7 .TH ovs\-ofctl 8 "@VERSION@" "Open vSwitch" "Open vSwitch Manual"
11 ovs\-ofctl \- administer OpenFlow switches
15 [\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand \fR[\fIswitch\fR] [\fIargs\fR\&...]
20 program is a command line tool for monitoring and administering
21 OpenFlow switches. It can also show the current state of an OpenFlow
22 switch, including features, configuration, and table entries.
23 It should work with any OpenFlow switch, not just Open vSwitch.
25 .SS "OpenFlow Switch Management Commands"
27 These commands allow \fBovs\-ofctl\fR to monitor and administer an OpenFlow
28 switch. It is able to show the current state of a switch, including
29 features, configuration, and table entries.
31 Most of these commands take an argument that specifies the method for
32 connecting to an OpenFlow switch. The following connection methods
36 .so lib/vconn-active.man
39 This is short for \fBunix:\fIfile\fR, as long as \fIfile\fR does not
43 This is short for \fBunix:@RUNDIR@/\fIbridge\fB.mgmt\fR, as long as
44 \fIbridge\fR does not contain a colon.
46 .IP [\fItype\fB@\fR]\fIdp\fR
47 Attempts to look up the bridge associated with \fIdp\fR and open as
48 above. If \fItype\fR is given, it specifies the datapath provider of
49 \fIdp\fR, otherwise the default provider \fBsystem\fR is assumed.
54 Prints to the console information on \fIswitch\fR, including
55 information on its flow tables and ports.
58 \fBdump\-tables \fIswitch\fR
59 Prints to the console statistics for each of the flow tables used by
63 \fBdump\-ports \fIswitch\fR [\fInetdev\fR]
64 Prints to the console statistics for network devices associated with
65 \fIswitch\fR. If \fInetdev\fR is specified, only the statistics
66 associated with that device will be printed. \fInetdev\fR can be an
67 OpenFlow assigned port number or device name, e.g. \fBeth0\fR.
70 \fBdump\-ports\-desc \fIswitch\fR
71 Prints to the console detailed information about network devices
72 associated with \fIswitch\fR (version 1.7 or later). This is a subset
73 of the information provided by the \fBshow\fR command.
75 .IP "\fBmod\-port \fIswitch\fR \fIport\fR \fIaction\fR"
76 Modify characteristics of port \fBport\fR in \fIswitch\fR. \fIport\fR
77 may be an OpenFlow port number or name or the keyword \fBLOCAL\fR (the
78 preferred way to refer to the OpenFlow local port). The \fIaction\fR
79 may be any one of the following:
84 Enable or disable the interface. This is equivalent to \fBifconfig
85 up\fR or \fBifconfig down\fR on a Unix system.
89 Enable or disable 802.1D spanning tree protocol (STP) on the
90 interface. OpenFlow implementations that don't support STP will
95 .IQ \fBreceive\-stp\fR
96 .IQ \fBno\-receive\-stp\fR
97 Enable or disable OpenFlow processing of packets received on this
98 interface. When packet processing is disabled, packets will be
99 dropped instead of being processed through the OpenFlow table. The
100 \fBreceive\fR or \fBno\-receive\fR setting applies to all packets
101 except 802.1D spanning tree packets, which are separately controlled
102 by \fBreceive\-stp\fR or \fBno\-receive\-stp\fR.
105 .IQ \fBno\-forward\fR
106 Allow or disallow forwarding of traffic to this interface. By
107 default, forwarding is enabled.
111 Controls whether an OpenFlow \fBflood\fR action will send traffic out
112 this interface. By default, flooding is enabled. Disabling flooding
113 is primarily useful to prevent loops when a spanning tree protocol is
117 .IQ \fBno\-packet\-in\fR
118 Controls whether packets received on this interface that do not match
119 a flow table entry generate a ``packet in'' message to the OpenFlow
120 controller. By default, ``packet in'' messages are enabled.
123 The \fBshow\fR command displays (among other information) the
124 configuration that \fBmod\-port\fR changes.
126 .IP "\fBget\-frags \fIswitch\fR"
127 Prints \fIswitch\fR's fragment handling mode. See \fBset\-frags\fR,
128 below, for a description of each fragment handling mode.
130 The \fBshow\fR command also prints the fragment handling mode among
133 .IP "\fBset\-frags \fIswitch frag_mode\fR"
134 Configures \fIswitch\fR's treatment of IPv4 and IPv6 fragments. The
135 choices for \fIfrag_mode\fR are:
138 Fragments pass through the flow table like non-fragmented packets.
139 The TCP ports, UDP ports, and ICMP type and code fields are always set
140 to 0, even for fragments where that information would otherwise be
141 available (fragments with offset 0). This is the default fragment
142 handling mode for an OpenFlow switch.
144 Fragments are dropped without passing through the flow table.
145 .IP "\fBreassemble\fR"
146 The switch reassembles fragments into full IP packets before passing
147 them through the flow table. Open vSwitch does not implement this
148 fragment handling mode.
149 .IP "\fBnx\-match\fR"
150 Fragments pass through the flow table like non-fragmented packets.
151 The TCP ports, UDP ports, and ICMP type and code fields are available
152 for matching for fragments with offset 0, and set to 0 in fragments
153 with nonzero offset. This mode is a Nicira extension.
156 See the description of \fBip_frag\fR, below, for a way to match on
157 whether a packet is a fragment and on its fragment offset.
160 \fBdump\-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
161 Prints to the console all flow entries in \fIswitch\fR's
162 tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted, all flows
163 in the switch are retrieved. See \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the
164 syntax of \fIflows\fR. The output format is described in
165 \fBTable Entry Output\fR.
168 By default, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR prints flow entries in the same order
169 that the switch sends them, which is unlikely to be intuitive or
170 consistent. See the description of \fB\-\-sort\fR and \fB\-\-rsort\fR,
171 under \fBOPTIONS\fR below, to influence the display order.
174 \fBdump\-aggregate \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
175 Prints to the console aggregate statistics for flows in
176 \fIswitch\fR's tables that match \fIflows\fR. If \fIflows\fR is omitted,
177 the statistics are aggregated across all flows in the switch's flow
178 tables. See \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.
179 The output format is described in \fBTable Entry Output\fR.
181 .IP "\fBqueue\-stats \fIswitch \fR[\fIport \fR[\fIqueue\fR]]"
182 Prints to the console statistics for the specified \fIqueue\fR on
183 \fIport\fR within \fIswitch\fR. \fIport\fR can be an OpenFlow port
184 number or name, the keyword \fBLOCAL\fR (the preferred way to refer to
185 the OpenFlow local port), or the keyword \fBALL\fR. Either of
186 \fIport\fR or \fIqueue\fR or both may be omitted (or equivalently the
187 keyword \fBALL\fR). If both are omitted, statistics are printed for
188 all queues on all ports. If only \fIqueue\fR is omitted, then
189 statistics are printed for all queues on \fIport\fR; if only
190 \fIport\fR is omitted, then statistics are printed for \fIqueue\fR on
191 every port where it exists.
