939 Semicolon-delimited set of universally unique identifier(s) for the
940 network with which this bridge is associated on a Citrix XenServer
941 host. The network identifiers are RFC 4122 UUIDs as displayed by,
942 e.g., <code>xe network-list</code>.
945 <column name="other_config" key="hwaddr">
946 An Ethernet address in the form
947 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
948 to set the hardware address of the local port and influence the
952 <column name="other_config" key="forward-bpdu"
953 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
954 Option to allow forwarding of BPDU frames when NORMAL action is
955 invoked. Frames with reserved Ethernet addresses (e.g. STP
956 BPDU) will be forwarded when this option is enabled and the
957 switch is not providing that functionality. If STP is enabled
958 on the port, STP BPDUs will never be forwarded. If the Open
959 vSwitch bridge is used to connect different Ethernet networks,
960 and if Open vSwitch node does not run STP, then this option
961 should be enabled. Default is disabled, set to
962 <code>true</code> to enable.
964 The following destination MAC addresss will not be forwarded when this
967 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:00</code></dt>
968 <dd>IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).</dd>
970 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:01</code></dt>
971 <dd>IEEE Pause frame.</dd>
973 <dt><code>01:80:c2:00:00:0<var>x</var></code></dt>
974 <dd>Other reserved protocols.</dd>
976 <dt><code>00:e0:2b:00:00:00</code></dt>
977 <dd>Extreme Discovery Protocol (EDP).</dd>
980 <code>00:e0:2b:00:00:04</code> and <code>00:e0:2b:00:00:06</code>
982 <dd>Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS).</dd>
984 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cc</code></dt>
986 Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP),
987 Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP),
991 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:cd</code></dt>
992 <dd>Cisco Shared Spanning Tree Protocol PVSTP+.</dd>
994 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cd:cd:cd</code></dt>
995 <dd>Cisco STP Uplink Fast.</dd>
997 <dt><code>01:00:0c:00:00:00</code></dt>
998 <dd>Cisco Inter Switch Link.</dd>
1000 <dt><code>01:00:0c:cc:cc:c<var>x</var></code></dt>
1005 <column name="other_config" key="mac-aging-time"
1006 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
1008 The maximum number of seconds to retain a MAC learning entry for
1009 which no packets have been seen. The default is currently 300
1010 seconds (5 minutes). The value, if specified, is forced into a
1011 reasonable range, currently 15 to 3600 seconds.
1015 A short MAC aging time allows a network to more quickly detect that a
1016 host is no longer connected to a switch port. However, it also makes
1017 it more likely that packets will be flooded unnecessarily, when they
1018 are addressed to a connected host that rarely transmits packets. To
1019 reduce the incidence of unnecessary flooding, use a MAC aging time
1020 longer than the maximum interval at which a host will ordinarily
1025 <column name="other_config" key="mac-table-size"
1026 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
1028 The maximum number of MAC addresses to learn. The default is
1029 currently 2048. The value, if specified, is forced into a reasonable
1030 range, currently 10 to 1,000,000.
1035 <group title="Common Columns">
1036 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
1037 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
1039 <column name="other_config"/>
1040 <column name="external_ids"/>
1044 <table name="Port" table="Port or bond configuration.">
1045 <p>A port within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
1046 <p>Most commonly, a port has exactly one ``interface,'' pointed to by its
1047 <ref column="interfaces"/> column. Such a port logically
1048 corresponds to a port on a physical Ethernet switch. A port
1049 with more than one interface is a ``bonded port'' (see
1050 <ref group="Bonding Configuration"/>).</p>
1051 <p>Some properties that one might think as belonging to a port are actually
1052 part of the port's <ref table="Interface"/> members.</p>
1054 <column name="name">
1055 Port name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8
1056 bytes long. May be the same as the interface name, for
1057 non-bonded ports. Must otherwise be unique among the names of
1058 ports, interfaces, and bridges on a host.
1061 <column name="interfaces">
1062 The port's interfaces. If there is more than one, this is a
1066 <group title="VLAN Configuration">
1067 <p>Bridge ports support the following types of VLAN configuration:</p>
1072 A trunk port carries packets on one or more specified VLANs
1073 specified in the <ref column="trunks"/> column (often, on every
1074 VLAN). A packet that ingresses on a trunk port is in the VLAN
1075 specified in its 802.1Q header, or VLAN 0 if the packet has no
1076 802.1Q header. A packet that egresses through a trunk port will
1077 have an 802.1Q header if it has a nonzero VLAN ID.
1081 Any packet that ingresses on a trunk port tagged with a VLAN that
1082 the port does not trunk is dropped.
1089 An access port carries packets on exactly one VLAN specified in the
1090 <ref column="tag"/> column. Packets egressing on an access port
1091 have no 802.1Q header.
1095 Any packet with an 802.1Q header with a nonzero VLAN ID that
1096 ingresses on an access port is dropped, regardless of whether the
1097 VLAN ID in the header is the access port's VLAN ID.
1101 <dt>native-tagged</dt>
1103 A native-tagged port resembles a trunk port, with the exception that
1104 a packet without an 802.1Q header that ingresses on a native-tagged
1105 port is in the ``native VLAN'' (specified in the <ref column="tag"/>
1109 <dt>native-untagged</dt>
1111 A native-untagged port resembles a native-tagged port, with the
1112 exception that a packet that egresses on a native-untagged port in
1113 the native VLAN will not have an 802.1Q header.
1117 A packet will only egress through bridge ports that carry the VLAN of
1118 the packet, as described by the rules above.
1121 <column name="vlan_mode">
1123 The VLAN mode of the port, as described above. When this column is
1124 empty, a default mode is selected as follows:
1128 If <ref column="tag"/> contains a value, the port is an access
1129 port. The <ref column="trunks"/> column should be empty.
1132 Otherwise, the port is a trunk port. The <ref column="trunks"/>
1133 column value is honored if it is present.
1140 For an access port, the port's implicitly tagged VLAN. For a
1141 native-tagged or native-untagged port, the port's native VLAN. Must
1142 be empty if this is a trunk port.
1146 <column name="trunks">
1148 For a trunk, native-tagged, or native-untagged port, the 802.1Q VLAN
1149 or VLANs that this port trunks; if it is empty, then the port trunks
1150 all VLANs. Must be empty if this is an access port.
1153 A native-tagged or native-untagged port always trunks its native
1154 VLAN, regardless of whether <ref column="trunks"/> includes that
1159 <column name="other_config" key="priority-tags"
1160 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1162 An 802.1Q header contains two important pieces of information: a VLAN
1163 ID and a priority. A frame with a zero VLAN ID, called a
1164 ``priority-tagged'' frame, is supposed to be treated the same way as
1165 a frame without an 802.1Q header at all (except for the priority).
1169 However, some network elements ignore any frame that has 802.1Q
1170 header at all, even when the VLAN ID is zero. Therefore, by default
1171 Open vSwitch does not output priority-tagged frames, instead omitting
1172 the 802.1Q header entirely if the VLAN ID is zero. Set this key to
1173 <code>true</code> to enable priority-tagged frames on a port.
1177 Regardless of this setting, Open vSwitch omits the 802.1Q header on
1178 output if both the VLAN ID and priority would be zero.
1182 All frames output to native-tagged ports have a nonzero VLAN ID, so
1183 this setting is not meaningful on native-tagged ports.
1188 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
1189 <p>A port that has more than one interface is a ``bonded port.'' Bonding
1190 allows for load balancing and fail-over.</p>
1193 The following types of bonding will work with any kind of upstream
1194 switch. On the upstream switch, do not configure the interfaces as a
1199 <dt><code>balance-slb</code></dt>
1201 Balances flows among slaves based on source MAC address and output
1202 VLAN, with periodic rebalancing as traffic patterns change.
1205 <dt><code>active-backup</code></dt>
1207 Assigns all flows to one slave, failing over to a backup slave when
1208 the active slave is disabled. This is the only bonding mode in which
1209 interfaces may be plugged into different upstream switches.
1214 The following modes require the upstream switch to support 802.3ad with
1215 successful LACP negotiation. If LACP negotiation fails and
1216 other-config:lacp-fallback-ab is true, then <code>active-backup</code>
1221 <dt><code>balance-tcp</code></dt>
1223 Balances flows among slaves based on L2, L3, and L4 protocol
1224 information such as destination MAC address, IP address, and TCP
1229 <p>These columns apply only to bonded ports. Their values are
1230 otherwise ignored.</p>
1232 <column name="bond_mode">
1233 <p>The type of bonding used for a bonded port. Defaults to
1234 <code>active-backup</code> if unset.
1238 <column name="other_config" key="bond-hash-basis"
1239 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
1240 An integer hashed along with flows when choosing output slaves in load
1241 balanced bonds. When changed, all flows will be assigned different
1242 hash values possibly causing slave selection decisions to change. Does
1243 not affect bonding modes which do not employ load balancing such as
1244 <code>active-backup</code>.
1247 <group title="Link Failure Detection">
1249 An important part of link bonding is detecting that links are down so
1250 that they may be disabled. These settings determine how Open vSwitch
1251 detects link failure.
1254 <column name="other_config" key="bond-detect-mode"
1255 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["carrier", "miimon"]]}'>
1256 The means used to detect link failures. Defaults to
1257 <code>carrier</code> which uses each interface's carrier to detect
1258 failures. When set to <code>miimon</code>, will check for failures
1259 by polling each interface's MII.
1262 <column name="other_config" key="bond-miimon-interval"
1263 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
1264 The interval, in milliseconds, between successive attempts to poll
1265 each interface's MII. Relevant only when <ref column="other_config"
1266 key="bond-detect-mode"/> is <code>miimon</code>.
1269 <column name="bond_updelay">
1271 The number of milliseconds for which the link must stay up on an
1272 interface before the interface is considered to be up. Specify
1273 <code>0</code> to enable the interface immediately.
1277 This setting is honored only when at least one bonded interface is
1278 already enabled. When no interfaces are enabled, then the first
1279 bond interface to come up is enabled immediately.
1283 <column name="bond_downdelay">
1284 The number of milliseconds for which the link must stay down on an
1285 interface before the interface is considered to be down. Specify
1286 <code>0</code> to disable the interface immediately.
1290 <group title="LACP Configuration">
1292 LACP, the Link Aggregation Control Protocol, is an IEEE standard that
1293 allows switches to automatically detect that they are connected by
1294 multiple links and aggregate across those links. These settings
1295 control LACP behavior.
1298 <column name="lacp">
1299 Configures LACP on this port. LACP allows directly connected
1300 switches to negotiate which links may be bonded. LACP may be enabled
1301 on non-bonded ports for the benefit of any switches they may be
1302 connected to. <code>active</code> ports are allowed to initiate LACP
1303 negotiations. <code>passive</code> ports are allowed to participate
1304 in LACP negotiations initiated by a remote switch, but not allowed to
1305 initiate such negotiations themselves. If LACP is enabled on a port
1306 whose partner switch does not support LACP, the bond will be
1307 disabled, unless other-config:lacp-fallback-ab is set to true.
1308 Defaults to <code>off</code> if unset.
1311 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-system-id">
1312 The LACP system ID of this <ref table="Port"/>. The system ID of a
1313 LACP bond is used to identify itself to its partners. Must be a
1314 nonzero MAC address. Defaults to the bridge Ethernet address if
1318 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-system-priority"
1319 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
1320 The LACP system priority of this <ref table="Port"/>. In LACP
1321 negotiations, link status decisions are made by the system with the
1322 numerically lower priority.
1325 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-time"
1326 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["fast", "slow"]]}'>
1328 The LACP timing which should be used on this <ref table="Port"/>.
1329 By default <code>slow</code> is used. When configured to be
1330 <code>fast</code> LACP heartbeats are requested at a rate of once
1331 per second causing connectivity problems to be detected more
1332 quickly. In <code>slow</code> mode, heartbeats are requested at a
1333 rate of once every 30 seconds.
1337 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-fallback-ab"
1338 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1340 Determines the behavior of openvswitch bond in LACP mode. If
1341 the partner switch does not support LACP, setting this option
1342 to <code>true</code> allows openvswitch to fallback to
1343 active-backup. If the option is set to <code>false</code>, the
1344 bond will be disabled. In both the cases, once the partner switch
1345 is configured to LACP mode, the bond will use LACP.
1350 <group title="Rebalancing Configuration">
1352 These settings control behavior when a bond is in
1353 <code>balance-slb</code> or <code>balance-tcp</code> mode.
1356 <column name="other_config" key="bond-rebalance-interval"
1357 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 10000}'>
1358 For a load balanced bonded port, the number of milliseconds between
1359 successive attempts to rebalance the bond, that is, to move flows
1360 from one interface on the bond to another in an attempt to keep usage
1361 of each interface roughly equal. If zero, load balancing is disabled
1362 on the bond (link failure still cause flows to move). If
1363 less than 1000ms, the rebalance interval will be 1000ms.
