1 .TH dpctl 8 "May 2008" "OpenFlow" "OpenFlow Manual"
4 dpctl \- administer OpenFlow datapaths
8 [\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand \fR[\fIswitch\fR] [\fIargs\fR&...]
13 program is a command line tool for monitoring and administering OpenFlow
14 datapaths. It is able to show the current state of a datapath,
15 including features, configuration, and tables entries. When using the
16 OpenFlow kernel module,
18 is used to add, delete, modify, and monitor datapaths.
20 Most \fBdpctl\fR commands take an argument that specifies the
21 method for connecting to an OpenFlow switch. The following connection
22 methods are supported:
26 The local Netlink datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR. This form requires
27 that the local host has the OpenFlow kernel module for Linux loaded.
30 \fBssl:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
31 The specified SSL \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
32 \fIhost\fR. The \fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, and
33 \fB--ca-cert\fR options are mandatory when this form is used.
36 \fBtcp:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
37 The specified TCP \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
42 The Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.
46 With the \fBdpctl\fR program, datapaths running in the kernel can be
47 created, deleted, and modified. A single machine may
48 host up to 32 datapaths (numbered 0 to 31). In most situations,
49 a machine hosts only one datapath.
51 A newly created datapath is not associated with any of the
52 host's network devices thus does not process any incoming
53 traffic. To intercept and process traffic on a given network device, the
54 network device must be explicitly added to a datapath through the
57 The following commands manage local datapaths.
60 \fBadddp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
61 Creates datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host. This will
62 fail if \fIdp_idx\fR is not in the range 0 to 31, or if the datapath
63 with that number already exists on the host.
66 \fBdeldp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
67 Deletes datapath \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host. \fIdp_idx\fR must be
68 an existing datapath. All of a datapath's network devices must be
69 explicitly removed before the datapath can be deleted (see \fBdelif\fR
73 \fBaddif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR...
74 Adds each \fInetdev\fR to the list of network devices datapath
75 \fIdp_idx\fR monitors, where \fIdp_idx\fR is the ID of an existing
76 datapath, and \fInetdev\fR is the name of one of the host's
77 network devices, e.g. \fBeth0\fR. Once a network device has been added
78 to a datapath, the datapath has complete ownership of the network device's
79 traffic and the network device appears silent to the rest of the system.
82 \fBdelif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR...
83 Removes each \fInetdev\fR from the list of network devices datapath
84 \fIdp_idx\fR monitors.
87 The following commands can be apply to OpenFlow switches regardless of
88 the connection method.
92 Prints to the console information on datapath \fIswitch\fR including
93 information on its flow tables and ports.
96 \fBstatus \fIswitch\fR [\fIkey\fR]
97 Prints to the console a series of key-value pairs that report the
98 status of \fIswitch\fR. If \fIkey\fR is specified, only the key-value
99 pairs whose key names begin with \fIkey\fR are printed. If \fIkey\fR is
100 omitted, all key-value pairs are printed.
102 (In the OpenFlow reference implementation, the \fBstatus\fR command is
103 implemented in \fBsecchan\fR(8), not in the kernel module, so the
104 \fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR connection method should not be used with this
105 command. Instead, specify \fB-l\fR or \fB--listen\fR on the
106 \fBsecchan\fR command line and tell \fBdpctl\fR to use the connection
107 method specified there.)
110 \fBdump-tables \fIswitch\fR
111 Prints to the console statistics for each of the flow tables used by
112 datapath \fIswitch\fR.
115 \fBdump-ports \fIswitch\fR
116 Prints to the console statistics for each of the network devices
117 associated with datapath \fIswitch\fR.
120 \fBmod-port \fIswitch\fR \fInetdev\fR \fIaction\fR
121 Modify characteristics of an interface monitored by \fIswitch\fR.
122 \fInetdev\fR can be referred to by its OpenFlow assigned port number or
123 the device name, e.g. \fBeth0\fR. The \fIaction\fR may be any one of the
128 Enables the interface. This is equivalent to ``ifconfig up'' on a Unix
132 Disables the interface. This is equivalent to ``ifconfig down'' on a Unix
136 When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will be sent out this
137 interface. This is the default posture for monitored ports.
140 When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will not be sent out
141 this interface. This is primarily useful to prevent loops when a
142 spanning tree protocol is not in use.
147 \fBdump-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
148 Prints to the console all flow entries in datapath \fIswitch\fR's
149 tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted, all flows
150 in the datapath are retrieved. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the
151 syntax of \fIflows\fR.
154 \fBdump-aggregate \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
155 Prints to the console aggregate statistics for flows in datapath
156 \fSWITCH\fR's tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted,
157 the statistics are aggregated across all flows in the datapath's flow
158 tables. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
161 \fBadd-flow \fIswitch flow\fR
162 Add the flow entry as described by \fIflow\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's
163 tables. The flow entry is in the format described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR,
167 \fBadd-flows \fIswitch file\fR
168 Add flow entries as described in \fIfile\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's
169 tables. Each line in \fIfile\fR is a flow entry in the format
170 described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below.
