.\" -*- nroff -*- .de IQ . br . ns . IP "\\$1" .. .TH ovsdb\-server 1 "@VERSION@" "Open vSwitch" "Open vSwitch Manual" .\" This program's name: .ds PN ovsdb\-server . .SH NAME ovsdb\-server \- Open vSwitch database server . .SH SYNOPSIS \fBovsdb\-server\fR [\fIdatabase\fR]\&... [\fB\-\-remote=\fIremote\fR]\&... [\fB\-\-run=\fIcommand\fR] .so lib/daemon-syn.man .so lib/service-syn.man .so lib/vlog-syn.man .so lib/ssl-syn.man .so lib/ssl-bootstrap-syn.man .so lib/ssl-peer-ca-cert-syn.man .so lib/unixctl-syn.man .so lib/common-syn.man . .SH DESCRIPTION The \fBovsdb\-server\fR program provides RPC interfaces to one or more Open vSwitch databases (OVSDBs). It supports JSON-RPC client connections over active or passive TCP/IP or Unix domain sockets. .PP Each OVSDB file may be specified on the command line as \fIdatabase\fR. If none is specified, the default is \fB@DBDIR@/conf.db\fR. The database files must already have been created and initialized using, for example, \fBovsdb\-tool create\fR. . .SH OPTIONS . .IP "\fB\-\-remote=\fIremote\fR" Adds \fIremote\fR as a connection method used by \fBovsdb\-server\fR. \fIremote\fR must take one of the following forms: . .RS .so ovsdb/remote-passive.man .so ovsdb/remote-active.man . .IP "\fBdb:\fIdb\fB,\fItable\fB,\fIcolumn\fR" Reads additional connection methods from \fIcolumn\fR in all of the rows in \fItable\fR within \fIdb\fR. As the contents of \fIcolumn\fR changes, \fBovsdb\-server\fR also adds and drops connection methods accordingly. .IP If \fIcolumn\fR's type is string or set of strings, then the connection methods are taken directly from the column. The connection methods in the column must have one of the forms described above. .IP If \fIcolumn\fR's type is UUID or set of UUIDs and references a table, then each UUID is looked up in the referenced table to obtain a row. The following columns in the row, if present and of the correct type, configure a connection method. Any additional columns are ignored. .RS .IP "\fBtarget\fR (string)" Connection method, in one of the forms described above. This column is mandatory: if it is missing or empty then no connection method can be configured. .IP "\fBmax_backoff\fR (integer)" Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts. .IP "\fBinactivity_probe\fR (integer)" Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to client before sending an inactivity probe message. .RE .IP It is an error for \fIcolumn\fR to have another type. .RE . .IP To connect or listen on multiple connection methods, use multiple \fB\-\-remote\fR options. . .IP "\fB\-\-run=\fIcommand\fR]" Ordinarily \fBovsdb\-server\fR runs forever, or until it is told to exit (see \fBRUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS\fR below). With this option, \fBovsdb\-server\fR instead starts a shell subprocess running \fIcommand\fR. When the subprocess terminates, \fBovsdb\-server\fR also exits gracefully. If the subprocess exits normally with exit code 0, then \fBovsdb\-server\fR exits with exit code 0 also; otherwise, it exits with exit code 1. .IP This option can be useful where a database server is needed only to run a single command, e.g.: .B "ovsdb\-server \-\-remote=punix:socket \-\-run='ovsdb\-client dump unix:socket Open_vSwitch'" .IP This option is not supported on Windows platform. .SS "Daemon Options" .ds DD \ \fBovsdb\-server\fR detaches only after it starts listening on all \ configured remotes. .so lib/daemon.man .SS "Service Options" .so lib/service.man .SS "Logging Options" .so lib/vlog.man .SS "Public Key Infrastructure Options" The options described below for configuring the SSL public key infrastructure accept a special syntax for obtaining their configuration from the database. If any of these options is given \fBdb:\fIdb\fB,\fItable\fB,\fIcolumn\fR as its argument, then the actual file name is read from the specified \fIcolumn\fR in \fItable\fR within the \fIdb\fR database. The \fIcolumn\fR must have type string or set of strings. The first nonempty string in the table is taken as the file name. (This means that ordinarily there should be at most one row in \fItable\fR.) .so lib/ssl.man .so lib/ssl-bootstrap.man .so lib/ssl-peer-ca-cert.man .SS "Other Options" .so lib/unixctl.man .so lib/common.man .SH "RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS" \fBovs\-appctl\fR(8) can send commands to a running \fBovsdb\-server\fR process. The currently supported commands are described below. .SS "OVSDB\-SERVER COMMANDS" These commands are specific to \fBovsdb\-server\fR. .IP "\fBexit\fR" Causes \fBovsdb\-server\fR to gracefully terminate. .