1367 <column name="bond_fake_iface">
1368 For a bonded port, whether to create a fake internal interface with the
1369 name of the port. Use only for compatibility with legacy software that
1374 <group title="Spanning Tree Protocol">
1376 The configuration here is only meaningful, and the status is only
1377 populated, when 802.1D-1998 Spanning Tree Protocol is enabled on the
1378 port's <ref column="Bridge"/> with its <ref column="stp_enable"/>
1382 <group title="STP Configuration">
1383 <column name="other_config" key="stp-enable"
1384 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1385 When STP is enabled on a bridge, it is enabled by default on all of
1386 the bridge's ports except bond, internal, and mirror ports (which do
1387 not work with STP). If this column's value is <code>false</code>,
1388 STP is disabled on the port.
1391 <column name="other_config" key="stp-port-num"
1392 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 255}'>
1393 The port number used for the lower 8 bits of the port-id. By
1394 default, the numbers will be assigned automatically. If any
1395 port's number is manually configured on a bridge, then they
1399 <column name="other_config" key="stp-port-priority"
1400 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 255}'>
1401 The port's relative priority value for determining the root
1402 port (the upper 8 bits of the port-id). A port with a lower
1403 port-id will be chosen as the root port. By default, the
1407 <column name="other_config" key="stp-path-cost"
1408 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
1409 Spanning tree path cost for the port. A lower number indicates
1410 a faster link. By default, the cost is based on the maximum
1415 <group title="STP Status">
1416 <column name="status" key="stp_port_id">
1417 The port ID used in spanning tree advertisements for this port, as 4
1418 hex digits. Configuring the port ID is described in the
1419 <code>stp-port-num</code> and <code>stp-port-priority</code> keys of
1420 the <code>other_config</code> section earlier.
1422 <column name="status" key="stp_state"
1423 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1424 ["disabled", "listening", "learning",
1425 "forwarding", "blocking"]]}'>
1426 STP state of the port.
1428 <column name="status" key="stp_sec_in_state"
1429 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
1430 The amount of time this port has been in the current STP state, in
1433 <column name="status" key="stp_role"
1434 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1435 ["root", "designated", "alternate"]]}'>
1436 STP role of the port.
1441 <group title="Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol">
1443 The configuration here is only meaningful, and the status and
1444 statistics are only populated, when 802.1D-1998 Spanning Tree Protocol
1445 is enabled on the port's <ref column="Bridge"/> with its <ref
1446 column="stp_enable"/> column.
1449 <group title="RSTP Configuration">
1450 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-enable"
1451 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1452 When RSTP is enabled on a bridge, it is enabled by default on all of
1453 the bridge's ports except bond, internal, and mirror ports (which do
1454 not work with RSTP). If this column's value is <code>false</code>,
1455 RSTP is disabled on the port.
1458 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-priority"
1459 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 240}'>
1460 The port's relative priority value for determining the root port, in
1461 multiples of 16. By default, the port priority is 0x80 (128). Any
1462 value in the lower 4 bits is rounded off. The significant upper 4
1463 bits become the upper 4 bits of the port-id. A port with the lowest
1464 port-id is elected as the root.
1467 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-num"
1468 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 4095}'>
1469 The local RSTP port number, used as the lower 12 bits of the port-id.
1470 By default the port numbers are assigned automatically, and typically
1471 may not correspond to the OpenFlow port numbers. A port with the
1472 lowest port-id is elected as the root.
1475 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-path-cost"
1476 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
1477 The port path cost. The Port's contribution, when it is
1478 the Root Port, to the Root Path Cost for the Bridge. By default the
1479 cost is automatically calculated from the port's speed.
1482 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-admin-edge"
1483 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1484 The admin edge port parameter for the Port. Default is
1488 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-auto-edge"
1489 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1490 The auto edge port parameter for the Port. Default is
1494 <column name="other_config" key="rstp-port-mcheck"
1495 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1497 The mcheck port parameter for the Port. Default is
1498 <code>false</code>. May be set to force the Port Protocol
1499 Migration state machine to transmit RST BPDUs for a
1500 MigrateTime period, to test whether all STP Bridges on the
1501 attached LAN have been removed and the Port can continue to
1502 transmit RSTP BPDUs. Setting mcheck has no effect if the
1503 Bridge is operating in STP Compatibility mode.
1506 Changing the value from <code>true</code> to
1507 <code>false</code> has no effect, but needs to be done if
1508 this behavior is to be triggered again by subsequently
1509 changing the value from <code>false</code> to
1515 <group title="RSTP Status">
1516 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_port_id">
1517 The port ID used in spanning tree advertisements for this port, as 4
1518 hex digits. Configuring the port ID is described in the
1519 <code>rstp-port-num</code> and <code>rstp-port-priority</code> keys
1520 of the <code>other_config</code> section earlier.
1522 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_port_role"
1523 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1524 ["Root", "Designated", "Alternate", "Backup", "Disabled"]]}'>
1525 RSTP role of the port.
1527 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_port_state"
1528 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set",
1529 ["Disabled", "Learning", "Forwarding", "Discarding"]]}'>
1530 RSTP state of the port.
1532 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_designated_bridge_id">
1533 The port's RSTP designated bridge ID, in the same form as <ref
1534 column="rstp_status" key="rstp_bridge_id"/> in the <ref
1535 table="Bridge"/> table.
1537 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_designated_port_id">
1538 The port's RSTP designated port ID, as 4 hex digits.
1540 <column name="rstp_status" key="rstp_designated_path_cost"
1541 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
1542 The port's RSTP designated path cost. Lower is better.
1546 <group title="RSTP Statistics">
1547 <column name="rstp_statistics" key="rstp_tx_count">
1548 Number of RSTP BPDUs transmitted through this port.
1550 <column name="rstp_statistics" key="rstp_rx_count">
1551 Number of valid RSTP BPDUs received by this port.
1553 <column name="rstp_statistics" key="rstp_error_count">
1554 Number of invalid RSTP BPDUs received by this port.
1556 <column name="rstp_statistics" key="rstp_uptime">
1557 The duration covered by the other RSTP statistics, in seconds.
1562 <group title="Multicast Snooping">
1563 <column name="other_config" key="mcast-snooping-flood"
1564 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1566 If set to <code>true</code>, multicast packets (except Reports) are
1567 unconditionally forwarded to the specific port.
1570 <column name="other_config" key="mcast-snooping-flood-reports"
1571 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
1573 If set to <code>true</code>, multicast Reports are unconditionally
1574 forwarded to the specific port.
1579 <group title="Other Features">
1581 Quality of Service configuration for this port.
1585 The MAC address to use for this port for the purpose of choosing the
1586 bridge's MAC address. This column does not necessarily reflect the
1587 port's actual MAC address, nor will setting it change the port's actual
1591 <column name="fake_bridge">
1592 Does this port represent a sub-bridge for its tagged VLAN within the
1593 Bridge? See ovs-vsctl(8) for more information.
1596 <column name="external_ids" key="fake-bridge-id-*">
1597 External IDs for a fake bridge (see the <ref column="fake_bridge"/>
1598 column) are defined by prefixing a <ref table="Bridge"/> <ref
1599 table="Bridge" column="external_ids"/> key with
1600 <code>fake-bridge-</code>,
1601 e.g. <code>fake-bridge-xs-network-uuids</code>.
1605 <column name="bond_active_slave">
1606 For a bonded port, record the mac address of the current active slave.
1609 <group title="Port Statistics">
1611 Key-value pairs that report port statistics. The update period
1612 is controlled by <ref column="other_config"
1613 key="stats-update-interval"/> in the <code>Open_vSwitch</code> table.
1615 <group title="Statistics: STP transmit and receive counters">
1616 <column name="statistics" key="stp_tx_count">
1617 Number of STP BPDUs sent on this port by the spanning
1620 <column name="statistics" key="stp_rx_count">
1621 Number of STP BPDUs received on this port and accepted by the
1622 spanning tree library.
1624 <column name="statistics" key="stp_error_count">
1625 Number of bad STP BPDUs received on this port. Bad BPDUs
1626 include runt packets and those with an unexpected protocol ID.
1631 <group title="Common Columns">
1632 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
1633 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
1635 <column name="other_config"/>
1636 <column name="external_ids"/>
1640 <table name="Interface" title="One physical network device in a Port.">
1641 An interface within a <ref table="Port"/>.
1643 <group title="Core Features">
1644 <column name="name">
1645 Interface name. Should be alphanumeric and no more than about 8 bytes
1646 long. May be the same as the port name, for non-bonded ports. Must
1647 otherwise be unique among the names of ports, interfaces, and bridges
1651 <column name="ifindex">
1652 A positive interface index as defined for SNMP MIB-II in RFCs 1213 and
1653 2863, if the interface has one, otherwise 0. The ifindex is useful for
1654 seamless integration with protocols such as SNMP and sFlow.
1657 <column name="mac_in_use">
1658 The MAC address in use by this interface.
1662 <p>Ethernet address to set for this interface. If unset then the
1663 default MAC address is used:</p>
1665 <li>For the local interface, the default is the lowest-numbered MAC
1666 address among the other bridge ports, either the value of the
1667 <ref table="Port" column="mac"/> in its <ref table="Port"/> record,
1668 if set, or its actual MAC (for bonded ports, the MAC of its slave
1669 whose name is first in alphabetical order). Internal ports and
1670 bridge ports that are used as port mirroring destinations (see the
1671 <ref table="Mirror"/> table) are ignored.</li>
1672 <li>For other internal interfaces, the default MAC is randomly
1674 <li>External interfaces typically have a MAC address associated with
1675 their hardware.</li>
1677 <p>Some interfaces may not have a software-controllable MAC
1681 <column name="error">
1682 If the configuration of the port failed, as indicated by -1 in <ref
1683 column="ofport"/>, Open vSwitch sets this column to an error
1684 description in human readable form. Otherwise, Open vSwitch clears
1688 <group title="OpenFlow Port Number">
1690 When a client adds a new interface, Open vSwitch chooses an OpenFlow
1691 port number for the new port. If the client that adds the port fills
1692 in <ref column="ofport_request"/>, then Open vSwitch tries to use its
1693 value as the OpenFlow port number. Otherwise, or if the requested
1694 port number is already in use or cannot be used for another reason,
1695 Open vSwitch automatically assigns a free port number. Regardless of
1696 how the port number was obtained, Open vSwitch then reports in <ref
1697 column="ofport"/> the port number actually assigned.
1701 Open vSwitch limits the port numbers that it automatically assigns to
1702 the range 1 through 32,767, inclusive. Controllers therefore have
1703 free use of ports 32,768 and up.
1706 <column name="ofport">
1708 OpenFlow port number for this interface. Open vSwitch sets this
1709 column's value, so other clients should treat it as read-only.
1712 The OpenFlow ``local'' port (<code>OFPP_LOCAL</code>) is 65,534.
1713 The other valid port numbers are in the range 1 to 65,279,
1714 inclusive. Value -1 indicates an error adding the interface.
1718 <column name="ofport_request"
1719 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65279}'>
1721 Requested OpenFlow port number for this interface.
1725 A client should ideally set this column's value in the same
1726 database transaction that it uses to create the interface. Open
1727 vSwitch version 2.1 and later will honor a later request for a
1728 specific port number, althuogh it might confuse some controllers:
1729 OpenFlow does not have a way to announce a port number change, so
1730 Open vSwitch represents it over OpenFlow as a port deletion
1731 followed immediately by a port addition.
1735 If <ref column="ofport_request"/> is set or changed to some other
1736 port's automatically assigned port number, Open vSwitch chooses a
1737 new port number for the latter port.
1743 <group title="System-Specific Details">
1744 <column name="type">
1746 The interface type, one of:
1750 <dt><code>system</code></dt>
1751 <dd>An ordinary network device, e.g. <code>eth0</code> on Linux.
1752 Sometimes referred to as ``external interfaces'' since they are
1753 generally connected to hardware external to that on which the Open
1754 vSwitch is running. The empty string is a synonym for
1755 <code>system</code>.</dd>
1757 <dt><code>internal</code></dt>
1758 <dd>A simulated network device that sends and receives traffic. An
1759 internal interface whose <ref column="name"/> is the same as its
1760 bridge's <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="name"/> is called the
1761 ``local interface.'' It does not make sense to bond an internal
1762 interface, so the terms ``port'' and ``interface'' are often used
1763 imprecisely for internal interfaces.</dd>
1765 <dt><code>tap</code></dt>
1766 <dd>A TUN/TAP device managed by Open vSwitch.</dd>
1768 <dt><code>geneve</code></dt>
1770 An Ethernet over Geneve (<code>http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-gross-geneve-00</code>)
1773 Geneve supports options as a means to transport additional metadata,
1774 however, currently only the 24-bit VNI is supported. This is planned
1775 to be extended in the future.
1778 <dt><code>gre</code></dt>
1780 An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
1784 <dt><code>ipsec_gre</code></dt>
1786 An Ethernet over RFC 2890 Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4
1790 <dt><code>gre64</code></dt>
1792 It is same as GRE, but it allows 64 bit key. To store higher 32-bits
1793 of key, it uses GRE protocol sequence number field. This is non
1794 standard use of GRE protocol since OVS does not increment
1795 sequence number for every packet at time of encap as expected by
1796 standard GRE implementation. See <ref group="Tunnel Options"/>
1797 for information on configuring GRE tunnels.
1800 <dt><code>ipsec_gre64</code></dt>
1802 Same as IPSEC_GRE except 64 bit key.
1805 <dt><code>vxlan</code></dt>
1808 An Ethernet tunnel over the experimental, UDP-based VXLAN
1809 protocol described at
1810 <code>http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mahalingam-dutt-dcops-vxlan-03</code>.
1813 Open vSwitch uses UDP destination port 4789. The source port used for
1814 VXLAN traffic varies on a per-flow basis and is in the ephemeral port
1819 <dt><code>lisp</code></dt>
1822 A layer 3 tunnel over the experimental, UDP-based Locator/ID
1823 Separation Protocol (RFC 6830).
1826 Only IPv4 and IPv6 packets are supported by the protocol, and
1827 they are sent and received without an Ethernet header. Traffic
1828 to/from LISP ports is expected to be configured explicitly, and
1829 the ports are not intended to participate in learning based
1830 switching. As such, they are always excluded from packet
1835 <dt><code>patch</code></dt>
1837 A pair of virtual devices that act as a patch cable.
1840 <dt><code>null</code></dt>
1841 <dd>An ignored interface. Deprecated and slated for removal in
1847 <group title="Tunnel Options">
1849 These options apply to interfaces with <ref column="type"/> of
1850 <code>geneve</code>, <code>gre</code>, <code>ipsec_gre</code>,
1851 <code>gre64</code>, <code>ipsec_gre64</code>, <code>vxlan</code>,
1852 and <code>lisp</code>.
