Ubuntu Manpage: ovs-vsctl - utility for querying and configuring ovs-vswitchd

Provided by: openvswitch-switch_2.0.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.3_amd64

NAME

       ovs-vsctl - utility for querying and configuring ovs-vswitchd

SYNOPSIS

       ovs-vsctl [options] -- [options] command [args] [-- [options] command [args]]...

DESCRIPTION

The ovs-vsctl program configures ovs-vswitchd(8) by providing a high-level interface to its configuration
database. See ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) for comprehensive documentation of the database schema.

ovs-vsctl connects to an ovsdb-server process that maintains an Open vSwitch configuration database.
Using this connection, it queries and possibly applies changes to the database, depending on the supplied
commands. Then, if it applied any changes, by default it waits until ovs-vswitchd has finished
reconfiguring itself before it exits. (If you use ovs-vsctl when ovs-vswitchd is not running, use
--no-wait.)

ovs-vsctl can perform any number of commands in a single run, implemented as a single atomic transaction
against the database.

The ovs-vsctl command line begins with global options (see OPTIONS below for details). The global
options are followed by one or more commands. Each command should begin with -- by itself as a command-
line argument, to separate it from the following commands. (The -- before the first command is
optional.) The command itself starts with command-specific options, if any, followed by the command name
and any arguments. See EXAMPLES below for syntax examples.

Linux VLAN Bridging Compatibility
The ovs-vsctl program supports the model of a bridge implemented by Open vSwitch, in which a single
bridge supports ports on multiple VLANs. In this model, each port on a bridge is either a trunk port
that potentially passes packets tagged with 802.1Q headers that designate VLANs or it is assigned a
single implicit VLAN that is never tagged with an 802.1Q header.

For compatibility with software designed for the Linux bridge, ovs-vsctl also supports a model in which
traffic associated with a given 802.1Q VLAN is segregated into a separate bridge. A special form of the
add-br command (see below) creates a ``fake bridge'' within an Open vSwitch bridge to simulate this
behavior. When such a ``fake bridge'' is active, ovs-vsctl will treat it much like a bridge separate
from its ``parent bridge,'' but the actual implementation in Open vSwitch uses only a single bridge, with
ports on the fake bridge assigned the implicit VLAN of the fake bridge of which they are members. (A
fake bridge for VLAN 0 receives packets that have no 802.1Q tag or a tag with VLAN 0.)

OPTIONS

The following options affect the behavior ovs-vsctl as a whole. Some individual commands also accept
their own options, which are given just before the command name. If the first command on the command
line has options, then those options must be separated from the global options by --.

--db=server
Sets server as the database server that ovs-vsctl contacts to query or modify configuration. The
default is unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock. server must take one of the following forms:

ssl:ip:port
The specified SSL port on the host at the given ip, which must be expressed as an IP
address (not a DNS name). The --private-key, --certificate, and --ca-cert options are
mandatory when this form is used.

tcp:ip:port
Connect to the given TCP port on ip.

unix:file
Connect to the Unix domain server socket named file.

pssl:port[:ip]
Listen on the given SSL port for a connection. By default, connections are not bound to a
particular local IP address, but specifying ip limits connections to those from the given
ip. The --private-key, --certificate, and --ca-cert options are mandatory when this form
is used.

ptcp:port[:ip]
Listen on the given TCP port for a connection. By default, connections are not bound to a
particular local IP address, but ip may be specified to listen only for connections to the
given ip.

punix:file
Listen on the Unix domain server socket named file for a connection.

--no-wait
Prevents ovs-vsctl from waiting for ovs-vswitchd to reconfigure itself according to the the
modified database. This option should be used if ovs-vswitchd is not running; otherwise,
ovs-vsctl will not exit until ovs-vswitchd starts.

This option has no effect if the commands specified do not change the database.

--no-syslog
By default, ovs-vsctl logs its arguments and the details of any changes that it makes to the
system log. This option disables this logging.

This option is equivalent to --verbose=vsctl:syslog:warn.

--oneline
Modifies the output format so that the output for each command is printed on a single line. New-
line characters that would otherwise separate lines are printed as \n, and any instances of \ that
would otherwise appear in the output are doubled. Prints a blank line for each command that has
no output. This option does not affect the formatting of output from the list or find commands;
see Table Formatting Options below.

--dry-run
Prevents ovs-vsctl from actually modifying the database.

-t secs
--timeout=secs
By default, or with a secs of 0, ovs-vsctl waits forever for a response from the database. This
option limits runtime to approximately secs seconds. If the timeout expires, ovs-vsctl will exit
with a SIGALRM signal. (A timeout would normally happen only if the database cannot be contacted,
or if the system is overloaded.)

