Provided by: ovn-common_22.03.3-0ubuntu0.22.04.3_amd64 
NAME
ovn-nb - OVN_Northbound database schema
This database is the interface between OVN and the cloud management system (CMS), such as OpenStack,
running above it. The CMS produces almost all of the contents of the database. The ovn-northd program
monitors the database contents, transforms it, and stores it into the OVN_Southbound database.
We generally speak of ``the’’ CMS, but one can imagine scenarios in which multiple CMSes manage different
parts of an OVN deployment.
External IDs
Each of the tables in this database contains a special column, named external_ids. This column has the
same form and purpose each place it appears.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Key-value pairs for use by the CMS. The CMS might use certain pairs, for example, to
identify entities in its own configuration that correspond to those in this database.
TABLE SUMMARY
The following list summarizes the purpose of each of the tables in the OVN_Northbound database. Each
table is described in more detail on a later page.
Table Purpose
NB_Global Northbound configuration
Copp Control plane protection
Logical_Switch
L2 logical switch
Logical_Switch_Port
L2 logical switch port
Forwarding_Group
forwarding group
Address_Set
Address Sets
Port_Group
Port Groups
Load_Balancer
load balancer
Load_Balancer_Group
load balancer group
Load_Balancer_Health_Check
load balancer
ACL Access Control List (ACL) rule
Logical_Router
L3 logical router
QoS QoS rule
Meter Meter entry
Meter_Band
Band for meter entries
Logical_Router_Port
L3 logical router port
Logical_Router_Static_Route
Logical router static routes
Logical_Router_Policy
Logical router policies
NAT NAT rules
DHCP_Options
DHCP options
Connection
OVSDB client connections.
DNS Native DNS resolution
SSL SSL configuration.
Gateway_Chassis
Gateway_Chassis configuration.
HA_Chassis_Group
HA_Chassis_Group configuration.
HA_Chassis
HA_Chassis configuration.
BFD BFD configuration.
NB_Global TABLE
Northbound configuration for an OVN system. This table must have exactly one row.
Summary:
Identity:
name string
Status:
nb_cfg integer
nb_cfg_timestamp integer
sb_cfg integer
sb_cfg_timestamp integer
hv_cfg integer
hv_cfg_timestamp integer
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Common options:
options map of string-string pairs
Options for configuring OVS BFD:
options : bfd-min-rx optional string
options : bfd-decay-min-rx
optional string
options : bfd-min-tx optional string
options : bfd-mult optional string
options : mac_prefix optional string
options : controller_event optional string, either true or false
options : northd_probe_interval
optional string
options : use_logical_dp_groups
optional string
options : use_parallel_build
optional string
options : ignore_lsp_down optional string
options : use_ct_inv_match optional string
Options for configuring interconnection route advertisement:
options : ic-route-adv optional string
options : ic-route-learn optional string
options : ic-route-adv-default
optional string
options : ic-route-learn-default
optional string
options : ic-route-blacklist
optional string
Connection Options:
connections set of Connections
ssl optional SSL
Security Configurations:
ipsec boolean
Read-only Options:
options : max_tunid optional string
Details:
Identity:
name: string
The name of the OVN cluster, which uniquely identifies the OVN cluster throughout all OVN clusters
supposed to interconnect with each other.
Status:
These columns allow a client to track the overall configuration state of the system.
nb_cfg: integer
Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies any part of the northbound
database configuration and wishes to wait for ovn-northd and possibly all of the hypervisors to
finish applying the changes, it may increment this sequence number.
nb_cfg_timestamp: integer
The timestamp, in milliseconds since the epoch, when ovn-northd sees the latest nb_cfg and starts
processing.
To print the timestamp as a human-readable date:
date -d "@$(ovn-nbctl get NB_Global . nb_cfg_timestamp | sed ’s/...$//’)"
sb_cfg: integer
Sequence number that ovn-northd sets to the value of nb_cfg after it finishes applying the
corresponding configuration changes to the OVN_Southbound database.
sb_cfg_timestamp: integer
The timestamp, in milliseconds since the epoch, when ovn-northd finishes applying the
corresponding configuration changes to the OVN_Southbound database successfully.
hv_cfg: integer
Sequence number that ovn-northd sets to the smallest sequence number of all the chassis in the
system, as reported in the Chassis_Private table in the southbound database. Thus, hv_cfg equals
nb_cfg if all chassis are caught up with the northbound configuration (which may never happen, if
any chassis is down). This value can regress, if a chassis was removed from the system and rejoins
before catching up.
If there are no chassis, then ovn-northd copies nb_cfg to hv_cfg. Thus, in this case, the
(nonexistent) hypervisors are always considered to be caught up. This means that hypervisors can
be "caught up" even in cases where sb_cfg would show that the southbound database is not. To
detect when both the hypervisors and the southbound database are caught up, a client should take
the smaller of sb_cfg and hv_cfg.
hv_cfg_timestamp: integer
The largest timestamp, in milliseconds since the epoch, of the smallest sequence number of all the
chassis in the system, as reported in the Chassis_Private table in the southbound database. In
other words, this timestamp reflects the time when the slowest chassis catches up with the
northbound configuration, which is useful for end-to-end control plane latency measurement.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Common options:
options: map of string-string pairs
This column provides general key/value settings. The supported options are described individually
below.
Options for configuring OVS BFD:
These options apply when ovn-controller configures OVS BFD on tunnels interfaces. Please note these
parameters refer to legacy OVS BFD implementation and not to OVN BFD one.
options : bfd-min-rx: optional string
BFD option min-rx value to use when configuring BFD on tunnel interfaces.
options : bfd-decay-min-rx: optional string
BFD option decay-min-rx value to use when configuring BFD on tunnel interfaces.
options : bfd-min-tx: optional string
BFD option min-tx value to use when configuring BFD on tunnel interfaces.
options : bfd-mult: optional string
BFD option mult value to use when configuring BFD on tunnel interfaces.
options : mac_prefix: optional string
Configure a given OUI to be used as prefix when L2 address is dynamically assigned, e.g. 00:11:22
options : controller_event: optional string, either true or false
Value set by the CMS to enable/disable ovn-controller event reporting. Traffic into OVS can raise
a ’controller’ event that results in a Controller_Event being written to the Controller_Event
table in SBDB. When the CMS has seen the event and taken appropriate action, it can remove the
correponding row in Controller_Event table. The intention is for a CMS to see the events and take
some sort of action. Please see the Controller_Event table in SBDB. It is possible to associate a
meter to each controller event type in order to not overload the pinctrl thread under heavy load.
Each event type relies on a meter with a defined name:
• empty_lb_backends: event-elb
options : northd_probe_interval: optional string
The inactivity probe interval of the connection to the OVN Northbound and Southbound databases
from ovn-northd, in milliseconds. If the value is zero, it disables the connection keepalive
feature.
If the value is nonzero, then it will be forced to a value of at least 1000 ms.
options : use_logical_dp_groups: optional string
If set to true, ovn-northd will combine logical flows that differs only by logical datapath into a
single logical flow with logical datapath group attached.
While this should significantly reduce number of logical flows stored in Southbound database this
could also increase processing complexity on the ovn-controller side, e.g., ovn-controller will
re-consider logical flow for all logical datapaths in a group. If the option set to false, there
will be separate logical flow per logical datapath and only this flow will be re-considered.
The default value is false.
options : use_parallel_build: optional string
If set to true, ovn-northd will attempt to compute logical flows in parallel.
Parallel computation is enabled only if the system has 4 or more cores/threads available to be
used by ovn-northd.
The default value is false.
options : ignore_lsp_down: optional string
If set to false, ARP/ND reply flows for logical switch ports will be installed only if the port is
up, i.e. claimed by a Chassis. If set to true, these flows are installed regardless of the status
of the port, which can result in a situation that ARP request to an IP is resolved even before the
relevant VM/container is running. For environments where this is not an issue, setting it to true
can reduce the load and latency of the control plane. The default value is true.
options : use_ct_inv_match: optional string
If set to false, ovn-northd will not use the ct.inv field in any of the logical flow matches. The
default value is true. If the NIC supports offloading OVS datapath flows but doesn’t support
offloading ct_state inv flag, then the datapath flows matching on this flag (either +inv or -inv)
will not be offloaded. CMS should consider setting use_ct_inv_match to false in such cases. This
results in a side effect of the invalid packets getting delivered to the destination VIF, which
otherwise would have been dropped by OVN.
Options for configuring interconnection route advertisement:
These options control how routes are advertised between OVN deployments for interconnection. If enabled,
ovn-ic from different OVN deployments exchanges routes between each other through the global
OVN_IC_Southbound database. Only routers with ports connected to interconnection transit switches
participate in route advertisement. For each of these routers, there are two types of routes to be
advertised:
Firstly, the static routes configured in the router are advertised.
Secondly, the networks configured in the logical router ports that are not on the transit switches are
advertised. These are considered as directly connected subnets on the router.
Link local prefixes (IPv4 169.254.0.0/16 and IPv6 FE80::/10) are never advertised.
The learned routes are added to the static_routes column of the Logical_Router table, with
external_ids:ic-learned-route set to the uuid of the row in Route table of the OVN_IC_Southbound
database.
options : ic-route-adv: optional string
A boolean value that enables route advertisement to the global OVN_IC_Southbound database. Default
is false.
options : ic-route-learn: optional string
A boolean value that enables route learning from the global OVN_IC_Southbound database. Default is
false.
options : ic-route-adv-default: optional string
A boolean value that enables advertising default route to the global OVN_IC_Southbound database.
Default is false. This option takes effect only when option ic-route-adv is true.
options : ic-route-learn-default: optional string
A boolean value that enables learning default route from the global OVN_IC_Southbound database.
Default is false. This option takes effect only when option ic-route-learn is true.
options : ic-route-blacklist: optional string
A string value contains a list of CIDRs delimited by ",". A route will not be advertised or
learned if the route’s prefix belongs to any of the CIDRs listed.
Connection Options:
connections: set of Connections
Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should connect or on which it should
listen, along with options for how these connections should be configured. See the Connection
table for more information.
ssl: optional SSL
Global SSL configuration.
Security Configurations:
ipsec: boolean
Tunnel encryption configuration. If this column is set to be true, all OVN tunnels will be
encrypted with IPsec.
Read-only Options:
options : max_tunid: optional string
The maximum supported tunnel ID. Depends on types of encapsulation enabled in the cluster.
Copp TABLE
This table is used to define control plane protection policies, i.e., associate entries from table Meter
to control protocol names.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
meters : arp optional string
meters : arp-resolve optional string
meters : dhcpv4-opts optional string
meters : dhcpv6-opts optional string
meters : dns optional string
meters : event-elb optional string
meters : icmp4-error optional string
meters : icmp6-error optional string
meters : igmp optional string
meters : nd-na optional string
meters : nd-ns optional string
meters : nd-ns-resolve optional string
meters : nd-ra-opts optional string
meters : tcp-reset optional string
meters : bfd optional string
meters : reject optional string
meters : svc-monitor optional string
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
CoPP name.
meters : arp: optional string
Rate limiting meter for ARP packets (request/reply) used for learning neighbors.
meters : arp-resolve: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require resolving the next-hop (through ARP).
meters : dhcpv4-opts: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require adding DHCPv4 options.
meters : dhcpv6-opts: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require adding DHCPv6 options.
meters : dns: optional string
Rate limiting meter for DNS query packets that need to be replied to.
meters : event-elb: optional string
Rate limiting meter for empty load balancer events.
meters : icmp4-error: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require replying with an ICMP error.
meters : icmp6-error: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require replying with an ICMPv6 error.
meters : igmp: optional string
Rate limiting meter for IGMP packets.
meters : nd-na: optional string
Rate limiting meter for ND neighbor advertisement packets used for learning neighbors.
meters : nd-ns: optional string
Rate limiting meter for ND neighbor solicitation packets used for learning neighbors.
meters : nd-ns-resolve: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require resolving the next-hop (through ND).
meters : nd-ra-opts: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require adding ND router advertisement options.
meters : tcp-reset: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that require replying with TCP RST packet.
meters : bfd: optional string
Rate limiting meter for BFD packets.
meters : reject: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that trigger a reject action
meters : svc-monitor: optional string
Rate limiting meter for packets that are arriving to service monitor MAC address.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Logical_Switch TABLE
Each row represents one L2 logical switch.
There are two kinds of logical switches, that is, ones that fully virtualize the network (overlay logical
switches) and ones that provide simple connectivity to physical networks (bridged logical switches). They
work in the same way when providing connectivity between logical ports on same chassis, but differently
when connecting remote logical ports. Overlay logical switches connect remote logical ports by tunnels,
while bridged logical switches provide connectivity to remote ports by bridging the packets to directly
connected physical L2 segments with the help of localnet ports. Each bridged logical switch has one or
more localnet ports, which have only one special address unknown.