1856 Each tunnel must be uniquely identified by the combination of <ref
1857 column="type"/>, <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>, <ref
1858 column="options" key="local_ip"/>, and <ref column="options"
1859 key="in_key"/>. If two ports are defined that are the same except one
1860 has an optional identifier and the other does not, the more specific
1861 one is matched first. <ref column="options" key="in_key"/> is
1862 considered more specific than <ref column="options" key="local_ip"/> if
1863 a port defines one and another port defines the other.
1866 <column name="options" key="remote_ip">
1867 <p>Required. The remote tunnel endpoint, one of:</p>
1871 An IPv4 address (not a DNS name), e.g. <code>192.168.0.123</code>.
1872 Only unicast endpoints are supported.
1875 The word <code>flow</code>. The tunnel accepts packets from any
1876 remote tunnel endpoint. To process only packets from a specific
1877 remote tunnel endpoint, the flow entries may match on the
1878 <code>tun_src</code> field. When sending packets to a
1879 <code>remote_ip=flow</code> tunnel, the flow actions must
1880 explicitly set the <code>tun_dst</code> field to the IP address of
1881 the desired remote tunnel endpoint, e.g. with a
1882 <code>set_field</code> action.
1887 The remote tunnel endpoint for any packet received from a tunnel
1888 is available in the <code>tun_src</code> field for matching in the
1893 <column name="options" key="local_ip">
1895 Optional. The tunnel destination IP that received packets must
1896 match. Default is to match all addresses. If specified, may be one
1902 An IPv4 address (not a DNS name), e.g. <code>192.168.12.3</code>.
1905 The word <code>flow</code>. The tunnel accepts packets sent to any
1906 of the local IP addresses of the system running OVS. To process
1907 only packets sent to a specific IP address, the flow entries may
1908 match on the <code>tun_dst</code> field. When sending packets to a
1909 <code>local_ip=flow</code> tunnel, the flow actions may
1910 explicitly set the <code>tun_src</code> field to the desired IP
1911 address, e.g. with a <code>set_field</code> action. However, while
1912 routing the tunneled packet out, the local system may override the
1913 specified address with the local IP address configured for the
1914 outgoing system interface.
1917 This option is valid only for tunnels also configured with the
1918 <code>remote_ip=flow</code> option.
1924 The tunnel destination IP address for any packet received from a
1925 tunnel is available in the <code>tun_dst</code> field for matching in
1930 <column name="options" key="in_key">
1931 <p>Optional. The key that received packets must contain, one of:</p>
1935 <code>0</code>. The tunnel receives packets with no key or with a
1936 key of 0. This is equivalent to specifying no <ref column="options"
1937 key="in_key"/> at all.
1940 A positive 24-bit (for Geneve, VXLAN, and LISP), 32-bit (for GRE)
1941 or 64-bit (for GRE64) number. The tunnel receives only packets
1942 with the specified key.
1945 The word <code>flow</code>. The tunnel accepts packets with any
1946 key. The key will be placed in the <code>tun_id</code> field for
1947 matching in the flow table. The <code>ovs-ofctl</code> manual page
1948 contains additional information about matching fields in OpenFlow
1957 <column name="options" key="out_key">
1958 <p>Optional. The key to be set on outgoing packets, one of:</p>
1962 <code>0</code>. Packets sent through the tunnel will have no key.
1963 This is equivalent to specifying no <ref column="options"
1964 key="out_key"/> at all.
1967 A positive 24-bit (for Geneve, VXLAN and LISP), 32-bit (for GRE) or
1968 64-bit (for GRE64) number. Packets sent through the tunnel will
1969 have the specified key.
1972 The word <code>flow</code>. Packets sent through the tunnel will
1973 have the key set using the <code>set_tunnel</code> Nicira OpenFlow
1974 vendor extension (0 is used in the absence of an action). The
1975 <code>ovs-ofctl</code> manual page contains additional information
1976 about the Nicira OpenFlow vendor extensions.
1981 <column name="options" key="key">
1982 Optional. Shorthand to set <code>in_key</code> and
1983 <code>out_key</code> at the same time.
1986 <column name="options" key="tos">
1987 Optional. The value of the ToS bits to be set on the encapsulating
1988 packet. ToS is interpreted as DSCP and ECN bits, ECN part must be
1989 zero. It may also be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case
1990 the ToS will be copied from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6
1991 (otherwise it will be 0). The ECN fields are always inherited.
1995 <column name="options" key="ttl">
1996 Optional. The TTL to be set on the encapsulating packet. It may also
1997 be the word <code>inherit</code>, in which case the TTL will be copied
1998 from the inner packet if it is IPv4 or IPv6 (otherwise it will be the
1999 system default, typically 64). Default is the system default TTL.
2002 <column name="options" key="df_default"
2003 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2004 Optional. If enabled, the Don't Fragment bit will be set on tunnel
2005 outer headers to allow path MTU discovery. Default is enabled; set
2006 to <code>false</code> to disable.
2009 <group title="Tunnel Options: vxlan only">
2011 <column name="options" key="exts">
2012 <p>Optional. Comma separated list of optional VXLAN extensions to
2013 enable. The following extensions are supported:</p>
2017 <code>gbp</code>: VXLAN-GBP allows to transport the group policy
2018 context of a packet across the VXLAN tunnel to other network
2019 peers. See the field description of <code>tun_gbp_id</code> and
2020 <code>tun_gbp_flags</code> in ovs-ofctl(8) for additional
2022 (<code>https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-smith-vxlan-group-policy</code>)
2029 <group title="Tunnel Options: gre and ipsec_gre only">
2031 Only <code>gre</code> and <code>ipsec_gre</code> interfaces support
2035 <column name="options" key="csum" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2037 Optional. Compute GRE checksums on outgoing packets. Default is
2038 disabled, set to <code>true</code> to enable. Checksums present on
2039 incoming packets will be validated regardless of this setting.
2043 GRE checksums impose a significant performance penalty because they
2044 cover the entire packet. The encapsulated L3, L4, and L7 packet
2045 contents typically have their own checksums, so this additional
2046 checksum only adds value for the GRE and encapsulated L2 headers.
2050 This option is supported for <code>ipsec_gre</code>, but not useful
2051 because GRE checksums are weaker than, and redundant with, IPsec
2052 payload authentication.
2057 <group title="Tunnel Options: ipsec_gre only">
2059 Only <code>ipsec_gre</code> interfaces support these options.
2062 <column name="options" key="peer_cert">
2063 Required for certificate authentication. A string containing the
2064 peer's certificate in PEM format. Additionally the host's
2065 certificate must be specified with the <code>certificate</code>
2069 <column name="options" key="certificate">
2070 Required for certificate authentication. The name of a PEM file
2071 containing a certificate that will be presented to the peer during
2075 <column name="options" key="private_key">
2076 Optional for certificate authentication. The name of a PEM file
2077 containing the private key associated with <code>certificate</code>.
2078 If <code>certificate</code> contains the private key, this option may
2082 <column name="options" key="psk">
2083 Required for pre-shared key authentication. Specifies a pre-shared
2084 key for authentication that must be identical on both sides of the
2090 <group title="Patch Options">
2092 Only <code>patch</code> interfaces support these options.
2095 <column name="options" key="peer">
2096 The <ref column="name"/> of the <ref table="Interface"/> for the other
2097 side of the patch. The named <ref table="Interface"/>'s own
2098 <code>peer</code> option must specify this <ref table="Interface"/>'s
2099 name. That is, the two patch interfaces must have reversed <ref
2100 column="name"/> and <code>peer</code> values.
2104 <group title="Interface Status">
2106 Status information about interfaces attached to bridges, updated every
2107 5 seconds. Not all interfaces have all of these properties; virtual
2108 interfaces don't have a link speed, for example. Non-applicable
2109 columns will have empty values.
2111 <column name="admin_state">
2113 The administrative state of the physical network link.
2117 <column name="link_state">
2119 The observed state of the physical network link. This is ordinarily
2120 the link's carrier status. If the interface's <ref table="Port"/> is
2121 a bond configured for miimon monitoring, it is instead the network
2122 link's miimon status.
2126 <column name="link_resets">
2128 The number of times Open vSwitch has observed the
2129 <ref column="link_state"/> of this <ref table="Interface"/> change.
2133 <column name="link_speed">
2135 The negotiated speed of the physical network link.
2136 Valid values are positive integers greater than 0.
2140 <column name="duplex">
2142 The duplex mode of the physical network link.
2148 The MTU (maximum transmission unit); i.e. the largest
2149 amount of data that can fit into a single Ethernet frame.
2150 The standard Ethernet MTU is 1500 bytes. Some physical media
2151 and many kinds of virtual interfaces can be configured with
2155 This column will be empty for an interface that does not
2156 have an MTU as, for example, some kinds of tunnels do not.
2160 <column name="lacp_current">
2161 Boolean value indicating LACP status for this interface. If true, this
2162 interface has current LACP information about its LACP partner. This
2163 information may be used to monitor the health of interfaces in a LACP
2164 enabled port. This column will be empty if LACP is not enabled.
2167 <column name="status">
2168 Key-value pairs that report port status. Supported status values are
2169 <ref column="type"/>-dependent; some interfaces may not have a valid
2170 <ref column="status" key="driver_name"/>, for example.
2173 <column name="status" key="driver_name">
2174 The name of the device driver controlling the network adapter.
2177 <column name="status" key="driver_version">
2178 The version string of the device driver controlling the network
2182 <column name="status" key="firmware_version">
2183 The version string of the network adapter's firmware, if available.
2186 <column name="status" key="source_ip">
2187 The source IP address used for an IPv4 tunnel end-point, such as
2191 <column name="status" key="tunnel_egress_iface">
2192 Egress interface for tunnels. Currently only relevant for tunnels
2193 on Linux systems, this column will show the name of the interface
2194 which is responsible for routing traffic destined for the configured
2195 <ref column="options" key="remote_ip"/>. This could be an internal
2196 interface such as a bridge port.
2199 <column name="status" key="tunnel_egress_iface_carrier"
2200 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["down", "up"]]}'>
2201 Whether carrier is detected on <ref column="status"
2202 key="tunnel_egress_iface"/>.
2206 <group title="Statistics">
2208 Key-value pairs that report interface statistics. The current
2209 implementation updates these counters periodically. The update period
2210 is controlled by <ref column="other_config"
2211 key="stats-update-interval"/> in the <code>Open_vSwitch</code> table.
2212 Future implementations may update them when an interface is created,
2213 when they are queried (e.g. using an OVSDB <code>select</code>
2214 operation), and just before an interface is deleted due to virtual
2215 interface hot-unplug or VM shutdown, and perhaps at other times, but
2216 not on any regular periodic basis.
2219 These are the same statistics reported by OpenFlow in its <code>struct
2220 ofp_port_stats</code> structure. If an interface does not support a
2221 given statistic, then that pair is omitted.
2223 <group title="Statistics: Successful transmit and receive counters">
2224 <column name="statistics" key="rx_packets">
2225 Number of received packets.
2227 <column name="statistics" key="rx_bytes">
2228 Number of received bytes.
2230 <column name="statistics" key="tx_packets">
2231 Number of transmitted packets.
2233 <column name="statistics" key="tx_bytes">
2234 Number of transmitted bytes.
2237 <group title="Statistics: Receive errors">
2238 <column name="statistics" key="rx_dropped">
2239 Number of packets dropped by RX.
2241 <column name="statistics" key="rx_frame_err">
2242 Number of frame alignment errors.
2244 <column name="statistics" key="rx_over_err">
2245 Number of packets with RX overrun.
2247 <column name="statistics" key="rx_crc_err">
2248 Number of CRC errors.
2250 <column name="statistics" key="rx_errors">
2251 Total number of receive errors, greater than or equal to the sum of
2255 <group title="Statistics: Transmit errors">
2256 <column name="statistics" key="tx_dropped">
2257 Number of packets dropped by TX.
2259 <column name="statistics" key="collisions">
2260 Number of collisions.
2262 <column name="statistics" key="tx_errors">
2263 Total number of transmit errors, greater than or equal to the sum of
2269 <group title="Ingress Policing">
2271 These settings control ingress policing for packets received on this
2272 interface. On a physical interface, this limits the rate at which
2273 traffic is allowed into the system from the outside; on a virtual
2274 interface (one connected to a virtual machine), this limits the rate at
2275 which the VM is able to transmit.
2278 Policing is a simple form of quality-of-service that simply drops
2279 packets received in excess of the configured rate. Due to its
2280 simplicity, policing is usually less accurate and less effective than
2281 egress QoS (which is configured using the <ref table="QoS"/> and <ref
2282 table="Queue"/> tables).
2285 Policing is currently implemented only on Linux. The Linux
2286 implementation uses a simple ``token bucket'' approach:
2290 The size of the bucket corresponds to <ref
2291 column="ingress_policing_burst"/>. Initially the bucket is full.
2294 Whenever a packet is received, its size (converted to tokens) is
2295 compared to the number of tokens currently in the bucket. If the
2296 required number of tokens are available, they are removed and the
2297 packet is forwarded. Otherwise, the packet is dropped.
