1 How to Install Open vSwitch on Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD
2 ========================================================
4 This document describes how to build and install Open vSwitch on a
5 generic Linux, FreeBSD, or NetBSD host. For specifics around installation
6 on a specific platform, please see one of these files:
16 To compile the userspace programs in the Open vSwitch distribution,
17 you will need the following software:
21 - The GNU C compiler. We generally test with version 4.1, 4.2, or
24 - libssl, from OpenSSL, is optional but recommended if you plan to
25 connect the Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. libssl is
26 required to establish confidentiality and authenticity in the
27 connections from an Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. If
28 libssl is installed, then Open vSwitch will automatically build
31 To compile the kernel module on Linux, you must also install the
32 following. If you cannot build or install the kernel module, you may
33 use the userspace-only implementation, at a cost in performance. The
34 userspace implementation may also lack some features. Refer to
35 INSTALL.userspace for more information.
37 - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to README for a
38 list of supported versions.
40 The Open vSwitch datapath requires bridging support
41 (CONFIG_BRIDGE) to be built as a kernel module. (This is common
42 in kernels provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module
43 must not be loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running
44 (check with "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod
45 bridge") before starting the datapath.
47 For optional support of ingress policing, you must enable kernel
48 configuration options NET_CLS_BASIC, NET_SCH_INGRESS, and
49 NET_ACT_POLICE, either built-in or as modules. (NET_CLS_POLICE is
50 obsolete and not needed.)
52 If GRE tunneling is being used it is recommended that the kernel
53 be compiled with IPv6 support (CONFIG_IPV6). This allows for
54 special handling (such as path MTU discovery) of IPv6 packets.
56 To configure HTB or HFSC quality of service with Open vSwitch,
57 you must enable the respective configuration options.
59 To use Open vSwitch support for TAP devices, you must enable
62 - To build a kernel module, you need the same version of GCC that
63 was used to build that kernel.
65 - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
66 the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
67 each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
68 corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
71 If you are working from a Git tree or snapshot (instead of from a
72 distribution tarball), or if you modify the Open vSwitch build system
73 or the database schema, you will also need the following software:
75 - Autoconf version 2.64 or later.
77 - Automake version 1.10 or later.
79 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
81 If you modify the ovsdbmonitor tool, then you will also need the
84 - pyuic4 from PyQt4 (http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk).
86 To run the unit tests, you also need:
88 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
91 If you modify the vswitchd database schema, then the E-R diagram in
92 the ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage will be updated properly only if
93 you have the following:
95 - "dot" from graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org/).
97 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
100 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
102 If you are going to extensively modify Open vSwitch, please consider
103 installing the following to obtain better warnings:
105 - "sparse" version 0.4.4 or later
106 (http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/sparse/dist/).
110 Installation Requirements
111 -------------------------
113 The machine on which Open vSwitch is to be installed must have the
116 - libc compatible with the libc used for build.
118 - libssl compatible with the libssl used for build, if OpenSSL was
121 - On Linux, the same kernel version configured as part of the build.
123 - For optional support of ingress policing on Linux, the "tc" program
124 from iproute2 (part of all major distributions and available at
125 http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Net:Iproute2).
127 On Linux you should ensure that /dev/urandom exists. To support TAP
128 devices, you must also ensure that /dev/net/tun exists.
130 To run the ovsdbmonitor tool, the machine must also have the following
133 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
135 - Python Twisted Conch.
141 - Python Zope interface module.
143 (On Debian "lenny" the above can be installed with "apt-get install
144 python-json python-qt4 python-zopeinterface python-twisted-conch".)