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/compact\fR [\fIdb\fR]\&..." Compacts each database \fIdb\fR in-place. If no \fIdb\fR is specified, compacts every database in-place. Databases are also automatically compacted occasionally. . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/reconnect\fR" Makes \fBovsdb\-server\fR drop all of the JSON\-RPC connections to database clients and reconnect. .IP This command might be useful for debugging issues with database clients. . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/add\-remote \fIremote\fR" Adds a remote, as if \fB\-\-remote=\fIremote\fR had been specified on the \fBovsdb\-server\fR command line. (If \fIremote\fR is already a remote, this command succeeds without changing the configuration.) . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/remove\-remote \fIremote\fR" Removes the specified \fIremote\fR from the configuration, failing with an error if \fIremote\fR is not configured as a remote. This command only works with remotes that were named on \fB\-\-remote\fR or \fBovsdb\-server/add\-remote\fR, that is, it will not remove remotes added indirectly because they were read from the database by configuring a \fBdb:\fIdb\fB,\fItable\fB,\fIcolumn\fR remote. (You can remove a database source with \fBovsdb\-server/remove\-remote \fBdb:\fIdb\fB,\fItable\fB,\fIcolumn\fR, but not individual remotes found indirectly through the database.) . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/list\-remotes" Outputs a list of the currently configured remotes named on \fB\-\-remote\fR or \fBovsdb\-server/add\-remote\fR, that is, it does not list remotes added indirectly because they were read from the database by configuring a \fBdb:\fIdb\fB,\fItable\fB,\fIcolumn\fR remote. . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/add\-db \fIdatabase\fR" Adds the \fIdatabase\fR to the running \fBovsdb\-server\fR. The database file must already have been created and initialized using, for example, \fBovsdb\-tool create\fR. . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/remove\-db \fIdatabase\fR" Removes \fIdatabase\fR from the running \fBovsdb\-server\fR. \fIdatabase\fR must be a database name as listed by \fBovsdb-server/list\-dbs\fR. .IP If a remote has been configured that points to the specified \fIdatabase\fR (e.g. \fB\-\-remote=db:\fIdatabase\fB,\fR... on the command line), then it will be disabled until another database with the same name is added again (with \fBovsdb\-server/add\-db\fR). .IP Any public key infrastructure options specified through this database (e.g. \fB\-\-private\-key=db:\fIdatabase,\fR... on the command line) will be disabled until another database with the same name is added again (with \fBovsdb\-server/add\-db\fR). . .IP "\fBovsdb\-server/list\-dbs" Outputs a list of the currently configured databases added either through the command line or through the \fBovsdb\-server/add\-db\fR command. . .so lib/vlog-unixctl.man .so lib/memory-unixctl.man .so lib/coverage-unixctl.man .SH "SPECIFICATIONS" . .PP \fBovsdb\-server\fR implements the Open vSwitch Database (OVSDB) protocol specified in RFC 7047, with the following clarifications: . .IP "3.1. JSON Usage" RFC 4627 says that names within a JSON object should be unique. The Open vSwitch JSON parser discards all but the last value for a name that is specified more than once. . .IP The definition of allows for implementation extensions. Currently \fBovsdb\-server\fR uses the following additional "error" strings which might change in later releases): . .RS .IP "\fBsyntax error\fR or \fBunknown column\fR" The request could not be parsed as an OVSDB request. An additional "syntax" member, whose value is a string that contains JSON, may narrow down the particular syntax that could not be parsed. .IP "\fBinternal error\fR" The request triggered a bug in \fBovsdb\-server\fR. .IP "\fBovsdb error\fR" A map or set contains a duplicate key. .RE . .IP "3.2. Schema Format" RFC 7047 requires the "version" field in . Current versions of \fBovsdb\-server\fR allow it to be omitted (future versions are likely to require it). . .IP "4. Wire Protocol" The original OVSDB specifications included the following reason, omitted from RFC 7047, to operate JSON-RPC directly over a stream instead of over HTTP: . .RS .IP \(bu JSON-RPC is a peer-to-peer protocol, but HTTP is a client-server protocol, which is a poor match. Thus, JSON-RPC over HTTP requires the client to periodically poll the server to receive server requests. .IP \(bu HTTP is more complicated than stream connections and doesn't provide any