2300 Whenever it is not full, the bucket is refilled with tokens at the
2301 rate specified by <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>.
2305 Policing interacts badly with some network protocols, and especially
2306 with fragmented IP packets. Suppose that there is enough network
2307 activity to keep the bucket nearly empty all the time. Then this token
2308 bucket algorithm will forward a single packet every so often, with the
2309 period depending on packet size and on the configured rate. All of the
2310 fragments of an IP packets are normally transmitted back-to-back, as a
2311 group. In such a situation, therefore, only one of these fragments
2312 will be forwarded and the rest will be dropped. IP does not provide
2313 any way for the intended recipient to ask for only the remaining
2314 fragments. In such a case there are two likely possibilities for what
2315 will happen next: either all of the fragments will eventually be
2316 retransmitted (as TCP will do), in which case the same problem will
2317 recur, or the sender will not realize that its packet has been dropped
2318 and data will simply be lost (as some UDP-based protocols will do).
2319 Either way, it is possible that no forward progress will ever occur.
2321 <column name="ingress_policing_rate">
2323 Maximum rate for data received on this interface, in kbps. Data
2324 received faster than this rate is dropped. Set to <code>0</code>
2325 (the default) to disable policing.
2329 <column name="ingress_policing_burst">
2330 <p>Maximum burst size for data received on this interface, in kb. The
2331 default burst size if set to <code>0</code> is 1000 kb. This value
2332 has no effect if <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/>
2333 is <code>0</code>.</p>
2335 Specifying a larger burst size lets the algorithm be more forgiving,
2336 which is important for protocols like TCP that react severely to
2337 dropped packets. The burst size should be at least the size of the
2338 interface's MTU. Specifying a value that is numerically at least as
2339 large as 10% of <ref column="ingress_policing_rate"/> helps TCP come
2340 closer to achieving the full rate.
2345 <group title="Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)">
2347 BFD, defined in RFC 5880 and RFC 5881, allows point-to-point
2348 detection of connectivity failures by occasional transmission of
2349 BFD control messages. Open vSwitch implements BFD to serve
2350 as a more popular and standards compliant alternative to CFM.
2354 BFD operates by regularly transmitting BFD control messages at a rate
2355 negotiated independently in each direction. Each endpoint specifies
2356 the rate at which it expects to receive control messages, and the rate
2357 at which it is willing to transmit them. Open vSwitch uses a detection
2358 multiplier of three, meaning that an endpoint signals a connectivity
2359 fault if three consecutive BFD control messages fail to arrive. In the
2360 case of a unidirectional connectivity issue, the system not receiving
2361 BFD control messages signals the problem to its peer in the messages it
2366 The Open vSwitch implementation of BFD aims to comply faithfully
2367 with RFC 5880 requirements. Open vSwitch does not implement the
2368 optional Authentication or ``Echo Mode'' features.
2371 <group title="BFD Configuration">
2373 A controller sets up key-value pairs in the <ref column="bfd"/>
2374 column to enable and configure BFD.
2377 <column name="bfd" key="enable" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2378 True to enable BFD on this <ref table="Interface"/>. If not
2379 specified, BFD will not be enabled by default.
2382 <column name="bfd" key="min_rx"
2383 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2384 The shortest interval, in milliseconds, at which this BFD session
2385 offers to receive BFD control messages. The remote endpoint may
2386 choose to send messages at a slower rate. Defaults to
2390 <column name="bfd" key="min_tx"
2391 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
2392 The shortest interval, in milliseconds, at which this BFD session is
2393 willing to transmit BFD control messages. Messages will actually be
2394 transmitted at a slower rate if the remote endpoint is not willing to
2395 receive as quickly as specified. Defaults to <code>100</code>.
2398 <column name="bfd" key="decay_min_rx" type='{"type": "integer"}'>
2399 An alternate receive interval, in milliseconds, that must be greater
2400 than or equal to <ref column="bfd" key="min_rx"/>. The
2401 implementation switches from <ref column="bfd" key="min_rx"/> to <ref
2402 column="bfd" key="decay_min_rx"/> when there is no obvious incoming
2403 data traffic at the interface, to reduce the CPU and bandwidth cost
2404 of monitoring an idle interface. This feature may be disabled by
2405 setting a value of 0. This feature is reset whenever <ref
2406 column="bfd" key="decay_min_rx"/> or <ref column="bfd" key="min_rx"/>
2410 <column name="bfd" key="forwarding_if_rx" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2411 When <code>true</code>, traffic received on the
2412 <ref table="Interface"/> is used to indicate the capability of packet
2413 I/O. BFD control packets are still transmitted and received. At
2414 least one BFD control packet must be received every 100 * <ref
2415 column="bfd" key="min_rx"/> amount of time. Otherwise, even if
2416 traffic are received, the <ref column="bfd" key="forwarding"/>
2417 will be <code>false</code>.
2420 <column name="bfd" key="cpath_down" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2421 Set to true to notify the remote endpoint that traffic should not be
2422 forwarded to this system for some reason other than a connectivty
2423 failure on the interface being monitored. The typical underlying
2424 reason is ``concatenated path down,'' that is, that connectivity
2425 beyond the local system is down. Defaults to false.
2428 <column name="bfd" key="check_tnl_key" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2429 Set to true to make BFD accept only control messages with a tunnel
2430 key of zero. By default, BFD accepts control messages with any
2434 <column name="bfd" key="bfd_local_src_mac">
2435 Set to an Ethernet address in the form
2436 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
2437 to set the MAC used as source for transmitted BFD packets. The
2438 default is the mac address of the BFD enabled interface.
2441 <column name="bfd" key="bfd_local_dst_mac">
2442 Set to an Ethernet address in the form
2443 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
2444 to set the MAC used as destination for transmitted BFD packets. The
2445 default is <code>00:23:20:00:00:01</code>.
2448 <column name="bfd" key="bfd_remote_dst_mac">
2449 Set to an Ethernet address in the form
2450 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>
2451 to set the MAC used for checking the destination of received BFD packets.
2452 Packets with different destination MAC will not be considered as BFD packets.
2453 If not specified the destination MAC address of received BFD packets
2457 <column name="bfd" key="bfd_src_ip">
2458 Set to an IPv4 address to set the IP address used as source for
2459 transmitted BFD packets. The default is <code>169.254.1.1</code>.
2462 <column name="bfd" key="bfd_dst_ip">
2463 Set to an IPv4 address to set the IP address used as destination
2464 for transmitted BFD packets. The default is <code>169.254.1.0</code>.
2468 <group title="BFD Status">
2470 The switch sets key-value pairs in the <ref column="bfd_status"/>
2471 column to report the status of BFD on this interface. When BFD is
2472 not enabled, with <ref column="bfd" key="enable"/>, the switch clears
2473 all key-value pairs from <ref column="bfd_status"/>.
2476 <column name="bfd_status" key="state"
2477 type='{"type": "string",
2478 "enum": ["set", ["admin_down", "down", "init", "up"]]}'>
2479 Reports the state of the BFD session. The BFD session is fully
2480 healthy and negotiated if <code>UP</code>.
2483 <column name="bfd_status" key="forwarding" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2484 Reports whether the BFD session believes this <ref
2485 table="Interface"/> may be used to forward traffic. Typically this
2486 means the local session is signaling <code>UP</code>, and the remote
2487 system isn't signaling a problem such as concatenated path down.
2490 <column name="bfd_status" key="diagnostic">
2491 In case of a problem, set to an error message that reports what the
2492 local BFD session thinks is wrong. The error messages are defined
2493 in section 4.1 of [RFC 5880].
2496 <column name="bfd_status" key="remote_state"
2497 type='{"type": "string",
2498 "enum": ["set", ["admin_down", "down", "init", "up"]]}'>
2499 Reports the state of the remote endpoint's BFD session.
2502 <column name="bfd_status" key="remote_diagnostic">
2503 In case of a problem, set to an error message that reports what the
2504 remote endpoint's BFD session thinks is wrong. The error messages
2505 are defined in section 4.1 of [RFC 5880].
2508 <column name="bfd_status" key="flap_count"
2509 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
2510 Counts the number of <ref column="bfd_status" key="forwarding" />
2511 flaps since start. A flap is considered as a change of the
2512 <ref column="bfd_status" key="forwarding" /> value.
2517 <group title="Connectivity Fault Management">
2519 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) allows a group of
2520 Maintenance Points (MPs) called a Maintenance Association (MA) to
2521 detect connectivity problems with each other. MPs within a MA should
2522 have complete and exclusive interconnectivity. This is verified by
2523 occasionally broadcasting Continuity Check Messages (CCMs) at a
2524 configurable transmission interval.
2528 According to the 802.1ag specification, each Maintenance Point should
2529 be configured out-of-band with a list of Remote Maintenance Points it
2530 should have connectivity to. Open vSwitch differs from the
2531 specification in this area. It simply assumes the link is faulted if
2532 no Remote Maintenance Points are reachable, and considers it not
2537 When operating over tunnels which have no <code>in_key</code>, or an
2538 <code>in_key</code> of <code>flow</code>. CFM will only accept CCMs
2539 with a tunnel key of zero.
2542 <column name="cfm_mpid">
2544 A Maintenance Point ID (MPID) uniquely identifies each endpoint
2545 within a Maintenance Association. The MPID is used to identify this
2546 endpoint to other Maintenance Points in the MA. Each end of a link
2547 being monitored should have a different MPID. Must be configured to
2548 enable CFM on this <ref table="Interface"/>.
2551 According to the 802.1ag specification, MPIDs can only range between
2552 [1, 8191]. However, extended mode (see <ref column="other_config"
2553 key="cfm_extended"/>) supports eight byte MPIDs.
2557 <column name="cfm_flap_count">
2558 Counts the number of cfm fault flapps since boot. A flap is
2559 considered to be a change of the <ref column="cfm_fault"/> value.
2562 <column name="cfm_fault">
2564 Indicates a connectivity fault triggered by an inability to receive
2565 heartbeats from any remote endpoint. When a fault is triggered on
2566 <ref table="Interface"/>s participating in bonds, they will be
2570 Faults can be triggered for several reasons. Most importantly they
2571 are triggered when no CCMs are received for a period of 3.5 times the
2572 transmission interval. Faults are also triggered when any CCMs
2573 indicate that a Remote Maintenance Point is not receiving CCMs but
2574 able to send them. Finally, a fault is triggered if a CCM is
2575 received which indicates unexpected configuration. Notably, this
2576 case arises when a CCM is received which advertises the local MPID.
2580 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="recv">
2581 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered due to a lack of CCMs received on
2582 the <ref table="Interface"/>.
2585 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="rdi">
2586 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered due to the reception of a CCM with
2587 the RDI bit flagged. Endpoints set the RDI bit in their CCMs when they
2588 are not receiving CCMs themselves. This typically indicates a
2589 unidirectional connectivity failure.
2592 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="maid">
2593 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered due to the reception of a CCM with
2594 a MAID other than the one Open vSwitch uses. CFM broadcasts are tagged
2595 with an identification number in addition to the MPID called the MAID.
2596 Open vSwitch only supports receiving CCM broadcasts tagged with the
2597 MAID it uses internally.
2600 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="loopback">
2601 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered due to the reception of a CCM
2602 advertising the same MPID configured in the <ref column="cfm_mpid"/>
2603 column of this <ref table="Interface"/>. This may indicate a loop in
2607 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="overflow">
2608 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered because the CFM module received
2609 CCMs from more remote endpoints than it can keep track of.
2612 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="override">
2613 Indicates a CFM fault was manually triggered by an administrator using
2614 an <code>ovs-appctl</code> command.
2617 <column name="cfm_fault_status" key="interval">
2618 Indicates a CFM fault was triggered due to the reception of a CCM
2619 frame having an invalid interval.
2622 <column name="cfm_remote_opstate">
2623 <p>When in extended mode, indicates the operational state of the
2624 remote endpoint as either <code>up</code> or <code>down</code>. See
2625 <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_opstate"/>.
2629 <column name="cfm_health">
2631 Indicates the health of the interface as a percentage of CCM frames
2632 received over 21 <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_interval"/>s.
2633 The health of an interface is undefined if it is communicating with
2634 more than one <ref column="cfm_remote_mpids"/>. It reduces if
2635 healthy heartbeats are not received at the expected rate, and
2636 gradually improves as healthy heartbeats are received at the desired
2637 rate. Every 21 <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_interval"/>s, the
2638 health of the interface is refreshed.
2641 As mentioned above, the faults can be triggered for several reasons.
2642 The link health will deteriorate even if heartbeats are received but
2643 they are reported to be unhealthy. An unhealthy heartbeat in this
2644 context is a heartbeat for which either some fault is set or is out
2645 of sequence. The interface health can be 100 only on receiving
2646 healthy heartbeats at the desired rate.
2650 <column name="cfm_remote_mpids">
2651 When CFM is properly configured, Open vSwitch will occasionally
2652 receive CCM broadcasts. These broadcasts contain the MPID of the
2653 sending Maintenance Point. The list of MPIDs from which this
2654 <ref table="Interface"/> is receiving broadcasts from is regularly
2655 collected and written to this column.
2658 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_interval"
2659 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
2661 The interval, in milliseconds, between transmissions of CFM
2662 heartbeats. Three missed heartbeat receptions indicate a
2667 In standard operation only intervals of 3, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000,
2668 60,000, or 600,000 ms are supported. Other values will be rounded
2669 down to the nearest value on the list. Extended mode (see <ref
2670 column="other_config" key="cfm_extended"/>) supports any interval up
2671 to 65,535 ms. In either mode, the default is 1000 ms.