146 Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD
147 =================================================================
149 Once you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in the Base
150 Prerequisites section, follow the procedure below to build.
152 1. If you pulled the sources directly from an Open vSwitch Git tree,
153 run boot.sh in the top source directory:
157 2. In the top source directory, configure the package by running the
158 configure script. You can usually invoke configure without any
163 By default all files are installed under /usr/local. If you want
164 to install into, e.g., /usr and /var instead of /usr/local and
165 /usr/local/var, add options as shown here:
167 % ./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var
169 To use a specific C compiler for compiling Open vSwitch user
170 programs, also specify it on the configure command line, like so:
172 % ./configure CC=gcc-4.2
174 To build the Linux kernel module, so that you can run the
175 kernel-based switch, pass the location of the kernel build
176 directory on --with-linux. For example, to build for a running
179 % ./configure --with-linux=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
181 If you wish to build the kernel module for an architecture other
182 than the architecture of the machine used for the build, you may
183 specify the kernel architecture string using the KARCH variable
184 when invoking the configure script. For example, to build for MIPS
187 % ./configure --with-linux=/path/to/linux KARCH=mips
189 The configure script accepts a number of other options and honors
190 additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
191 configure with the --help option.
193 3. Run GNU make in the top source directory, e.g.:
197 or if GNU make is installed as "gmake":
201 For improved warnings if you installed "sparse" (see
202 "Prerequisites"), add C=1 to the command line.
204 4. Consider running the testsuite. Refer to "Running the Testsuite"
205 below, for instructions.
207 5. Become root by running "su" or another program.
209 6. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
210 running system, by default under /usr/local.
212 7. If you built kernel modules, you may load them with "insmod", e.g.:
214 % insmod datapath/linux/openvswitch.ko
216 You may need to specify a full path to insmod, e.g. /sbin/insmod.
217 To verify that the modules have been loaded, run "/sbin/lsmod" and
218 check that openvswitch is listed.
220 If the "insmod" operation fails, look at the last few kernel log
221 messages (e.g. with "dmesg | tail"):
223 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
224 br_should_route_hook (owned by bridge)" means that the bridge
225 module is loaded. Run "/sbin/rmmod bridge" to remove it.
227 If "/sbin/rmmod bridge" fails with "ERROR: Module bridge does
228 not exist in /proc/modules", then the bridge is compiled into
229 the kernel, rather than as a module. Open vSwitch does not
230 support this configuration (see "Build Requirements", above).
232 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
233 dp_ioctl_hook (owned by ofdatapath)" means that the ofdatapath
234 module from the OpenFlow reference implementation is loaded.
235 Run "/sbin/rmmod ofdatapath" to remove it. (You might have to
236 delete any existing datapaths beforehand, using the "dpctl"
237 program included with the OpenFlow reference implementation.
238 "ovs-dpctl" will not work.)
240 - Otherwise, the most likely problem is that Open vSwitch was
241 built for a kernel different from the one into which you are
242 trying to load it. Run "modinfo" on openvswitch.ko and on
243 a module built for the running kernel, e.g.:
245 % /sbin/modinfo openvswitch.ko
246 % /sbin/modinfo /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/bridge/bridge.ko
248 Compare the "vermagic" lines output by the two commands. If
249 they differ, then Open vSwitch was built for the wrong kernel.
251 - If you decide to report a bug or ask a question related to
252 module loading, please include the output from the "dmesg" and
253 "modinfo" commands mentioned above.
255 There is an optional module parameter to openvswitch.ko called
256 vlan_tso that enables TCP segmentation offload over VLANs on NICs
257 that support it. Many drivers do not expose support for TSO on VLANs
258 in a way that Open vSwitch can use but there is no way to detect
259 whether this is the case. If you know that your particular driver can
260 handle it (for example by testing sending large TCP packets over VLANs)
261 then passing in a value of 1 may improve performance. Modules built for
262 Linux kernels 2.6.37 and later, as well as specially patched versions
263 of earlier kernels, do not need this and do not have this parameter. If
264 you do not understand what this means or do not know if your driver
265 will work, do not set this.
267 Once you verify that the kernel modules load properly, you should
270 % make modules_install
272 8. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
274 % mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvswitch
275 % ovsdb-tool create /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
280 Before starting ovs-vswitchd itself, you need to start its
281 configuration database, ovsdb-server. Each machine on which Open
282 vSwitch is installed should run its own copy of ovsdb-server.