--retry
Without this option, if ovs-vsctl connects outward to the database server (the default) then
ovs-vsctl will try to connect once and exit with an error if the connection fails (which usually
means that ovsdb-server is not running).

With this option, or if --db specifies that ovs-vsctl should listen for an incoming connection
from the database server, then ovs-vsctl will wait for a connection to the database forever.

Regardless of this setting, --timeout always limits how long ovs-vsctl will wait.

Table Formatting Options
These options control the format of output from the list and find commands.

-f format
--format=format
Sets the type of table formatting. The following types of format are available:

table 2-D text tables with aligned columns.

list (default)
A list with one column per line and rows separated by a blank line.

html HTML tables.

csv Comma-separated values as defined in RFC 4180.

json JSON format as defined in RFC 4627. The output is a sequence of JSON objects, each of
which corresponds to one table. Each JSON object has the following members with the noted
values:

caption
The table's caption. This member is omitted if the table has no caption.

headings
An array with one element per table column. Each array element is a string giving
the corresponding column's heading.

data An array with one element per table row. Each element is also an array with one
element per table column. The elements of this second-level array are the cells
that constitute the table. Cells that represent OVSDB data or data types are
expressed in the format described in the OVSDB specification; other cells are simply
expressed as text strings.

-d format
--data=format
Sets the formatting for cells within output tables. The following types of format are available:

string (default)
The simple format described in the Database Values section below.

bare The simple format with punctuation stripped off: [] and {} are omitted around sets, maps,
and empty columns, items within sets and maps are space-separated, and strings are never
quoted. This format may be easier for scripts to parse.

json JSON.

The json output format always outputs cells in JSON format, ignoring this option.

--no-heading
This option suppresses the heading row that otherwise appears in the first row of table output.

--pretty
By default, JSON in output is printed as compactly as possible. This option causes JSON in output
to be printed in a more readable fashion. Members of objects and elements of arrays are printed
one per line, with indentation.

This option does not affect JSON in tables, which is always printed compactly.

--bare Equivalent to --format=list --data=bare --no-headings.

Public Key Infrastructure Options
-p privkey.pem
--private-key=privkey.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as ovs-vsctl's identity for outgoing SSL
connections.

-c cert.pem
--certificate=cert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the private key specified on -p or
--private-key to be trustworthy. The certificate must be signed by the certificate authority (CA)
that the peer in SSL connections will use to verify it.

-C cacert.pem
--ca-cert=cacert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate that ovs-vsctl should use to verify
certificates presented to it by SSL peers. (This may be the same certificate that SSL peers use
to verify the certificate specified on -c or --certificate, or it may be a different one,
depending on the PKI design in use.)

-C none
--ca-cert=none
Disables verification of certificates presented by SSL peers. This introduces a security risk,
because it means that certificates cannot be verified to be those of known trusted hosts.

--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem
When cacert.pem exists, this option has the same effect as -C or --ca-cert. If it does not exist,
then ovs-vsctl will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the SSL peer on its first SSL
connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful, it will immediately drop the
connection and reconnect, and from then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a
certificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained.

This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial CA
certificate, but it may be useful for bootstrapping.

This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA certificate as part of the SSL certificate
chain. The SSL protocol does not require the server to send the CA certificate, but
ovsdb-server(8) can be configured to do so with the --peer-ca-cert option.

This option is mutually exclusive with -C and --ca-cert.

--peer-ca-cert=peer-cacert.pem
Specifies a PEM file that contains one or more additional certificates to send to SSL peers.
peer-cacert.pem should be the CA certificate used to sign ovs-vsctl's own certificate, that is,
the certificate specified on -c or --certificate. If ovs-vsctl's certificate is self-signed, then
--certificate and --peer-ca-cert should specify the same file.

This option is not useful in normal operation, because the SSL peer must already have the CA
certificate for the peer to have any confidence in ovs-vsctl's identity. However, this offers a
way for a new installation to bootstrap the CA certificate on its first SSL connection.

-v[spec]
--verbose=[spec]
Sets logging levels. Without any spec, sets the log level for every module and facility to dbg.
Otherwise, spec is a list of words separated by spaces or commas or colons, up to one from each
category below:

• A valid module name, as displayed by the vlog/list command on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log
level change to the specified module.

• syslog, console, or file, to limit the log level change to only to the system log, to the
console, or to a file, respectively.

• off, emer, err, warn, info, or dbg, to control the log level. Messages of the given
severity or higher will be logged, and messages of lower severity will be filtered out.
off filters out all messages. See ovs-appctl(8) for a definition of each log level.

Case is not significant within spec.