2674 <p>We do not recommend using intervals less than 100 ms.</p>
2677 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_extended"
2678 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2679 When <code>true</code>, the CFM module operates in extended mode. This
2680 causes it to use a nonstandard destination address to avoid conflicting
2681 with compliant implementations which may be running concurrently on the
2682 network. Furthermore, extended mode increases the accuracy of the
2683 <code>cfm_interval</code> configuration parameter by breaking wire
2684 compatibility with 802.1ag compliant implementations. And extended
2685 mode allows eight byte MPIDs. Defaults to <code>false</code>.
2688 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_demand" type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2690 When <code>true</code>, and
2691 <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_extended"/> is true, the CFM
2692 module operates in demand mode. When in demand mode, traffic
2693 received on the <ref table="Interface"/> is used to indicate
2694 liveness. CCMs are still transmitted and received. At least one
2695 CCM must be received every 100 * <ref column="other_config"
2696 key="cfm_interval"/> amount of time. Otherwise, even if traffic
2697 are received, the CFM module will raise the connectivity fault.
2701 Demand mode has a couple of caveats:
2704 To ensure that ovs-vswitchd has enough time to pull statistics
2705 from the datapath, the fault detection interval is set to
2706 3.5 * MAX(<ref column="other_config" key="cfm_interval"/>, 500)
2711 To avoid ambiguity, demand mode disables itself when there are
2712 multiple remote maintenance points.
2716 If the <ref table="Interface"/> is heavily congested, CCMs
2717 containing the <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_opstate"/>
2718 status may be dropped causing changes in the operational state to
2719 be delayed. Similarly, if CCMs containing the RDI bit are not
2720 received, unidirectional link failures may not be detected.
2726 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_opstate"
2727 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["down", "up"]]}'>
2728 When <code>down</code>, the CFM module marks all CCMs it generates as
2729 operationally down without triggering a fault. This allows remote
2730 maintenance points to choose not to forward traffic to the
2731 <ref table="Interface"/> on which this CFM module is running.
2732 Currently, in Open vSwitch, the opdown bit of CCMs affects
2733 <ref table="Interface"/>s participating in bonds, and the bundle
2734 OpenFlow action. This setting is ignored when CFM is not in extended
2735 mode. Defaults to <code>up</code>.
2738 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_ccm_vlan"
2739 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 4095}'>
2740 When set, the CFM module will apply a VLAN tag to all CCMs it generates
2741 with the given value. May be the string <code>random</code> in which
2742 case each CCM will be tagged with a different randomly generated VLAN.
2745 <column name="other_config" key="cfm_ccm_pcp"
2746 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 7}'>
2747 When set, the CFM module will apply a VLAN tag to all CCMs it generates
2748 with the given PCP value, the VLAN ID of the tag is governed by the
2749 value of <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_ccm_vlan"/>. If
2750 <ref column="other_config" key="cfm_ccm_vlan"/> is unset, a VLAN ID of
2756 <group title="Bonding Configuration">
2757 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-port-id"
2758 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
2759 The LACP port ID of this <ref table="Interface"/>. Port IDs are
2760 used in LACP negotiations to identify individual ports
2761 participating in a bond.
2764 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-port-priority"
2765 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
2766 The LACP port priority of this <ref table="Interface"/>. In LACP
2767 negotiations <ref table="Interface"/>s with numerically lower
2768 priorities are preferred for aggregation.
2771 <column name="other_config" key="lacp-aggregation-key"
2772 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 65535}'>
2773 The LACP aggregation key of this <ref table="Interface"/>. <ref
2774 table="Interface"/>s with different aggregation keys may not be active
2775 within a given <ref table="Port"/> at the same time.
2779 <group title="Virtual Machine Identifiers">
2781 These key-value pairs specifically apply to an interface that
2782 represents a virtual Ethernet interface connected to a virtual
2783 machine. These key-value pairs should not be present for other types
2784 of interfaces. Keys whose names end in <code>-uuid</code> have
2785 values that uniquely identify the entity in question. For a Citrix
2786 XenServer hypervisor, these values are UUIDs in RFC 4122 format.
2787 Other hypervisors may use other formats.
2790 <column name="external_ids" key="attached-mac">
2791 The MAC address programmed into the ``virtual hardware'' for this
2792 interface, in the form
2793 <var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>:<var>xx</var>.
2794 For Citrix XenServer, this is the value of the <code>MAC</code> field
2795 in the VIF record for this interface.
2798 <column name="external_ids" key="iface-id">
2799 A system-unique identifier for the interface. On XenServer, this will
2800 commonly be the same as <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-vif-uuid"/>.
2803 <column name="external_ids" key="iface-status"
2804 type='{"type": "string",
2805 "enum": ["set", ["active", "inactive"]]}'>
2807 Hypervisors may sometimes have more than one interface associated
2808 with a given <ref column="external_ids" key="iface-id"/>, only one of
2809 which is actually in use at a given time. For example, in some
2810 circumstances XenServer has both a ``tap'' and a ``vif'' interface
2811 for a single <ref column="external_ids" key="iface-id"/>, but only
2812 uses one of them at a time. A hypervisor that behaves this way must
2813 mark the currently in use interface <code>active</code> and the
2814 others <code>inactive</code>. A hypervisor that never has more than
2815 one interface for a given <ref column="external_ids" key="iface-id"/>
2816 may mark that interface <code>active</code> or omit <ref
2817 column="external_ids" key="iface-status"/> entirely.
2821 During VM migration, a given <ref column="external_ids"
2822 key="iface-id"/> might transiently be marked <code>active</code> on
2823 two different hypervisors. That is, <code>active</code> means that
2824 this <ref column="external_ids" key="iface-id"/> is the active
2825 instance within a single hypervisor, not in a broader scope.
2826 There is one exception: some hypervisors support ``migration'' from a
2827 given hypervisor to itself (most often for test purposes). During
2828 such a ``migration,'' two instances of a single <ref
2829 column="external_ids" key="iface-id"/> might both be briefly marked
2830 <code>active</code> on a single hypervisor.
2834 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-vif-uuid">
2835 The virtual interface associated with this interface.
2838 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-network-uuid">
2839 The virtual network to which this interface is attached.
2842 <column name="external_ids" key="vm-id">
2843 The VM to which this interface belongs. On XenServer, this will be the
2844 same as <ref column="external_ids" key="xs-vm-uuid"/>.
2847 <column name="external_ids" key="xs-vm-uuid">
2848 The VM to which this interface belongs.
2852 <group title="VLAN Splinters">
2854 The ``VLAN splinters'' feature increases Open vSwitch compatibility
2855 with buggy network drivers in old versions of Linux that do not
2856 properly support VLANs when VLAN devices are not used, at some cost
2857 in memory and performance.
2861 When VLAN splinters are enabled on a particular interface, Open vSwitch
2862 creates a VLAN device for each in-use VLAN. For sending traffic tagged
2863 with a VLAN on the interface, it substitutes the VLAN device. Traffic
2864 received on the VLAN device is treated as if it had been received on
2865 the interface on the particular VLAN.
2869 VLAN splinters consider a VLAN to be in use if:
2874 The VLAN is the <ref table="Port" column="tag"/> value in any <ref
2875 table="Port"/> record.
2879 The VLAN is listed within the <ref table="Port" column="trunks"/>
2880 column of the <ref table="Port"/> record of an interface on which
2881 VLAN splinters are enabled.
2883 An empty <ref table="Port" column="trunks"/> does not influence the
2884 in-use VLANs: creating 4,096 VLAN devices is impractical because it
2885 will exceed the current 1,024 port per datapath limit.
2889 An OpenFlow flow within any bridge matches the VLAN.
2894 The same set of in-use VLANs applies to every interface on which VLAN
2895 splinters are enabled. That is, the set is not chosen separately for
2896 each interface but selected once as the union of all in-use VLANs based
2901 It does not make sense to enable VLAN splinters on an interface for an
2902 access port, or on an interface that is not a physical port.
2906 VLAN splinters are deprecated. When broken device drivers are no
2907 longer in widespread use, we will delete this feature.
2910 <column name="other_config" key="enable-vlan-splinters"
2911 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
2913 Set to <code>true</code> to enable VLAN splinters on this interface.
2914 Defaults to <code>false</code>.
2918 VLAN splinters increase kernel and userspace memory overhead, so do
2919 not use them unless they are needed.
2923 VLAN splinters do not support 802.1p priority tags. Received
2924 priorities will appear to be 0, regardless of their actual values,
2925 and priorities on transmitted packets will also be cleared to 0.
2930 <group title="Common Columns">
2931 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
2932 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
2934 <column name="other_config"/>
2935 <column name="external_ids"/>
2939 <table name="Flow_Table" title="OpenFlow table configuration">
2940 <p>Configuration for a particular OpenFlow table.</p>
2942 <column name="name">
2943 The table's name. Set this column to change the name that controllers
2944 will receive when they request table statistics, e.g. <code>ovs-ofctl
2945 dump-tables</code>. The name does not affect switch behavior.
2948 <column name="flow_limit">
2949 If set, limits the number of flows that may be added to the table. Open
2950 vSwitch may limit the number of flows in a table for other reasons,
2951 e.g. due to hardware limitations or for resource availability or
2952 performance reasons.
2955 <column name="overflow_policy">
2957 Controls the switch's behavior when an OpenFlow flow table modification
2958 request would add flows in excess of <ref column="flow_limit"/>. The
2959 supported values are:
2963 <dt><code>refuse</code></dt>
2965 Refuse to add the flow or flows. This is also the default policy
2966 when <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is unset.
2969 <dt><code>evict</code></dt>
2971 Delete the flow that will expire soonest. See <ref column="groups"/>
2977 <column name="groups">
2979 When <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is <code>evict</code>, this
2980 controls how flows are chosen for eviction when the flow table would
2981 otherwise exceed <ref column="flow_limit"/> flows. Its value is a set
2982 of NXM fields or sub-fields, each of which takes one of the forms
2983 <code><var>field</var>[]</code> or
2984 <code><var>field</var>[<var>start</var>..<var>end</var>]</code>,
2985 e.g. <code>NXM_OF_IN_PORT[]</code>. Please see
2986 <code>nicira-ext.h</code> for a complete list of NXM field names.
2990 When a flow must be evicted due to overflow, the flow to evict is
2991 chosen through an approximation of the following algorithm:
2996 Divide the flows in the table into groups based on the values of the
2997 specified fields or subfields, so that all of the flows in a given
2998 group have the same values for those fields. If a flow does not
2999 specify a given field, that field's value is treated as 0.
3003 Consider the flows in the largest group, that is, the group that
3004 contains the greatest number of flows. If two or more groups all
3005 have the same largest number of flows, consider the flows in all of
3010 Among the flows under consideration, choose the flow that expires
3011 soonest for eviction.
3016 The eviction process only considers flows that have an idle timeout or
3017 a hard timeout. That is, eviction never deletes permanent flows.
3018 (Permanent flows do count against <ref column="flow_limit"/>.)
3022 Open vSwitch ignores any invalid or unknown field specifications.
3026 When <ref column="overflow_policy"/> is not <code>evict</code>, this
3027 column has no effect.
3031 <column name="prefixes">
3033 This string set specifies which fields should be used for
3034 address prefix tracking. Prefix tracking allows the
3035 classifier to skip rules with longer than necessary prefixes,
3036 resulting in better wildcarding for datapath flows.
3039 Prefix tracking may be beneficial when a flow table contains
3040 matches on IP address fields with different prefix lengths.
3041 For example, when a flow table contains IP address matches on
3042 both full addresses and proper prefixes, the full address
3043 matches will typically cause the datapath flow to un-wildcard
3044 the whole address field (depending on flow entry priorities).
3045 In this case each packet with a different address gets handed
3046 to the userspace for flow processing and generates its own
3047 datapath flow. With prefix tracking enabled for the address
3048 field in question packets with addresses matching shorter
3049 prefixes would generate datapath flows where the irrelevant
3050 address bits are wildcarded, allowing the same datapath flow
3051 to handle all the packets within the prefix in question. In
3052 this case many userspace upcalls can be avoided and the
3053 overall performance can be better.
3056 This is a performance optimization only, so packets will
3057 receive the same treatment with or without prefix tracking.
3060 The supported fields are: <code>tun_id</code>,
3061 <code>tun_src</code>, <code>tun_dst</code>,
3062 <code>nw_src</code>, <code>nw_dst</code> (or aliases
3063 <code>ip_src</code> and <code>ip_dst</code>),
3064 <code>ipv6_src</code>, and <code>ipv6_dst</code>. (Using this
3065 feature for <code>tun_id</code> would only make sense if the
3066 tunnel IDs have prefix structure similar to IP addresses.)
3070 By default, the <code>prefixes=ip_dst,ip_src</code> are used
3071 on each flow table. This instructs the flow classifier to
3072 track the IP destination and source addresses used by the
3073 rules in this specific flow table.
3077 The keyword <code>none</code> is recognized as an explicit
3078 override of the default values, causing no prefix fields to be
3083 To set the prefix fields, the flow table record needs to
3088 <dt><code>ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 flow_tables:0=@N1 -- --id=@N1 create Flow_Table name=table0</code></dt>
3090 Creates a flow table record for the OpenFlow table number 0.
3093 <dt><code>ovs-vsctl set Flow_Table table0 prefixes=ip_dst,ip_src</code></dt>
3095 Enables prefix tracking for IP source and destination
3101 There is a maximum number of fields that can be enabled for any
3102 one flow table. Currently this limit is 3.