corresponding advantage. .IP \(bu The JSON-RPC specification for HTTP transport is incomplete. .RE . .IP "4.1.5. Monitor" For backward compatibility, \fBovsdb\-server\fR currently permits a single to be used instead of an array; it is treated as a single-element array. Future versions of \fBovsdb\-server\fR might remove this compatibility feature. .IP Because the parameter is used to match subsequent update notifications (see below) to the request, it must be unique among all active monitors. \fBovsdb\-server\fR rejects attempt to create two monitors with the same identifier. . .IP "4.1.12. Monitor2" A new monitor method added in Open vSwitch version 2.5. Monitor2 allows for more efficient update notifications (described below). .IP The monitor method described in Section 4.1.5 also applies to monitor2, with the following exceptions. . .RS .IP \(bu RPC request method becomes "monitor2". .IP \(bu Replay result follows , described in Section 4.1.13. .IP \(bu Subsequent changes are sent to the client using the "update2" monitor notification, described in Section 4.1.13 .RE . .IP Both monitor and monitor2 sessions can exist concurrently. However, monitor and monitor2 shares the same parameter space; it must be unique among all monitor and monitor2 sessions. . .IP "4.1.13. Update2 notification" The "update2" notification is sent by the server to the client to report changes in tables that are being monitored following a "monitor2" request as described above. The notification has the following members: . .RS .nf "method": "update2" "params": [, ] "id": null .fi .RE . .IP The in "params" is the same as the value passed as the in "params" for the corresponding "monitor" request. is an object that maps from a table name to a . A is an object that maps from row's UUID to a object. A is an object with one of the following members: . .RS .IP "\(dqinitial\(dq: " present for "initial" updates .IP "\(dqinsert\(dq: " present for "insert" updates .IP "\(dqdelete\(dq: " present for "delete" updates .IP "\(dqmodify\(dq: " present for "modify" updates .RE . .IP The format of is described in Section 5.1. . .IP is always a null object for a "delete" update. In "initial" and "insert" updates, omits columns whose values equal the default value of the column type. . .IP For a "modify" update, contains only the columns that are modified. stores the difference between the old and new value for those columns, as described below. . .IP For columns with single value, the difference is the value of the new column. . .IP The difference between two sets are all elements that only belong to one of the sets. . .IP The difference between two maps are all key-value pairs whose keys appears in only one of the maps, plus the key-value pairs whose keys appear in both maps but with different values. For the latter elements, includes the value from the new column. . .IP Initial views of rows are not presented in update2 notifications, but in the response object to the monitor2 request. The formatting of the object, however, is the same in either case. . .IP "5.1. Notation" For , RFC 7047 only allows the use of \fB!=\fR, \fB==\fR, \fBincludes\fR, and \fBexcludes\fR operators with set types. Open vSwitch 2.4 and later extend to allow the use of \fB<\fR, \fB<=\fR, \fB>=\fR, and \fB>\fR operators with columns with type ``set of 0 or 1 integer'' and ``set of 0 or 1 real''. These conditions evaluate to false when the column is empty, and otherwise as described in RFC 7047 for integer and real types. . .SH "BUGS" . In Open vSwitch before version 2.4, when \fBovsdb\-server\fR sent JSON-RPC error responses to some requests, it incorrectly formulated them with the \fBresult\fR and \fBerror\fR swapped, so that the response appeared to indicate success (with a nonsensical result) rather than an error. The requests that suffered from this problem were: . .IP \fBtransact\fR .IQ \fBget_schema\fR Only if the request names a nonexistent database. .IP \fBmonitor\fR .IQ \fBlock\fR .IQ \fBunlock\fR In all error cases. . .PP Of these cases, the only error that a well-written application is likely to encounter in practice is \fBmonitor\fR of tables or columns that do not exist, in an situation where the application has been upgraded but the old database schema is still temporarily in use. To handle this situation gracefully, we recommend that clients should treat a \fBmonitor\fR response with a \fBresult\fR that contains an \fBerror\fR key-value pair as an error (assuming that the database being monitored does not contain a table named \fBerror\fR). . .SH "SEE ALSO" . .BR ovsdb\-tool (1).