Regardless of the log levels set for file, logging to a file will not take place unless --log-file
is also specified (see below).

For compatibility with older versions of OVS, any is accepted as a word but has no effect.

-v
--verbose
Sets the maximum logging verbosity level, equivalent to --verbose=dbg.

--log-file[=file]
Enables logging to a file. If file is specified, then it is used as the exact name for the log
file. The default log file name used if file is omitted is /var/log/openvswitch/ovs-vsctl.log.

COMMANDS

The commands implemented by ovs-vsctl are described in the sections below.

Open vSwitch Commands
These commands work with an Open vSwitch as a whole.

init Initializes the Open vSwitch database, if it is empty. If the database has already been
initialized, this command has no effect.

Any successful ovs-vsctl command automatically initializes the Open vSwitch database if it is
empty. This command is provided to initialize the database without executing any other command.

show Prints a brief overview of the database contents.

emer-reset
Reset the configuration into a clean state. It deconfigures OpenFlow controllers, OVSDB servers,
and SSL, and deletes port mirroring, fail_mode, NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX configuration. This
command also removes all other-config keys from all database records, except that
other-config:hwaddr is preserved if it is present in a Bridge record. Other networking
configuration is left as-is.

Bridge Commands
These commands examine and manipulate Open vSwitch bridges.

[--may-exist] add-br bridge
Creates a new bridge named bridge. Initially the bridge will have no ports (other than bridge
itself).

Without --may-exist, attempting to create a bridge that exists is an error. With --may-exist,
this command does nothing if bridge already exists as a real bridge.

[--may-exist] add-br bridge parent vlan
Creates a ``fake bridge'' named bridge within the existing Open vSwitch bridge parent, which must
already exist and must not itself be a fake bridge. The new fake bridge will be on 802.1Q VLAN
vlan, which must be an integer between 0 and 4095. Initially bridge will have no ports (other
than bridge itself).

Without --may-exist, attempting to create a bridge that exists is an error. With --may-exist,
this command does nothing if bridge already exists as a VLAN bridge under parent for vlan.

[--if-exists] del-br bridge
Deletes bridge and all of its ports. If bridge is a real bridge, this command also deletes any
fake bridges that were created with bridge as parent, including all of their ports.

Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a bridge that does not exist is an error. With
--if-exists, attempting to delete a bridge that does not exist has no effect.

[--real|--fake] list-br
Lists all existing real and fake bridges on standard output, one per line. With --real or --fake,
only bridges of that type are returned.

br-exists bridge
Tests whether bridge exists as a real or fake bridge. If so, ovs-vsctl exits successfully with
exit code 0. If not, ovs-vsctl exits unsuccessfully with exit code 2.

br-to-vlan bridge
If bridge is a fake bridge, prints the bridge's 802.1Q VLAN as a decimal integer. If bridge is a
real bridge, prints 0.

br-to-parent bridge
If bridge is a fake bridge, prints the name of its parent bridge. If bridge is a real bridge,
print bridge.

br-set-external-id bridge key [value]
Sets or clears an ``external ID'' value on bridge. These values are intended to identify entities
external to Open vSwitch with which bridge is associated, e.g. the bridge's identifier in a
virtualization management platform. The Open vSwitch database schema specifies well-known key
values, but key and value are otherwise arbitrary strings.

If value is specified, then key is set to value for bridge, overwriting any previous value. If
value is omitted, then key is removed from bridge's set of external IDs (if it was present).

For real bridges, the effect of this command is similar to that of a set or remove command in the
external-ids column of the Bridge table. For fake bridges, it actually modifies keys with names
prefixed by fake-bridge- in the Port table.

br-get-external-id bridge [key]
Queries the external IDs on bridge. If key is specified, the output is the value for that key or
the empty string if key is unset. If key is omitted, the output is key=value, one per line, for
each key-value pair.

For real bridges, the effect of this command is similar to that of a get command in the
external-ids column of the Bridge table. For fake bridges, it queries keys with names prefixed by
fake-bridge- in the Port table.

Port Commands
These commands examine and manipulate Open vSwitch ports. These commands treat a bonded port as a single
entity.

list-ports bridge
Lists all of the ports within bridge on standard output, one per line. The local port bridge is
not included in the list.

[--may-exist] add-port bridge port [column[:key]=value]...
Creates on bridge a new port named port from the network device of the same name.

Optional arguments set values of column in the Port record created by the command. For example,
tag=9 would make the port an access port for VLAN 9. The syntax is the same as that for the set
command (see Database Commands below).

Without --may-exist, attempting to create a port that exists is an error. With --may-exist, this
command does nothing if port already exists on bridge and is not a bonded port.

