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:
17 To compile the userspace programs in the Open vSwitch distribution,
18 you will need the following software:
22 - A C compiler, such as:
26 * Clang. Clang 3.4 and later provide useful static semantic
27 analysis and thread-safety checks. For Ubuntu, there are
28 nightly built packages available on clang's website.
30 - libssl, from OpenSSL, is optional but recommended if you plan to
31 connect the Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. libssl is
32 required to establish confidentiality and authenticity in the
33 connections from an Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. If
34 libssl is installed, then Open vSwitch will automatically build
37 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
39 On Linux, you may choose to compile the kernel module that comes with
40 the Open vSwitch distribution or to use the kernel module built into
41 the Linux kernel (version 3.3 or later). See the FAQ question "What
42 features are not available in the Open vSwitch kernel datapath that
43 ships as part of the upstream Linux kernel?" for more information on
44 this trade-off. You may also use the userspace-only implementation,
45 at some cost in features and performance (see INSTALL.userspace for
46 details). To compile the kernel module on Linux, you must also
47 install the following:
49 - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to README for a
50 list of supported versions.
52 The Open vSwitch datapath requires bridging support
53 (CONFIG_BRIDGE) to be built as a kernel module. (This is common
54 in kernels provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module
55 must not be loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running
56 (check with "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod
57 bridge") before starting the datapath.
59 For optional support of ingress policing, you must enable kernel
60 configuration options NET_CLS_BASIC, NET_SCH_INGRESS, and
61 NET_ACT_POLICE, either built-in or as modules. (NET_CLS_POLICE is
62 obsolete and not needed.)
64 To use GRE tunneling on Linux 2.6.37 or newer, kernel support
65 for GRE must be compiled in or available as a module
66 (CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_DEMUX).
68 To configure HTB or HFSC quality of service with Open vSwitch,
69 you must enable the respective configuration options.
71 To use Open vSwitch support for TAP devices, you must enable
74 - To build a kernel module, you need the same version of GCC that
75 was used to build that kernel.
77 - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
78 the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
79 each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
80 corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
83 If you are working from a Git tree or snapshot (instead of from a
84 distribution tarball), or if you modify the Open vSwitch build system
85 or the database schema, you will also need the following software:
87 - Autoconf version 2.64 or later.
89 - Automake version 1.10 or later.
91 - libtool version 2.4 or later. (Older versions might work too.)
93 To run the unit tests, you also need:
95 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
98 The ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage will include an E-R diagram, in
99 formats other than plain text, only if you have the following:
101 - "dot" from graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org/).
103 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
106 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
108 If you are going to extensively modify Open vSwitch, please consider
109 installing the following to obtain better warnings:
111 - "sparse" version 0.4.4 or later
112 (http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/sparse/dist/).
116 - clang, version 3.4 or later
118 Also, you may find the ovs-dev script found in utilities/ovs-dev.py useful.
120 Installation Requirements
121 -------------------------
123 The machine on which Open vSwitch is to be installed must have the
126 - libc compatible with the libc used for build.
128 - libssl compatible with the libssl used for build, if OpenSSL was
131 - On Linux, the same kernel version configured as part of the build.
133 - For optional support of ingress policing on Linux, the "tc" program
134 from iproute2 (part of all major distributions and available at
135 http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Net:Iproute2).
137 On Linux you should ensure that /dev/urandom exists. To support TAP
138 devices, you must also ensure that /dev/net/tun exists.
140 Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD
141 =================================================================
143 Once you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in the Base
144 Prerequisites section, follow the procedure below to build.
146 1. If you pulled the sources directly from an Open vSwitch Git tree,
147 run boot.sh in the top source directory:
151 2. In the top source directory, configure the package by running the
152 configure script. You can usually invoke configure without any
157 By default all files are installed under /usr/local. If you want
158 to install into, e.g., /usr and /var instead of /usr/local and
159 /usr/local/var, add options as shown here:
161 % ./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var
163 To use a specific C compiler for compiling Open vSwitch user
164 programs, also specify it on the configure command line, like so:
166 % ./configure CC=gcc-4.2
168 To use 'clang' compiler:
170 % ./configure CC=clang
172 To build the Linux kernel module, so that you can run the
173 kernel-based switch, pass the location of the kernel build
174 directory on --with-linux. For example, to build for a running
177 % ./configure --with-linux=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
179 If you wish to build the kernel module for an architecture other
180 than the architecture of the machine used for the build, you may
181 specify the kernel architecture string using the KARCH variable
182 when invoking the configure script. For example, to build for MIPS
185 % ./configure --with-linux=/path/to/linux KARCH=mips
187 If you plan to do much Open vSwitch development, you might want to
188 add --enable-Werror, which adds the -Werror option to the compiler
189 command line, turning warnings into errors. That makes it
190 impossible to miss warnings generated by the build.