193 .SS "OpenFlow 1.1+ Group Table Commands"
195 The following commands work only with switches that support OpenFlow
196 1.1 or later. Because support for OpenFlow 1.1 and later is still
197 experimental in Open vSwitch, it is necessary to explicitly enable
198 these protocol versions in \fBovs\-ofctl\fR (using \fB\-O\fR) and in
199 the switch itself (with the \fBprotocols\fR column in the \fBBridge\fR
200 table). For more information, see ``Q: What versions of OpenFlow does
201 Open vSwitch support?'' in the Open vSwitch FAQ.
203 .IP "\fBdump\-groups \fIswitch"
204 Prints to the console all group entries in \fIswitch\fR's tables. Each line
205 of output is a group entry as described in \fBGroup Syntax\fR below.
207 .IP "\fBdump\-group\-features \fIswitch"
208 Prints to the console the group features of the \fIswitch\fR.
210 .IP "\fBdump\-group-stats \fIswitch \fR[\fIgroups\fR]"
211 Prints to the console statistics for the specified \fIgroups in the
212 \fIswitch\fR's tables. If \fIgroups\fR is omitted then statistics for all
213 groups are printed. See \fBGroup Syntax\fR, below, for the syntax of
216 .IP "\fBmod\-table \fIswitch\fR \fItable_id\fR \fIflow_miss_handling\fR"
217 An OpenFlow 1.0 switch looks up each packet that arrives at the switch
218 in table 0, then in table 1 if there is no match in table 0, then in
219 table 2, and so on until the packet finds a match in some table.
220 Finally, if no match was found, the switch sends the packet to the
223 OpenFlow 1.1 and later offer more flexibility. This command
224 configures the flow table miss handling configuration for table
225 \fItable_id\fR in \fIswitch\fR. \fItable_id\fR may be an OpenFlow
226 table number between 0 and 254, inclusive, or the keyword \fBALL\fR to
227 modify all tables. \fIflow_miss_handling\fR may be any one of the
233 Continue to the next table in the pipeline. (This is how an OpenFlow
234 1.0 switch always handles packets that do not match any flow, in
235 tables other than the last one.)
237 Send to controller. (This is how an OpenFlow 1.0 switch always
238 handles packets that do not match any flow in the last table.)
241 .SS "OpenFlow 1.3+ Switch Meter Table Commands"
243 These commands manage the meter table in an OpenFlow switch. In each
244 case, \fImeter\fR specifies a meter entry in the format described in
245 \fBMeter Syntax\fR, below.
248 OpenFlow 1.3 introduced support for meters, so these commands only
249 work with switches that support OpenFlow 1.3 or later. The caveats
250 described for groups in the previous section also apply to meters.
252 .IP "\fBadd\-meter \fIswitch meter\fR"
253 Add a meter entry to \fIswitch\fR's tables. The \fImeter\fR syntax is
254 described in section \fBMeter Syntax\fR, below.
256 .IP "\fBmod\-meter \fIswitch meter\fR"
257 Modify an existing meter.
259 .IP "\fBdel\-meters \fIswitch\fR"
260 .IQ "\fBdel\-meter \fIswitch\fR [\fImeter\fR]"
261 Delete entries from \fIswitch\fR's meter table. \fImeter\fR can specify
262 a single meter with syntax \fBmeter=\fIid\fR, or all meters with syntax
265 .IP "\fBdump\-meters \fIswitch\fR"
266 .IQ "\fBdump\-meter \fIswitch\fR [\fImeter\fR]"
267 Print meter configuration. \fImeter\fR can specify a single meter with
268 syntax \fBmeter=\fIid\fR, or all meters with syntax \fBmeter=all\fR.
270 .IP "\fBmeter\-stats \fIswitch\fR [\fImeter\fR]"
271 Print meter statistics. \fImeter\fR can specify a single meter with
272 syntax \fBmeter=\fIid\fR, or all meters with syntax \fBmeter=all\fR.
274 .IP "\fBmeter\-features \fIswitch\fR"
275 Print meter features.
277 .SS "OpenFlow Switch Flow Table Commands"
279 These commands manage the flow table in an OpenFlow switch. In each
280 case, \fIflow\fR specifies a flow entry in the format described in
281 \fBFlow Syntax\fR, below, and \fIfile\fR is a text file that contains
282 zero or more flows in the same syntax, one per line.
284 .IP "\fBadd\-flow \fIswitch flow\fR"
285 .IQ "\fBadd\-flow \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
286 .IQ "\fBadd\-flows \fIswitch file\fR"
287 Add each flow entry to \fIswitch\fR's tables.
289 .IP "[\fB\-\-strict\fR] \fBmod\-flows \fIswitch flow\fR"
290 .IQ "[\fB\-\-strict\fR] \fBmod\-flows \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
291 Modify the actions in entries from \fIswitch\fR's tables that match
292 the specified flows. With \fB\-\-strict\fR, wildcards are not treated
293 as active for matching purposes.
295 .IP "\fBdel\-flows \fIswitch\fR"
296 .IQ "[\fB\-\-strict\fR] \fBdel\-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflow\fR]"
297 .IQ "[\fB\-\-strict\fR] \fBdel\-flows \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
298 Deletes entries from \fIswitch\fR's flow table. With only a
299 \fIswitch\fR argument, deletes all flows. Otherwise, deletes flow
300 entries that match the specified flows. With \fB\-\-strict\fR,
301 wildcards are not treated as active for matching purposes.
303 .IP "[\fB\-\-readd\fR] \fBreplace\-flows \fIswitch file\fR"
304 Reads flow entries from \fIfile\fR (or \fBstdin\fR if \fIfile\fR is
305 \fB\-\fR) and queries the flow table from \fIswitch\fR. Then it fixes
306 up any differences, adding flows from \fIflow\fR that are missing on
307 \fIswitch\fR, deleting flows from \fIswitch\fR that are not in
308 \fIfile\fR, and updating flows in \fIswitch\fR whose actions, cookie,
309 or timeouts differ in \fIfile\fR.
312 With \fB\-\-readd\fR, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR adds all the flows from
313 \fIfile\fR, even those that exist with the same actions, cookie, and
314 timeout in \fIswitch\fR. This resets all the flow packet and byte
315 counters to 0, which can be useful for debugging.