Summary:
ports set of Logical_Switch_Ports
load_balancer set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
load_balancer_group set of Load_Balancer_Groups
acls set of ACLs
qos_rules set of QoSes
dns_records set of weak reference to DNSes
forwarding_groups set of Forwarding_Groups
Naming:
name string
external_ids : neutron:network_name
optional string
IP Address Assignment:
other_config : subnet optional string
other_config : exclude_ips optional string
other_config : ipv6_prefix optional string
other_config : mac_only optional string, either true or false
IP Multicast Snooping Options:
other_config : mcast_snoop optional string, either true or false
other_config : mcast_querier
optional string, either true or false
other_config : mcast_flood_unregistered
optional string, either true or false
other_config : mcast_table_size
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,766
other_config : mcast_idle_timeout
optional string, containing an integer, in range 15 to 3,600
other_config : mcast_query_interval
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 3,600
other_config : mcast_query_max_response
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 10
other_config : mcast_eth_src
optional string
other_config : mcast_ip4_src
optional string
other_config : mcast_ip6_src
optional string
Interconnection:
other_config : interconn-ts
optional string
Tunnel Key:
other_config : requested-tnl-key
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215
copp optional weak reference to Copp
Other options:
other_config : vlan-passthru
optional string, either true or false
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
ports: set of Logical_Switch_Ports
The logical ports connected to the logical switch.
It is an error for multiple logical switches to include the same logical port.
load_balancer: set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
Set of load balancers associated to this logical switch.
load_balancer_group: set of Load_Balancer_Groups
Set of load balancers groups associated to this logical switch.
acls: set of ACLs
Access control rules that apply to packets within the logical switch.
qos_rules: set of QoSes
QoS marking and metering rules that apply to packets within the logical switch.
dns_records: set of weak reference to DNSes
This column defines the DNS records to be used for resolving internal DNS queries within the
logical switch by the native DNS resolver. Please see the DNS table.
forwarding_groups: set of Forwarding_Groups
Groups a set of logical port endpoints for traffic going out of the logical switch.
Naming:
These columns provide names for the logical switch. From OVN’s perspective, these names have no special
meaning or purpose other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the database. There is no
requirement for the name to be unique. (For a unique identifier for a logical switch, use its row UUID.)
(Originally, name was intended to serve the purpose of a human-friendly name, but the Neutron integration
used it to uniquely identify its own switch object, in the format neutron-uuid. Later on, Neutron started
propagating the friendly name of a switch as external_ids:neutron:network_name. Perhaps this can be
cleaned up someday.)
name: string
A name for the logical switch.
external_ids : neutron:network_name: optional string
Another name for the logical switch.
IP Address Assignment:
These options control automatic IP address management (IPAM) for ports attached to the logical switch. To
enable IPAM for IPv4, set other_config:subnet and optionally other_config:exclude_ips. To enable IPAM for
IPv6, set other_config:ipv6_prefix. IPv4 and IPv6 may be enabled together or separately.
To request dynamic address assignment for a particular port, use the dynamic keyword in the addresses
column of the port’s Logical_Switch_Port row. This requests both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address, if IPAM for
IPv4 and IPv6 are both enabled.
other_config : subnet: optional string
Set this to an IPv4 subnet, e.g. 192.168.0.0/24, to enable ovn-northd to automatically assign IP
addresses within that subnet.
other_config : exclude_ips: optional string
To exclude some addresses from automatic IP address management, set this to a list of the IPv4
addresses or ..-delimited ranges to exclude. The addresses or ranges should be a subset of those
in other_config:subnet.
Whether listed or not, ovn-northd will never allocate the first or last address in a subnet, such
as 192.168.0.0 or 192.168.0.255 in 192.168.0.0/24.
Examples:
• 192.168.0.2 192.168.0.10
• 192.168.0.4 192.168.0.30..192.168.0.60 192.168.0.110..192.168.0.120
• 192.168.0.110..192.168.0.120 192.168.0.25..192.168.0.30 192.168.0.144
other_config : ipv6_prefix: optional string
Set this to an IPv6 prefix to enable ovn-northd to automatically assign IPv6 addresses using this
prefix. The assigned IPv6 address will be generated using the IPv6 prefix and the MAC address
(converted to an IEEE EUI64 identifier) of the port. The IPv6 prefix defined here should be a
valid IPv6 address ending with ::.
Examples:
• aef0::
• bef0:1234:a890:5678::
• 8230:5678::
other_config : mac_only: optional string, either true or false
Value used to request to assign L2 address only if neither subnet nor ipv6_prefix are specified
IP Multicast Snooping Options:
These options control IP Multicast Snooping configuration of the logical switch. To enable IP Multicast
Snooping set other_config:mcast_snoop to true. To enable IP Multicast Querier set
other_config:mcast_snoop to true. If IP Multicast Querier is enabled other_config:mcast_eth_src and
other_config:mcast_ip4_src must be set.
other_config : mcast_snoop: optional string, either true or false
Enables/disables IP Multicast Snooping on the logical switch.
other_config : mcast_querier: optional string, either true or false
Enables/disables IP Multicast Querier on the logical switch.
other_config : mcast_flood_unregistered: optional string, either true or false
Determines whether unregistered multicast traffic should be flooded or not. Only applicable if
other_config:mcast_snoop is enabled. Default: false.
other_config : mcast_table_size: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,766
Number of multicast groups to be stored. Default: 2048.
other_config : mcast_idle_timeout: optional string, containing an integer, in range 15 to 3,600
Configures the IP Multicast Snooping group idle timeout (in seconds). Default: 300 seconds.
other_config : mcast_query_interval: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 3,600
Configures the IP Multicast Querier interval between queries (in seconds). Default:
other_config:mcast_idle_timeout / 2.
other_config : mcast_query_max_response: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 10
Configures the value of the "max-response" field in the multicast queries originated by the
logical switch. Default: 1 second.
other_config : mcast_eth_src: optional string
Configures the source Ethernet address for queries originated by the logical switch.
other_config : mcast_ip4_src: optional string
Configures the source IPv4 address for queries originated by the logical switch.
other_config : mcast_ip6_src: optional string
Configures the source IPv6 address for queries originated by the logical switch.
Interconnection:
other_config : interconn-ts: optional string
The name of corresponding transit switch in OVN_IC_Northbound database. This kind of logical
switch is created and controlled by ovn-ic.
Tunnel Key:
other_config : requested-tnl-key: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215
Configures the datapath tunnel key for the logical switch. Usually this is not needed because
ovn-northd will assign an unique key for each datapath by itself. However, if it is configured,
ovn-northd honors the configured value. The typical use case is for interconnection: the tunnel
keys for transit switches need to be unique globally, so they are maintained in the global
OVN_IC_Southbound database, and ovn-ic simply syncs the value from OVN_IC_Southbound through this
config.
copp: optional weak reference to Copp
The control plane protection policy from table Copp used for metering packets sent to
ovn-controller from ports of this logical switch.
Other options:
other_config : vlan-passthru: optional string, either true or false
Determines whether VLAN tagged incoming traffic should be allowed. Note that this may have
security implications when enabled for a logical switch with a tag=0 localnet port. If not
properly isolated from other localnet ports, fabric traffic that belongs to other tagged networks
may be passed through such a port.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Logical_Switch_Port TABLE
A port within an L2 logical switch.
Summary:
Core Features:
name string (must be unique within table)
type string
Options:
options map of string-string pairs
Options for router ports:
options : router-port optional string
options : nat-addresses optional string
options : exclude-lb-vips-from-garp
optional string
options : arp_proxy optional string
Options for localnet ports:
options : network_name optional string
options : ethtype optional string
Options for l2gateway ports:
options : network_name optional string
options : l2gateway-chassis
optional string
Options for vtep ports:
options : vtep-physical-switch
optional string
options : vtep-logical-switch
optional string
VMI (or VIF) Options:
options : requested-chassis
optional string
options : iface-id-ver optional string
options : qos_min_rate optional string
options : qos_max_rate optional string
options : qos_burst optional string
options : hostname optional string
VIF Plugging Options:
options : vif-plug-type
optional string
options : vif-plug-mtu-request
optional string
Virtual port Options:
options : virtual-ip optional string
options : virtual-parents
optional string
IP Multicast Snooping Options:
options : mcast_flood optional string, either true or false
options : mcast_flood_reports
optional string, either true or false
Containers:
parent_name optional string
tag_request optional integer, in range 0 to 4,095
tag optional integer, in range 1 to 4,095
Port State:
up optional boolean
enabled optional boolean
Addressing:
addresses set of strings
dynamic_addresses optional string
port_security set of strings
DHCP:
dhcpv4_options optional weak reference to DHCP_Options
dhcpv6_options optional weak reference to DHCP_Options
ha_chassis_group optional HA_Chassis_Group
Naming:
external_ids : neutron:port_name
optional string
Tunnel Key:
options : requested-tnl-key
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,767
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
Core Features:
name: string (must be unique within table)
The logical port name.
For entities (VMs or containers) that are spawned in the hypervisor, the name used here must match
those used in the external_ids:iface-id in the Open_vSwitch database’s Interface table, because
hypervisors use external_ids:iface-id as a lookup key to identify the network interface of that
entity.
For containers that share a VIF within a VM, the name can be any unique identifier. See
Containers, below, for more information.
A logical switch port may not have the same name as a logical router port, but the database schema
cannot enforce this.
type: string
Specify a type for this logical port. Logical ports can be used to model other types of
connectivity into an OVN logical switch. The following types are defined:
(empty string)
A VM (or VIF) interface.
router A connection to a logical router. The value of options:router-port specifies the name of
the Logical_Router_Port to which this logical switch port is connected.
localnet
A connection to a locally accessible network from ovn-controller instances that have a
corresponding bridge mapping. A logical switch can have multiple localnet ports attached.
This type is used to model direct connectivity to existing networks. In this case, each
chassis should have a mapping for one of the physical networks only. Note: nothing said
above implies that a chassis cannot be plugged to multiple physical networks as long as
they belong to different switches.
localport
A connection to a local VIF. Traffic that arrives on a localport is never forwarded over a
tunnel to another chassis. These ports are present on every chassis and have the same
address in all of them. This is used to model connectivity to local services that run on
every hypervisor.
l2gateway
A connection to a physical network.
vtep A port to a logical switch on a VTEP gateway.
external
Represents a logical port which is external and not having an OVS port in the integration
bridge. OVN will never receive any traffic from this port or send any traffic to this port.
OVN can support native services like DHCPv4/DHCPv6/DNS for this port. If ha_chassis_group
is defined, ovn-controller running in the master chassis of the HA chassis group will bind
this port to provide these native services. It is expected that this port belong to a
bridged logical switch (with a localnet port).
It is recommended to use the same HA chassis group for all the external ports of a logical
switch. Otherwise, the physical switch might see MAC flap issue when different chassis
provide the native services. For example when supporting native DHCPv4 service, DHCPv4
server mac (configured in options:server_mac column in table DHCP_Options) originating from
different ports can cause MAC flap issue. The MAC of the logical router IP(s) can also flap
if the same HA chassis group is not set for all the external ports of a logical switch.
Below are some of the use cases where external ports can be used.
• VMs connected to SR-IOV nics - Traffic from these VMs by passes the kernel stack and
local ovn-controller do not bind these ports and cannot serve the native services.
• When CMS supports provisioning baremetal servers.
virtual
Represents a logical port which does not have an OVS port in the integration bridge and has
a virtual ip configured in the options:virtual-ip column. This virtual ip can move around
between the logical ports configured in the options:virtual-parents column.
One of the use case where virtual ports can be used is.
• The virtual ip represents a load balancer vip and the virtual parents provide load
balancer service in an active-standby setup with the active virtual parent owning
the virtual ip.
remote A remote port is to model a port that resides remotely on another OVN, which is on the
other side of a transit logical switch for OVN interconnection. This type of ports are
created by ovn-ic instead of by CMS. Any change to the port will be automatically
overwritten by ovn-ic.
Options:
options: map of string-string pairs
This column provides key/value settings specific to the logical port type. The type-specific
options are described individually below.
Options for router ports:
These options apply when type is router.
options : router-port: optional string
Required. The name of the Logical_Router_Port to which this logical switch port is connected.
options : nat-addresses: optional string
This is used to send gratuitous ARPs for SNAT and DNAT IP addresses via the localnet port that is
attached to the same logical switch as this type router port. This option is specified on a
logical switch port that is connected to a gateway router, or a logical switch port that is
connected to a distributed gateway port on a logical router.
This must take one of the following forms:
router Gratuitous ARPs will be sent for all SNAT and DNAT external IP addresses and for all load
balancer IP addresses defined on the options:router-port’s logical router, using the
options:router-port’s MAC address.