3106 <group title="Common Columns">
3107 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
3108 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
3110 <column name="external_ids"/>
3114 <table name="QoS" title="Quality of Service configuration">
3115 <p>Quality of Service (QoS) configuration for each Port that
3118 <column name="type">
3119 <p>The type of QoS to implement. The currently defined types are
3122 <dt><code>linux-htb</code></dt>
3124 Linux ``hierarchy token bucket'' classifier. See tc-htb(8) (also at
3125 <code>http://linux.die.net/man/8/tc-htb</code>) and the HTB manual
3126 (<code>http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm</code>)
3127 for information on how this classifier works and how to configure it.
3131 <dt><code>linux-hfsc</code></dt>
3133 Linux "Hierarchical Fair Service Curve" classifier.
3134 See <code>http://linux-ip.net/articles/hfsc.en/</code> for
3135 information on how this classifier works.
3140 <column name="queues">
3141 <p>A map from queue numbers to <ref table="Queue"/> records. The
3142 supported range of queue numbers depend on <ref column="type"/>. The
3143 queue numbers are the same as the <code>queue_id</code> used in
3144 OpenFlow in <code>struct ofp_action_enqueue</code> and other
3148 Queue 0 is the ``default queue.'' It is used by OpenFlow output
3149 actions when no specific queue has been set. When no configuration for
3150 queue 0 is present, it is automatically configured as if a <ref
3151 table="Queue"/> record with empty <ref table="Queue" column="dscp"/>
3152 and <ref table="Queue" column="other_config"/> columns had been
3154 (Before version 1.6, Open vSwitch would leave queue 0 unconfigured in
3155 this case. With some queuing disciplines, this dropped all packets
3156 destined for the default queue.)
3160 <group title="Configuration for linux-htb and linux-hfsc">
3162 The <code>linux-htb</code> and <code>linux-hfsc</code> classes support
3163 the following key-value pair:
3166 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate" type='{"type": "integer"}'>
3167 Maximum rate shared by all queued traffic, in bit/s. Optional. If not
3168 specified, for physical interfaces, the default is the link rate. For
3169 other interfaces or if the link rate cannot be determined, the default
3170 is currently 100 Mbps.
3174 <group title="Common Columns">
3175 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
3176 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
3178 <column name="other_config"/>
3179 <column name="external_ids"/>
3183 <table name="Queue" title="QoS output queue.">
3184 <p>A configuration for a port output queue, used in configuring Quality of
3185 Service (QoS) features. May be referenced by <ref column="queues"
3186 table="QoS"/> column in <ref table="QoS"/> table.</p>
3188 <column name="dscp">
3189 If set, Open vSwitch will mark all traffic egressing this
3190 <ref table="Queue"/> with the given DSCP bits. Traffic egressing the
3191 default <ref table="Queue"/> is only marked if it was explicitly selected
3192 as the <ref table="Queue"/> at the time the packet was output. If unset,
3193 the DSCP bits of traffic egressing this <ref table="Queue"/> will remain
3197 <group title="Configuration for linux-htb QoS">
3199 <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS" column="type"/>
3200 <code>linux-htb</code> may use <code>queue_id</code>s less than 61440.
3201 It has the following key-value pairs defined.
3204 <column name="other_config" key="min-rate"
3205 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3206 Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.
3209 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate"
3210 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3211 Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
3212 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even
3213 if excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
3217 <column name="other_config" key="burst"
3218 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3219 Burst size, in bits. This is the maximum amount of ``credits'' that a
3220 queue can accumulate while it is idle. Optional. Details of the
3221 <code>linux-htb</code> implementation require a minimum burst size, so
3222 a too-small <code>burst</code> will be silently ignored.
3225 <column name="other_config" key="priority"
3226 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0, "maxInteger": 4294967295}'>
3227 A queue with a smaller <code>priority</code> will receive all the
3228 excess bandwidth that it can use before a queue with a larger value
3229 receives any. Specific priority values are unimportant; only relative
3230 ordering matters. Defaults to 0 if unspecified.
3234 <group title="Configuration for linux-hfsc QoS">
3236 <ref table="QoS"/> <ref table="QoS" column="type"/>
3237 <code>linux-hfsc</code> may use <code>queue_id</code>s less than 61440.
3238 It has the following key-value pairs defined.
3241 <column name="other_config" key="min-rate"
3242 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3243 Minimum guaranteed bandwidth, in bit/s.
3246 <column name="other_config" key="max-rate"
3247 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3248 Maximum allowed bandwidth, in bit/s. Optional. If specified, the
3249 queue's rate will not be allowed to exceed the specified value, even if
3250 excess bandwidth is available. If unspecified, defaults to no
3255 <group title="Common Columns">
3256 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
3257 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
3259 <column name="other_config"/>
3260 <column name="external_ids"/>
3264 <table name="Mirror" title="Port mirroring.">
3265 <p>A port mirror within a <ref table="Bridge"/>.</p>
3266 <p>A port mirror configures a bridge to send selected frames to special
3267 ``mirrored'' ports, in addition to their normal destinations. Mirroring
3268 traffic may also be referred to as SPAN or RSPAN, depending on how
3269 the mirrored traffic is sent.</p>
3271 <column name="name">
3272 Arbitrary identifier for the <ref table="Mirror"/>.
3275 <group title="Selecting Packets for Mirroring">
3277 To be selected for mirroring, a given packet must enter or leave the
3278 bridge through a selected port and it must also be in one of the
3282 <column name="select_all">
3283 If true, every packet arriving or departing on any port is
3284 selected for mirroring.
3287 <column name="select_dst_port">
3288 Ports on which departing packets are selected for mirroring.
3291 <column name="select_src_port">
3292 Ports on which arriving packets are selected for mirroring.
3295 <column name="select_vlan">
3296 VLANs on which packets are selected for mirroring. An empty set
3297 selects packets on all VLANs.
3301 <group title="Mirroring Destination Configuration">
3303 These columns are mutually exclusive. Exactly one of them must be
3307 <column name="output_port">
3308 <p>Output port for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
3309 <p>Specifying a port for mirror output reserves that port exclusively
3310 for mirroring. No frames other than those selected for mirroring
3312 will be forwarded to the port, and any frames received on the port
3313 will be discarded.</p>
3315 The output port may be any kind of port supported by Open vSwitch.
3316 It may be, for example, a physical port (sometimes called SPAN) or a
3321 <column name="output_vlan">
3322 <p>Output VLAN for selected packets, if nonempty.</p>
3323 <p>The frames will be sent out all ports that trunk
3324 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, as well as any ports with implicit VLAN
3325 <ref column="output_vlan"/>. When a mirrored frame is sent out a
3326 trunk port, the frame's VLAN tag will be set to
3327 <ref column="output_vlan"/>, replacing any existing tag; when it is
3328 sent out an implicit VLAN port, the frame will not be tagged. This
3329 type of mirroring is sometimes called RSPAN.</p>
3331 See the documentation for
3332 <ref column="other_config" key="forward-bpdu"/> in the
3333 <ref table="Interface"/> table for a list of destination MAC
3334 addresses which will not be mirrored to a VLAN to avoid confusing
3335 switches that interpret the protocols that they represent.
3337 <p><em>Please note:</em> Mirroring to a VLAN can disrupt a network that
3338 contains unmanaged switches. Consider an unmanaged physical switch
3339 with two ports: port 1, connected to an end host, and port 2,
3340 connected to an Open vSwitch configured to mirror received packets
3341 into VLAN 123 on port 2. Suppose that the end host sends a packet on
3342 port 1 that the physical switch forwards to port 2. The Open vSwitch
3343 forwards this packet to its destination and then reflects it back on
3344 port 2 in VLAN 123. This reflected packet causes the unmanaged
3345 physical switch to replace the MAC learning table entry, which
3346 correctly pointed to port 1, with one that incorrectly points to port
3347 2. Afterward, the physical switch will direct packets destined for
3348 the end host to the Open vSwitch on port 2, instead of to the end
3349 host on port 1, disrupting connectivity. If mirroring to a VLAN is
3350 desired in this scenario, then the physical switch must be replaced
3351 by one that learns Ethernet addresses on a per-VLAN basis. In
3352 addition, learning should be disabled on the VLAN containing mirrored
3353 traffic. If this is not done then intermediate switches will learn
3354 the MAC address of each end host from the mirrored traffic. If
3355 packets being sent to that end host are also mirrored, then they will
3356 be dropped since the switch will attempt to send them out the input
3357 port. Disabling learning for the VLAN will cause the switch to
3358 correctly send the packet out all ports configured for that VLAN. If
3359 Open vSwitch is being used as an intermediate switch, learning can be
3360 disabled by adding the mirrored VLAN to <ref column="flood_vlans"/>
3361 in the appropriate <ref table="Bridge"/> table or tables.</p>
3363 Mirroring to a GRE tunnel has fewer caveats than mirroring to a
3364 VLAN and should generally be preferred.
3369 <group title="Statistics: Mirror counters">
3371 Key-value pairs that report mirror statistics. The update period
3372 is controlled by <ref column="other_config"
3373 key="stats-update-interval"/> in the <code>Open_vSwitch</code> table.
3375 <column name="statistics" key="tx_packets">
3376 Number of packets transmitted through this mirror.
3378 <column name="statistics" key="tx_bytes">
3379 Number of bytes transmitted through this mirror.
3383 <group title="Common Columns">
3384 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
3385 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
3387 <column name="external_ids"/>
3391 <table name="Controller" title="OpenFlow controller configuration.">
3392 <p>An OpenFlow controller.</p>
3395 Open vSwitch supports two kinds of OpenFlow controllers:
3399 <dt>Primary controllers</dt>
3402 This is the kind of controller envisioned by the OpenFlow 1.0
3403 specification. Usually, a primary controller implements a network
3404 policy by taking charge of the switch's flow table.
3408 Open vSwitch initiates and maintains persistent connections to
3409 primary controllers, retrying the connection each time it fails or
3410 drops. The <ref table="Bridge" column="fail_mode"/> column in the
3411 <ref table="Bridge"/> table applies to primary controllers.
3415 Open vSwitch permits a bridge to have any number of primary
3416 controllers. When multiple controllers are configured, Open
3417 vSwitch connects to all of them simultaneously. Because
3418 OpenFlow 1.0 does not specify how multiple controllers
3419 coordinate in interacting with a single switch, more than
3420 one primary controller should be specified only if the
3421 controllers are themselves designed to coordinate with each
3422 other. (The Nicira-defined <code>NXT_ROLE</code> OpenFlow
3423 vendor extension may be useful for this.)
3426 <dt>Service controllers</dt>
3429 These kinds of OpenFlow controller connections are intended for
3430 occasional support and maintenance use, e.g. with
3431 <code>ovs-ofctl</code>. Usually a service controller connects only
3432 briefly to inspect or modify some of a switch's state.
3436 Open vSwitch listens for incoming connections from service
3437 controllers. The service controllers initiate and, if necessary,
3438 maintain the connections from their end. The <ref table="Bridge"
3439 column="fail_mode"/> column in the <ref table="Bridge"/> table does
3440 not apply to service controllers.
3444 Open vSwitch supports configuring any number of service controllers.
3450 The <ref column="target"/> determines the type of controller.
3453 <group title="Core Features">
3454 <column name="target">
3455 <p>Connection method for controller.</p>
3457 The following connection methods are currently supported for primary
3461 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
3463 <p>The specified SSL <var>port</var> on the host at the
3464 given <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP
3465 address (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
3466 column="ssl"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>
3467 table must point to a valid SSL configuration when this form
3469 <p>If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently
3470 defaults to 6633. In the future, the default will change to
3471 6653, which is the IANA-defined value.</p>
3472 <p>SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
3473 part of Open vSwitch.</p>
3475 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
3478 The specified TCP <var>port</var> on the host at the given
3479 <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address (not a
3480 DNS name), where <var>ip</var> can be IPv4 or IPv6 address. If
3481 <var>ip</var> is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets,
3482 e.g. <code>tcp:[::1]:6632</code>.
3485 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults to
3486 6633. In the future, the default will change to 6653, which is
3487 the IANA-defined value.
3492 The following connection methods are currently supported for service
3496 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
3499 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>.
3500 If <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address (not a
3501 DNS name), is specified, then connections are restricted to the
3502 specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6). If
3503 <var>ip</var> is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets,
3504 e.g. <code>pssl:6632:[::1]</code>.
3507 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults to
3508 6633. If <var>ip</var> is not specified then it listens only on
3509 IPv4 (but not IPv6) addresses. The
3510 <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/>
3511 column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a
3512 valid SSL configuration when this form is used.
3515 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults to
3516 6633. In the future, the default will change to 6653, which is
3517 the IANA-defined value.
3520 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
3521 part of Open vSwitch.
3524 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
3527 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>. If
3528 <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address (not a
3529 DNS name), is specified, then connections are restricted to the
3530 specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6). If
3531 <var>ip</var> is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets,
3532 e.g. <code>ptcp:6632:[::1]</code>. If <var>ip</var> is not
3533 specified then it listens only on IPv4 addresses.
3536 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults to
3537 6633. In the future, the default will change to 6653, which is
3538 the IANA-defined value.