317 .IP "\fBdiff\-flows \fIsource1 source2\fR"
318 Reads flow entries from \fIsource1\fR and \fIsource2\fR and prints the
319 differences. A flow that is in \fIsource1\fR but not in \fIsource2\fR
320 is printed preceded by a \fB\-\fR, and a flow that is in \fIsource2\fR
321 but not in \fIsource1\fR is printed preceded by a \fB+\fR. If a flow
322 exists in both \fIsource1\fR and \fIsource2\fR with different actions,
323 cookie, or timeouts, then both versions are printed preceded by
324 \fB\-\fR and \fB+\fR, respectively.
326 \fIsource1\fR and \fIsource2\fR may each name a file or a switch. If
327 a name begins with \fB/\fR or \fB.\fR, then it is considered to be a
328 file name. A name that contains \fB:\fR is considered to be a switch.
329 Otherwise, it is a file if a file by that name exists, a switch if
332 For this command, an exit status of 0 means that no differences were
333 found, 1 means that an error occurred, and 2 means that some
334 differences were found.
336 .IP "\fBpacket\-out \fIswitch in_port actions packet\fR..."
337 Connects to \fIswitch\fR and instructs it to execute the OpenFlow
338 \fIactions\fR on each \fIpacket\fR. For the purpose of executing the
339 actions, the packets are considered to have arrived on \fIin_port\fR,
340 which may be an OpenFlow port number or name (e.g. \fBeth0\fR), the
341 keyword \fBLOCAL\fR (the preferred way to refer to the OpenFlow
342 ``local'' port), or the keyword \fBNONE\fR to indicate that the packet
343 was generated by the switch itself.
345 .SS "OpenFlow Switch Group Table Commands"
347 These commands manage the group table in an OpenFlow switch. In each
348 case, \fIgroup\fR specifies a group entry in the format described in
349 \fBGroup Syntax\fR, below, and \fIfile\fR is a text file that contains
350 zero or more groups in the same syntax, one per line.
352 .IP "\fBadd\-group \fIswitch group\fR"
353 .IQ "\fBadd\-group \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
354 .IQ "\fBadd\-groups \fIswitch file\fR"
355 Add each group entry to \fIswitch\fR's tables.
357 .IP "\fBmod\-group \fIswitch group\fR"
358 .IQ "\fBmod\-group \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
359 Modify the action buckets in entries from \fIswitch\fR's tables for
362 .IP "\fBdel\-groups \fIswitch\fR"
363 .IQ "\fBdel\-groups \fIswitch \fR[\fIgroup\fR]"
364 .IQ "\fBdel\-groups \fIswitch \fB\- < \fIfile\fR"
365 Deletes entries from \fIswitch\fR's group table. With only a
366 \fIswitch\fR argument, deletes all groups. Otherwise, deletes the group
367 for each group entry.
369 .SS "OpenFlow Switch Monitoring Commands"
371 .IP "\fBsnoop \fIswitch\fR"
372 Connects to \fIswitch\fR and prints to the console all OpenFlow
373 messages received. Unlike other \fBovs\-ofctl\fR commands, if
374 \fIswitch\fR is the name of a bridge, then the \fBsnoop\fR command
375 connects to a Unix domain socket named
376 \fB@RUNDIR@/\fIbridge\fB.snoop\fR. \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR listens on
377 such a socket for each bridge and sends to it all of the OpenFlow
378 messages sent to or received from its configured OpenFlow controller.
379 Thus, this command can be used to view OpenFlow protocol activity
380 between a switch and its controller.
382 When a switch has more than one controller configured, only the
383 traffic to and from a single controller is output. If none of the
384 controllers is configured as a master or a slave (using a Nicira
385 extension to OpenFlow 1.0 or 1.1, or a standard request in OpenFlow
386 1.2 or later), then a controller is chosen arbitrarily among
387 them. If there is a master controller, it is chosen; otherwise, if
388 there are any controllers that are not masters or slaves, one is
389 chosen arbitrarily; otherwise, a slave controller is chosen
390 arbitrarily. This choice is made once at connection time and does not
391 change as controllers reconfigure their roles.
393 If a switch has no controller configured, or if
394 the configured controller is disconnected, no traffic is sent, so
395 monitoring will not show any traffic.
397 .IP "\fBmonitor \fIswitch\fR [\fImiss-len\fR] [\fBinvalid_ttl\fR] [\fBwatch:\fR[\fIspec\fR...]]"
398 Connects to \fIswitch\fR and prints to the console all OpenFlow
399 messages received. Usually, \fIswitch\fR should specify the name of a
400 bridge in the \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR database.
402 If \fImiss-len\fR is provided, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR sends an OpenFlow ``set
403 configuration'' message at connection setup time that requests
404 \fImiss-len\fR bytes of each packet that misses the flow table. Open vSwitch
405 does not send these and other asynchronous messages to an
406 \fBovs\-ofctl monitor\fR client connection unless a nonzero value is
407 specified on this argument. (Thus, if \fImiss\-len\fR is not
408 specified, very little traffic will ordinarily be printed.)
410 If \fBinvalid_ttl\fR is passed, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR sends an OpenFlow ``set
411 configuration'' message at connection setup time that requests
412 \fBINVALID_TTL_TO_CONTROLLER\fR, so that \fBovs\-ofctl monitor\fR can
413 receive ``packet-in'' messages when TTL reaches zero on \fBdec_ttl\fR action.
415 \fBwatch:\fR[\fB\fIspec\fR...] causes \fBovs\-ofctl\fR to send a
416 ``monitor request'' Nicira extension message to the switch at
417 connection setup time. This message causes the switch to send
418 information about flow table changes as they occur. The following
419 comma-separated \fIspec\fR syntax is available:
422 Do not report the switch's initial flow table contents.
424 Do not report newly added flows.
426 Do not report deleted flows.
428 Do not report modifications to existing flows.
430 Abbreviate changes made to the flow table by \fBovs\-ofctl\fR's own
431 connection to the switch. (These could only occur using the
432 \fBofctl/send\fR command described below under \fBRUNTIME MANAGEMENT
435 Do not report actions as part of flow updates.
436 .IP "\fBtable=\fInumber\fR"
437 Limits the monitoring to the table with the given \fInumber\fR between
438 0 and 254. By default, all tables are monitored.
439 .IP "\fBout_port=\fIport\fR"
440 If set, only flows that output to \fIport\fR are monitored. The
441 \fIport\fR may be an OpenFlow port number or keyword
443 .IP "\fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR"
444 Monitors only flows that have \fIfield\fR specified as the given
445 \fIvalue\fR. Any syntax valid for matching on \fBdump\-flows\fR may
449 This command may be useful for debugging switch or controller
450 implementations. With \fBwatch:\fR, it is particularly useful for
451 observing how a controller updates flow tables.