This form of options:nat-addresses is valid for logical switch ports where options:router-
port is the name of a port on a gateway router, or the name of a distributed gateway port.
Supported only in OVN 2.8 and later. Earlier versions required NAT addresses to be manually
synchronized.
Ethernet address followed by one or more IPv4 addresses
Example: 80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 158.36.44.22 158.36.44.24. This would result in generation of
gratuitous ARPs for IP addresses 158.36.44.22 and 158.36.44.24 with a MAC address of
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7.
This form of options:nat-addresses is only valid for logical switch ports where
options:router-port is the name of a port on a gateway router.
options : exclude-lb-vips-from-garp: optional string
If options:nat-addresses is set to router, Gratuitous ARPs will be sent for all SNAT and DNAT
external IP addresses defined on the options:router-port’s logical router, using the
options:router-port’s MAC address, not cosidering configured load balancers.
options : arp_proxy: optional string
Optional. A list of IPv4 addresses that this logical switch router port will reply to ARP
requests. Example: 169.254.239.254 169.254.239.2. The options:router-port’s logical router should
have a route to forward packets sent to configured proxy ARP IPs to an appropriate destination.
Options for localnet ports:
These options apply when type is localnet.
options : network_name: optional string
Required. The name of the network to which the localnet port is connected. Each hypervisor, via
ovn-controller, uses its local configuration to determine exactly how to connect to this locally
accessible network, if at all.
options : ethtype: optional string
Optional. VLAN EtherType field value for encapsulating VLAN headers. Supported values: 802.11q
(default), 802.11ad.
Options for l2gateway ports:
These options apply when type is l2gateway.
options : network_name: optional string
Required. The name of the network to which the l2gateway port is connected. The L2 gateway, via
ovn-controller, uses its local configuration to determine exactly how to connect to this network.
options : l2gateway-chassis: optional string
Required. The chassis on which the l2gateway logical port should be bound to. ovn-controller
running on the defined chassis will connect this logical port to the physical network.
Options for vtep ports:
These options apply when type is vtep.
options : vtep-physical-switch: optional string
Required. The name of the VTEP gateway.
options : vtep-logical-switch: optional string
Required. A logical switch name connected by the VTEP gateway.
VMI (or VIF) Options:
These options apply to logical ports with type having (empty string)
options : requested-chassis: optional string
If set, identifies a specific chassis (by name or hostname) that is allowed to bind this port.
Using this option will prevent thrashing between two chassis trying to bind the same port during a
live migration. It can also prevent similar thrashing due to a mis-configuration, if a port is
accidentally created on more than one chassis.
options : iface-id-ver: optional string
If set, this port will be bound by ovn-controller only if this same key and value is configured in
the external_ids column in the Open_vSwitch database’s Interface table.
options : qos_min_rate: optional string
If set, indicates the minimum guaranteed rate available for data sent from this interface, in
bit/s.
options : qos_max_rate: optional string
If set, indicates the maximum rate for data sent from this interface, in bit/s. The traffic will
be shaped according to this limit.
options : qos_burst: optional string
If set, indicates the maximum burst size for data sent from this interface, in bits.
options : hostname: optional string
If set, indicates the DHCPv4 option "Hostname" (option code 12) associated for this Logical Switch
Port. If DHCPv4 is enabled for this Logical Switch Port, hostname dhcp option will be included in
DHCP reply.
VIF Plugging Options:
options : vif-plug-type: optional string
If set, OVN will attempt to perform plugging of this VIF. In order to get this port plugged by the
OVN controller, OVN must be built with support for VIF plugging. The default behavior is for the
CMS to do the VIF plugging. Each VIF plug provider have their own options namespaced by name, for
example "vif-plug:representor:key". Please refer to the VIF plug provider documentation located in
Documentation/topics/vif-plug-providers/ for more information.
options : vif-plug-mtu-request: optional string
Requested MTU for plugged interfaces. When set the OVN controller will fill the mtu_request column
of the Open vSwitch database’s Interface table. This in turn will make OVS vswitchd update the MTU
of the linked interface.
Virtual port Options:
These options apply when type is virtual.
options : virtual-ip: optional string
This option represents the virtual IPv4 address.
options : virtual-parents: optional string
This options represents a set of logical port names (with in the same logical switch) which can
own the virtual ip configured in the options:virtual-ip. All these virtual parents should add the
virtual ip in the port_security if port security addressed are enabled.
IP Multicast Snooping Options:
These options apply when the port is part of a logical switch which has other_config :mcast_snoop set to
true.
options : mcast_flood: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, multicast packets (except reports) are unconditionally forwarded to the specific
port. Default: false.
options : mcast_flood_reports: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, multicast reports are unconditionally forwarded to the specific port. Default:
false.
Containers:
When a large number of containers are nested within a VM, it may be too expensive to dedicate a VIF to
each container. OVN can use VLAN tags to support such cases. Each container is assigned a VLAN ID and
each packet that passes between the hypervisor and the VM is tagged with the appropriate ID for the
container. Such VLAN IDs never appear on a physical wire, even inside a tunnel, so they need not be
unique except relative to a single VM on a hypervisor.
These columns are used for VIFs that represent nested containers using shared VIFs. For VMs and for
containers that have dedicated VIFs, they are empty.
parent_name: optional string
The VM interface through which the nested container sends its network traffic. This must match the
name column for some other Logical_Switch_Port.
tag_request: optional integer, in range 0 to 4,095
The VLAN tag in the network traffic associated with a container’s network interface. The client
can request ovn-northd to allocate a tag that is unique within the scope of a specific parent
(specified in parent_name) by setting a value of 0 in this column. The allocated value is written
by ovn-northd in the tag column. (Note that these tags are allocated and managed locally in
ovn-northd, so they cannot be reconstructed in the event that the database is lost.) The client
can also request a specific non-zero tag and ovn-northd will honor it and copy that value to the
tag column.
When type is set to localnet or l2gateway, this can be set to indicate that the port represents a
connection to a specific VLAN on a locally accessible network. The VLAN ID is used to match
incoming traffic and is also added to outgoing traffic.
tag: optional integer, in range 1 to 4,095
The VLAN tag allocated by ovn-northd based on the contents of the tag_request column.
Port State:
up: optional boolean
This column is populated by ovn-northd, rather than by the CMS plugin as is most of this database.
When a logical port is bound to a physical location in the OVN Southbound database Binding table,
ovn-northd sets this column to true; otherwise, or if the port becomes unbound later, it sets it
to false. If this column is empty, the port is not considered up. This allows the CMS to wait for
a VM’s (or container’s) networking to become active before it allows the VM (or container) to
start.
Logical ports of router type are an exception to this rule. They are considered to be always up,
that is this column is always set to true.
enabled: optional boolean
This column is used to administratively set port state. If this column is empty or is set to true,
the port is enabled. If this column is set to false, the port is disabled. A disabled port has all
ingress and egress traffic dropped.
Addressing:
addresses: set of strings
Addresses owned by the logical port.
Each element in the set must take one of the following forms:
Ethernet address followed by zero or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses (or both)
An Ethernet address defined is owned by the logical port. Like a physical Ethernet NIC, a
logical port ordinarily has a single fixed Ethernet address.
When a OVN logical switch processes a unicast Ethernet frame whose destination MAC address
is in a logical port’s addresses column, it delivers it only to that port, as if a MAC
learning process had learned that MAC address on the port.
If IPv4 or IPv6 address(es) (or both) are defined, it indicates that the logical port owns
the given IP addresses.
If IPv4 address(es) are defined, the OVN logical switch uses this information to synthesize
responses to ARP requests without traversing the physical network. The OVN logical router
connected to the logical switch, if any, uses this information to avoid issuing ARP
requests for logical switch ports.
Note that the order here is important. The Ethernet address must be listed before the IP
address(es) if defined.
Examples:
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7
This indicates that the logical port owns the above mac address.
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 10.0.0.4 20.0.0.4
This indicates that the logical port owns the mac address and two IPv4 addresses.
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 fdaa:15f2:72cf:0:f816:3eff:fe20:3f41
This indicates that the logical port owns the mac address and 1 IPv6 address.
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 10.0.0.4 fdaa:15f2:72cf:0:f816:3eff:fe20:3f41
This indicates that the logical port owns the mac address and 1 IPv4 address and 1
IPv6 address.
unknown
This indicates that the logical port has an unknown set of Ethernet addresses. When an OVN
logical switch processes a unicast Ethernet frame whose destination MAC address is not in
any logical port’s addresses column, it delivers it to the port (or ports) whose addresses
columns include unknown.
dynamic
Use dynamic to make ovn-northd generate a globally unique MAC address, choose an unused
IPv4 address with the logical port’s subnet (if other_config:subnet is set in the port’s
Logical_Switch), and generate an IPv6 address from the MAC address (if
other_config:ipv6_prefix is set in the port’s Logical_Switch) and store them in the port’s
dynamic_addresses column.
Only one element containing dynamic may appear in addresses.
dynamic ip
dynamic ipv6
dynamic ip ipv6
These act like dynamic alone but specify particular IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to use. OVN IPAM
will still automatically allocate the other address if configured appropriately. Example:
dynamic 192.168.0.1 2001::1.
mac dynamic
This acts like dynamic alone but specifies a particular MAC address to use. OVN IPAM will
still automatically allocate IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, or both, if configured appropriately.
Example: 80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 dynamic
router
Accepted only when type is router. This indicates that the Ethernet, IPv4, and IPv6 addresses
for this logical switch port should be obtained from the connected logical router port, as
specified by router-port in options.
The resulting addresses are used to populate the logical switch’s destination lookup, and
also for the logical switch to generate ARP and ND replies.
If the connected logical router port has a distributed gateway port specified and the logical
router has rules specified in nat with external_mac, then those addresses are also used to
populate the switch’s destination lookup.
Supported only in OVN 2.7 and later. Earlier versions required router addresses to be
manually synchronized.
dynamic_addresses: optional string
Addresses assigned to the logical port by ovn-northd, if dynamic is specified in addresses.
Addresses will be of the same format as those that populate the addresses column. Note that
dynamically assigned addresses are constructed and managed locally in ovn-northd, so they cannot
be reconstructed in the event that the database is lost.
port_security: set of strings
This column controls the addresses from which the host attached to the logical port (``the host’’)
is allowed to send packets and to which it is allowed to receive packets. If this column is empty,
all addresses are permitted.
Each element in the set must begin with one Ethernet address. This would restrict the host to
sending packets from and receiving packets to the ethernet addresses defined in the logical port’s
port_security column. It also restricts the inner source MAC addresses that the host may send in
ARP and IPv6 Neighbor Discovery packets. The host is always allowed to receive packets to
multicast and broadcast Ethernet addresses.
Each element in the set may additionally contain one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses (or both),
with optional masks. If a mask is given, it must be a CIDR mask. In addition to the restrictions
described for Ethernet addresses above, such an element restricts the IPv4 or IPv6 addresses from
which the host may send and to which it may receive packets to the specified addresses. A masked
address, if the host part is zero, indicates that the host is allowed to use any address in the
subnet; if the host part is nonzero, the mask simply indicates the size of the subnet. In
addition:
• If any IPv4 address is given, the host is also allowed to receive packets to the IPv4 local
broadcast address 255.255.255.255 and to IPv4 multicast addresses (224.0.0.0/4). If an IPv4
address with a mask is given, the host is also allowed to receive packets to the broadcast
address in that specified subnet.
If any IPv4 address is given, the host is additionally restricted to sending ARP packets
with the specified source IPv4 address. (RARP is not restricted.)
• If any IPv6 address is given, the host is also allowed to receive packets to IPv6 multicast
addresses (ff00::/8).
If any IPv6 address is given, the host is additionally restricted to sending IPv6 Neighbor
Discovery Solicitation or Advertisement packets with the specified source address or, for
solicitations, the unspecified address.
If an element includes an IPv4 address, but no IPv6 addresses, then IPv6 traffic is not allowed.
If an element includes an IPv6 address, but no IPv4 address, then IPv4 and ARP traffic is not
allowed.
This column uses the same lexical syntax as the match column in the OVN Southbound database’s
Pipeline table. Multiple addresses within an element may be space or comma separated.
This column is provided as a convenience to cloud management systems, but all of the features that
it implements can be implemented as ACLs using the ACL table.
Examples:
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7
The host may send traffic from and receive traffic to the specified MAC address, and to
receive traffic to Ethernet multicast and broadcast addresses, but not otherwise. The host
may not send ARP or IPv6 Neighbor Discovery packets with inner source Ethernet addresses
other than the one specified.