3542 <p>When multiple controllers are configured for a single bridge, the
3543 <ref column="target"/> values must be unique. Duplicate
3544 <ref column="target"/> values yield unspecified results.</p>
3547 <column name="connection_mode">
3548 <p>If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following
3549 strings that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OpenFlow
3550 controller over the network:</p>
3553 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
3554 <dd>In this mode, this controller's OpenFlow traffic travels over the
3555 bridge associated with the controller. With this setting, Open
3556 vSwitch allows traffic to and from the controller regardless of the
3557 contents of the OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch
3558 would never be able to connect to the controller, because it did
3559 not have a flow to enable it.) This is the most common connection
3560 mode because it is not necessary to maintain two independent
3562 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
3563 <dd>In this mode, OpenFlow traffic uses a control network separate
3564 from the bridge associated with this controller, that is, the
3565 bridge does not use any of its own network devices to communicate
3566 with the controller. The control network must be configured
3567 separately, before or after <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
3571 <p>If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.</p>
3575 <group title="Controller Failure Detection and Handling">
3576 <column name="max_backoff">
3577 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
3578 Default is implementation-specific.
3581 <column name="inactivity_probe">
3582 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to
3583 controller before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open
3584 vSwitch does not communicate with the controller for the specified
3585 number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not
3586 received for the same additional amount of time, Open vSwitch
3587 assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
3588 Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables
3593 <group title="Asynchronous Messages">
3595 OpenFlow switches send certain messages to controllers spontanenously,
3596 that is, not in response to any request from the controller. These
3597 messages are called ``asynchronous messages.'' These columns allow
3598 asynchronous messages to be limited or disabled to ensure the best use
3599 of network resources.
3602 <column name="enable_async_messages">
3603 The OpenFlow protocol enables asynchronous messages at time of
3604 connection establishment, which means that a controller can receive
3605 asynchronous messages, potentially many of them, even if it turns them
3606 off immediately after connecting. Set this column to
3607 <code>false</code> to change Open vSwitch behavior to disable, by
3608 default, all asynchronous messages. The controller can use the
3609 <code>NXT_SET_ASYNC_CONFIG</code> Nicira extension to OpenFlow to turn
3610 on any messages that it does want to receive, if any.
3613 <group title="Controller Rate Limiting">
3615 A switch can forward packets to a controller over the OpenFlow
3616 protocol. Forwarding packets this way at too high a rate can
3617 overwhelm a controller, frustrate use of the OpenFlow connection for
3618 other purposes, increase the latency of flow setup, and use an
3619 unreasonable amount of bandwidth. Therefore, Open vSwitch supports
3620 limiting the rate of packet forwarding to a controller.
3624 There are two main reasons in OpenFlow for a packet to be sent to a
3625 controller: either the packet ``misses'' in the flow table, that is,
3626 there is no matching flow, or a flow table action says to send the
3627 packet to the controller. Open vSwitch limits the rate of each kind
3628 of packet separately at the configured rate. Therefore, the actual
3629 rate that packets are sent to the controller can be up to twice the
3630 configured rate, when packets are sent for both reasons.
3634 This feature is specific to forwarding packets over an OpenFlow
3635 connection. It is not general-purpose QoS. See the <ref
3636 table="QoS"/> table for quality of service configuration, and <ref
3637 column="ingress_policing_rate" table="Interface"/> in the <ref
3638 table="Interface"/> table for ingress policing configuration.
3641 <column name="controller_rate_limit">
3643 The maximum rate at which the switch will forward packets to the
3644 OpenFlow controller, in packets per second. If no value is
3645 specified, rate limiting is disabled.
3649 <column name="controller_burst_limit">
3651 When a high rate triggers rate-limiting, Open vSwitch queues
3652 packets to the controller for each port and transmits them to the
3653 controller at the configured rate. This value limits the number of
3654 queued packets. Ports on a bridge share the packet queue fairly.
3658 This value has no effect unless <ref
3659 column="controller_rate_limit"/> is configured. The current
3660 default when this value is not specified is one-quarter of <ref
3661 column="controller_rate_limit"/>, meaning that queuing can delay
3662 forwarding a packet to the controller by up to 250 ms.
3666 <group title="Controller Rate Limiting Statistics">
3668 These values report the effects of rate limiting. Their values are
3669 relative to establishment of the most recent OpenFlow connection,
3670 or since rate limiting was enabled, whichever happened more
3671 recently. Each consists of two values, one with <code>TYPE</code>
3672 replaced by <code>miss</code> for rate limiting flow table misses,
3673 and the other with <code>TYPE</code> replaced by
3674 <code>action</code> for rate limiting packets sent by OpenFlow
3679 These statistics are reported only when controller rate limiting is
3683 <column name="status" key="packet-in-TYPE-bypassed"
3684 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
3685 Number of packets sent directly to the controller, without queuing,
3686 because the rate did not exceed the configured maximum.
3689 <column name="status" key="packet-in-TYPE-queued"
3690 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
3691 Number of packets added to the queue to send later.
3694 <column name="status" key="packet-in-TYPE-dropped"
3695 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
3696 Number of packets added to the queue that were later dropped due to
3697 overflow. This value is less than or equal to <ref column="status"
3698 key="packet-in-TYPE-queued"/>.
3701 <column name="status" key="packet-in-TYPE-backlog"
3702 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
3703 Number of packets currently queued. The other statistics increase
3704 monotonically, but this one fluctuates between 0 and the <ref
3705 column="controller_burst_limit"/> as conditions change.
3711 <group title="Additional In-Band Configuration">
3712 <p>These values are considered only in in-band control mode (see
3713 <ref column="connection_mode"/>).</p>
3715 <p>When multiple controllers are configured on a single bridge, there
3716 should be only one set of unique values in these columns. If different
3717 values are set for these columns in different controllers, the effect
3720 <column name="local_ip">
3721 The IP address to configure on the local port,
3722 e.g. <code>192.168.0.123</code>. If this value is unset, then
3723 <ref column="local_netmask"/> and <ref column="local_gateway"/> are
3727 <column name="local_netmask">
3728 The IP netmask to configure on the local port,
3729 e.g. <code>255.255.255.0</code>. If <ref column="local_ip"/> is set
3730 but this value is unset, then the default is chosen based on whether
3731 the IP address is class A, B, or C.
3734 <column name="local_gateway">
3735 The IP address of the gateway to configure on the local port, as a
3736 string, e.g. <code>192.168.0.1</code>. Leave this column unset if
3737 this network has no gateway.
3741 <group title="Controller Status">
3742 <column name="is_connected">
3743 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this controller,
3744 <code>false</code> otherwise.
3748 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["other", "master", "slave"]]}'>
3749 <p>The level of authority this controller has on the associated
3750 bridge. Possible values are:</p>
3752 <dt><code>other</code></dt>
3753 <dd>Allows the controller access to all OpenFlow features.</dd>
3754 <dt><code>master</code></dt>
3755 <dd>Equivalent to <code>other</code>, except that there may be at
3756 most one master controller at a time. When a controller configures
3757 itself as <code>master</code>, any existing master is demoted to
3758 the <code>slave</code> role.</dd>
3759 <dt><code>slave</code></dt>
3760 <dd>Allows the controller read-only access to OpenFlow features.
3761 Attempts to modify the flow table will be rejected with an
3762 error. Slave controllers do not receive OFPT_PACKET_IN or
3763 OFPT_FLOW_REMOVED messages, but they do receive OFPT_PORT_STATUS
3768 <column name="status" key="last_error">
3769 A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
3770 to the controller; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
3771 will exist only if an error has occurred.
3774 <column name="status" key="state"
3775 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["VOID", "BACKOFF", "CONNECTING", "ACTIVE", "IDLE"]]}'>
3777 The state of the connection to the controller:
3780 <dt><code>VOID</code></dt>
3781 <dd>Connection is disabled.</dd>
3783 <dt><code>BACKOFF</code></dt>
3784 <dd>Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.</dd>
3786 <dt><code>CONNECTING</code></dt>
3787 <dd>Attempting to connect.</dd>
3789 <dt><code>ACTIVE</code></dt>
3790 <dd>Connected, remote host responsive.</dd>
3792 <dt><code>IDLE</code></dt>
3793 <dd>Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.</dd>
3796 These values may change in the future. They are provided only for
3801 <column name="status" key="sec_since_connect"
3802 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
3803 The amount of time since this controller last successfully connected to
3804 the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller has never
3805 successfully connected.
3808 <column name="status" key="sec_since_disconnect"
3809 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1}'>
3810 The amount of time since this controller last disconnected from
3811 the switch (in seconds). Value is empty if controller has never
3816 <group title="Connection Parameters">
3818 Additional configuration for a connection between the controller
3819 and the Open vSwitch.
3822 <column name="other_config" key="dscp"
3823 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
3824 The Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) is specified using 6 bits
3825 in the Type of Service (TOS) field in the IP header. DSCP provides a
3826 mechanism to classify the network traffic and provide Quality of
3827 Service (QoS) on IP networks.
3829 The DSCP value specified here is used when establishing the connection
3830 between the controller and the Open vSwitch. If no value is specified,
3831 a default value of 48 is chosen. Valid DSCP values must be in the
3837 <group title="Common Columns">
3838 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
3839 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
3841 <column name="external_ids"/>
3842 <column name="other_config"/>
3846 <table name="Manager" title="OVSDB management connection.">
3848 Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database
3853 This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database
3854 (<code>ovsdb-server</code>), not the Open vSwitch switch
3855 (<code>ovs-vswitchd</code>). The switch does read the table to determine
3856 what connections should be treated as in-band.
3860 The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active
3861 connections to remote clients. It can also listen for database
3865 <group title="Core Features">
3866 <column name="target">
3867 <p>Connection method for managers.</p>
3869 The following connection methods are currently supported:
3872 <dt><code>ssl:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
3875 The specified SSL <var>port</var> on the host at the given
3876 <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address
3877 (not a DNS name). The <ref table="Open_vSwitch"
3878 column="ssl"/> column in the <ref table="Open_vSwitch"/>
3879 table must point to a valid SSL configuration when this
3883 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults
3884 to 6632. In the future, the default will change to 6640,
3885 which is the IANA-defined value.
3888 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always
3889 built as part of Open vSwitch.
3893 <dt><code>tcp:<var>ip</var></code>[<code>:<var>port</var></code>]</dt>
3896 The specified TCP <var>port</var> on the host at the given
3897 <var>ip</var>, which must be expressed as an IP address (not a
3898 DNS name), where <var>ip</var> can be IPv4 or IPv6 address. If
3899 <var>ip</var> is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets,
3900 e.g. <code>tcp:[::1]:6632</code>.
3903 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults
3904 to 6632. In the future, the default will change to 6640,
3905 which is the IANA-defined value.
3908 <dt><code>pssl:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
3911 Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>.
3912 Specify 0 for <var>port</var> to have the kernel automatically
3913 choose an available port. If <var>ip</var>, which must be
3914 expressed as an IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then
3915 connections are restricted to the specified local IP address
3916 (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If <var>ip</var> is an IPv6
3917 address, wrap in square brackets,
3918 e.g. <code>pssl:6632:[::1]</code>. If <var>ip</var> is not
3919 specified then it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6) addresses.
3920 The <ref table="Open_vSwitch" column="ssl"/> column in the <ref
3921 table="Open_vSwitch"/> table must point to a valid SSL
3922 configuration when this form is used.
3925 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults
3926 to 6632. In the future, the default will change to 6640,
3927 which is the IANA-defined value.
3930 SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as
3931 part of Open vSwitch.
3934 <dt><code>ptcp:</code>[<var>port</var>][<code>:<var>ip</var></code>]</dt>
3937 Listens for connections on the specified TCP <var>port</var>.
3938 Specify 0 for <var>port</var> to have the kernel automatically
3939 choose an available port. If <var>ip</var>, which must be
3940 expressed as an IP address (not a DNS name), is specified, then
3941 connections are restricted to the specified local IP address
3942 (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If <var>ip</var> is an IPv6
3943 address, wrap it in square brackets,
3944 e.g. <code>ptcp:6632:[::1]</code>. If <var>ip</var> is not
3945 specified then it listens only on IPv4 addresses.
3948 If <var>port</var> is not specified, it currently defaults
3949 to 6632. In the future, the default will change to 6640,
3950 which is the IANA-defined value.
3954 <p>When multiple managers are configured, the <ref column="target"/>
3955 values must be unique. Duplicate <ref column="target"/> values yield
3956 unspecified results.</p>
3959 <column name="connection_mode">
3961 If it is specified, this setting must be one of the following strings
3962 that describes how Open vSwitch contacts this OVSDB client over the
3967 <dt><code>in-band</code></dt>
3969 In this mode, this connection's traffic travels over a bridge
3970 managed by Open vSwitch. With this setting, Open vSwitch allows
3971 traffic to and from the client regardless of the contents of the
3972 OpenFlow flow table. (Otherwise, Open vSwitch would never be able
3973 to connect to the client, because it did not have a flow to enable
3974 it.) This is the most common connection mode because it is not
3975 necessary to maintain two independent networks.
3977 <dt><code>out-of-band</code></dt>
3979 In this mode, the client's traffic uses a control network separate
3980 from that managed by Open vSwitch, that is, Open vSwitch does not
3981 use any of its own network devices to communicate with the client.
3982 The control network must be configured separately, before or after
3983 <code>ovs-vswitchd</code> is started.
3988 If not specified, the default is implementation-specific.
3993 <group title="Client Failure Detection and Handling">
3994 <column name="max_backoff">
3995 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts.
3996 Default is implementation-specific.
3999 <column name="inactivity_probe">
4000 Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client
4001 before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not
4002 communicate with the client for the specified number of seconds, it
4003 will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same
4004 additional amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been
4005 broken and attempts to reconnect. Default is implementation-specific.
4006 A value of 0 disables inactivity probes.
4010 <group title="Status">
4011 <column name="is_connected">
4012 <code>true</code> if currently connected to this manager,
4013 <code>false</code> otherwise.
4016 <column name="status" key="last_error">
4017 A human-readable description of the last error on the connection
4018 to the manager; i.e. <code>strerror(errno)</code>. This key
4019 will exist only if an error has occurred.