453 .SS "OpenFlow Switch and Controller Commands"
455 The following commands, like those in the previous section, may be
456 applied to OpenFlow switches, using any of the connection methods
457 described in that section. Unlike those commands, these may also be
458 applied to OpenFlow controllers.
461 \fBprobe \fItarget\fR
462 Sends a single OpenFlow echo-request message to \fItarget\fR and waits
463 for the response. With the \fB\-t\fR or \fB\-\-timeout\fR option, this
464 command can test whether an OpenFlow switch or controller is up and
468 \fBping \fItarget \fR[\fIn\fR]
469 Sends a series of 10 echo request packets to \fItarget\fR and times
470 each reply. The echo request packets consist of an OpenFlow header
471 plus \fIn\fR bytes (default: 64) of randomly generated payload. This
472 measures the latency of individual requests.
475 \fBbenchmark \fItarget n count\fR
476 Sends \fIcount\fR echo request packets that each consist of an
477 OpenFlow header plus \fIn\fR bytes of payload and waits for each
478 response. Reports the total time required. This is a measure of the
479 maximum bandwidth to \fItarget\fR for round-trips of \fIn\fR-byte
484 .IP "\fBofp\-parse\fR \fIfile\fR"
485 Reads \fIfile\fR (or \fBstdin\fR if \fIfile\fR is \fB\-\fR) as a
486 series of OpenFlow messages in the binary format used on an OpenFlow
487 connection, and prints them to the console. This can be useful for
488 printing OpenFlow messages captured from a TCP stream.
490 .IP "\fBofp\-parse\-pcap\fR \fIfile\fR [\fIport\fR...]"
491 Reads \fIfile\fR, which must be in the PCAP format used by network
492 capture tools such as \fBtcpdump\fR or \fBwireshark\fR, extracts all
493 the TCP streams for OpenFlow connections, and prints the OpenFlow
494 messages in those connections in human-readable format on
497 OpenFlow connections are distinguished by TCP port number.
498 Non-OpenFlow packets are ignored. By default, data on TCP ports 6633
499 and 6653 are considered to be OpenFlow. Specify one or more
500 \fIport\fR arguments to override the default.
502 This command cannot usefully print SSL encrypted traffic. It does not
507 Some \fBovs\-ofctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a flow or
508 flows. Such flow descriptions comprise a series
509 \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
510 space. (Embedding spaces into a flow description normally requires
511 quoting to prevent the shell from breaking the description into
514 Flow descriptions should be in \fBnormal form\fR. This means that a
515 flow may only specify a value for an L3 field if it also specifies a
516 particular L2 protocol, and that a flow may only specify an L4 field
517 if it also specifies particular L2 and L3 protocol types. For
518 example, if the L2 protocol type \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded, then L3
519 fields \fBnw_src\fR, \fBnw_dst\fR, and \fBnw_proto\fR must also be
520 wildcarded. Similarly, if \fBdl_type\fR or \fBnw_proto\fR (the L3
521 protocol type) is wildcarded, so must be \fBtp_dst\fR and
522 \fBtp_src\fR, which are L4 fields. \fBovs\-ofctl\fR will warn about
523 flows not in normal form.
525 The following field assignments describe how a flow matches a packet.
526 If any of these assignments is omitted from the flow syntax, the field
527 is treated as a wildcard; thus, if all of them are omitted, the
528 resulting flow matches all packets. The string \fB*\fR may be specified
529 to explicitly mark any of these fields as a wildcard.
530 (\fB*\fR should be quoted to protect it from shell expansion.)
532 .IP \fBin_port=\fIport\fR
533 Matches OpenFlow port \fIport\fR, which may be an OpenFlow port number
534 or keyword (e.g. \fBLOCAL\fR).
535 \fBovs\-ofctl show\fR.
537 (The \fBresubmit\fR action can search OpenFlow flow tables with
538 arbitrary \fBin_port\fR values, so flows that match port numbers that
539 do not exist from an OpenFlow perspective can still potentially be
542 .IP \fBdl_vlan=\fIvlan\fR
543 Matches IEEE 802.1q Virtual LAN tag \fIvlan\fR. Specify \fB0xffff\fR
544 as \fIvlan\fR to match packets that are not tagged with a Virtual LAN;
545 otherwise, specify a number between 0 and 4095, inclusive, as the
546 12-bit VLAN ID to match.
548 .IP \fBdl_vlan_pcp=\fIpriority\fR
549 Matches IEEE 802.1q Priority Code Point (PCP) \fIpriority\fR, which is
550 specified as a value between 0 and 7, inclusive. A higher value
551 indicates a higher frame priority level.
553 .IP \fBdl_src=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
554 .IQ \fBdl_dst=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
555 Matches an Ethernet source (or destination) address specified as 6
556 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons
557 (e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR).
559 .IP \fBdl_src=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB/\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
560 .IQ \fBdl_dst=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB/\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
561 Matches an Ethernet destination address specified as 6 pairs of
562 hexadecimal digits delimited by colons (e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR),
563 with a wildcard mask following the slash. Open vSwitch 1.8 and later
564 support arbitrary masks for source and/or destination. Earlier
565 versions only support masking the destination with the following masks:
567 .IP \fB01:00:00:00:00:00\fR
568 Match only the multicast bit. Thus,
569 \fBdl_dst=01:00:00:00:00:00/01:00:00:00:00:00\fR matches all multicast
570 (including broadcast) Ethernet packets, and
571 \fBdl_dst=00:00:00:00:00:00/01:00:00:00:00:00\fR matches all unicast
573 .IP \fBfe:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff\fR
574 Match all bits except the multicast bit. This is probably not useful.
575 .IP \fBff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff\fR
576 Exact match (equivalent to omitting the mask).
577 .IP \fB00:00:00:00:00:00\fR
578 Wildcard all bits (equivalent to \fBdl_dst=*\fR.)
581 .IP \fBdl_type=\fIethertype\fR
582 Matches Ethernet protocol type \fIethertype\fR, which is specified as an
583 integer between 0 and 65535, inclusive, either in decimal or as a
584 hexadecimal number prefixed by \fB0x\fR (e.g. \fB0x0806\fR to match ARP
587 .IP \fBnw_src=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
588 .IQ \fBnw_dst=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
589 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x0800 (possibly via shorthand, e.g. \fBip\fR
590 or \fBtcp\fR), matches IPv4 source (or destination) address \fIip\fR,
591 which may be specified as an IP address or host name
592 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or \fBwww.example.com\fR). The optional
593 \fInetmask\fR allows restricting a match to an IPv4 address prefix.