80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 192.168.1.10/24
This adds further restrictions to the first example. The host may send IPv4 packets from or
receive IPv4 packets to only 192.168.1.10, except that it may also receive IPv4 packets to
192.168.1.255 (based on the subnet mask), 255.255.255.255, and any address in 224.0.0.0/4.
The host may not send ARPs with a source Ethernet address other than 80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 or
source IPv4 address other than 192.168.1.10. The host may not send or receive any IPv6
(including IPv6 Neighbor Discovery) traffic.
"80:fa:5b:12:42:ba", "80:fa:5b:06:72:b7 192.168.1.10/24"
The host may send traffic from and receive traffic to the specified MAC addresses, and to
receive traffic to Ethernet multicast and broadcast addresses, but not otherwise. With MAC
80:fa:5b:12:42:ba, the host may send traffic from and receive traffic to any L3 address.
With MAC 80:fa:5b:06:72:b7, the host may send IPv4 packets from or receive IPv4 packets to
only 192.168.1.10, except that it may also receive IPv4 packets to 192.168.1.255 (based on
the subnet mask), 255.255.255.255, and any address in 224.0.0.0/4. The host may not send or
receive any IPv6 (including IPv6 Neighbor Discovery) traffic.
DHCP:
dhcpv4_options: optional weak reference to DHCP_Options
This column defines the DHCPv4 Options to be included by the ovn-controller when it replies to the
DHCPv4 requests. Please see the DHCP_Options table.
dhcpv6_options: optional weak reference to DHCP_Options
This column defines the DHCPv6 Options to be included by the ovn-controller when it replies to the
DHCPv6 requests. Please see the DHCP_Options table.
ha_chassis_group: optional HA_Chassis_Group
References a row in the OVN Northbound database’s HA_Chassis_Group table. It indicates the HA
chassis group to use if the type is set to external. If type is not external, this column is
ignored.
Naming:
external_ids : neutron:port_name: optional string
This column gives an optional human-friendly name for the port. This name has no special meaning
or purpose other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the northbound database.
Neutron copies this from its own port object’s name. (Neutron ports do are not assigned human-
friendly names by default, so it will often be empty.)
Tunnel Key:
options : requested-tnl-key: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,767
Configures the port binding tunnel key for the port. Usually this is not needed because ovn-northd
will assign an unique key for each port by itself. However, if it is configured, ovn-northd honors
the configured value. The typical use case is for interconnection: the tunnel keys for ports on
transit switches need to be unique globally, so they are maintained in the global
OVN_IC_Southbound database, and ovn-ic simply syncs the value from OVN_IC_Southbound through this
config.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
The ovn-northd program copies all these pairs into the external_ids column of the Port_Binding
table in OVN_Southbound database.
Forwarding_Group TABLE
Each row represents one forwarding group.
Summary:
name string
vip string
vmac string
liveness boolean
child_port set of 1 or more strings
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string
A name for the forwarding group. This name has no special meaning or purpose other than to provide
convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb database.
vip: string
The virtual IP address assigned to the forwarding group. It will respond with vmac when an ARP
request is sent for vip.
vmac: string
The virtual MAC address assigned to the forwarding group.
liveness: boolean
If set to true, liveness is enabled for child ports otherwise it is disabled.
child_port: set of 1 or more strings
List of child ports in the forwarding group.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Address_Set TABLE
Each row in this table represents a named set of addresses. An address set may contain Ethernet, IPv4, or
IPv6 addresses with optional bitwise or CIDR masks. Address set may ultimately be used in ACLs to compare
against fields such as ip4.src or ip6.src. A single address set must contain addresses of the same type.
As an example, the following would create an address set with three IP addresses:
ovn-nbctl create Address_Set name=set1 addresses=’10.0.0.1 10.0.0.2 10.0.0.3’
Address sets may be used in the match column of the ACL table. For syntax information, see the details of
the expression language used for the match column in the Logical_Flow table of the OVN_Southbound
database.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
addresses set of strings
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name for the address set. Names are ASCII and must match [a-zA-Z_.][a-zA-Z_.0-9]*.
addresses: set of strings
The set of addresses in string form.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Port_Group TABLE
Each row in this table represents a named group of logical switch ports.
Port groups may be used in the match column of the ACL table. For syntax information, see the details of
the expression language used for the match column in the Logical_Flow table of the OVN_Southbound
database.
For each port group, there are two address sets generated to the Address_Set table of the OVN_Southbound
database, containing the IP addresses of the group of ports, one for IPv4, and the other for IPv6, with
name being the name of the Port_Group followed by a suffix _ip4 for IPv4 and _ip6 for IPv6. The generated
address sets can be used in the same way as regular address sets in the match column of the ACL table.
For syntax information, see the details of the expression language used for the match column in the
Logical_Flow table of the OVN_Southbound database.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
ports set of weak reference to Logical_Switch_Ports
acls set of ACLs
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name for the port group. Names are ASCII and must match [a-zA-Z_.][a-zA-Z_.0-9]*.
ports: set of weak reference to Logical_Switch_Ports
The logical switch ports belonging to the group in uuids.
acls: set of ACLs
Access control rules that apply to the port group. Applying an ACL to a port group has the same
effect as applying the ACL to all logical lswitches that the ports of the port group belong to.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Load_Balancer TABLE
Each row represents one load balancer.
Summary:
name string
vips map of string-string pairs
protocol optional string, one of sctp, tcp, or udp
Health Checks:
health_check set of Load_Balancer_Health_Checks
ip_port_mappings map of string-string pairs
selection_fields set of strings, one of eth_dst, eth_src, ip_dst, ip_src, tp_dst, or tp_src
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Load_Balancer options:
options : reject optional string, either true or false
options : hairpin_snat_ip optional string
options : skip_snat optional string
options : add_route optional string
Details:
name: string
A name for the load balancer. This name has no special meaning or purpose other than to provide
convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb database.
vips: map of string-string pairs
A map of virtual IP addresses (and an optional port number with : as a separator) associated with
this load balancer and their corresponding endpoint IP addresses (and optional port numbers with :
as separators) separated by commas. If the destination IP address (and port number) of a packet
leaving a container or a VM matches the virtual IP address (and port number) provided here as a
key, then OVN will statefully replace the destination IP address by one of the provided IP address
(and port number) in this map as a value. IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are supported for load
balancing; however a VIP of one address family may not be mapped to a destination IP address of a
different family. If specifying an IPv6 address with a port, the address portion must be enclosed
in square brackets. Examples for keys are "192.168.1.4" and "[fd0f::1]:8800". Examples for value
are "10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2" and "20.0.0.10:8800, 20.0.0.11:8800".
When the Load_Balancer is added to the logical_switch, the VIP has to be in a different subnet
than the one used for the logical_switch. Since VIP is in a different subnet, you should connect
your logical switch to either a OVN logical router or a real router (this is because the client
can now send a packet with VIP as the destination IP address and router’s mac address as the
destination MAC address).
protocol: optional string, one of sctp, tcp, or udp
Valid protocols are tcp, udp, or sctp. This column is useful when a port number is provided as
part of the vips column. If this column is empty and a port number is provided as part of vips
column, OVN assumes the protocol to be tcp.
Health Checks:
OVN supports health checks for load balancer endpoints, for IPv4 load balancers only. When health checks
are enabled, the load balancer uses only healthy endpoints.
Suppose that vips contains a key-value pair 10.0.0.10:80=10.0.0.4:8080,20.0.0.4:8080. To enable health
checks for this virtual’s endpoints, add two key-value pairs to ip_port_mappings, with keys 10.0.0.4 and
20.0.0.4, and add to health_check a reference to a Load_Balancer_Health_Check row whose vip is set to
10.0.0.10.
health_check: set of Load_Balancer_Health_Checks
Load balancer health checks associated with this load balancer.
ip_port_mappings: map of string-string pairs
Maps from endpoint IP to a colon-separated pair of logical port name and source IP, e.g.
port_name:sourc_ip. Health checks are sent to this port with the specified source IP.
For example, in the example above, IP to port mappings might be defined as
10.0.0.4=sw0-p1:10.0.0.2 and 20.0.0.4=sw1-p1:20.0.0.2, if the values given were suitable ports and
IP addresses.
selection_fields: set of strings, one of eth_dst, eth_src, ip_dst, ip_src, tp_dst, or tp_src
OVN native load balancers are supported using the OpenFlow groups of type select. OVS supports two
selection methods: dp_hash and hash (with optional fields specified) in selecting the buckets of a
group. Please see the OVS documentation (man ovs-ofctl) for more details on the selection methods.
Each endpoint IP (and port if set) is mapped to a bucket in the group flow.
CMS can choose the hash selection method by setting the selection fields in this column.
ovs-vswitchd uses the specified fields in generating the hash.
dp_hash selection method uses the assistance of datapath to calculate the hash and it is expected
to be faster than hash selection method. So CMS should take this into consideration before using
the hash method. Please consult the OVS documentation and OVS sources for the implementation
details.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Load_Balancer options:
options : reject: optional string, either true or false
If the load balancer is created with --reject option and it has no active backends, a TCP reset
segment (for tcp) or an ICMP port unreachable packet (for all other kind of traffic) will be sent
whenever an incoming packet is received for this load-balancer. Please note using --reject option
will disable empty_lb SB controller event for this load balancer.
options : hairpin_snat_ip: optional string
IP to be used as source IP for packets that have been hair-pinned after load balancing. The
default behavior when the option is not set is to use the load balancer VIP as source IP. This
option may have exactly one IPv4 and/or one IPv6 address on it, separated by a space character.
options : skip_snat: optional string
If the load balancing rule is configured with skip_snat option, the option lb_force_snat_ip
configured for the logical router that references this load balancer will not be applied for this
load balancer.
options : add_route: optional string
If set to true, then neighbor routers will have logical flows added that will allow for routing to
the VIP IP. It also will have ARP resolution logical flows added. By setting this option, it means
there is no reason to create a Logical_Router_Static_Route from neighbor routers to this NAT
address. It also means that no ARP request is required for neighbor routers to learn the IP-MAC
mapping for this VIP IP. For more information about what flows are added for IP routes, please see
the ovn-northd manpage section on IP Routing.
Load_Balancer_Group TABLE
Each row represents a logical grouping of load balancers. It is up to the CMS to decide the criteria on
which load balancers are grouped together. To simplify configuration and to optimize its processing load
balancers that must be associated to the same set of logical switches and/or logical routers should be
grouped together.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
load_balancer set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name for the load balancer group. This name has no special meaning or purpose other than to
provide convenience for human interaction with the ovn-nb database.
load_balancer: set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
A set of load balancers.
Load_Balancer_Health_Check TABLE
Each row represents one load balancer health check. Health checks are supported for IPv4 load balancers
only.
Summary:
vip string
Health check options:
options : interval optional string, containing an integer
options : timeout optional string, containing an integer
options : success_count optional string, containing an integer
options : failure_count optional string, containing an integer
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
vip: string
vip whose endpoints should be monitored for health check.
Health check options:
options : interval: optional string, containing an integer
The interval, in seconds, between health checks.
options : timeout: optional string, containing an integer
The time, in seconds, after which a health check times out.
options : success_count: optional string, containing an integer
The number of successful checks after which the endpoint is considered online.
options : failure_count: optional string, containing an integer
The number of failure checks after which the endpoint is considered offline.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
ACL TABLE
Each row in this table represents one ACL rule for a logical switch or a port group that points to it
through its acls column. The action column for the highest-priority matching row in this table determines
a packet’s treatment. If no row matches, packets are allowed by default. (Default-deny treatment is
possible: add a rule with priority 0, 1 as match, and deny as action.)
Summary:
label integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
priority integer, in range 0 to 32,767
direction string, either from-lport or to-lport
match string
action string, one of allow-related, allow-stateless, allow, drop, or reject
options:
options : apply-after-lb optional string
Logging:
log boolean
name optional string, at most 63 characters long
severity optional string, one of alert, debug, info, notice, or warning
meter optional string
Common Columns:
options map of string-string pairs
ACL configuration options:
options : log-related optional string
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
label: integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
Associates an identifier with the ACL. The same value will be written to corresponding connection
tracker entry. The value should be a valid 32-bit unsigned integer. This value can help in
debugging from connection tracker side. For example, through this "label" we can backtrack to the
ACL rule which is causing a "leaked" connection. Connection tracker entries are created only for
allowed connections so the label is valid only for allow and allow-related actions.
priority: integer, in range 0 to 32,767
The ACL rule’s priority. Rules with numerically higher priority take precedence over those with
lower. If two ACL rules with the same priority both match, then the one actually applied to a
packet is undefined.
Return traffic from an allow-related flow is always allowed and cannot be changed through an ACL.
allow-stateless flows always take precedence before stateful ACLs, regardless of their priority.