4022 <column name="status" key="state"
4023 type='{"type": "string", "enum": ["set", ["VOID", "BACKOFF", "CONNECTING", "ACTIVE", "IDLE"]]}'>
4025 The state of the connection to the manager:
4028 <dt><code>VOID</code></dt>
4029 <dd>Connection is disabled.</dd>
4031 <dt><code>BACKOFF</code></dt>
4032 <dd>Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.</dd>
4034 <dt><code>CONNECTING</code></dt>
4035 <dd>Attempting to connect.</dd>
4037 <dt><code>ACTIVE</code></dt>
4038 <dd>Connected, remote host responsive.</dd>
4040 <dt><code>IDLE</code></dt>
4041 <dd>Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.</dd>
4044 These values may change in the future. They are provided only for
4049 <column name="status" key="sec_since_connect"
4050 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
4051 The amount of time since this manager last successfully connected
4052 to the database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
4053 successfully connected.
4056 <column name="status" key="sec_since_disconnect"
4057 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 0}'>
4058 The amount of time since this manager last disconnected from the
4059 database (in seconds). Value is empty if manager has never
4063 <column name="status" key="locks_held">
4064 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection
4065 holds. Omitted if the connection does not hold any locks.
4068 <column name="status" key="locks_waiting">
4069 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection is
4070 currently waiting to acquire. Omitted if the connection is not waiting
4074 <column name="status" key="locks_lost">
4075 Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection
4076 has had stolen by another OVSDB client. Omitted if no locks have been
4077 stolen from this connection.
4080 <column name="status" key="n_connections"
4081 type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 2}'>
4083 When <ref column="target"/> specifies a connection method that
4084 listens for inbound connections (e.g. <code>ptcp:</code> or
4085 <code>pssl:</code>) and more than one connection is actually active,
4086 the value is the number of active connections. Otherwise, this
4087 key-value pair is omitted.
4090 When multiple connections are active, status columns and key-value
4091 pairs (other than this one) report the status of one arbitrarily
4096 <column name="status" key="bound_port" type='{"type": "integer"}'>
4097 When <ref column="target"/> is <code>ptcp:</code> or
4098 <code>pssl:</code>, this is the TCP port on which the OVSDB server is
4099 listening. (This is is particularly useful when <ref
4100 column="target"/> specifies a port of 0, allowing the kernel to
4101 choose any available port.)
4105 <group title="Connection Parameters">
4107 Additional configuration for a connection between the manager
4108 and the Open vSwitch Database.
4111 <column name="other_config" key="dscp"
4112 type='{"type": "integer"}'>
4113 The Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP) is specified using 6 bits
4114 in the Type of Service (TOS) field in the IP header. DSCP provides a
4115 mechanism to classify the network traffic and provide Quality of
4116 Service (QoS) on IP networks.
4118 The DSCP value specified here is used when establishing the connection
4119 between the manager and the Open vSwitch. If no value is specified, a
4120 default value of 48 is chosen. Valid DSCP values must be in the range
4125 <group title="Common Columns">
4126 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4127 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4129 <column name="external_ids"/>
4130 <column name="other_config"/>
4134 <table name="NetFlow">
4135 A NetFlow target. NetFlow is a protocol that exports a number of
4136 details about terminating IP flows, such as the principals involved
4139 <column name="targets">
4140 NetFlow targets in the form
4141 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>. The <var>ip</var>
4142 must be specified numerically, not as a DNS name.
4145 <column name="engine_id">
4146 Engine ID to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath index
4150 <column name="engine_type">
4151 Engine type to use in NetFlow messages. Defaults to datapath
4152 index if not specified.
4155 <column name="active_timeout">
4157 The interval at which NetFlow records are sent for flows that
4158 are still active, in seconds. A value of <code>0</code>
4159 requests the default timeout (currently 600 seconds); a value
4160 of <code>-1</code> disables active timeouts.
4164 The NetFlow passive timeout, for flows that become inactive,
4165 is not configurable. It will vary depending on the Open
4166 vSwitch version, the forms and contents of the OpenFlow flow
4167 tables, CPU and memory usage, and network activity. A typical
4168 passive timeout is about a second.
4172 <column name="add_id_to_interface">
4173 <p>If this column's value is <code>false</code>, the ingress and egress
4174 interface fields of NetFlow flow records are derived from OpenFlow port
4175 numbers. When it is <code>true</code>, the 7 most significant bits of
4176 these fields will be replaced by the least significant 7 bits of the
4177 engine id. This is useful because many NetFlow collectors do not
4178 expect multiple switches to be sending messages from the same host, so
4179 they do not store the engine information which could be used to
4180 disambiguate the traffic.</p>
4181 <p>When this option is enabled, a maximum of 508 ports are supported.</p>
4184 <group title="Common Columns">
4185 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4186 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4188 <column name="external_ids"/>
4193 SSL configuration for an Open_vSwitch.
4195 <column name="private_key">
4196 Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch's
4197 identity for SSL connections to the controller.
4200 <column name="certificate">
4201 Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
4202 certificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager,
4203 that certifies the switch's private key, identifying a trustworthy
4207 <column name="ca_cert">
4208 Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify
4209 that the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.
4212 <column name="bootstrap_ca_cert">
4213 If set to <code>true</code>, then Open vSwitch will attempt to
4214 obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL
4215 connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful,
4216 it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then
4217 on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed
4218 by the CA certificate thus obtained. <em>This option exposes the
4219 SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial
4220 CA certificate.</em> It may still be useful for bootstrapping.
4223 <group title="Common Columns">
4224 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4225 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4227 <column name="external_ids"/>
4231 <table name="sFlow">
4232 <p>A set of sFlow(R) targets. sFlow is a protocol for remote
4233 monitoring of switches.</p>
4235 <column name="agent">
4236 Name of the network device whose IP address should be reported as the
4237 ``agent address'' to collectors. If not specified, the agent device is
4238 figured from the first target address and the routing table. If the
4239 routing table does not contain a route to the target, the IP address
4240 defaults to the <ref table="Controller" column="local_ip"/> in the
4241 collector's <ref table="Controller"/>. If an agent IP address cannot be
4242 determined any of these ways, sFlow is disabled.
4245 <column name="header">
4246 Number of bytes of a sampled packet to send to the collector.
4247 If not specified, the default is 128 bytes.
4250 <column name="polling">
4251 Polling rate in seconds to send port statistics to the collector.
4252 If not specified, defaults to 30 seconds.
4255 <column name="sampling">
4256 Rate at which packets should be sampled and sent to the collector.
4257 If not specified, defaults to 400, which means one out of 400
4258 packets, on average, will be sent to the collector.
4261 <column name="targets">
4262 sFlow targets in the form
4263 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>.
4266 <group title="Common Columns">
4267 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4268 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4270 <column name="external_ids"/>
4274 <table name="IPFIX">
4275 <p>Configuration for sending packets to IPFIX collectors.</p>
4278 IPFIX is a protocol that exports a number of details about flows. The
4279 IPFIX implementation in Open vSwitch samples packets at a configurable
4280 rate, extracts flow information from those packets, optionally caches and
4281 aggregates the flow information, and sends the result to one or more
4286 IPFIX in Open vSwitch can be configured two different ways:
4291 With <em>per-bridge sampling</em>, Open vSwitch performs IPFIX sampling
4292 automatically on all packets that pass through a bridge. To configure
4293 per-bridge sampling, create an <ref table="IPFIX"/> record and point a
4294 <ref table="Bridge"/> table's <ref table="Bridge" column="ipfix"/>
4295 column to it. The <ref table="Flow_Sample_Collector_Set"/> table is
4296 not used for per-bridge sampling.
4301 With <em>flow-based sampling</em>, <code>sample</code> actions in the
4302 OpenFlow flow table drive IPFIX sampling. See
4303 <code>ovs-ofctl</code>(8) for a description of the
4304 <code>sample</code> action.
4308 Flow-based sampling also requires database configuration: create a
4309 <ref table="IPFIX"/> record that describes the IPFIX configuration
4310 and a <ref table="Flow_Sample_Collector_Set"/> record that points to
4311 the <ref table="Bridge"/> whose flow table holds the
4312 <code>sample</code> actions and to <ref table="IPFIX"/> record. The
4313 <ref table="Bridge" column="ipfix"/> in the <ref table="Bridge"/>
4314 table is not used for flow-based sampling.
4319 <column name="targets">
4320 IPFIX target collectors in the form
4321 <code><var>ip</var>:<var>port</var></code>.
4324 <column name="cache_active_timeout">
4325 The maximum period in seconds for which an IPFIX flow record is
4326 cached and aggregated before being sent. If not specified,
4327 defaults to 0. If 0, caching is disabled.
4330 <column name="cache_max_flows">
4331 The maximum number of IPFIX flow records that can be cached at a
4332 time. If not specified, defaults to 0. If 0, caching is
4336 <group title="Per-Bridge Sampling">
4338 These values affect only per-bridge sampling. See above for a
4339 description of the differences between per-bridge and flow-based
4343 <column name="sampling">
4344 The rate at which packets should be sampled and sent to each target
4345 collector. If not specified, defaults to 400, which means one out of
4346 400 packets, on average, will be sent to each target collector.
4349 <column name="obs_domain_id">
4350 The IPFIX Observation Domain ID sent in each IPFIX packet. If not
4351 specified, defaults to 0.
4354 <column name="obs_point_id">
4355 The IPFIX Observation Point ID sent in each IPFIX flow record. If not
4356 specified, defaults to 0.
4359 <column name="other_config" key="enable-tunnel-sampling"
4360 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
4362 Set to <code>true</code> to enable sampling and reporting tunnel
4363 header 7-tuples in IPFIX flow records. Tunnel sampling is disabled
4368 The following enterprise entities report the sampled tunnel info:
4372 <dt>tunnelType:</dt>
4374 <p>ID: 891, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4375 <p>type: unsigned 8-bit integer.</p>
4376 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4377 <p>description: Identifier of the layer 2 network overlay network
4378 encapsulation type: 0x01 VxLAN, 0x02 GRE, 0x03 LISP, 0x05 IPsec+GRE,
4383 <p>ID: 892, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4384 <p>type: variable-length octetarray.</p>
4385 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4386 <p>description: Key which is used for identifying an individual
4387 traffic flow within a VxLAN (24-bit VNI), GENEVE (24-bit VNI),
4388 GRE (32- or 64-bit key), or LISP (24-bit instance ID) tunnel. The
4389 key is encoded in this octetarray as a 3-, 4-, or 8-byte integer
4390 ID in network byte order.</p>
4392 <dt>tunnelSourceIPv4Address:</dt>
4394 <p>ID: 893, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4395 <p>type: unsigned 32-bit integer.</p>
4396 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4397 <p>description: The IPv4 source address in the tunnel IP packet
4400 <dt>tunnelDestinationIPv4Address:</dt>
4402 <p>ID: 894, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4403 <p>type: unsigned 32-bit integer.</p>
4404 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4405 <p>description: The IPv4 destination address in the tunnel IP
4408 <dt>tunnelProtocolIdentifier:</dt>
4410 <p>ID: 895, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4411 <p>type: unsigned 8-bit integer.</p>
4412 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4413 <p>description: The value of the protocol number in the tunnel
4414 IP packet header. The protocol number identifies the tunnel IP
4415 packet payload type.</p>
4417 <dt>tunnelSourceTransportPort:</dt>
4419 <p>ID: 896, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4420 <p>type: unsigned 16-bit integer.</p>
4421 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4422 <p>description: The source port identifier in the tunnel transport
4423 header. For the transport protocols UDP, TCP, and SCTP, this is
4424 the source port number given in the respective header.</p>
4426 <dt>tunnelDestinationTransportPort:</dt>
4428 <p>ID: 897, and enterprise ID 6876 (VMware).</p>
4429 <p>type: unsigned 16-bit integer.</p>
4430 <p>data type semantics: identifier.</p>
4431 <p>description: The destination port identifier in the tunnel
4432 transport header. For the transport protocols UDP, TCP, and SCTP,
4433 this is the destination port number given in the respective header.
4439 <column name="other_config" key="enable-input-sampling"
4440 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
4441 By default, Open vSwitch samples and reports flows at bridge port input
4442 in IPFIX flow records. Set this column to <code>false</code> to
4443 disable input sampling.
4446 <column name="other_config" key="enable-output-sampling"
4447 type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
4448 By default, Open vSwitch samples and reports flows at bridge port
4449 output in IPFIX flow records. Set this column to <code>false</code> to
4450 disable output sampling.
4454 <group title="Common Columns">
4455 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4456 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4458 <column name="external_ids"/>
4462 <table name="Flow_Sample_Collector_Set">
4464 A set of IPFIX collectors of packet samples generated by OpenFlow
4465 <code>sample</code> actions. This table is used only for IPFIX
4466 flow-based sampling, not for per-bridge sampling (see the <ref
4467 table="IPFIX"/> table for a description of the two forms).
4471 The ID of this collector set, unique among the bridge's
4472 collector sets, to be used as the <code>collector_set_id</code>
4473 in OpenFlow <code>sample</code> actions.
4476 <column name="bridge">
4477 The bridge into which OpenFlow <code>sample</code> actions can
4478 be added to send packet samples to this set of IPFIX collectors.
4481 <column name="ipfix">
4482 Configuration of the set of IPFIX collectors to send one flow
4483 record per sampled packet to.
4486 <group title="Common Columns">
4487 The overall purpose of these columns is described under <code>Common
4488 Columns</code> at the beginning of this document.
4490 <column name="external_ids"/>