283 Configure it to use the database you created during step 7 of
284 installation, above, to listen on a Unix domain socket, to connect to
285 any managers specified in the database itself, and to use the SSL
286 configuration in the database:
288 % ovsdb-server --remote=punix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock \
289 --remote=db:Open_vSwitch,manager_options \
290 --private-key=db:SSL,private_key \
291 --certificate=db:SSL,certificate \
292 --bootstrap-ca-cert=db:SSL,ca_cert \
295 (If you built Open vSwitch without SSL support, then omit
296 --private-key, --certificate, and --bootstrap-ca-cert.)
298 Then initialize the database using ovs-vsctl. This is only
299 necessary the first time after you create the database with
300 ovsdb-tool (but running it at any time is harmless):
302 % ovs-vsctl --no-wait init
304 Then start the main Open vSwitch daemon, telling it to connect to the
305 same Unix domain socket:
307 % ovs-vswitchd --pidfile --detach
309 Now you may use ovs-vsctl to set up bridges and other Open vSwitch
310 features. For example, to create a bridge named br0 and add ports
311 eth0 and vif1.0 to it:
313 % ovs-vsctl add-br br0
314 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0
315 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vif1.0
317 Please refer to ovs-vsctl(8) for more details.
322 When you upgrade Open vSwitch from one version to another, you should
323 also upgrade the database schema:
325 1. Stop the Open vSwitch daemons, e.g.:
327 % kill `cd /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch && cat ovsdb-server.pid ovs-vswitchd.pid`
329 2. Install the new Open vSwitch release.
331 3. Upgrade the database, in one of the following two ways:
333 - If there is no important data in your database, then you may
334 delete the database file and recreate it with ovsdb-tool,
335 following the instructions under "Building and Installing Open
336 vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD".
338 - If you want to preserve the contents of your database, back it
339 up first, then use "ovsdb-tool convert" to upgrade it, e.g.:
341 % ovsdb-tool convert /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
343 4. Start the Open vSwitch daemons as described under "Building and
344 Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above.
346 Running the Testsuite
347 =====================
349 Open vSwitch includes a testsuite. Before you submit patches
350 upstream, we advise that you run the tests and ensure that they pass.
351 If you add new features to Open vSwitch, then adding tests for those
352 features will ensure your features don't break as developers modify
353 other areas of Open vSwitch.
355 You must configure and build Open vSwitch (steps 1 through 3 in
356 "Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above)
357 before you run the testsuite. You do not need to install Open vSwitch
358 or to build or load the kernel module to run the testsuite. You do
359 not need supervisor privilege to run the testsuite.
361 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, one at a time:
363 This takes under 5 minutes on a modern desktop system.
365 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, up to 8 in parallel:
366 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j8
367 This takes under a minute on a modern 4-core desktop system.
369 To see a list of all the available tests, run:
370 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--list
372 To run only a subset of tests, e.g. test 123 and tests 477 through 484:
373 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='123 477-484'
374 (Tests do not have inter-dependencies, so you may run any subset.)
376 To run tests matching a keyword, e.g. "ovsdb":
377 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-k ovsdb'
379 To see a complete list of test options:
380 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--help
382 The results of a testing run are reported in tests/testsuite.log.
383 Please report test failures as bugs and include the testsuite.log in
386 If you have "valgrind" installed, then you can also run the testsuite
387 under valgrind by using "make check-valgrind" in place of "make
388 check". All the same options are available via TESTSUITEFLAGS. When
389 you do this, the "valgrind" results for test <N> are reported in files
390 named tests/testsuite.dir/<N>/valgrind.*. You may find that the
391 valgrind results are easier to interpret if you put "-q" in
392 ~/.valgrindrc, since that reduces the amount of output.
394 Sometimes a few tests may fail on some runs but not others. This is
395 usually a bug in the testsuite, not a bug in Open vSwitch itself. If
396 you find that a test fails intermittently, please report it, since the
397 developers may not have noticed.
402 Please report problems to bugs@openvswitch.org.