173 \fBmod-flows \fIswitch flow\fR
174 Modify the actions in entries from the datapath \fIswitch\fR's tables
175 that match \fIflow\fR. When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option,
176 wildcards are not treated as active for matching purposes. See
177 \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
180 \fBdel-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflow\fR]
181 Deletes entries from the datapath \fIswitch\fR's tables that match
182 \fIflow\fR. When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option, wildcards are
183 not treated as active for matching purposes. If \fIflow\fR is
184 omitted and the \fB--strict\fR option is not used, all flows in the
185 datapath's tables are removed. See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the
186 syntax of \fIflows\fR.
189 \fBmonitor \fIswitch\fR
190 Connects to \fIswitch\fR and prints to the console all OpenFlow
191 messages received. Usually, \fIswitch\fR should specify a connection
192 named on \fBsecchan\fR(8)'s \fB-m\fR or \fB--monitor\fR command line
193 option, in which the messages printed will be all those sent or
194 received by \fBsecchan\fR to or from the kernel datapath module. A
195 \fIswitch\fR of the form \fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR will print all
196 asynchronously generated OpenFlow messages (such as packet-in
197 messages), but it will not print any messages sent to the kernel by
198 \fBsecchan\fR and other processes, nor will it print replies sent by
199 the kernel in response to those messages.
202 \fBexecute \fIswitch command \fR[\fIarg\fR...]
204 Sends a request to \fIswitch\fR to execute \fIcommand\fR along with
205 each \fIarg\fR, if any, then waits for the command to complete and
206 reports its completion status on \fBstderr\fR and its output, if any,
207 on \fBstdout\fR. The set of available commands and their argument is
208 switch-dependent. (This command uses a Nicira extension to OpenFlow
209 that may not be available on all switches.)
212 The following commands can be used regardless of the connection
213 method. They apply to OpenFlow switches and controllers.
217 Connects to \fIvconn\fR and sends a single OpenFlow echo-request
218 packet and waits for the response. With the \fB-t\fR or
219 \fB--timeout\fR option, this command can test whether an OpenFlow
220 switch or controller is up and running.
223 \fBping \fIvconn \fR[\fIn\fR]
224 Sends a series of 10 echo request packets to \fIvconn\fR and times
225 each reply. The echo request packets consist of an OpenFlow header
226 plus \fIn\fR bytes (default: 64) of randomly generated payload. This
227 measures the latency of individual requests.
230 \fBbenchmark \fIvconn n count\fR
231 Sends \fIcount\fR echo request packets that each consist of an
232 OpenFlow header plus \fIn\fR bytes of payload and waits for each
233 response. Reports the total time required. This is a measure of the
234 maximum bandwidth to \fIvconn\fR for round-trips of \fIn\fR-byte
239 Some \fBdpctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a flow or
240 flows. Such flow descriptions comprise a series
241 \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
244 The following field assignments describe how a flow matches a packet.
245 If any of these assignments is omitted from the flow syntax, the field
246 is treated as a wildcard; thus, if all of them are omitted, the
247 resulting flow matches all packets. The string \fB*\fR or \fBANY\fR
248 may be specified a value to explicitly mark any of these fields as a
251 .IP \fBin_port=\fIport_no\fR
252 Matches physical port \fIport_no\fR. Switch ports are numbered as
253 displayed by \fBdpctl show\fR.
255 .IP \fBdl_vlan=\fIvlan\fR
256 Matches IEEE 802.1q virtual LAN tag \fIvlan\fR. Specify \fB0xffff\fR
257 as \fIvlan\fR to match packets that are not tagged with a virtual LAN;
258 otherwise, specify a number between 0 and 4095, inclusive, as the
259 12-bit VLAN ID to match.
261 .IP \fBdl_src=\fImac\fR
262 Matches Ethernet source address \fImac\fR, which should be specified
263 as 6 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons,
264 e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR.
266 .IP \fBdl_dst=\fImac\fR
267 Matches Ethernet destination address \fImac\fR.
269 .IP \fBdl_type=\fIethertype\fR
270 Matches Ethernet protocol type \fIethertype\fR, which should be
271 specified as a integer between 0 and 65535, inclusive, either in
272 decimal or as a hexadecimal number prefixed by \fB0x\fR,
273 e.g. \fB0x0806\fR to match ARP packets.
275 .IP \fBnw_src=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
276 Matches IPv4 source address \fIip\fR, which should be specified as an
277 IP address or host name, e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or
278 \fBwww.example.com\fR. The optional \fInetmask\fR allows matching
279 only on an IPv4 address prefix. It may be specified as a dotted quad
280 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a count of bits
281 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR).