594 The netmask may be specified as a dotted quad
595 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a CIDR block
596 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR). Open vSwitch 1.8 and later support
597 arbitrary dotted quad masks; earlier versions support only CIDR masks,
598 that is, the dotted quads that are equivalent to some CIDR block.
600 When \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR or \fBarp\fR is specified, matches the
601 \fBar_spa\fR or \fBar_tpa\fR field, respectively, in ARP packets for
604 When \fBdl_type=0x8035\fR or \fBrarp\fR is specified, matches the
605 \fBar_spa\fR or \fBar_tpa\fR field, respectively, in RARP packets for
608 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800,
609 0x0806, or 0x8035, the values of \fBnw_src\fR and \fBnw_dst\fR are ignored
610 (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR above).
612 .IP \fBnw_proto=\fIproto\fR
613 .IQ \fBip_proto=\fIproto\fR
614 When \fBip\fR or \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR is specified, matches IP
615 protocol type \fIproto\fR, which is specified as a decimal number
616 between 0 and 255, inclusive (e.g. 1 to match ICMP packets or 6 to match
619 When \fBipv6\fR or \fBdl_type=0x86dd\fR is specified, matches IPv6
620 header type \fIproto\fR, which is specified as a decimal number between
621 0 and 255, inclusive (e.g. 58 to match ICMPv6 packets or 6 to match
622 TCP). The header type is the terminal header as described in the
623 \fBDESIGN\fR document.
625 When \fBarp\fR or \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR is specified, matches the lower
626 8 bits of the ARP opcode. ARP opcodes greater than 255 are treated as
629 When \fBrarp\fR or \fBdl_type=0x8035\fR is specified, matches the lower
630 8 bits of the ARP opcode. ARP opcodes greater than 255 are treated as
633 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800,
634 0x0806, 0x8035 or 0x86dd, the value of \fBnw_proto\fR is ignored (see
635 \fBFlow Syntax\fR above).
637 .IP \fBnw_tos=\fItos\fR
638 Matches IP ToS/DSCP or IPv6 traffic class field \fItos\fR, which is
639 specified as a decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive. Note that
640 the two lower reserved bits are ignored for matching purposes.
642 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800 or
643 0x86dd, the value of \fBnw_tos\fR is ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR
646 .IP \fBip_dscp=\fIdscp\fR
647 Matches IP ToS/DSCP or IPv6 traffic class field \fIdscp\fR, which is
648 specified as a decimal number between 0 and 63, inclusive.
650 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800 or
651 0x86dd, the value of \fBip_dscp\fR is ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR
654 .IP \fBnw_ecn=\fIecn\fR
655 .IQ \fBip_ecn=\fIecn\fR
656 Matches \fIecn\fR bits in IP ToS or IPv6 traffic class fields, which is
657 specified as a decimal number between 0 and 3, inclusive.
659 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800 or
660 0x86dd, the value of \fBnw_ecn\fR is ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR
663 .IP \fBnw_ttl=\fIttl\fR
664 Matches IP TTL or IPv6 hop limit value \fIttl\fR, which is
665 specified as a decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive.
667 When \fBdl_type\fR is wildcarded or set to a value other than 0x0800 or
668 0x86dd, the value of \fBnw_ttl\fR is ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR
672 .IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fR
673 .IQ \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fR
674 When \fBdl_type\fR and \fBnw_proto\fR specify TCP or UDP or SCTP, \fBtp_src\fR
675 and \fBtp_dst\fR match the UDP or TCP or SCTP source or destination port
676 \fIport\fR, respectively, which is specified as a decimal number
677 between 0 and 65535, inclusive (e.g. 80 to match packets originating
680 When \fBdl_type\fR and \fBnw_proto\fR take other values, the values of
681 these settings are ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR above).
683 .IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fB/\fImask\fR
684 .IQ \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fB/\fImask\fR
685 Bitwise match on TCP (or UDP or SCTP) source or destination port,
686 respectively. The \fIport\fR and \fImask\fR are 16-bit numbers
687 written in decimal or in hexadecimal prefixed by \fB0x\fR. Each 1-bit
688 in \fImask\fR requires that the corresponding bit in \fIport\fR must
689 match. Each 0-bit in \fImask\fR causes the corresponding bit to be
692 Bitwise matches on transport ports are rarely useful in isolation, but
693 a group of them can be used to reduce the number of flows required to
694 match on a range of transport ports. For example, suppose that the
695 goal is to match TCP source ports 1000 to 1999, inclusive. One way is
696 to insert 1000 flows, each of which matches on a single source port.
697 Another way is to look at the binary representations of 1000 and 1999,
704 and then to transform those into a series of bitwise matches that
705 accomplish the same results:
721 which become the following when written in the syntax required by
724 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x03e8/0xfff8"
726 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x03f0/0xfff0"
728 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x0400/0xfe00"
730 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x0600/0xff00"
732 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x0700/0xff80"
734 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x0780/0xffc0"
736 .B "tcp,tp_src=0x07c0/0xfff0"
738 Only Open vSwitch 1.6 and later supports bitwise matching on transport
741 Like the exact-match forms of \fBtp_src\fR and \fBtp_dst\fR described
742 above, the bitwise match forms apply only when \fBdl_type\fR and
743 \fBnw_proto\fR specify TCP or UDP or SCTP.
745 .IP \fBtcp_flags=\fIflags\fB/\fImask\fR
746 .IQ \fBtcp_flags=\fR[\fB+\fIflag\fR...][\fB-\fIflag\fR...]
747 Bitwise match on TCP flags. The \fIflags\fR and \fImask\fR are 16-bit
748 numbers written in decimal or in hexadecimal prefixed by \fB0x\fR.
749 Each 1-bit in \fImask\fR requires that the corresponding bit in
750 \fIflags\fR must match. Each 0-bit in \fImask\fR causes the corresponding
753 Alternatively, the flags can be specified by their symbolic names
754 (listed below), each preceded by either \fB+\fR for a flag that must
755 be set, or \fB\-\fR for a flag that must be unset, without any other
756 delimiters between the flags. Flags not mentioned are wildcarded.
757 For example, \fBtcp,tcp_flags=+syn\-ack\fR matches TCP SYNs that are
760 TCP protocol currently defines 9 flag bits, and additional 3 bits are
761 reserved (must be transmitted as zero), see RFCs 793, 3168, and 3540.