(Both allow and allow-related ACLs can be stateful.)
direction: string, either from-lport or to-lport
Direction of the traffic to which this rule should apply:
• from-lport: Used to implement filters on traffic arriving from a logical port. These rules
are applied to the logical switch’s ingress pipeline.
• to-lport: Used to implement filters on traffic forwarded to a logical port. These rules are
applied to the logical switch’s egress pipeline.
match: string
The packets that the ACL should match, in the same expression language used for the match column
in the OVN Southbound database’s Logical_Flow table. The outport logical port is only available in
the to-lport direction (the inport is available in both directions).
By default all traffic is allowed. When writing a more restrictive policy, it is important to
remember to allow flows such as ARP and IPv6 neighbor discovery packets.
Note that you can not create an ACL matching on a port with type=router or type=localnet.
action: string, one of allow-related, allow-stateless, allow, drop, or reject
The action to take when the ACL rule matches:
• allow-stateless: Always forward the packet in stateless manner, omitting connection
tracking mechanism, regardless of other rules defined for the switch. May require defining
additional rules for inbound replies. For example, if you define a rule to allow outgoing
TCP traffic directed to an IP address, then you probably also want to define another rule
to allow incoming TCP traffic coming from this same IP address. In addition, traffic that
matches stateless ACLs will bypass load-balancer DNAT/un-DNAT processing. Stateful ACLs
should be used instead if the traffic is supposed to be load-balanced.
• allow: Forward the packet. It will also send the packets through connection tracking when
allow-related rules exist on the logical switch. Otherwise, it’s equivalent to
allow-stateless.
• allow-related: Forward the packet and related traffic (e.g. inbound replies to an outbound
connection).
• drop: Silently drop the packet.
• reject: Drop the packet, replying with a RST for TCP or ICMPv4/ICMPv6 unreachable message
for other IPv4/IPv6-based protocols.
options:
ACLs options.
options : apply-after-lb: optional string
If set to true, the ACL will be applied after load balancing stage. Supported only for from-lport
direction.
The main use case of this option is to support ACLs matching on the destination IP address of the
packet for the backend IPs of load balancers.
OVN will apply the from-lport ACLs in two stages. ACLs without this option apply-after-lb set,
will be applied before the load balancer stage and ACLs with this option set will be applied after
the load balancer stage. The priorities are indepedent between these stages and may not be obvious
to the CMS. Hence CMS should be extra careful when using this option and should carefully evaluate
the priorities of all the ACLs and the default deny/allow ACLs if any.
Logging:
These columns control whether and how OVN logs packets that match an ACL.
log: boolean
If set to true, packets that match the ACL will trigger a log message on the transport node or
nodes that perform ACL processing. Logging may be combined with any action.
If set to false, the remaining columns in this group have no significance.
name: optional string, at most 63 characters long
This name, if it is provided, is included in log records. It provides the administrator and the
cloud management system a way to associate a log record with a particular ACL.
severity: optional string, one of alert, debug, info, notice, or warning
The severity of the ACL. The severity levels match those of syslog, in decreasing level of
severity: alert, warning, notice, info, or debug. When the column is empty, the default is info.
meter: optional string
The name of a meter to rate-limit log messages for the ACL. The string must match the name column
of a row in the Meter table. By default, log messages are not rate-limited. In order to ensure
that the same Meter rate limits multiple ACL logs separately, set the fair column.
Common Columns:
options: map of string-string pairs
This column provides general key/value settings. The supported options are described individually
below.
ACL configuration options:
options : log-related: optional string
If set to true, then log when reply or related traffic is admitted from a stateful ACL. In order
for this option to function, the log option must be set to true and a label must be set, and it
must be unique to the ACL. The label is necessary as it is the only means to associate the reply
traffic with the ACL to which it belongs. It must be unique, because otherwise it is ambiguous
which ACL will be matched. Note: If this option is enabled, an extra flow is installed in order to
log the related traffic. Therefore, if this is enabled on all ACLs, then the total number of flows
necessary to log the ACL traffic is doubled, compared to if this option is not enabled.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Logical_Router TABLE
Each row represents one L3 logical router.
Summary:
ports set of Logical_Router_Ports
static_routes set of Logical_Router_Static_Routes
policies set of Logical_Router_Policys
enabled optional boolean
nat set of NATs
load_balancer set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
load_balancer_group set of Load_Balancer_Groups
Naming:
name string
external_ids : neutron:router_name
optional string
copp optional weak reference to Copp
Options:
options : chassis optional string
options : dnat_force_snat_ip
optional string
options : lb_force_snat_ip optional string
options : mcast_relay optional string, either true or false
options : dynamic_neigh_routers
optional string, either true or false
options : always_learn_from_arp_request
optional string, either true or false
options : requested-tnl-key
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215
options : snat-ct-zone optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 65,535
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
ports: set of Logical_Router_Ports
The router’s ports.
static_routes: set of Logical_Router_Static_Routes
Zero or more static routes for the router.
policies: set of Logical_Router_Policys
Zero or more routing policies for the router.
enabled: optional boolean
This column is used to administratively set router state. If this column is empty or is set to
true, the router is enabled. If this column is set to false, the router is disabled. A disabled
router has all ingress and egress traffic dropped.
nat: set of NATs
One or more NAT rules for the router. NAT rules only work on Gateway routers, and on distributed
routers with one and only one distributed gateway port.
load_balancer: set of weak reference to Load_Balancers
Set of load balancers associated to this logical router. Load balancer Load balancer rules only
work on the Gateway routers or routers with one and only one distributed gateway port.
load_balancer_group: set of Load_Balancer_Groups
Set of load balancers groups associated to this logical router.
Naming:
These columns provide names for the logical router. From OVN’s perspective, these names have no special
meaning or purpose other than to provide convenience for human interaction with the northbound database.
There is no requirement for the name to be unique. (For a unique identifier for a logical router, use its
row UUID.)
(Originally, name was intended to serve the purpose of a human-friendly name, but the Neutron integration
used it to uniquely identify its own router object, in the format neutron-uuid. Later on, Neutron started
propagating the friendly name of a router as external_ids:neutron:router_name. Perhaps this can be
cleaned up someday.)
name: string
A name for the logical router.
external_ids : neutron:router_name: optional string
Another name for the logical router.
copp: optional weak reference to Copp
The control plane protection policy from table Copp used for metering packets sent to
ovn-controller from logical ports of this router.
Options:
Additional options for the logical router.
options : chassis: optional string
If set, indicates that the logical router in question is a Gateway router (which is centralized)
and resides in the set chassis. The same value is also used by ovn-controller to uniquely identify
the chassis in the OVN deployment and comes from external_ids:system-id in the Open_vSwitch table
of Open_vSwitch database.
The Gateway router can only be connected to a distributed router via a switch if SNAT and DNAT are
to be configured in the Gateway router.
options : dnat_force_snat_ip: optional string
If set, indicates a set of IP addresses to use to force SNAT a packet that has already been DNATed
in the gateway router. When multiple gateway routers are configured, a packet can potentially
enter any of the gateway router, get DNATted and eventually reach the logical switch port. For the
return traffic to go back to the same gateway router (for unDNATing), the packet needs a SNAT in
the first place. This can be achieved by setting the above option with a gateway specific set of
IP addresses. This option may have exactly one IPv4 and/or one IPv6 address on it, separated by a
a space.
options : lb_force_snat_ip: optional string
If set, this option can take two possible type of values. Either a set of IP addresses or the
string value - router_ip.
If a set of IP addresses are configured, it indicates to use to force SNAT a packet that has
already been load-balanced in the gateway router. When multiple gateway routers are configured, a
packet can potentially enter any of the gateway routers, get DNATted as part of the load-balancing
and eventually reach the logical switch port. For the return traffic to go back to the same
gateway router (for unDNATing), the packet needs a SNAT in the first place. This can be achieved
by setting the above option with a gateway specific set of IP addresses. This option may have
exactly one IPv4 and/or one IPv6 address on it, separated by a space character.
If it is configured with the value router_ip, then the load balanced packet is SNATed with the IP
of router port (attached to the gateway router) selected as the destination after taking the
routing decision.
options : mcast_relay: optional string, either true or false
Enables/disables IP multicast relay between logical switches connected to the logical router.
Default: False.
options : dynamic_neigh_routers: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, the router will resolve neighbor routers’ MAC addresses only by dynamic ARP/ND,
instead of prepopulating static mappings for all neighbor routers in the ARP/ND Resolution stage.
This reduces number of flows, but requires ARP/ND messages to resolve the IP-MAC bindings when
needed. It is false by default. It is recommended to set to true when a large number of logical
routers are connected to the same logical switch but most of them never need to send traffic
between each other. By default, ovn-northd does not create mappings to NAT and load balancer
addresess. However, for NAT and load balancer addresses that have the add_route option added, ovn-
northd will create logical flows that map NAT and load balancer IP addresses to the appropriate
MAC address. Setting dynamic_neigh_routers to true will prevent the automatic creation of these
logical flows.
options : always_learn_from_arp_request: optional string, either true or false
This option controls the behavior when handling IPv4 ARP requests or IPv6 ND-NS packets - whether
a dynamic neighbor (MAC binding) entry is added/updated.
true - Always learn the MAC-IP binding, and add/update the MAC binding entry.
false - If there is a MAC binding for that IP and the MAC is different, or, if TPA of ARP request
belongs to any router port on this router, then update/add that MAC-IP binding. Otherwise, don’t
update/add entries.
It is true by default. It is recommended to set to false when a large number of logical routers
are connected to the same logical switch but most of them never need to send traffic between each
other, to reduce the size of the MAC binding table.
options : requested-tnl-key: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215
Configures the datapath tunnel key for the logical router. This is not needed because ovn-northd
will assign an unique key for each datapath by itself. However, if it is configured, ovn-northd
honors the configured value.
options : snat-ct-zone: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 65,535
Use the requested conntrack zone for SNAT with this router. This can be useful if egress traffic
from the host running OVN comes from both OVN and other sources. This way, OVN and the other
sources can make use of the same conntrack zone.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
QoS TABLE
Each row in this table represents one QoS rule for a logical switch that points to it through its
qos_rules column. Two types of QoS are supported: DSCP marking and metering. A match with the highest-
priority will have QoS applied to it. If the action column is specified, then matching packets will have
DSCP marking applied. If the bandwidth column is specified, then matching packets will have metering
applied. action and bandwidth are not exclusive, so both marking and metering by defined for the same QoS
entry. If no row matches, packets will not have any QoS applied.
Summary:
priority integer, in range 0 to 32,767
direction string, either from-lport or to-lport
match string
action map of string-integer pairs, key must be dscp, value in range 0 to 63
bandwidth map of string-integer pairs, key either burst or rate, value in range 1 to
4,294,967,295
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
priority: integer, in range 0 to 32,767
The QoS rule’s priority. Rules with numerically higher priority take precedence over those with
lower. If two QoS rules with the same priority both match, then the one actually applied to a
packet is undefined.
direction: string, either from-lport or to-lport
The value of this field is similar to ACL column in the OVN Northbound database’s ACL table.
match: string
The packets that the QoS rules should match, in the same expression language used for the match
column in the OVN Southbound database’s Logical_Flow table. The outport logical port is only
available in the to-lport direction (the inport is available in both directions).
action: map of string-integer pairs, key must be dscp, value in range 0 to 63
When specified, matching flows will have DSCP marking applied.
• dscp: The value of this action should be in the range of 0 to 63 (inclusive).
bandwidth: map of string-integer pairs, key either burst or rate, value in range 1 to 4,294,967,295
When specified, matching packets will have bandwidth metering applied. Traffic over the limit will
be dropped.
• rate: The value of rate limit in kbps.
• burst: The value of burst rate limit in kilobits. This is optional and needs to specify the
rate.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Meter TABLE
Each row in this table represents a meter that can be used for QoS or rate-limiting.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
unit string, either kbps or pktps
bands set of 1 or more Meter_Bands
fair optional boolean
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name for this meter.
Names that begin with "__" (two underscores) are reserved for OVN internal use and should not be
added manually.
unit: string, either kbps or pktps
The unit for rate and burst_rate parameters in the bands entry. kbps specifies kilobits per
second, and pktps specifies packets per second.
bands: set of 1 or more Meter_Bands
The bands associated with this meter. Each band specifies a rate above which the band is to take
the action action. If multiple bands’ rates are exceeded, then the band with the highest rate
among the exceeded bands is selected.
fair: optional boolean
This column is used to further describe the desired behavior of the meter when there are multiple
references to it. If this column is empty or is set to false, the rate will be shared across all
rows that refer to the same Meter name. Conversely, when this column is set to true, each user of
the same Meter will be rate-limited on its own.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Meter_Band TABLE
Each row in this table represents a meter band which specifies the rate above which the configured action
should be applied. These bands are referenced by the bands column in the Meter table.