[--fake-iface] add-bond bridge port iface... [column[:key]=value]...
Creates on bridge a new port named port that bonds together the network devices given as each
iface. At least two interfaces must be named.

Optional arguments set values of column in the Port record created by the command. The syntax is
the same as that for the set command (see Database Commands below).

With --fake-iface, a fake interface with the name port is created. This should only be used for
compatibility with legacy software that requires it.

Without --may-exist, attempting to create a port that exists is an error. With --may-exist, this
command does nothing if port already exists on bridge and bonds together exactly the specified
interfaces.

[--if-exists] del-port [bridge] port
Deletes port. If bridge is omitted, port is removed from whatever bridge contains it; if bridge
is specified, it must be the real or fake bridge that contains port.

Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a port that does not exist is an error. With
--if-exists, attempting to delete a port that does not exist has no effect.

[--if-exists] --with-iface del-port [bridge] iface
Deletes the port named iface or that has an interface named iface. If bridge is omitted, the port
is removed from whatever bridge contains it; if bridge is specified, it must be the real or fake
bridge that contains the port.

Without --if-exists, attempting to delete the port for an interface that does not exist is an
error. With --if-exists, attempting to delete the port for an interface that does not exist has
no effect.

port-to-br port
Prints the name of the bridge that contains port on standard output.

Interface Commands
These commands examine the interfaces attached to an Open vSwitch bridge. These commands treat a bonded
port as a collection of two or more interfaces, rather than as a single port.

list-ifaces bridge
Lists all of the interfaces within bridge on standard output, one per line. The local port bridge
is not included in the list.

iface-to-br iface
Prints the name of the bridge that contains iface on standard output.

OpenFlow Controller Connectivity
ovs-vswitchd can perform all configured bridging and switching locally, or it can be configured to
communicate with one or more external OpenFlow controllers. The switch is typically configured to
connect to a primary controller that takes charge of the bridge's flow table to implement a network
policy. In addition, the switch can be configured to listen to connections from service controllers.
Service controllers are typically used for occasional support and maintenance, e.g. with ovs-ofctl.

get-controller bridge
Prints the configured controller target.

del-controller bridge
Deletes the configured controller target.

set-controller bridge target...
Sets the configured controller target or targets. Each target may use any of the following forms:

ssl:ip[:port]
The specified SSL port (default: 6633) on the host at the given ip, which must be expressed
as an IP address (not a DNS name). The --private-key, --certificate, and --ca-cert options
are mandatory when this form is used.

tcp:ip[:port]
The specified TCP port (default: 6633) on the host at the given ip, which must be expressed
as an IP address (not a DNS name).

unix:file
The Unix domain server socket named file.

pssl:[port][:ip]
Listens for OpenFlow SSL connections on port (default: 6633). The --private-key,
--certificate, and --ca-cert options are mandatory when this form is used. By default,
connections are not bound to a particular local IP address, but ip may be specified to
listen only for connections to the given ip.

ptcp:[port][:ip]
Listens for OpenFlow TCP connections on port (default: 6633). By default, connections are
not bound to a particular local IP address, but ip may be specified to listen only for
connections to the given ip.

punix:file
Listens for OpenFlow connections on the Unix domain server socket named file.

Controller Failure Settings

When a controller is configured, it is, ordinarily, responsible for setting up all flows on the switch.
Thus, if the connection to the controller fails, no new network connections can be set up. If the
connection to the controller stays down long enough, no packets can pass through the switch at all.

If the value is standalone, or if neither of these settings is set, ovs-vswitchd will take over
responsibility for setting up flows when no message has been received from the controller for three times
the inactivity probe interval. In this mode, ovs-vswitchd causes the datapath to act like an ordinary
MAC-learning switch. ovs-vswitchd will continue to retry connecting to the controller in the background
and, when the connection succeeds, it discontinues its standalone behavior.

If this option is set to secure, ovs-vswitchd will not set up flows on its own when the controller
connection fails.

get-fail-mode bridge
Prints the configured failure mode.

del-fail-mode bridge
Deletes the configured failure mode.

set-fail-mode bridge standalone|secure
Sets the configured failure mode.

Manager Connectivity
These commands manipulate the manager_options column in the Open_vSwitch table and rows in the Managers
table. When ovsdb-server is configured to use the manager_options column for OVSDB connections (as
described in INSTALL.Linux and in the startup scripts provided with Open vSwitch), this allows the
administrator to use ovs-vsctl to configure database connections.

get-manager
Prints the configured manager(s).

del-manager
Deletes the configured manager(s).

set-manager target...
Sets the configured manager target or targets. Each target may use any of the following forms:

tcp:ip:port
Connect to the given TCP port on ip.

unix:file
Connect to the Unix domain server socket named file.

punix:file
Listen on the Unix domain server socket named file for a connection.