192 To build with gcov code coverage support, add --enable-coverage,
195 % ./configure --enable-coverage
197 The configure script accepts a number of other options and honors
198 additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
199 configure with the --help option.
201 3. Run GNU make in the top source directory, e.g.:
205 or if GNU make is installed as "gmake":
209 For improved warnings if you installed "sparse" (see
210 "Prerequisites"), add C=1 to the command line.
212 4. Consider running the testsuite. Refer to "Running the Testsuite"
213 below, for instructions.
215 5. Become root by running "su" or another program.
217 6. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
218 running system, by default under /usr/local.
220 7. If you built kernel modules, you may install and load them, e.g.:
222 % make modules_install
223 % /sbin/modprobe openvswitch
225 To verify that the modules have been loaded, run "/sbin/lsmod" and
226 check that openvswitch is listed.
228 If the "modprobe" operation fails, look at the last few kernel log
229 messages (e.g. with "dmesg | tail"):
231 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
232 br_should_route_hook (owned by bridge)" means that the bridge
233 module is loaded. Run "/sbin/rmmod bridge" to remove it.
235 If "/sbin/rmmod bridge" fails with "ERROR: Module bridge does
236 not exist in /proc/modules", then the bridge is compiled into
237 the kernel, rather than as a module. Open vSwitch does not
238 support this configuration (see "Build Requirements", above).
240 - The message "openvswitch: exports duplicate symbol
241 dp_ioctl_hook (owned by ofdatapath)" means that the ofdatapath
242 module from the OpenFlow reference implementation is loaded.
243 Run "/sbin/rmmod ofdatapath" to remove it. (You might have to
244 delete any existing datapaths beforehand, using the "dpctl"
245 program included with the OpenFlow reference implementation.
246 "ovs-dpctl" will not work.)
248 - Otherwise, the most likely problem is that Open vSwitch was
249 built for a kernel different from the one into which you are
250 trying to load it. Run "modinfo" on openvswitch.ko and on
251 a module built for the running kernel, e.g.:
253 % /sbin/modinfo openvswitch.ko
254 % /sbin/modinfo /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/bridge/bridge.ko
256 Compare the "vermagic" lines output by the two commands. If
257 they differ, then Open vSwitch was built for the wrong kernel.
259 - If you decide to report a bug or ask a question related to
260 module loading, please include the output from the "dmesg" and
261 "modinfo" commands mentioned above.
263 There is an optional module parameter to openvswitch.ko called
264 vlan_tso that enables TCP segmentation offload over VLANs on NICs
265 that support it. Many drivers do not expose support for TSO on VLANs
266 in a way that Open vSwitch can use but there is no way to detect
267 whether this is the case. If you know that your particular driver can
268 handle it (for example by testing sending large TCP packets over VLANs)
269 then passing in a value of 1 may improve performance. Modules built for
270 Linux kernels 2.6.37 and later, as well as specially patched versions
271 of earlier kernels, do not need this and do not have this parameter. If
272 you do not understand what this means or do not know if your driver
273 will work, do not set this.
275 8. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
277 % mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvswitch
278 % ovsdb-tool create /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
283 Before starting ovs-vswitchd itself, you need to start its
284 configuration database, ovsdb-server. Each machine on which Open
285 vSwitch is installed should run its own copy of ovsdb-server.
286 Configure it to use the database you created during step 7 of
287 installation, above, to listen on a Unix domain socket, to connect to
288 any managers specified in the database itself, and to use the SSL
289 configuration in the database:
291 % ovsdb-server --remote=punix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock \
292 --remote=db:Open_vSwitch,Open_vSwitch,manager_options \
293 --private-key=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,private_key \
294 --certificate=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,certificate \
295 --bootstrap-ca-cert=db:Open_vSwitch,SSL,ca_cert \
298 (If you built Open vSwitch without SSL support, then omit
299 --private-key, --certificate, and --bootstrap-ca-cert.)