762 The flag bits are, numbering from the least significant bit:
765 No more data from sender.
767 Synchronize sequence numbers.
769 Reset the connection.
773 Acknowledgement field significant.
775 Urgent pointer field significant.
779 Congestion Windows Reduced.
785 Not matchable, must be zero.
787 .IP \fBicmp_type=\fItype\fR
788 .IQ \fBicmp_code=\fIcode\fR
789 When \fBdl_type\fR and \fBnw_proto\fR specify ICMP or ICMPv6, \fItype\fR
790 matches the ICMP type and \fIcode\fR matches the ICMP code. Each is
791 specified as a decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive.
793 When \fBdl_type\fR and \fBnw_proto\fR take other values, the values of
794 these settings are ignored (see \fBFlow Syntax\fR above).
796 .IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
797 For flow dump commands, limits the flows dumped to those in the table
798 with the given \fInumber\fR between 0 and 254. If not specified (or if
799 255 is specified as \fInumber\fR), then flows in all tables are
803 For flow table modification commands, behavior varies based on the
804 OpenFlow version used to connect to the switch:
808 OpenFlow 1.0 does not support \fBtable\fR for modifying flows.
809 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR will exit with an error if \fBtable\fR (other than
810 \fBtable=255\fR) is specified for a switch that only supports OpenFlow
813 In OpenFlow 1.0, the switch chooses the table into which to insert a
814 new flow. The Open vSwitch software switch always chooses table 0.
815 Other Open vSwitch datapaths and other OpenFlow implementations may
816 choose different tables.
818 The OpenFlow 1.0 behavior in Open vSwitch for modifying or removing
819 flows depends on whether \fB\-\-strict\fR is used. Without
820 \fB\-\-strict\fR, the command applies to matching flows in all tables.
821 With \fB\-\-strict\fR, the command will operate on any single matching
822 flow in any table; it will do nothing if there are matches in more
823 than one table. (The distinction between these behaviors only matters
824 if non-OpenFlow 1.0 commands were also used, because OpenFlow 1.0
825 alone cannot add flows with the same matching criteria to multiple
828 .IP "OpenFlow 1.0 with table_id extension"
829 Open vSwitch implements an OpenFlow extension that allows the
830 controller to specify the table on which to operate. \fBovs\-ofctl\fR
831 automatically enables the extension when \fBtable\fR is specified and
832 OpenFlow 1.0 is used. \fBovs\-ofctl\fR automatically detects whether
833 the switch supports the extension. As of this writing, this extension
834 is only known to be implemented by Open vSwitch.
837 With this extension, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR operates on the requested table
838 when \fBtable\fR is specified, and acts as described for OpenFlow 1.0
839 above when no \fBtable\fR is specified (or for \fBtable=255\fR).
842 OpenFlow 1.1 requires flow table modification commands to specify a
843 table. When \fBtable\fR is not specified (or \fBtable=255\fR is
844 specified), \fBovs\-ofctl\fR defaults to table 0.
846 .IP "OpenFlow 1.2 and later"
847 OpenFlow 1.2 and later allow flow deletion commands, but not other
848 flow table modification commands, to operate on all flow tables, with
849 the behavior described above for OpenFlow 1.0.
852 .IP \fBmetadata=\fIvalue\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]
853 Matches \fIvalue\fR either exactly or with optional \fImask\fR in the metadata
854 field. \fIvalue\fR and \fImask\fR are 64-bit integers, by default in decimal
855 (use a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify hexadecimal). Arbitrary \fImask\fR values
856 are allowed: a 1-bit in \fImask\fR indicates that the corresponding bit in
857 \fIvalue\fR must match exactly, and a 0-bit wildcards that bit. Matching on
858 metadata was added in Open vSwitch 1.8.
861 The following shorthand notations are also available:
864 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR.
867 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=1\fR.
870 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=6\fR.
873 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=17\fR.
876 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=132\fR.
879 Same as \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR.
882 Same as \fBdl_type=0x8035\fR.
885 The following field assignments require support for the NXM (Nicira
886 Extended Match) extension to OpenFlow. When one of these is specified,
887 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR will automatically attempt to negotiate use of this
888 extension. If the switch does not support NXM, then \fBovs\-ofctl\fR
889 will report a fatal error.
891 .IP \fBvlan_tci=\fItci\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]
892 Matches modified VLAN TCI \fItci\fR. If \fImask\fR is omitted,
893 \fItci\fR is the exact VLAN TCI to match; if \fImask\fR is specified,
894 then a 1-bit in \fImask\fR indicates that the corresponding bit in
895 \fItci\fR must match exactly, and a 0-bit wildcards that bit. Both
896 \fItci\fR and \fImask\fR are 16-bit values that are decimal by
897 default; use a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify them in hexadecimal.
900 The value that \fBvlan_tci\fR matches against is 0 for a packet that
901 has no 802.1Q header. Otherwise, it is the TCI value from the 802.1Q
902 header with the CFI bit (with value \fB0x1000\fR) forced to 1.
907 Match only packets without an 802.1Q header.
908 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0xf123\fR
909 Match packets tagged with priority 7 in VLAN 0x123.
910 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0x1123/0x1fff\fR
911 Match packets tagged with VLAN 0x123 (and any priority).
912 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0x5000/0xf000\fR
913 Match packets tagged with priority 2 (in any VLAN).
914 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0/0xfff\fR
915 Match packets with no 802.1Q header or tagged with VLAN 0 (and any
917 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0x5000/0xe000\fR
918 Match packets with no 802.1Q header or tagged with priority 2 (in any
920 .IP \fBvlan_tci=0/0xefff\fR
921 Match packets with no 802.1Q header or tagged with VLAN 0 and priority
925 Some of these matching possibilities can also be achieved with
926 \fBdl_vlan\fR and \fBdl_vlan_pcp\fR.
928 .IP \fBip_frag=\fIfrag_type\fR
929 When \fBdl_type\fR specifies IP or IPv6, \fIfrag_type\fR
930 specifies what kind of IP fragments or non-fragments to match. The
931 following values of \fIfrag_type\fR are supported:
934 Matches only non-fragmented packets.
936 Matches all fragments.
938 Matches only fragments with offset 0.
940 Matches only fragments with nonzero offset.
941 .IP "\fBnot_later\fR"
942 Matches non-fragmented packets and fragments with zero offset.
945 The \fBip_frag\fR match type is likely to be most useful in
946 \fBnx\-match\fR mode. See the description of the \fBset\-frags\fR
947 command, above, for more details.
949 .IP \fBarp_spa=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
950 .IQ \fBarp_tpa=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
951 When \fBdl_type\fR specifies either ARP or RARP, \fBarp_spa\fR and
952 \fBarp_tha\fR match the source and target IPv4 address, respectively.