SSL Configuration
When ovs-vswitchd is configured to connect over SSL for management or controller connectivity, the
following parameters are required:

private-key
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the virtual switch's identity for SSL
connections to the controller.

certificate
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the certificate authority (CA) used by
the controller and manager, that certifies the virtual switch's private key, identifying a
trustworthy switch.

ca-cert
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that the virtual switch is
connected to a trustworthy controller.

These files are read only once, at ovs-vswitchd startup time. If their contents change, ovs-vswitchd
must be killed and restarted.

These SSL settings apply to all SSL connections made by the virtual switch.

get-ssl
Prints the SSL configuration.

del-ssl
Deletes the current SSL configuration.

[--bootstrap] set-ssl private-key certificate ca-cert
Sets the SSL configuration. The --bootstrap option is described below.

CA Certificate Bootstrap

Ordinarily, all of the files named in the SSL configuration must exist when ovs-vswitchd starts.
However, if the ca-cert file does not exist and the --bootstrap option is given, then ovs-vswitchd will
attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL connection and save it to the
named PEM file. If it is successful, it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from
then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA certificate thus
obtained.

This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial CA
certificate, but it may be useful for bootstrapping.

This option is only useful if the controller sends its CA certificate as part of the SSL certificate
chain. The SSL protocol does not require the controller to send the CA certificate, but
ovs-controller(8) can be configured to do so with the --peer-ca-cert option.

Database Commands
These commands query and modify the contents of ovsdb tables. They are a slight abstraction of the ovsdb
interface and as such they operate at a lower level than other ovs-vsctl commands.

Identifying Tables, Records, and Columns

Each of these commands has a table parameter to identify a table within the database. Many of them also
take a record parameter that identifies a particular record within a table. The record parameter may be
the UUID for a record, and many tables offer additional ways to identify records. Some commands also
take column parameters that identify a particular field within the records in a table.

The following tables are currently defined:

Open_vSwitch
Global configuration for an ovs-vswitchd. This table contains exactly one record, identified by
specifying . as the record name.

Bridge Configuration for a bridge within an Open vSwitch. Records may be identified by bridge name.

Port A bridge port. Records may be identified by port name.

Interface
A network device attached to a port. Records may be identified by name.

Flow_Table
Configuration for a particular OpenFlow flow table. Records may be identified by name.

QoS Quality-of-service configuration for a Port. Records may be identified by port name.

Queue Configuration for one queue within a QoS configuration. Records may only be identified by UUID.

Mirror A port mirroring configuration attached to a bridge. Records may be identified by mirror name.

Controller
Configuration for an OpenFlow controller. A controller attached to a particular bridge may be
identified by the bridge's name.

Manager
Configuration for an OVSDB connection. Records may be identified by target (e.g. tcp:1.2.3.4).

NetFlow
A NetFlow configuration attached to a bridge. Records may be identified by bridge name.

SSL The global SSL configuration for ovs-vswitchd. The record attached to the Open_vSwitch table may
be identified by specifying . as the record name.

sFlow An sFlow exporter configuration attached to a bridge. Records may be identified by bridge name.

IPFIX An IPFIX exporter configuration attached to a bridge. Records may be identified by bridge name.

Flow_Sample_Collector_Set
An IPFIX exporter configuration attached to a bridge for sampling packets on a per-flow basis
using OpenFlow sample actions.

Record names must be specified in full and with correct capitalization. Names of tables and columns are
not case-sensitive, and -- and _ are treated interchangeably. Unique abbreviations are acceptable, e.g.
net or n is sufficient to identify the NetFlow table.

Database Values

Each column in the database accepts a fixed type of data. The currently defined basic types, and their
representations, are:

integer
A decimal integer in the range -2**63 to 2**63-1, inclusive.

real A floating-point number.

Boolean
True or false, written true or false, respectively.

string An arbitrary Unicode string, except that null bytes are not allowed. Quotes are optional for most
strings that begin with an English letter or underscore and consist only of letters, underscores,
hyphens, and periods. However, true and false and strings that match the syntax of UUIDs (see
below) must be enclosed in double quotes to distinguish them from other basic types. When double
quotes are used, the syntax is that of strings in JSON, e.g. backslashes may be used to escape
special characters. The empty string must be represented as a pair of double quotes ("").

UUID Either a universally unique identifier in the style of RFC 4122, e.g.
f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6, or an @name defined by a get or create command within the
same ovs-vsctl invocation.

Multiple values in a single column may be separated by spaces or a single comma. When multiple values
are present, duplicates are not allowed, and order is not important. Conversely, some database columns
can have an empty set of values, represented as [], and square brackets may optionally enclose other non-
empty sets or single values as well.