Summary:
action string, must be drop
rate integer, in range 1 to 4,294,967,295
burst_size integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
action: string, must be drop
The action to execute when this band matches. The only supported action is drop.
rate: integer, in range 1 to 4,294,967,295
The rate limit for this band, in kilobits per second or bits per second, depending on whether the
parent Meter entry’s unit column specified kbps or pktps.
burst_size: integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
The maximum burst allowed for the band in kilobits or packets, depending on whether kbps or pktps
was selected in the parent Meter entry’s unit column. If the size is zero, the switch is free to
select some reasonable value depending on its configuration.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Logical_Router_Port TABLE
A port within an L3 logical router.
Exactly one Logical_Router row must reference a given logical router port.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
networks set of 1 or more strings
mac string
enabled optional boolean
Distributed Gateway Ports:
ha_chassis_group optional HA_Chassis_Group
gateway_chassis set of Gateway_Chassises
Options for Physical VLAN MTU Issues:
options : reside-on-redirect-chassis
optional string, either true or false
options : redirect-type optional string, either bridged or overlay
ipv6_prefix set of strings
ipv6_ra_configs:
ipv6_ra_configs : address_mode
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : router_preference
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : route_info
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : mtu optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : send_periodic
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : max_interval
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : min_interval
optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : rdnss optional string
ipv6_ra_configs : dnssl optional string
Options:
options : mcast_flood optional string, either true or false
options : requested-tnl-key
optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,767
options : prefix_delegation
optional string, either true or false
options : prefix optional string, either true or false
options : route_table optional string
options : gateway_mtu optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 65,535
options : gateway_mtu_bypass
optional string
Attachment:
peer optional string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name for the logical router port.
In addition to provide convenience for human interaction with the northbound database, this column
is used as reference by its patch port in Logical_Switch_Port or another logical router port in
Logical_Router_Port.
A logical router port may not have the same name as a logical switch port, but the database schema
cannot enforce this.
networks: set of 1 or more strings
The IP addresses and netmasks of the router. For example, 192.168.0.1/24 indicates that the
router’s IP address is 192.168.0.1 and that packets destined to 192.168.0.x should be routed to
this port.
A logical router port always adds a link-local IPv6 address (fe80::/64) automatically generated
from the interface’s MAC address using the modified EUI-64 format.
mac: string
The Ethernet address that belongs to this router port.
enabled: optional boolean
This column is used to administratively set port state. If this column is empty or is set to true,
the port is enabled. If this column is set to false, the port is disabled. A disabled port has all
ingress and egress traffic dropped.
Distributed Gateway Ports:
Gateways, as documented under Gateways in the OVN architecture guide, provide limited connectivity
between logical networks and physical ones. OVN support multiple kinds of gateways. The
Logical_Router_Port table can be used two different ways to configure distributed gateway ports, which
are one kind of gateway. These two forms of configuration exist for historical reasons. Both of them
produce the same kind of OVN southbound records and the same behavior in practice.
If either of these are set, this logical router port represents a distributed gateway port that connects
this router to a logical switch with a localnet port or a connection to another OVN deployment.
Also mentioned in the OVN architecture guide, distributed gateway ports can also be used for scalability
reasons in deployments where logical switches are dedicated to chassises rather than distributed.
The preferred way to configure a gateway is ha_chassis_group, but gateway_chassis is also supported for
backward compatibility. Only one of these should be set at a time on a given LRP, since they configure
the same features.
Even when a gateway is configured, the logical router port still effectively resides on each chassis.
However, due to the implications of the use of L2 learning in the physical network, as well as the need
to support advanced features such as one-to-many NAT (aka IP masquerading), a subset of the logical
router processing is handled in a centralized manner on the gateway chassis.
There can be more than one distributed gateway ports configured on each logical router, each connecting
to different L2 segments. However, features such as NAT and load-balancer are not supported on logical
routers with more than one distributed gateway ports.
For each distributed gateway port, it may have more than one gateway chassises. When more than one
gateway chassis is specified, OVN only uses one at a time. OVN can rely on OVS BFD implementation to
monitor gateway connectivity, preferring the highest-priority gateway that is online. Priorities are
specified in the priority column of Gateway_Chassis or HA_Chassis.
ovn-northd programs the external_mac rules specified in the LRP’s LR into the peer logical switch’s
destination lookup on the chassis where the logical_port resides. In addition, the logical router’s MAC
address is automatically programmed in the peer logical switch’s destination lookup flow on the gateway
chasssis. If it is desired to generate gratuitous ARPs for NAT addresses, then set the peer LSP’s
options:nat-addresses to router.
OVN 20.03 and earlier supported a third way to configure distributed gateway ports using
options:redirect-chassis to specify the gateway chassis. This method is no longer supported. Any
remaining users should switch to one of the newer methods instead. A gateway_chassis may be easily
configured from the command line, e.g. ovn-nbctl lrp-set-gateway-chassis lrp chassis.
ha_chassis_group: optional HA_Chassis_Group
Designates an HA_Chassis_Group to provide gateway high availability.
gateway_chassis: set of Gateway_Chassises
Designates one or more Gateway_Chassis for the logical router port.
Options for Physical VLAN MTU Issues:
MTU issues arise in mixing tunnels with logical networks that are bridged to a physical VLAN. For an
explanation of the MTU issues, see Physical VLAN MTU Issues in the OVN architecture document. The
following options, which are alternatives, provide solutions. Both of them cause packets to be sent over
localnet instead of tunnels, but they differ in whether some or all packets are sent this way. The most
prominent tradeoff between these options is that reside-on-redirect-chassis is easier to configure and
that redirect-type performs better for east-west traffic.
options : reside-on-redirect-chassis: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, this option forces all traffic across the logical router port to pass through the
gateway chassis using a hop across a localnet port. This changes behavior in two ways:
• Without this option, east-west traffic passes directly between source and destination
chassis (or even within a single chassis, for co-located VMs). With this option, all east-
west traffic passes through the gateway chassis.
• Without this option, traffic between the gateway chassis and other chassis is encapsulated
in tunnels. With this option, traffic passes over a localnet interface.
This option may usefully be set only on logical router ports that connect a distributed logical
router to a logical switch with VIFs. It should not be set on a distributed gateway port.
OVN honors this option only if the logical router has one and only one distributed gateway port
and if the LRP’s peer switch has a localnet port.
options : redirect-type: optional string, either bridged or overlay
If set to bridged on a distributed gateway port, this option causes OVN to redirect packets to the
gateway chassis over a localnet port instead of a tunnel. The relevant chassis must share a
localnet port.
This feature requires the administrator or the CMS to configure each participating chassis with a
unique Ethernet address for the logical router by setting ovn-chassis-mac-mappings in the Open
vSwitch database, for use by ovn-controller.
Setting this option to overlay or leaving it unset has no effect. This option may usefully be set
only on a distributed gateway port when there is one and only one distributed gateway port on the
logical router. It is otherwise ignored.
ipv6_prefix: set of strings
This column contains IPv6 prefix obtained by prefix delegation router according to RFC 3633
ipv6_ra_configs:
This column defines the IPv6 ND RA address mode and ND MTU Option to be included by ovn-controller when
it replies to the IPv6 Router solicitation requests.
ipv6_ra_configs : address_mode: optional string
The address mode to be used for IPv6 address configuration. The supported values are:
• slaac: Address configuration using Router Advertisement (RA) packet. The IPv6 prefixes
defined in the Logical_Router_Port table’s networks column will be included in the RA’s
ICMPv6 option - Prefix information.
• dhcpv6_stateful: Address configuration using DHCPv6.
• dhcpv6_stateless: Address configuration using Router Advertisement (RA) packet. Other IPv6
options are provided by DHCPv6.
ipv6_ra_configs : router_preference: optional string
Default Router Preference (PRF) indicates whether to prefer this router over other default routers
(RFC 4191). Possible values are:
• HIGH: mapped to 0x01 in RA PRF field
• MEDIUM: mapped to 0x00 in RA PRF field
• LOW: mapped to 0x11 in RA PRF field
ipv6_ra_configs : route_info: optional string
Route Info is used to configure Route Info Option sent in Router Advertisment according to RFC
4191. Route Info is a comma separated string where each field provides PRF and prefix for a given
route (e.g: HIGH-aef1::11/48,LOW-aef2::11/96) Possible PRF values are:
• HIGH: mapped to 0x01 in RA PRF field
• MEDIUM: mapped to 0x00 in RA PRF field
• LOW: mapped to 0x11 in RA PRF field
ipv6_ra_configs : mtu: optional string
The recommended MTU for the link. Default is 0, which means no MTU Option will be included in RA
packet replied by ovn-controller. Per RFC 2460, the mtu value is recommended no less than 1280, so
any mtu value less than 1280 will be considered as no MTU Option.
ipv6_ra_configs : send_periodic: optional string
If set to true, then this router interface will send router advertisements periodically. The
default is false.
ipv6_ra_configs : max_interval: optional string
The maximum number of seconds to wait between sending periodic router advertisements. This option
has no effect if ipv6_ra_configs:send_periodic is false. The default is 600.
ipv6_ra_configs : min_interval: optional string
The minimum number of seconds to wait between sending periodic router advertisements. This option
has no effect if ipv6_ra_configs:send_periodic is false. The default is one-third of
ipv6_ra_configs:max_interval, i.e. 200 seconds if that key is unset.
ipv6_ra_configs : rdnss: optional string
IPv6 address of RDNSS server announced in RA packets. At the moment OVN supports just one RDNSS
server.
ipv6_ra_configs : dnssl: optional string
DNS Search List announced in RA packets. Multiple DNS Search List must be ’comma’ separated (e.g.
"a.b.c, d.e.f")
Options:
Additional options for the logical router port.
options : mcast_flood: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, multicast traffic (including reports) are unconditionally forwarded to the
specific port.
This option applies when the port is part of a logical router which has options:mcast_relay set to
true.
Default: false.
options : requested-tnl-key: optional string, containing an integer, in range 1 to 32,767
Configures the port binding tunnel key for the port. Usually this is not needed because ovn-northd
will assign an unique key for each port by itself. However, if it is configured, ovn-northd honors
the configured value.
options : prefix_delegation: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, enable IPv6 prefix delegation state machine on this logical router port (RFC3633).
IPv6 prefix delegation is available just on a gateway router or on a gateway router port.
options : prefix: optional string, either true or false
If set to true, this interface will receive an IPv6 prefix according to RFC3663
options : route_table: optional string
Designates lookup Logical_Router_Static_Routes with specified route_table value. Routes to
directly connected networks from same Logical Router and routes without route_table option set
have higher priority than routes with route_table option set.
options : gateway_mtu: optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 65,535
If set, logical flows will be added to router pipeline to check packet length. If packet length is
greater than the value set, ICMPv4 type 3 (Destination Unreachable) code 4 (Fragmentation Needed
and Don’t Fragment was Set) or ICMPv6 type 2 (Packet Too Big) code 0 (no route to destination)
packets will be generated. This allows for Path MTU Discovery.
options : gateway_mtu_bypass: optional string
When configured, represents a match expression, in the same expression language used for the match
column in the OVN Southbound database’s Logical_Flow table. Packets matching this expression will
bypass the length check configured through the options:gateway_mtu option.
Attachment:
A given router port serves one of two purposes:
• To attach a logical switch to a logical router. A logical router port of this type is
referenced by exactly one Logical_Switch_Port of type router. The value of name is set as
router-port in column options of Logical_Switch_Port. In this case peer column is empty.
• To connect one logical router to another. This requires a pair of logical router ports,
each connected to a different router. Each router port in the pair specifies the other in
its peer column. No Logical_Switch refers to the router port.
peer: optional string
For a router port used to connect two logical routers, this identifies the other router port in
the pair by name.
For a router port attached to a logical switch, this column is empty.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
The ovn-northd program copies all these pairs into the external_ids column of the Port_Binding
table in OVN_Southbound database.
Logical_Router_Static_Route TABLE
Each record represents a static route.
When multiple routes match a packet, the longest-prefix match is chosen. For a given prefix length, a
dst-ip route is preferred over a src-ip route.
When there are ECMP routes, i.e. multiple routes with same prefix and policy, one of them will be
selected based on the 5-tuple hashing of the packet header.
Summary:
ip_prefix string
policy optional string, either dst-ip or src-ip
nexthop string
output_port optional string
bfd optional weak reference to BFD
route_table string
external_ids : ic-learned-route
optional string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Common options:
options map of string-string pairs
options : ecmp_symmetric_reply
optional string
options : origin optional string
Details:
ip_prefix: string
IP prefix of this route (e.g. 192.168.100.0/24).
policy: optional string, either dst-ip or src-ip
If it is specified, this setting describes the policy used to make routing decisions. This setting
must be one of the following strings:
• src-ip: This policy sends the packet to the nexthop when the packet’s source IP address
matches ip_prefix.