953 An address may be specified as an IP address or host name
954 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or \fBwww.example.com\fR). The optional
955 \fInetmask\fR allows restricting a match to an IPv4 address prefix.
956 The netmask may be specified as a dotted quad
957 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a CIDR block
958 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR).
960 .IP \fBarp_sha=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
961 .IQ \fBarp_tha=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
962 When \fBdl_type\fR specifies either ARP or RARP, \fBarp_sha\fR and
963 \fBarp_tha\fR match the source and target hardware address, respectively. An
964 address is specified as 6 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons
965 (e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR).
967 .IP \fBarp_sha=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB/\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
968 .IQ \fBarp_tha=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB/\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
969 When \fBdl_type\fR specifies either ARP or RARP, \fBarp_sha\fR and
970 \fBarp_tha\fR match the source and target hardware address, respectively. An
971 address is specified as 6 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons
972 (e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR), with a wildcard mask following the slash.
975 .IP \fBipv6_src=\fIipv6\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
976 .IQ \fBipv6_dst=\fIipv6\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
977 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x86dd (possibly via shorthand, e.g., \fBipv6\fR
978 or \fBtcp6\fR), matches IPv6 source (or destination) address \fIipv6\fR,
979 which may be specified as defined in RFC 2373. The preferred format is
980 \fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fB:\fIx\fR, where
981 \fIx\fR are the hexadecimal values of the eight 16-bit pieces of the
982 address. A single instance of \fB::\fR may be used to indicate multiple
983 groups of 16-bits of zeros. The optional \fInetmask\fR allows
984 restricting a match to an IPv6 address prefix. A netmask is specified
985 as an IPv6 address (e.g. \fB2001:db8:3c4d:1::/ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::\fR)
986 or a CIDR block (e.g. \fB2001:db8:3c4d:1::/64\fR). Open vSwitch 1.8
987 and later support arbitrary masks; earlier versions support only CIDR
988 masks, that is, CIDR block and IPv6 addresses that are equivalent to
991 .IP \fBipv6_label=\fIlabel\fR
992 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x86dd (possibly via shorthand, e.g., \fBipv6\fR
993 or \fBtcp6\fR), matches IPv6 flow label \fIlabel\fR.
995 .IP \fBnd_target=\fIipv6\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
996 When \fBdl_type\fR, \fBnw_proto\fR, and \fBicmp_type\fR specify
997 IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ICMPv6 type 135 or 136), matches the target address
998 \fIipv6\fR. \fIipv6\fR is in the same format described earlier for the
999 \fBipv6_src\fR and \fBipv6_dst\fR fields.
1001 .IP \fBnd_sll=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
1002 When \fBdl_type\fR, \fBnw_proto\fR, and \fBicmp_type\fR specify IPv6
1003 Neighbor Solicitation (ICMPv6 type 135), matches the source link\-layer
1004 address option. An address is specified as 6 pairs of hexadecimal
1005 digits delimited by colons.
1007 .IP \fBnd_tll=\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fB:\fIxx\fR
1008 When \fBdl_type\fR, \fBnw_proto\fR, and \fBicmp_type\fR specify IPv6
1009 Neighbor Advertisement (ICMPv6 type 136), matches the target link\-layer
1010 address option. An address is specified as 6 pairs of hexadecimal
1011 digits delimited by colons.
1013 .IP \fBmpls_bos=\fIbos\fR
1014 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x8847 or 0x8848 (possibly via shorthand e.g.,
1015 \fBmpls\fR or \fBmplsm\fR), matches the bottom-of-stack bit of the
1016 outer-most MPLS label stack entry. Valid values are 0 and 1.
1018 If 1 then for a packet with a well-formed MPLS label stack the
1019 bottom-of-stack bit indicates that the outer label stack entry is also
1020 the inner-most label stack entry and thus that is that there is only one
1021 label stack entry present. Conversely, if 0 then for a packet with a
1022 well-formed MPLS label stack the bottom-of-stack bit indicates that the
1023 outer label stack entry is not the inner-most label stack entry and
1024 thus there is more than one label stack entry present.
1026 .IP \fBmpls_label=\fIlabel\fR
1027 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x8847 or 0x8848 (possibly via shorthand e.g.,
1028 \fBmpls\fR or \fBmplsm\fR), matches the label of the outer
1029 MPLS label stack entry. The label is a 20-bit value that is decimal by default;
1030 use a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify them in hexadecimal.
1032 .IP \fBmpls_tc=\fItc\fR
1033 When \fBdl_type\fR is 0x8847 or 0x8848 (possibly via shorthand e.g.,
1034 \fBmpls\fR or \fBmplsm\fR), matches the traffic-class of the outer
1035 MPLS label stack entry. Valid values are between 0 (lowest) and 7 (highest).
1037 .IP \fBtun_id=\fItunnel-id\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]
1038 .IQ \fBtunnel_id=\fItunnel-id\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]
1039 Matches tunnel identifier \fItunnel-id\fR. Only packets that arrive
1040 over a tunnel that carries a key (e.g. GRE with the RFC 2890 key
1041 extension and a nonzero key value) will have a nonzero tunnel ID.
1042 If \fImask\fR is omitted, \fItunnel-id\fR is the exact tunnel ID to match;
1043 if \fImask\fR is specified, then a 1-bit in \fImask\fR indicates that the
1044 corresponding bit in \fItunnel-id\fR must match exactly, and a 0-bit
1047 .IP \fBtun_src=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
1048 .IQ \fBtun_dst=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
1049 Matches tunnel IPv4 source (or destination) address \fIip\fR. Only packets
1050 that arrive over a tunnel will have nonzero tunnel addresses.
1051 The address may be specified as an IP address or host name
1052 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or \fBwww.example.com\fR). The optional
1053 \fInetmask\fR allows restricting a match to a masked IPv4 address.
1054 The netmask may be specified as a dotted quad
1055 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a CIDR block
1056 (e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR).
1058 .IP "\fBreg\fIidx\fB=\fIvalue\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]"
1059 Matches \fIvalue\fR either exactly or with optional \fImask\fR in
1060 register number \fIidx\fR. The valid range of \fIidx\fR depends on
1061 the switch. \fIvalue\fR and \fImask\fR are 32-bit integers, by
1062 default in decimal (use a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify hexadecimal).
1063 Arbitrary \fImask\fR values are allowed: a 1-bit in \fImask\fR
1064 indicates that the corresponding bit in \fIvalue\fR must match
1065 exactly, and a 0-bit wildcards that bit.
1067 When a packet enters an OpenFlow switch, all of the registers are set
1068 to 0. Only explicit Nicira extension actions change register values.
