1 How to Install Open vSwitch on Linux
2 ====================================
4 This document describes how to build and install Open vSwitch on a
5 generic Linux host. If you want to install Open vSwitch on a Citrix
6 XenServer, see INSTALL.XenServer instead.
8 This version of Open vSwitch may be built manually with "configure"
9 and "make", as described below. You may also build Debian packages by
10 running "dpkg-buildpackage".
15 To compile the userspace programs in the Open vSwitch distribution,
16 you will need the following software:
18 - A make program, e.g. GNU make. BSD make should also work.
20 - The GNU C compiler. We generally test with version 4.1, 4.2, or
23 - pkg-config. We test with version 0.22.
25 - libssl, from OpenSSL, is optional but recommended if you plan to
26 connect the Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. libssl is
27 required to establish confidentiality and authenticity in the
28 connections from an Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. If
29 libssl is installed, then Open vSwitch will automatically build
32 To compile the kernel module, you must also install the following. If
33 you cannot build or install the kernel module, you may use the
34 userspace-only implementation, at a cost in performance. The
35 userspace implementation may also lack some features. Refer to
36 INSTALL.userspace for more information.
38 - A supported Linux kernel version. Please refer to README for a
39 list of supported versions.
41 The Open vSwitch datapath requires bridging support
42 (CONFIG_BRIDGE) to be built as a kernel module. (This is common
43 in kernels provided by Linux distributions.) The bridge module
44 must not be loaded or in use. If the bridge module is running
45 (check with "lsmod | grep bridge"), you must remove it ("rmmod
46 bridge") before starting the datapath.
48 For optional support of ingress policing, you must enable kernel
49 configuration options NET_CLS_BASIC, NET_SCH_INGRESS, and
50 NET_ACT_POLICE, either built-in or as modules. (NET_CLS_POLICE is
51 obsolete and not needed.)
53 If GRE tunneling is being used it is recommended that the kernel
54 be compiled with IPv6 support (CONFIG_IPV6). This allows for
55 special handling (such as path MTU discovery) of IPv6 packets.
57 To configure HTB or HFSC quality of service with Open vSwitch,
58 you must enable the respective configuration options.
60 To use Open vSwitch support for TAP devices, you must enable
63 - To build a kernel module, you need the same version of GCC that
64 was used to build that kernel.
66 - A kernel build directory corresponding to the Linux kernel image
67 the module is to run on. Under Debian and Ubuntu, for example,
68 each linux-image package containing a kernel binary has a
69 corresponding linux-headers package with the required build
72 If you are working from a Git tree or snapshot (instead of from a
73 distribution tarball), or if you modify the Open vSwitch build system
74 or the database schema, you will also need the following software:
76 - Autoconf version 2.64 or later.
78 - Automake version 1.10 or later.
80 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
82 If you modify the ovsdbmonitor tool, then you will also need the
85 - pyuic4 from PyQt4 (http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk).
87 To run the unit tests, you also need:
89 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
92 If you modify the vswitchd database schema, then the E-R diagram in
93 the ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage will be updated properly only if
94 you have the following:
96 - "dot" from graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org/).
98 - Perl. Version 5.10.1 is known to work. Earlier versions should
101 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
103 Installation Requirements
104 -------------------------
106 The machine on which Open vSwitch is to be installed must have the
109 - libc compatible with the libc used for build.
111 - libssl compatible with the libssl used for build, if OpenSSL was
114 - The Linux kernel version configured as part of the build.
116 - For optional support of ingress policing, the "tc" program from
117 iproute2 (part of all major distributions and available at
118 http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/Net:Iproute2).
120 - For debugging purposes, Open vSwitch expects that "tcpdump" is
121 installed as /usr/sbin/tcpdump. If tcpdump is not installed, or
122 if it is installed in a different location, then some Open
123 vSwitch log messages will not be as detailed.
125 You should ensure that /dev/urandom exists. To support TAP devices,
126 you must also ensure that /dev/net/tun exists.
128 To run the ovsdmonitor tool, the machine must also have the following
131 - Python 2.x, for x >= 4.
133 - Python Twisted Conch.
139 - Python Zope interface module.
141 (On Debian "lenny" the above can be installed with "apt-get install
142 python-json python-qt4 python-zopeinterface python-twisted-conch".)
144 Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux
145 ==============================================
147 Once you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in the Base
148 Prerequisites section, follow the procedure below to build.
150 1. If you pulled the sources directly from an Open vSwitch Git tree,
151 run boot.sh in the top source directory:
155 2. In the top source directory, configure the package by running the
156 configure script. You can usually invoke configure without any
161 By default all files are installed under /usr/local. If you want
162 to install into, e.g., /usr and /var instead of /usr/local and
163 /usr/local/var, add options as shown here:
165 % ./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var
167 To use a specific C compiler for compiling Open vSwitch user
168 programs, also specify it on the configure command line, like so:
170 % ./configure CC=gcc-4.2
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 The configure script accepts a number of other options and honors
188 additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
189 configure with the --help option.
191 3. Run make in the top source directory:
195 4. Become root by running "su" or another program.