283 .IP \fBnw_dst=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
284 Matches IPv4 destination address \fIip\fR.
286 .IP \fBnw_proto=\fIproto\fR
287 Matches IP protocol type \fIproto\fR, which should be specified as a
288 decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive, e.g. 6 to match TCP
291 .IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fR
292 Matches UDP or TCP source port \fIport\fR, which should be specified
293 as a decimal number between 0 and 65535, inclusive, e.g. 80 to match
294 packets originating from a HTTP server.
296 .IP \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fR
297 Matches UDP or TCP destination port \fIport\fR.
300 The following shorthand notations are also available:
303 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR.
306 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=1\fR.
309 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=6\fR.
312 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=17\fR.
315 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR.
318 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands require an additional field:
320 .IP \fIactions\fB=\fItarget\fR[\fB,\fItarget\fR...]\fR
321 Specifies a comma-separated list of actions to take on a packet when the
322 flow entry matches. The \fItarget\fR may be a decimal port number
323 designating the physical port on which to output the packet, or one of
324 the following keywords:
327 .IP \fBoutput\fR:\fIport\fR
328 Outputs the packet on the port specified by \fIport\fR.
331 Subjects the packet to the device's normal L2/L3 processing. (This
332 action is not implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)
335 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
336 which it was received and any ports on which flooding is disabled
337 (typically, these would be ports disabled by the IEEE 802.1D spanning
341 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
342 which it was received.
344 .IP \fBcontroller\fR:\fImax_len\fR
345 Sends the packet to the OpenFlow controller as a ``packet in''
346 message. If \fImax_len\fR is a number, then it specifies the maximum
347 number of bytes that should be sent. If \fImax_len\fR is \fBALL\fR or
348 omitted, then the entire packet is sent.
351 Outputs the packet on the ``local port,'' which corresponds to the
352 \fBof\fIn\fR network device (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR in
353 \fBsecchan\fR(8) for information on the \fBof\fIn\fR network device).
355 .IP \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR:\fIvlan_vid\fR
356 Modifies the VLAN id on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
357 as necessary to match the value specified. If the VLAN tag is added,
358 a priority of zero is used (see the \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR action to set
361 .IP \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR:\fIvlan_pcp\fR
362 Modifies the VLAN priority on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
363 as necessary to match the value specified. Valid values are between 0
364 (lowest) and 7 (highest). If the VLAN tag is added, a vid of zero is used
365 (see the \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR action to set this).
368 Strips the VLAN tag from a packet if it is present.
372 (The OpenFlow protocol supports other actions that \fBdpctl\fR does
373 not yet expose to the user.)
376 The \fBadd-flow\fR, \fBadd-flows\fR, and \fBdel-flows\fR commands
377 support an additional optional field:
379 .IP \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
380 Sets the priority of the flow to be added or deleted to \fIvalue\fR,
381 which should be a number between 0 and 65535, inclusive. If this
382 field is not specified, it defaults to 32768.
385 The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands support additional
389 \fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
390 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
391 inactivity. A value of 0 prevents a flow from expiring due to
392 inactivity. The default is 60 seconds.
394 .IP \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
395 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
396 regardless of activity. A value of 0 (the default) gives the flow no
397 hard expiration deadline.
400 The \fBdump-flows\fR and \fBdump-aggregate\fR commands support an
401 additional optional field:
403 .IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
404 If specified, limits the flows about which statistics are gathered to
405 those in the table with the given \fInumber\fR. Tables are numbered
406 as shown by the \fBdump-tables\fR command.
408 If this field is not specified, or if \fInumber\fR is given as
409 \fB255\fR, statistics are gathered about flows from all tables.
414 Uses strict matching when running flow modification commands.
417 \fB-t\fR, \fB--timeout=\fIsecs\fR
418 Limits \fBdpctl\fR runtime to approximately \fIsecs\fR seconds. If
419 the timeout expires, \fBdpctl\fR will exit with a \fBSIGALRM\fR
423 \fB-p\fR, \fB--private-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR
424 Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the
425 identity for SSL connections to a switch.
428 \fB-c\fR, \fB--certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR
429 Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
430 controller's certificate authority (CA), that certifies the
431 private key to identify a trustworthy controller.
434 \fB-C\fR, \fB--ca-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR
435 Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that
436 a switch is trustworthy.
439 .BR \-h ", " \-\^\-help
440 Prints a brief help message to the console.
445 .BR \-V ", " \-\^\-version
446 Prints version information to the console.
450 A typical dpctl command sequence for controlling an OpenFlow kernel module:
453 Create datapath numbered 0:
455 .B % dpctl adddp nl:0
458 Add two network devices to the new datapath:
460 .B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth0
461 .B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth1
464 Monitor traffic received by the datapath (exit with control-C):
466 .B % dpctl monitor nl:0
470 View the datapath's table stats after some traffic has passed through:
472 .B % dpctl dump-tables nl:0
475 View the flow entries in the datapath:
477 .B % dpctl dump-flows nl:0
480 Remove network devices from the datapath when finished:
482 .B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth0
483 .B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth1
488 .B % dpctl deldp nl:0