A few database columns are ``maps'' of key-value pairs, where the key and the value are each some fixed
database type. These are specified in the form key=value, where key and value follow the syntax for the
column's key type and value type, respectively. When multiple pairs are present (separated by spaces or
a comma), duplicate keys are not allowed, and again the order is not important. Duplicate values are
allowed. An empty map is represented as {}. Curly braces may optionally enclose non-empty maps as well
(but use quotes to prevent the shell from expanding other-config={0=x,1=y} into other-config=0=x other-
config=1=y, which may not have the desired effect).

Database Command Syntax

[--if-exists] [--columns=column[,column]...] list table [record]...
Lists the data in each specified record. If no records are specified, lists all the records in
table.

If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are listed, in the specified order.
Otherwise, all columns are listed, in alphabetical order by column name.

Without --if-exists, it is an error if any specified record does not exist. With --if-exists, the
command ignores any record that does not exist, without producing any output.

[--columns=column[,column]...] find table [column[:key]=value]...
Lists the data in each record in table whose column equals value or, if key is specified, whose
column contains a key with the specified value. The following operators may be used where = is
written in the syntax summary:

= != < > <= >=
Selects records in which column[:key] equals, does not equal, is less than, is greater
than, is less than or equal to, or is greater than or equal to value, respectively.

Consider column[:key] and value as sets of elements. Identical sets are considered equal.
Otherwise, if the sets have different numbers of elements, then the set with more elements
is considered to be larger. Otherwise, consider a element from each set pairwise, in
increasing order within each set. The first pair that differs determines the result. (For
a column that contains key-value pairs, first all the keys are compared, and values are
considered only if the two sets contain identical keys.)

{=} {!=}
Test for set equality or inequality, respectively.

{<=} Selects records in which column[:key] is a subset of value. For example, flood-
vlans{<=}1,2 selects records in which the flood-vlans column is the empty set or contains 1
or 2 or both.

{<} Selects records in which column[:key] is a proper subset of value. For example, flood-
vlans{<}1,2 selects records in which the flood-vlans column is the empty set or contains 1
or 2 but not both.

{>=} {>}
Same as {<=} and {<}, respectively, except that the relationship is reversed. For example,
flood-vlans{>=}1,2 selects records in which the flood-vlans column contains both 1 and 2.

For arithmetic operators (= != < > <= >=), when key is specified but a particular record's column
does not contain key, the record is always omitted from the results. Thus, the condition other-
config:mtu!=1500 matches records that have a mtu key whose value is not 1500, but not those that
lack an mtu key.

For the set operators, when key is specified but a particular record's column does not contain
key, the comparison is done against an empty set. Thus, the condition other-config:mtu{!=}1500
matches records that have a mtu key whose value is not 1500 and those that lack an mtu key.

Don't forget to escape < or > from interpretation by the shell.

If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are listed, in the specified order.
Otherwise all columns are listed, in alphabetical order by column name.

The UUIDs shown for rows created in the same ovs-vsctl invocation will be wrong.

[--if-exists] [--id=@name] get table record [column[:key]]...
Prints the value of each specified column in the given record in table. For map columns, a key
may optionally be specified, in which case the value associated with key in the column is printed,
instead of the entire map.

Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist or key is specified, if key does not
exist in record. With --if-exists, a missing record yields no output and a missing key prints a
blank line.

If @name is specified, then the UUID for record may be referred to by that name later in the same
ovs-vsctl invocation in contexts where a UUID is expected.

Both --id and the column arguments are optional, but usually at least one or the other should be
specified. If both are omitted, then get has no effect except to verify that record exists in
table.

--id and --if-exists cannot be used together.

[--if-exists] set table record column[:key]=value...
Sets the value of each specified column in the given record in table to value. For map columns, a
key may optionally be specified, in which case the value associated with key in that column is
changed (or added, if none exists), instead of the entire map.

Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist. With --if-exists, this command does
nothing if record does not exist.

[--if-exists] add table record column [key=]value...
Adds the specified value or key-value pair to column in record in table. If column is a map, then
key is required, otherwise it is prohibited. If key already exists in a map column, then the
current value is not replaced (use the set command to replace an existing value).

Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist. With --if-exists, this command does
nothing if record does not exist.

[--if-exists] remove table record column value...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key=value...
Removes the specified values or key-value pairs from column in record in table. The first form
applies to columns that are not maps: each specified value is removed from the column. The second
and third forms apply to map columns: if only a key is specified, then any key-value pair with the
given key is removed, regardless of its value; if a value is given then a pair is removed only if
both key and value match.

It is not an error if the column does not contain the specified key or value or pair.

Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist. With --if-exists, this command does
nothing if record does not exist.

[--if-exists] clear table record column...
Sets each column in record in table to the empty set or empty map, as appropriate. This command
applies only to columns that are allowed to be empty.

Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not exist. With --if-exists, this command does
nothing if record does not exist.

[--id=@name] create table column[:key]=value...
Creates a new record in table and sets the initial values of each column. Columns not explicitly
set will receive their default values. Outputs the UUID of the new row.

If @name is specified, then the UUID for the new row may be referred to by that name elsewhere in
the same ovs-vsctl invocation in contexts where a UUID is expected. Such references may precede
or follow the create command.

Records in the Open vSwitch database are significant only when they can be reached directly or
indirectly from the Open_vSwitch table. Except for records in the QoS or Queue tables, records
that are not reachable from the Open_vSwitch table are automatically deleted from the database.
This deletion happens immediately, without waiting for additional ovs-vsctl commands or other
database activity. Thus, a create command must generally be accompanied by additional commands
within the same ovs-vsctl invocation to add a chain of references to the newly created record from
the top-level Open_vSwitch record. The EXAMPLES section gives some examples that show how to do
this.

[--if-exists] destroy table record...
Deletes each specified record from table. Unless --if-exists is specified, each records must
exist.

--all destroy table
Deletes all records from the table.

The destroy command is only useful for records in the QoS or Queue tables. Records in other
tables are automatically deleted from the database when they become unreachable from the
Open_vSwitch table. This means that deleting the last reference to a record is sufficient for
deleting the record itself. For records in these tables, destroy is silently ignored. See the
EXAMPLES section below for more information.

wait-until table record [column[:key]=value]...
Waits until table contains a record named record whose column equals value or, if key is
specified, whose column contains a key with the specified value. Any of the operators !=, <, >,
<=, or >= may be substituted for = to test for inequality, less than, greater than, less than or
equal to, or greater than or equal to, respectively. (Don't forget to escape < or > from
interpretation by the shell.)

If no column[:key]=value arguments are given, this command waits only until record exists. If
more than one such argument is given, the command waits until all of them are satisfied.

Usually wait-until should be placed at the beginning of a set of ovs-vsctl commands. For example,
wait-until bridge br0 -- get bridge br0 datapath_id waits until a bridge named br0 is created,
then prints its datapath_id column, whereas get bridge br0 datapath_id -- wait-until bridge br0
will abort if no bridge named br0 exists when ovs-vsctl initially connects to the database.

Consider specifying --timeout=0 along with --wait-until, to prevent ovs-vsctl from terminating
after waiting only at most 5 seconds.

comment [arg]...
This command has no effect on behavior, but any database log record created by the command will
include the command and its arguments.

EXAMPLES

       Create a new bridge named br0 and add port eth0 to it:

              ovs-vsctl add-br br0
              ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0

       Alternatively, perform both operations in a single atomic transaction:

              ovs-vsctl add-br br0 -- add-port br0 eth0

       Delete bridge br0, reporting an error if it does not exist:

              ovs-vsctl del-br br0

       Delete bridge br0 if it exists:

              ovs-vsctl --if-exists del-br br0

       Set the qos column of the Port record for eth0 to point to a new QoS record, which in  turn  points  with
       its queue 0 to a new Queue record:

              ovs-vsctl   --   set   port   eth0   qos=@newqos   --   --id=@newqos   create  qos  type=linux-htb
              other-config:max-rate=1000000    queues:0=@newqueue     --     --id=@newqueue     create     queue
              other-config:min-rate=1000000 other-config:max-rate=1000000

CONFIGURATION COOKBOOK

   Port Configuration
       Add an ``internal port'' vlan10 to bridge br0 as a VLAN access port for VLAN 10, and configure it with an
       IP address:

              ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vlan10 tag=10 -- set Interface vlan10 type=internal

              ifconfig vlan10 192.168.0.123

       Add a GRE tunnel port gre0 to remote IP address 1.2.3.4 to bridge br0:

              ovs-vsctl add-port br0 gre0 -- set Interface gre0 type=gre options:remote_ip=1.2.3.4

   Port Mirroring
       Mirror  all packets received or sent on eth0 or eth1 onto eth2, assuming that all of those ports exist on
       bridge br0 (as a side-effect this causes any packets received on eth2 to be ignored):

              ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 mirrors=@m \

              -- --id=@eth0 get Port eth0 \

              -- --id=@eth1 get Port eth1 \

              -- --id=@eth2 get Port eth2 \

              -- --id=@m create  Mirror  name=mymirror  select-dst-port=@eth0,@eth1  select-src-port=@eth0,@eth1
              output-port=@eth2