197 5. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
198 running system, by default under /usr/local.
200 6. If you built kernel modules, you may load them with "insmod", e.g.:
202 % insmod datapath/linux/openvswitch_mod.ko
204 You may need to specify a full path to insmod, e.g. /sbin/insmod.
205 To verify that the modules have been loaded, run "/sbin/lsmod" and
206 check that openvswitch_mod is listed.
208 If the "insmod" operation fails, look at the last few kernel log
209 messages (e.g. with "dmesg | tail"):
211 - The message "openvswitch_mod: exports duplicate symbol
212 br_should_route_hook (owned by bridge)" means that the bridge
213 module is loaded. Run "/sbin/rmmod bridge" to remove it.
215 If "/sbin/rmmod bridge" fails with "ERROR: Module bridge does
216 not exist in /proc/modules", then the bridge is compiled into
217 the kernel, rather than as a module. Open vSwitch does not
218 support this configuration (see "Build Requirements", above).
220 - The message "openvswitch_mod: exports duplicate symbol
221 dp_ioctl_hook (owned by ofdatapath)" means that the ofdatapath
222 module from the OpenFlow reference implementation is loaded.
223 Run "/sbin/rmmod ofdatapath" to remove it. (You might have to
224 delete any existing datapaths beforehand, using the "dpctl"
225 program included with the OpenFlow reference implementation.
226 "ovs-dpctl" will not work.)
228 - Otherwise, the most likely problem is that Open vSwitch was
229 built for a kernel different from the one into which you are
230 trying to load it. Run "modinfo" on openvswitch_mod.ko and on
231 a module built for the running kernel, e.g.:
233 % /sbin/modinfo openvswitch_mod.ko
234 % /sbin/modinfo /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/bridge/bridge.ko
236 Compare the "vermagic" lines output by the two commands. If
237 they differ, then Open vSwitch was built for the wrong kernel.
239 - If you decide to report a bug or ask a question related to
240 module loading, please include the output from the "dmesg" and
241 "modinfo" commands mentioned above.
243 There is an optional module parameter to openvswitch_mod.ko called
244 vlan_tso that enables TCP segmentation offload over VLANs on NICs
245 that support it. Many drivers do not expose support for TSO on VLANs
246 in a way that Open vSwitch can use but there is no way to detect
247 whether this is the case. If you know that your particular driver can
248 handle it (for example by testing sending large TCP packets over VLANs)
249 then passing in a value of 1 may improve performance. Modules built for
250 Linux kernels 2.6.37 and later, as well as specially patched versions
251 of earlier kernels, do not need this and do not have this parameter. If
252 you do not understand what this means or do not know if your driver
253 will work, do not set this.
255 7. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
257 % mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvswitch
258 % ovsdb-tool create /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
263 Before starting ovs-vswitchd itself, you need to start its
264 configuration database, ovsdb-server. Each machine on which Open
265 vSwitch is installed should run its own copy of ovsdb-server.
266 Configure it to use the database you created during step 7 of
267 installation, above, to listen on a Unix domain socket, to connect to
268 any managers specified in the database itself, and to use the SSL
269 configuration in the database:
271 % ovsdb-server --remote=punix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock \
272 --remote=db:Open_vSwitch,manager_options \
273 --private-key=db:SSL,private_key \
274 --certificate=db:SSL,certificate \
275 --bootstrap-ca-cert=db:SSL,ca_cert \
278 (If you built Open vSwitch without SSL support, then omit
279 --private-key, --certificate, and --bootstrap-ca-cert.)
281 Then initialize the database using ovs-vsctl. This is only
282 necessary the first time after you create the database with
283 ovsdb-tool (but running it at any time is harmless):
285 % ovs-vsctl --no-wait init
287 Then start the main Open vSwitch daemon, telling it to connect to the
288 same Unix domain socket:
290 % ovs-vswitchd --pidfile --detach
292 Now you may use ovs-vsctl to set up bridges and other Open vSwitch
293 features. For example, to create a bridge named br0 and add ports
294 eth0 and vif1.0 to it:
296 % ovs-vsctl add-br br0
297 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 eth0
298 % ovs-vsctl add-port br0 vif1.0
300 Please refer to ovs-vsctl(8) for more details.
305 When you upgrade Open vSwitch from one version to another, you should
306 also upgrade the database schema:
308 1. Stop the Open vSwitch daemons, e.g.:
310 % kill `cd /usr/local/var/run && cat ovsdb-server.pid ovs-vswitchd.pid`
312 2. Install the new Open vSwitch release.
314 3. Upgrade the database, in one of the following two ways:
316 - If there is no important data in your database, then you may
317 delete the database file and recreate it with ovsdb-tool,
318 following the instructions under "Building and Installing Open
321 - If you want to preserve the contents of your database, back it
322 up first, then use "ovsdb-tool convert" to upgrade it, e.g.:
324 % ovsdb-tool convert /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
326 4. Start the Open vSwitch daemons as described under "Building and
327 Installing Open vSwitch for Linux" above.
332 Please report problems to bugs@openvswitch.org.