NAME

       ovn-controller - Open Virtual Network local controller

SYNOPSIS

       ovn-controller [options] [ovs-database]

DESCRIPTION

       ovn-controller  is  the  local  controller  daemon  for OVN, the Open Virtual Network.  It
       connects up to the OVN Southbound database (see ovn-sb(5)) over the  OVSDB  protocol,  and
       down  to  the  Open vSwitch database (see ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5)) over the OVSDB protocol
       and to ovs-vswitchd(8) via OpenFlow.  Each hypervisor  and  software  gateway  in  an  OVN
       deployment  runs  its  own  independent  copy  of  ovn-controller;  thus, ovn-controller’s
       downward connections are machine-local and do not run over a physical network.

CONFIGURATION

       ovn-controller retrieves most  of  its  configuration  information  from  the  local  Open
       vSwitch’s  ovsdb-server  instance.   The  default  location  is  db.sock in the local Open
       vSwitch’s "run" directory.  It may be overridden by specifying the  ovs-database  argument
       in one of the following forms:

              •      ssl:ip:port

                     The  specified SSL port on the host at the given ip, which must be expressed
                     as an IP address (not a DNS name) in IPv4 or IPv6 address format.  If ip  is
                     an  IPv6  address,  then wrap ip with square brackets, e.g.: ssl:[::1]:6640.
                     The   --private-key,   --certificate   and   either    of    --ca-cert    or
                     --bootstrap-ca-cert options are mandatory when this form is used.

              •      tcp:ip:port

                     Connect  to  the given TCP port on ip, where ip can be IPv4 or IPv6 address.
                     If ip is  an  IPv6  address,  then  wrap  ip  with  square  brackets,  e.g.:
                     tcp:[::1]:6640.

              •      unix:file

                     On POSIX, connect to the Unix domain server socket named file.

                     On Windows, connect to a localhost TCP port whose value is written in file.

       ovn-controller  assumes  it  gets configuration information from the following keys in the
       Open_vSwitch table of the local OVS instance:

              external_ids:system-id
                     The chassis name to use in the Chassis table.

              external_ids:ovn-bridge
                     The integration bridge to which logical ports are attached.  The default  is
                     br-int.   If  this bridge does not exist when ovn-controller starts, it will
                     be  created  automatically  with  the  default  configuration  suggested  in
                     ovn-architecture(7).

              external_ids:ovn-remote
                     The OVN database that this system should connect to for its configuration.

                     Currently,  ovn-controller  does  not support changing this setting mid-run.
                     If the value needs to change, the daemon must be restarted.  (This  behavior
                     should be improved.)

              external_ids:ovn-encap-type
                     The  encapsulation  type  that a chassis should use to connect to this node.
                     Multiple encapsulation types may be specified with a  comma-separated  list.
                     Each listed encapsulation type will be paired with ovn-encap-ip.

                     Supported  tunnel  types  for  connecting  hypervisors  are  geneve and stt.
                     Gateways may use geneve, vxlan, or stt.

                     Due to the limited  amount  of  metadata  in  vxlan,  the  capabilities  and
                     performance  of  connected  gateways  will  be  reduced  versus other tunnel
                     formats.

              external_ids:ovn-encap-ip
                     The IP address that a chassis should use  to  connect  to  this  node  using
                     encapsulation types specified by external_ids:ovn-encap-type.

              external_ids:ovn-bridge-mappings
                     A  list  of  key-value pairs that map a physical network name to a local ovs
                     bridge that provides connectivity to that network.  An example value mapping
                     two    physical    network    names   to   two   ovs   bridges   would   be:
                     physnet1:br-eth0,physnet2:br-eth1.

OPEN VSWITCH DATABASE USAGE

       ovn-controller uses a number of external-ids keys in the Open  vSwitch  database  to  keep
       track  of  ports  and  interfaces.  For proper operation, users should not change or clear
       these keys:

              external_ids:ovn-chassis-id in the Port table
                     The presence of this key identifies a tunnel  port  within  the  integration
                     bridge  as  one  created  by  ovn-controller to reach a remote chassis.  Its
                     value is the chassis ID of the remote chassis.

              external-ids:ovn-localnet-port in the Port
                     table The presence of this key identifies a patch port  as  one  created  by
                     ovn-controller  to  connect  the  integration  bridge  and another bridge to
                     implement a localnet logical port.  Its value is the name  of  the  physical
                     network  that  the  port  implements.  See external_ids:ovn-bridge-mappings,
                     above, for more information.

                     Each localnet logical port is implemented as a pair of patch ports,  one  in
                     the   integration   bridge,  one  in  a  different  bridge,  with  the  same
                     external-ids:ovn-localnet-port value.

              external-ids:ovn-logical-patch-port in the
                     Port table This key identifies a patch port as one created by ovn-controller
                     to  implement  an OVN logical patch port within the integration bridge.  Its
                     value is the name of the OVN logical patch port that it implements.

RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS

       ovs-appctl can send commands to a running ovn-controller process.  The currently supported
       commands are described below.

              exit   Causes ovn-controller to gracefully terminate.

              ct-zone-list
                     Lists each local logical port and its connection tracking zone.