301 Then initialize the database using ovs-vsctl. This is only
302 necessary the first time after you create the database with
303 ovsdb-tool (but running it at any time is harmless):
305 % ovs-vsctl --no-wait init
307 Then start the main Open vSwitch daemon, telling it to connect to the
308 same Unix domain socket:
310 % ovs-vswitchd --pidfile --detach
312 Now you may use ovs-vsctl to set up bridges and other Open vSwitch
313 features. For example, to create a bridge named br0 and add ports
314 eth0 and vif1.0 to it:
316 % ovs-vsctl add-br br0
317 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0
318 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vif1.0
320 Please refer to ovs-vsctl(8) for more details.
325 When you upgrade Open vSwitch from one version to another, you should
326 also upgrade the database schema:
328 1. Stop the Open vSwitch daemons, e.g.:
330 % kill `cd /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch && cat ovsdb-server.pid ovs-vswitchd.pid`
332 2. Install the new Open vSwitch release.
334 3. Upgrade the database, in one of the following two ways:
336 - If there is no important data in your database, then you may
337 delete the database file and recreate it with ovsdb-tool,
338 following the instructions under "Building and Installing Open
339 vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD".
341 - If you want to preserve the contents of your database, back it
342 up first, then use "ovsdb-tool convert" to upgrade it, e.g.:
344 % ovsdb-tool convert /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
346 4. Start the Open vSwitch daemons as described under "Building and
347 Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above.
351 Upgrading Open vSwitch from one version to the next version with minimum
352 disruption of traffic going through the system that is using that Open vSwitch
353 needs some considerations:
355 1. If the upgrade only involves upgrading the userspace utilities and daemons
356 of Open vSwitch, make sure that the new userspace version is compatible with
357 the previously loaded kernel module.
359 2. An upgrade of userspace daemons means that they have to be restarted.
360 Restarting the daemons means that the Openflow flows in the ovs-vswitchd daemon
361 will be lost. One way to restore the flows is to let the controller
362 re-populate it. Another way is to save the previous flows using a utility
363 like ovs-ofctl and then re-add them after the restart. Restoring the old flows
364 is accurate only if the new Open vSwitch interfaces retain the old 'ofport'
367 3. When the new userspace daemons get restarted, they automatically flush
368 the old flows setup in the kernel. This can be expensive if there are hundreds
369 of new flows that are entering the kernel but userspace daemons are busy
370 setting up new userspace flows from either the controller or an utility like
371 ovs-ofctl. Open vSwitch database provides an option to solve this problem
372 through the other_config:flow-restore-wait column of the Open_vSwitch table.
373 Refer to the ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage for details.
375 4. If the upgrade also involves upgrading the kernel module, the old kernel
376 module needs to be unloaded and the new kernel module should be loaded. This
377 means that the kernel network devices belonging to Open vSwitch is recreated
378 and the kernel flows are lost. The downtime of the traffic can be reduced
379 if the userspace daemons are restarted immediately and the userspace flows
380 are restored as soon as possible.
382 The ovs-ctl utility's "restart" function only restarts the userspace daemons,
383 makes sure that the 'ofport' values remain consistent across restarts, restores
384 userspace flows using the ovs-ofctl utility and also uses the
385 other_config:flow-restore-wait column to keep the traffic downtime to the
386 minimum. The ovs-ctl utility's "force-reload-kmod" function does all of the
387 above, but also replaces the old kernel module with the new one. Open vSwitch
388 startup scripts for Debian, XenServer and RHEL use ovs-ctl's functions and it
389 is recommended that these functions be used for other software platforms too.
394 This section describe Open vSwitch's built-in support for various test
395 suites. You must configure and build Open vSwitch (steps 1 through 3
396 in "Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD"
397 above) before you run the tests described here. You do not need to
398 install Open vSwitch or to build or load the kernel module to run
399 these test suites. You do not need supervisor privilege to run these
405 Open vSwitch includes a suite of self-tests. Before you submit patches
406 upstream, we advise that you run the tests and ensure that they pass.
407 If you add new features to Open vSwitch, then adding tests for those
408 features will ensure your features don't break as developers modify
409 other areas of Open vSwitch.
411 Refer to "Testsuites" above for prerequisites.
413 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, one at a time:
415 This takes under 5 minutes on a modern desktop system.
417 To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, up to 8 in parallel:
418 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j8
419 This takes under a minute on a modern 4-core desktop system.
421 To see a list of all the available tests, run:
422 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--list
424 To run only a subset of tests, e.g. test 123 and tests 477 through 484:
425 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='123 477-484'
426 (Tests do not have inter-dependencies, so you may run any subset.)