• dst-ip: This policy sends the packet to the nexthop when the packet’s destination IP
address matches ip_prefix.
If not specified, the default is dst-ip.
nexthop: string
Nexthop IP address for this route. Nexthop IP address should be the IP address of a connected
router port or the IP address of a logical port or can be set to discard for dropping packets
which match the given route.
output_port: optional string
The name of the Logical_Router_Port via which the packet needs to be sent out. This is optional
and when not specified, OVN will automatically figure this out based on the nexthop. When this is
specified and there are multiple IP addresses on the router port and none of them are in the same
subnet of nexthop, OVN chooses the first IP address as the one via which the nexthop is reachable.
bfd: optional weak reference to BFD
Reference to BFD row if the route has associated a BFD session
route_table: string
Any string to place route to separate routing table. If Logical Router Port has configured value
in options:route_table other than empty string, OVN performs route lookup for all packets entering
Logical Router ingress pipeline from this port in the following manner:
• 1. First lookup among "global" routes: routes without route_table value set and routes to
directly connected networks.
• 2. Next lookup among routes with same route_table value as specified in LRP’s
options:route_table field.
external_ids : ic-learned-route: optional string
ovn-ic populates this key if the route is learned from the global OVN_IC_Southbound database. In
this case the value will be set to the uuid of the row in Route table of the OVN_IC_Southbound
database.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Common options:
options: map of string-string pairs
This column provides general key/value settings. The supported options are described individually
below.
options : ecmp_symmetric_reply: optional string
If true, then new traffic that arrives over this route will have its reply traffic bypass ECMP
route selection and will be sent out this route instead. Note that this option overrides any rules
set in the Logical_Router_policy table. This option only works on gateway routers (routers that
have options:chassis set).
options : origin: optional string
In case ovn-interconnection has been learned this route, it will have its origin set: either
"connected" or "static". This key is supposed to be written only by ovn-ic daemon. ovn-northd then
checks this value when generating Logical Flows. Logical_Router_Static_Route records with same
ip_prefix within same Logical Router will have next lookup order based on origin key value:
1. connected
2. static
Logical_Router_Policy TABLE
Each row in this table represents one routing policy for a logical router that points to it through its
policies column. The action column for the highest-priority matching row in this table determines a
packet’s treatment. If no row matches, packets are allowed by default. (Default-deny treatment is
possible: add a rule with priority 0, 1 as match, and drop as action.)
Summary:
priority integer, in range 0 to 32,767
match string
action string, one of allow, drop, or reroute
nexthop optional string
nexthops set of strings
options : pkt_mark optional string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
priority: integer, in range 0 to 32,767
The routing policy’s priority. Rules with numerically higher priority take precedence over those
with lower. A rule is uniquely identified by the priority and match string.
match: string
The packets that the routing policy should match, in the same expression language used for the
match column in the OVN Southbound database’s Logical_Flow table.
By default all traffic is allowed. When writing a more restrictive policy, it is important to
remember to allow flows such as ARP and IPv6 neighbor discovery packets.
action: string, one of allow, drop, or reroute
The action to take when the routing policy matches:
• allow: Forward the packet.
• drop: Silently drop the packet.
• reroute: Reroute packet to nexthop or nexthops.
nexthop: optional string
Note: This column is deprecated in favor of nexthops.
Next-hop IP address for this route, which should be the IP address of a connected router port or
the IP address of a logical port.
nexthops: set of strings
Next-hop ECMP IP addresses for this route. Each IP in the list should be the IP address of a
connected router port or the IP address of a logical port.
One IP from the list is selected as next hop.
options : pkt_mark: optional string
Marks the packet with the value specified when the router policy is applied. CMS can inspect this
packet marker and take some decisions if desired. This value is not preserved when the packet goes
out on the wire.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
NAT TABLE
Each record represents a NAT rule.
Summary:
type string, one of dnat, dnat_and_snat, or snat
external_ip string
external_mac optional string
external_port_range string
logical_ip string
logical_port optional string
allowed_ext_ips optional Address_Set
exempted_ext_ips optional Address_Set
options : stateless optional string
options : add_route optional string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
type: string, one of dnat, dnat_and_snat, or snat
Type of the NAT rule.
• When type is dnat, the externally visible IP address external_ip is DNATted to the IP
address logical_ip in the logical space.
• When type is snat, IP packets with their source IP address that either matches the IP
address in logical_ip or is in the network provided by logical_ip is SNATed into the IP
address in external_ip.
• When type is dnat_and_snat, the externally visible IP address external_ip is DNATted to the
IP address logical_ip in the logical space. In addition, IP packets with the source IP
address that matches logical_ip is SNATed into the IP address in external_ip.
external_ip: string
An IPv4 address.
external_mac: optional string
A MAC address.
This is only used on the gateway port on distributed routers. This must be specified in order for
the NAT rule to be processed in a distributed manner on all chassis. If this is not specified for
a NAT rule on a distributed router, then this NAT rule will be processed in a centralized manner
on the gateway port instance on the gateway chassis.
This MAC address must be unique on the logical switch that the gateway port is attached to. If the
MAC address used on the logical_port is globally unique, then that MAC address can be specified as
this external_mac.
external_port_range: string
L4 source port range
Range of ports, from which a port number will be picked that will replace the source port of to be
NATed packet. This is basically PAT (port address translation).
Value of the column is in the format, port_lo-port_hi. For example: external_port_range :
"1-30000"
Valid range of ports is 1-65535.
logical_ip: string
An IPv4 network (e.g 192.168.1.0/24) or an IPv4 address.
logical_port: optional string
The name of the logical port where the logical_ip resides.
This is only used on distributed routers. This must be specified in order for the NAT rule to be
processed in a distributed manner on all chassis. If this is not specified for a NAT rule on a
distributed router, then this NAT rule will be processed in a centralized manner on the gateway
port instance on the gateway chassis.
allowed_ext_ips: optional Address_Set
It represents Address Set of external ips that NAT rule is applicable to. For SNAT type NAT rules,
this refers to destination addresses. For DNAT type NAT rules, this refers to source addresses.
This configuration overrides the default NAT behavior of applying a rule solely based on internal
IP. Without this configuration, NAT happens without considering the external IP (i.e dest/source
for snat/dnat type rule). With this configuration NAT rule is applied ONLY if external ip is in
the input Address Set.
exempted_ext_ips: optional Address_Set
It represents Address Set of external ips that NAT rule is NOT applicable to. For SNAT type NAT
rules, this refers to destination addresses. For DNAT type NAT rules, this refers to source
addresses.
This configuration overrides the default NAT behavior of applying a rule solely based on internal
IP. Without this configuration, NAT happens without considering the external IP (i.e dest/source
for snat/dnat type rule). With this configuration NAT rule is NOT applied if external ip is in the
input Address Set.
If there are NAT rules in a logical router with overlapping IP prefixes (including /32), then
usage of exempted_ext_ips should be avoided in following scenario. a. SNAT rule (let us say RULE1)
with logical_ip PREFIX/MASK (let us say 50.0.0.0/24). b. SNAT rule (let us say RULE2) with
logical_ip PREFIX/MASK+1 (let us say 50.0.0.0/25). c. Now, if exempted_ext_ips is associated with
RULE2, then a logical ip which matches both 50.0.0.0/24 and 50.0.0.0/25 may get the RULE2 applied
to it instead of RULE1.
allowed_ext_ips and exempted_ext_ips are mutually exclusive to each other. If both Address Sets
are set for a rule, then the NAT rule is not considered.
options : stateless: optional string
Indicates if a dnat_and_snat rule should lead to connection tracking state or not.
options : add_route: optional string
If set to true, then neighbor routers will have logical flows added that will allow for routing to
the NAT address. It also will have ARP resolution logical flows added. By setting this option, it
means there is no reason to create a Logical_Router_Static_Route from neighbor routers to this NAT
address. It also means that no ARP request is required for neighbor routers to learn the IP-MAC
mapping for this NAT address. This option only applies to NATs of type dnat and dnat_and_snat. For
more information about what flows are added for IP routes, please see the ovn-northd manpage
section on IP Routing.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
DHCP_Options TABLE
OVN implements native DHCPv4 support which caters to the common use case of providing an IPv4 address to
a booting instance by providing stateless replies to DHCPv4 requests based on statically configured
address mappings. To do this it allows a short list of DHCPv4 options to be configured and applied at
each compute host running ovn-controller.
OVN also implements native DHCPv6 support which provides stateless replies to DHCPv6 requests.
Summary:
cidr string
DHCPv4 options:
Mandatory DHCPv4 options:
options : server_id optional string
options : server_mac optional string
options : lease_time optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
IPv4 DHCP Options:
options : router optional string
options : netmask optional string
options : dns_server optional string
options : log_server optional string
options : lpr_server optional string
options : swap_server optional string
options : policy_filter optional string
options : router_solicitation
optional string
options : nis_server optional string
options : ntp_server optional string
options : netbios_name_server
optional string
options : classless_static_route
optional string
options : ms_classless_static_route
optional string
options : next_server optional string
Boolean DHCP Options:
options : ip_forward_enable
optional string, either 0 or 1
options : router_discovery
optional string, either 0 or 1
options : ethernet_encap optional string, either 0 or 1
Integer DHCP Options:
options : default_ttl optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
options : tcp_ttl optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
options : mtu optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 65,535
options : T1 optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 4,294,967,295
options : T2 optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 4,294,967,295
options : arp_cache_timeout
optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
options : tcp_keepalive_interval
optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
options : netbios_node_type
optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
String DHCP Options:
options : wpad optional string
options : bootfile_name optional string
options : path_prefix optional string
options : tftp_server_address
optional string
options : hostname optional string
options : domain_name optional string
options : bootfile_name_alt
optional string
options : broadcast_address
optional string
DHCP Options of type host_id:
options : tftp_server optional string
DHCP Options of type domains:
options : domain_search_list
optional string
DHCPv6 options:
Mandatory DHCPv6 options:
options : server_id optional string
IPv6 DHCPv6 options:
options : dns_server optional string
String DHCPv6 options:
options : domain_search optional string
options : dhcpv6_stateless
optional string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
cidr: string
The DHCPv4/DHCPv6 options will be included if the logical port has its IP address in this cidr.
DHCPv4 options:
The CMS should define the set of DHCPv4 options as key/value pairs in the options column of this table.
For ovn-controller to include these DHCPv4 options, the dhcpv4_options of Logical_Switch_Port should
refer to an entry in this table.
Mandatory DHCPv4 options:
The following options must be defined.
options : server_id: optional string
The IP address for the DHCP server to use. This should be in the subnet of the offered IP. This is
also included in the DHCP offer as option 54, ``server identifier.’’
options : server_mac: optional string
The Ethernet address for the DHCP server to use.
options : lease_time: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 4,294,967,295
The offered lease time in seconds,
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 51.
IPv4 DHCP Options:
Below are the supported DHCPv4 options whose values are an IPv4 address, e.g. 192.168.1.1. Some options
accept multiple IPv4 addresses enclosed within curly braces, e.g. {192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3}. Please
refer to RFC 2132 for more details on DHCPv4 options and their codes.
options : router: optional string
The IP address of a gateway for the client to use. This should be in the subnet of the offered IP.
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 3.
options : netmask: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 1.
options : dns_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 6.
options : log_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 7.
options : lpr_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 9.
options : swap_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 16.
options : policy_filter: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 21.
options : router_solicitation: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 32.
options : nis_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 41.
options : ntp_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 42.
options : netbios_name_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 44.
options : classless_static_route: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 121.
This option can contain one or more static routes, each of which consists of a destination
descriptor and the IP address of the router that should be used to reach that destination. Please
see RFC 3442 for more details.
Example: {30.0.0.0/24,10.0.0.10, 0.0.0.0/0,10.0.0.1}
options : ms_classless_static_route: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 249. This option is similar to classless_static_route
supported by Microsoft Windows DHCPv4 clients.
options : next_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for setting the "Next server IP address" field in the DHCP header.
Boolean DHCP Options:
These options accept a Boolean value, expressed as 0 for false or 1 for true.
options : ip_forward_enable: optional string, either 0 or 1
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 19.
options : router_discovery: optional string, either 0 or 1
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 31.
options : ethernet_encap: optional string, either 0 or 1
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 36.