       Remove  the  mirror  created  above  from  br0,  which  also  destroys the Mirror record (since it is now
       unreferenced):

              ovs-vsctl -- --id=@rec get Mirror mymirror \

              -- remove Bridge br0 mirrors @rec

       The following simpler command also works:

              ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 mirrors

   Quality of Service (QoS)
       Create a linux-htb QoS record that points to a few queues and use it on eth0 and eth1:

              ovs-vsctl -- set Port eth0 qos=@newqos \

              -- set Port eth1 qos=@newqos \

              -- --id=@newqos create QoS type=linux-htb other-config:max-rate=1000000000 queues=0=@q0,1=@q1 \

              -- --id=@q0 create Queue other-config:min-rate=100000000 other-config:max-rate=100000000 \

              -- --id=@q1 create Queue other-config:min-rate=500000000

       Deconfigure the QoS record above from eth1 only:

              ovs-vsctl clear Port eth1 qos

       To deconfigure the QoS record from both eth0 and eth1 and then delete the QoS record (which must be  done
       explicitly because unreferenced QoS records are not automatically destroyed):

              ovs-vsctl -- destroy QoS eth0 -- clear Port eth0 qos -- clear Port eth1 qos

       (This  command will leave two unreferenced Queue records in the database.  To delete them, use "ovs-vsctl
       list Queue" to find their UUIDs, then "ovs-vsctl destroy Queue uuid1 uuid2" to destroy each  of  them  or
       use "ovs-vsctl -- --all destroy Queue" to delete all records.)

   Connectivity Monitoring
       Monitor connectivity to a remote maintenance point on eth0.

              ovs-vsctl set Interface eth0 cfm_mpid=1

       Deconfigure connectivity monitoring from above:

              ovs-vsctl clear Interface eth0 cfm_mpid

   NetFlow
       Configure  bridge  br0  to  send  NetFlow  records  to UDP port 5566 on host 192.168.0.34, with an active
       timeout of 30 seconds:

              ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 netflow=@nf \

              -- --id=@nf create NetFlow targets=\"192.168.0.34:5566\" active-timeout=30

       Update the NetFlow configuration created by the previous command to instead use an active timeout  of  60
       seconds:

              ovs-vsctl set NetFlow br0 active_timeout=60

       Deconfigure  the  NetFlow  settings  from  br0,  which  also destroys the NetFlow record (since it is now
       unreferenced):

              ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 netflow

   sFlow
       Configure bridge br0 to send sFlow records to a collector on 10.0.0.1  at  port  6343,  using  eth1´s  IP
       address as the source, with specific sampling parameters:

              ovs-vsctl  --  --id=@s  create  sFlow  agent=eth1  target=\"10.0.0.1:6343\" header=128 sampling=64
              polling=10 \

              -- set Bridge br0 sflow=@s

       Deconfigure sFlow from br0, which also destroys the sFlow record (since it is now unreferenced):

              ovs-vsctl -- clear Bridge br0 sflow

   IPFIX
       Configure bridge br0 to send one  IPFIX  flow  record  per  packet  sample  to  UDP  port  4739  on  host
       192.168.0.34, with Observation Domain ID 123 and Observation Point ID 456, a flow cache active timeout of
       1 minute (60 seconds), and a maximum flow cache size of 13 flows:

              ovs-vsctl -- set Bridge br0 ipfix=@i \

              --   --id=@i   create   IPFIX   targets=\"192.168.0.34:4739\"  obs_domain_id=123  obs_point_id=456
              cache_active_timeout=60 cache_max_flows=13

       Deconfigure the IPFIX settings from  br0,  which  also  destroys  the  IPFIX  record  (since  it  is  now
       unreferenced):

              ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 ipfix

   802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
       Configure bridge br0 to participate in an 802.1D spanning tree:

              ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 stp_enable=true

       Set the bridge priority of br0 to 0x7800:

              ovs-vsctl set Bridge br0 other_config:stp-priority=0x7800

       Set the path cost of port eth0 to 10:

              ovs-vsctl set Port eth0 other_config:stp-path-cost=10

       Deconfigure STP from above:

              ovs-vsctl clear Bridge br0 stp_enable

   OpenFlow Version
       Configure bridge br0 to support OpenFlow versions 1.0, 1.2, and 1.3:

              ovs-vsctl set bridge br0 protocols=openflow10,openflow12,openflow13

EXIT STATUS

       0      Successful program execution.

       1      Usage, syntax, or configuration file error.

       2      The bridge argument to br-exists specified the name of a bridge that does not exist.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

COMMANDS

EXAMPLES

CONFIGURATION COOKBOOK

EXIT STATUS

SEE ALSO