428 To run tests matching a keyword, e.g. "ovsdb":
429 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-k ovsdb'
431 To see a complete list of test options:
432 make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--help
434 The results of a testing run are reported in tests/testsuite.log.
435 Please report test failures as bugs and include the testsuite.log in
438 If you have "valgrind" installed, then you can also run the testsuite
439 under valgrind by using "make check-valgrind" in place of "make
440 check". All the same options are available via TESTSUITEFLAGS. When
441 you do this, the "valgrind" results for test <N> are reported in files
442 named tests/testsuite.dir/<N>/valgrind.*. You may find that the
443 valgrind results are easier to interpret if you put "-q" in
444 ~/.valgrindrc, since that reduces the amount of output.
446 Sometimes a few tests may fail on some runs but not others. This is
447 usually a bug in the testsuite, not a bug in Open vSwitch itself. If
448 you find that a test fails intermittently, please report it, since the
449 developers may not have noticed.
454 OFTest is an OpenFlow protocol testing suite. Open vSwitch includes a
455 Makefile target to run OFTest with Open vSwitch in "dummy mode". In
456 this mode of testing, no packets travel across physical or virtual
457 networks. Instead, Unix domain sockets stand in as simulated
458 networks. This simulation is imperfect, but it is much easier to set
459 up, does not require extra physical or virtual hardware, and does not
460 require supervisor privileges.
462 To run OFTest with Open vSwitch, first read and follow the
463 instructions under "Testsuites" above. Second, obtain a copy of
464 OFTest and install its prerequisites. You need a copy of OFTest that
465 includes commit 406614846c5 (make ovs-dummy platform work again).
466 This commit was merged into the OFTest repository on Feb 1, 2013, so
467 any copy of OFTest more recent than that should work. Testing OVS in
468 dummy mode does not require root privilege, so you may ignore that
471 Optionally, add the top-level OFTest directory (containing the "oft"
472 program) to your $PATH. This slightly simplifies running OFTest later.
474 To run OFTest in dummy mode, run the following command from your Open
475 vSwitch build directory:
476 make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary>
477 where <oft-binary> is the absolute path to the "oft" program in
480 If you added "oft" to your $PATH, you may omit the OFT variable
483 By default, "check-oftest" passes "oft" just enough options to enable
484 dummy mode. You can use OFTFLAGS to pass additional options. For
485 example, to run just the basic.Echo test instead of all tests (the
486 default) and enable verbose logging:
487 make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary> OFTFLAGS='--verbose -T basic.Echo'
489 If you use OFTest that does not include commit 4d1f3eb2c792 (oft:
490 change default port to 6653), merged into the OFTest repository in
491 October 2013, then you need to add an option to use the IETF-assigned
493 make check-oftest OFT=<oft-binary> OFTFLAGS='--port=6653'
495 Please interpret OFTest results cautiously. Open vSwitch can fail a
496 given test in OFTest for many reasons, including bugs in Open vSwitch,
497 bugs in OFTest, bugs in the "dummy mode" integration, and differing
498 interpretations of the OpenFlow standard and other standards.
500 Open vSwitch has not been validated against OFTest. Please do report
501 test failures that you believe to represent bugs in Open vSwitch.
502 Include the precise versions of Open vSwitch and OFTest in your bug
503 report, plus any other information needed to reproduce the problem.
508 Ryu is an OpenFlow controller written in Python that includes an
509 extensive OpenFlow testsuite. Open vSwitch includes a Makefile target
510 to run Ryu in "dummy mode". See "OFTest" above for an explanation of
513 To run Ryu tests with Open vSwitch, first read and follow the
514 instructions under "Testsuites" above. Second, obtain a copy of Ryu,
515 install its prerequisites, and build it. You do not need to install
516 Ryu (some of the tests do not get installed, so it does not help).
518 To run Ryu tests, run the following command from your Open vSwitch
520 make check-ryu RYUDIR=<ryu-source-dir>
521 where <ryu-source-dir> is the absolute path to the root of the Ryu
522 source distribution. The default <ryu-source-dir> is $srcdir/../ryu
523 where $srcdir is your Open vSwitch source directory, so if this
524 default is correct then you make simply run "make check-ryu".
526 Open vSwitch has not been validated against Ryu. Please do report
527 test failures that you believe to represent bugs in Open vSwitch.
528 Include the precise versions of Open vSwitch and Ryu in your bug
529 report, plus any other information needed to reproduce the problem.
534 Please report problems to bugs@openvswitch.org.