Integer DHCP Options:
These options accept a nonnegative integer value.
options : default_ttl: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 23.
options : tcp_ttl: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 37.
options : mtu: optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 65,535
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 26.
options : T1: optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 4,294,967,295
This specifies the time interval from address assignment until the client begins trying to renew
its address. The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 58.
options : T2: optional string, containing an integer, in range 68 to 4,294,967,295
This specifies the time interval from address assignment until the client begins trying to rebind
its address. The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 59.
options : arp_cache_timeout: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 35. This option specifies the timeout in seconds for ARP
cache entries.
options : tcp_keepalive_interval: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 38. This option specifies the interval that the client
TCP should wait before sending a keepalive message on a TCP connection.
options : netbios_node_type: optional string, containing an integer, in range 0 to 255
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 46.
String DHCP Options:
These options accept a string value.
options : wpad: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 252. This option is used as part of web proxy auto
discovery to provide a URL for a web proxy.
options : bootfile_name: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 67. This option is used to identify a bootfile.
options : path_prefix: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 210. In PXELINUX’ case this option is used to set a
common path prefix, instead of deriving it from the bootfile name.
options : tftp_server_address: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 150. The option contains one or more IPv4 addresses that
the client MAY use. This option is Cisco proprietary, the IEEE standard that matches with this
requirement is option 66 (tftp_server).
options : hostname: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 12. If set, indicates the DHCPv4 option "Hostname".
Alternatively, this option can be configured in options:hostname column in table
Logical_Switch_Port. If Hostname option value is set in both conflicting Logical_Switch_Port and
DHCP_Options tables, Logical_Switch_Port takes precedence.
options : domain_name: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 15. This option specifies the domain name that client
should use when resolving hostnames via the Domain Name System.
options : bootfile_name_alt: optional string
"bootfile_name_alt" option is used to support iPXE. When both "bootfile_name" and
"bootfile_name_alt" are provided by the CMS, "bootfile_name" will be used for option 67 if the
dhcp request contains etherboot option (175), otherwise "bootfile_name_alt" will be used.
options : broadcast_address: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 28. This option specifies the IP address used as a
broadcast address.
DHCP Options of type host_id:
These options accept either an IPv4 address or a string value.
options : tftp_server: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 66.
DHCP Options of type domains:
These options accept string value which is a comma separated list of domain names. The domain names are
encoded based on RFC 1035.
options : domain_search_list: optional string
The DHCPv4 option code for this option is 119.
DHCPv6 options:
OVN also implements native DHCPv6 support. The CMS should define the set of DHCPv6 options as key/value
pairs. The define DHCPv6 options will be included in the DHCPv6 response to the DHCPv6
Solicit/Request/Confirm packet from the logical ports having the IPv6 addresses in the cidr.
Mandatory DHCPv6 options:
The following options must be defined.
options : server_id: optional string
The Ethernet address for the DHCP server to use. This is also included in the DHCPv6 reply as
option 2, ``Server Identifier’’ to carry a DUID identifying a server between a client and a
server. ovn-controller defines DUID based on Link-layer Address [DUID-LL].
IPv6 DHCPv6 options:
Below are the supported DHCPv6 options whose values are an IPv6 address, e.g. aef0::4. Some options
accept multiple IPv6 addresses enclosed within curly braces, e.g. {aef0::4, aef0::5}. Please refer to RFC
3315 for more details on DHCPv6 options and their codes.
options : dns_server: optional string
The DHCPv6 option code for this option is 23. This option specifies the DNS servers that the VM
should use.
String DHCPv6 options:
These options accept string values.
options : domain_search: optional string
The DHCPv6 option code for this option is 24. This option specifies the domain search list the
client should use to resolve hostnames with DNS.
Example: "ovn.org".
options : dhcpv6_stateless: optional string
This option specifies the OVN native DHCPv6 will work in stateless mode, which means OVN native
DHCPv6 will not offer IPv6 addresses for VM/VIF ports, but only reply other configurations, such
as DNS and domain search list. When setting this option with string value "true", VM/VIF will
configure IPv6 addresses by stateless way. Default value for this option is false.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Connection TABLE
Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database (OVSDB) client.
This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database server (ovsdb-server).
The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active connections to remote clients. It can
also listen for database connections.
Summary:
Core Features:
target string (must be unique within table)
Client Failure Detection and Handling:
max_backoff optional integer, at least 1,000
inactivity_probe optional integer
Status:
is_connected boolean
status : last_error optional string
status : state optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID
status : sec_since_connect optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
status : sec_since_disconnect
optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
status : locks_held optional string
status : locks_waiting optional string
status : locks_lost optional string
status : n_connections optional string, containing an integer, at least 2
status : bound_port optional string, containing an integer
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
other_config map of string-string pairs
Details:
Core Features:
target: string (must be unique within table)
Connection methods for clients.
The following connection methods are currently supported:
ssl:host[:port]
The specified SSL port on the host at the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if
built with unbound library) or an IP address. A valid SSL configuration must be provided
when this form is used, this configuration can be specified via command-line options or the
SSL table.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of Open vSwitch.
tcp:host[:port]
The specified TCP port on the host at the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if
built with unbound library) or an IP address. If host is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square
brackets, e.g. tcp:[::1]:6640.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
pssl:[port][:host]
Listens for SSL connections on the specified TCP port. Specify 0 for port to have the
kernel automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if
built with unbound library) or an IP address, is specified, then connections are restricted
to the resolved or specified local IPaddress (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an
IPv6 address, wrap in square brackets, e.g. pssl:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified then
it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6) addresses. A valid SSL configuration must be
provided when this form is used, this can be specified either via command-line options or
the SSL table.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
SSL support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of Open vSwitch.
ptcp:[port][:host]
Listens for connections on the specified TCP port. Specify 0 for port to have the kernel
automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if built
with unbound library) or an IP address, is specified, then connections are restricted to
the resolved or specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an
IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets, e.g. ptcp:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified
then it listens only on IPv4 addresses.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
When multiple clients are configured, the target values must be unique. Duplicate target values
yield unspecified results.
Client Failure Detection and Handling:
max_backoff: optional integer, at least 1,000
Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts. Default is implementation-
specific.
inactivity_probe: optional integer
Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client before sending an
inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not communicate with the client for the specified
number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same additional
amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables inactivity probes.
Status:
Key-value pair of is_connected is always updated. Other key-value pairs in the status columns may be
updated depends on the target type.
When target specifies a connection method that listens for inbound connections (e.g. ptcp: or punix:),
both n_connections and is_connected may also be updated while the remaining key-value pairs are omitted.
On the other hand, when target specifies an outbound connection, all key-value pairs may be updated,
except the above-mentioned two key-value pairs associated with inbound connection targets. They are
omitted.
is_connected: boolean
true if currently connected to this client, false otherwise.
status : last_error: optional string
A human-readable description of the last error on the connection to the manager; i.e.
strerror(errno). This key will exist only if an error has occurred.
status : state: optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID
The state of the connection to the manager:
VOID Connection is disabled.
BACKOFF
Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.
CONNECTING
Attempting to connect.
ACTIVE Connected, remote host responsive.
IDLE Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.
These values may change in the future. They are provided only for human consumption.
status : sec_since_connect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
The amount of time since this client last successfully connected to the database (in seconds).
Value is empty if client has never successfully been connected.
status : sec_since_disconnect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
The amount of time since this client last disconnected from the database (in seconds). Value is
empty if client has never disconnected.
status : locks_held: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection holds. Omitted if the
connection does not hold any locks.
status : locks_waiting: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection is currently waiting to
acquire. Omitted if the connection is not waiting for any locks.
status : locks_lost: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection has had stolen by another
OVSDB client. Omitted if no locks have been stolen from this connection.
status : n_connections: optional string, containing an integer, at least 2
When target specifies a connection method that listens for inbound connections (e.g. ptcp: or
pssl:) and more than one connection is actually active, the value is the number of active
connections. Otherwise, this key-value pair is omitted.
status : bound_port: optional string, containing an integer
When target is ptcp: or pssl:, this is the TCP port on which the OVSDB server is listening. (This
is particularly useful when target specifies a port of 0, allowing the kernel to choose any
available port.)
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
other_config: map of string-string pairs
DNS TABLE
Each row in this table stores the DNS records. The Logical_Switch table’s dns_records references these
records.
Summary:
records map of string-string pairs
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
records: map of string-string pairs
Key-value pair of DNS records with DNS query name as the key and value as a string of IP
address(es) separated by comma or space. For PTR requests, the key-value pair can be Reverse IPv4
address.in-addr.arpa and the value DNS domain name. For IPv6 addresses, the key has to be Reverse
IPv6 address.ip6.arpa.
Example: "vm1.ovn.org" = "10.0.0.4 aef0::4"
Example: "4.0.0.10.in-addr.arpa" = "vm1.ovn.org"
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
SSL TABLE
SSL configuration for ovn-nb database access.
Summary:
private_key string
certificate string
ca_cert string
bootstrap_ca_cert boolean
ssl_protocols string
ssl_ciphers string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
private_key: string
Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch’s identity for SSL connections to
the controller.
certificate: string
Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the certificate authority (CA) used by the
controller and manager, that certifies the switch’s private key, identifying a trustworthy switch.
ca_cert: string
Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that the switch is connected to a
trustworthy controller.
bootstrap_ca_cert: boolean
If set to true, then Open vSwitch 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. It may still be
useful for bootstrapping.
ssl_protocols: string
List of SSL protocols to be enabled for SSL connections. The default when this option is omitted
is TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2.
ssl_ciphers: string
List of ciphers (in OpenSSL cipher string format) to be supported for SSL connections. The default
when this option is omitted is HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5.
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Gateway_Chassis TABLE
Association of a chassis to a logical router port. The traffic going out through an specific router port
will be redirected to a chassis, or a set of them in high availability configurations.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
chassis_name string
priority integer, in range 0 to 32,767
options map of string-string pairs
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
Name of the Gateway_Chassis.
A suggested, but not required naming convention is ${port_name}_${chassis_name}.
chassis_name: string
Name of the chassis that we want to redirect traffic through for the associated logical router
port. The value must match the name column of the Chassis table in the OVN_Southbound database.
priority: integer, in range 0 to 32,767
This is the priority of a chassis among all Gateway_Chassis belonging to the same logical router
port.
options: map of string-string pairs
Reserved for future use.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
HA_Chassis_Group TABLE
Table representing a group of chassis which can provide high availability services. Each chassis in the
group is represented by the table HA_Chassis. The HA chassis with highest priority will be the master of
this group. If the master chassis failover is detected, the HA chassis with the next higher priority
takes over the responsibility of providing the HA. If a distributed gateway router port references a row
in this table, then the master HA chassis in this group provides the gateway functionality.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
ha_chassis set of HA_Chassises
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
Name of the HA_Chassis_Group. Name should be unique.
ha_chassis: set of HA_Chassises
A list of HA chassis which belongs to this group.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
HA_Chassis TABLE
Summary:
chassis_name string
priority integer, in range 0 to 32,767
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
chassis_name: string
Name of the chassis which is part of the HA chassis group. The value must match the name column of
the Chassis table in the OVN_Southbound database.
priority: integer, in range 0 to 32,767
Priority of the chassis. Chassis with highest priority will be the master.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
BFD TABLE
Contains BFD parameter for ovn-controller BFD configuration. OVN BFD implementation is used to provide
detection of failures in the path between adjacent forwarding engines, including the OVN interfaces. OVN
BFD provides link status info to OVN northd in order to update logical flows according to the status of
BFD endpoints. In the current implementation OVN BFD is used to check next-hop status for ECMP routes.
Please note BFD table refers to OVN BFD implementation and not to OVS legacy one.
Summary:
Configuration:
logical_port string
dst_ip string
min_tx optional integer, at least 1
min_rx optional integer
detect_mult optional integer, at least 1
options map of string-string pairs
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Status Reporting:
status optional string, one of admin_down, down, init, or up
Details:
Configuration:
ovn-northd reads configuration from these columns.
logical_port: string
OVN logical port when BFD engine is running.
dst_ip: string
BFD peer IP address.
min_tx: optional integer, at least 1
This is the minimum interval, in milliseconds, that the local system would like to use when
transmitting BFD Control packets, less any jitter applied. The value zero is reserved. Default
value is 1000 ms.
min_rx: optional integer
This is the minimum interval, in milliseconds, between received BFD Control packets that this
system is capable of supporting, less any jitter applied by the sender. If this value is zero, the
transmitting system does not want the remote system to send any periodic BFD Control packets.
detect_mult: optional integer, at least 1
Detection time multiplier. The negotiated transmit interval, multiplied by this value, provides
the Detection Time for the receiving system in Asynchronous mode. Default value is 5.
options: map of string-string pairs
Reserved for future use.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Status Reporting:
ovn-northd writes BFD status into these columns.
status: optional string, one of admin_down, down, init, or up
BFD port logical states. Possible values are:
• admin_down
• down
• init
• up