1070 .IP \fBpkt_mark=\fIvalue\fR[\fB/\fImask\fR]
1071 Matches packet metadata mark \fIvalue\fR either exactly or with optional
1072 \fImask\fR. The mark is associated data that may be passed into other
1073 system components in order to facilitate interaction between subsystems.
1074 On Linux this corresponds to the skb mark but the exact implementation is
1078 Defining IPv6 flows (those with \fBdl_type\fR equal to 0x86dd) requires
1079 support for NXM. The following shorthand notations are available for
1083 Same as \fBdl_type=0x86dd\fR.
1086 Same as \fBdl_type=0x86dd,nw_proto=6\fR.
1089 Same as \fBdl_type=0x86dd,nw_proto=17\fR.
1092 Same as \fBdl_type=0x86dd,nw_proto=132\fR.
1095 Same as \fBdl_type=0x86dd,nw_proto=58\fR.
1098 Finally, field assignments to \fBduration\fR, \fBn_packets\fR, or
1099 \fBn_bytes\fR are ignored to allow output from the \fBdump\-flows\fR
1100 command to be used as input for other commands that parse flows.
1103 The \fBadd\-flow\fR, \fBadd\-flows\fR, and \fBmod\-flows\fR commands
1104 require an additional field, which must be the final field specified:
1106 .IP \fBactions=\fR[\fIaction\fR][\fB,\fIaction\fR...]\fR
1107 Specifies a comma-separated list of actions to take on a packet when the
1108 flow entry matches. If no \fIaction\fR is specified, then packets
1109 matching the flow are dropped. The following forms of \fIaction\fR
1114 .IQ \fBoutput:\fIport\fR
1115 Outputs the packet to OpenFlow port number \fIport\fR. If \fIport\fR
1116 is the packet's input port, the packet is not output.
1118 .IP \fBoutput:\fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]
1119 Outputs the packet to the OpenFlow port number read from \fIsrc\fR,
1120 which must be an NXM field as described above. For example,
1121 \fBoutput:NXM_NX_REG0[16..31]\fR outputs to the OpenFlow port number
1122 written in the upper half of register 0. If the port number is the
1123 packet's input port, the packet is not output.
1125 This form of \fBoutput\fR was added in Open vSwitch 1.3.0. This form
1126 of \fBoutput\fR uses an OpenFlow extension that is not supported by
1127 standard OpenFlow switches.
1130 Subjects the packet to the device's normal L2/L3 processing. (This
1131 action is not implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)
1134 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
1135 which it was received and any ports on which flooding is disabled
1136 (typically, these would be ports disabled by the IEEE 802.1D spanning
1140 Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
1141 which it was received.
1144 Outputs the packet on the ``local port,'' which corresponds to the
1145 network device that has the same name as the bridge.
1148 Outputs the packet on the port from which it was received.
1150 .IP \fBcontroller(\fIkey\fB=\fIvalue\fR...\fB)
1151 Sends the packet to the OpenFlow controller as a ``packet in''
1152 message. The supported key-value pairs are:
1154 .IP "\fBmax_len=\fInbytes\fR"
1155 Limit to \fInbytes\fR the number of bytes of the packet to send to
1156 the controller. By default the entire packet is sent.
1157 .IP "\fBreason=\fIreason\fR"
1158 Specify \fIreason\fR as the reason for sending the message in the
1159 ``packet in'' message. The supported reasons are \fBaction\fR (the
1160 default), \fBno_match\fR, and \fBinvalid_ttl\fR.
1161 .IP "\fBid=\fIcontroller-id\fR"
1162 Specify \fIcontroller-id\fR, a 16-bit integer, as the connection ID of
1163 the OpenFlow controller or controllers to which the ``packet in''
1164 message should be sent. The default is zero. Zero is also the
1165 default connection ID for each controller connection, and a given
1166 controller connection will only have a nonzero connection ID if its
1167 controller uses the \fBNXT_SET_CONTROLLER_ID\fR Nicira extension to
1171 Any \fIreason\fR other than \fBaction\fR and any nonzero
1172 \fIcontroller-id\fR uses a Nicira vendor extension that, as of this
1173 writing, is only known to be implemented by Open vSwitch (version 1.6
1176 .IP \fBcontroller\fR
1177 .IQ \fBcontroller\fR[\fB:\fInbytes\fR]
1178 Shorthand for \fBcontroller()\fR or
1179 \fBcontroller(max_len=\fInbytes\fB)\fR, respectively.
1181 .IP \fBenqueue(\fIport\fB,\fIqueue\fB)\fR
1182 Enqueues the packet on the specified \fIqueue\fR within port
1183 \fIport\fR, which must be an OpenFlow port number or keyword
1184 (e.g. \fBLOCAL\fR). The number of supported queues depends on the
1185 switch; some OpenFlow implementations do not support queuing at all.
1188 Discards the packet, so no further processing or forwarding takes place.
1189 If a drop action is used, no other actions may be specified.
1191 .IP \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR:\fIvlan_vid\fR
1192 Modifies the VLAN id on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
1193 as necessary to match the value specified. If the VLAN tag is added,
1194 a priority of zero is used (see the \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR action to set
1197 .IP \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR:\fIvlan_pcp\fR
1198 Modifies the VLAN priority on a packet. The VLAN tag is added or modified
1199 as necessary to match the value specified. Valid values are between 0
1200 (lowest) and 7 (highest). If the VLAN tag is added, a vid of zero is used
1201 (see the \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR action to set this).
1203 .IP \fBstrip_vlan\fR
1204 Strips the VLAN tag from a packet if it is present.
1206 .IP \fBpush_vlan\fR:\fIethertype\fR
1207 Push a new VLAN tag onto the packet. Ethertype is used as the the Ethertype
1208 for the tag. Only ethertype 0x8100 should be used. (0x88a8 which the spec
1209 allows isn't supported at the moment.)
1210 A priority of zero and the tag of zero are used for the new tag.
1212 .IP \fBpush_mpls\fR:\fIethertype\fR
1213 Changes the packet's Ethertype to \fIethertype\fR, which must be either
1214 \fB0x8847\fR or \fB0x8848\fR, and pushes an MPLS LSE.
1216 If the packet does not already contain any MPLS labels then an initial
1217 label stack entry is pushed. The label stack entry's label is 2 if the
1218 packet contains IPv6 and 0 otherwise, its default traffic control value is
1219 the low 3 bits of the packet's DSCP value (0 if the packet is not IP), and
1220 its TTL is copied from the IP TTL (64 if the packet is not IP).
1222 If the packet does already contain an MPLS label, pushes a new
1223 outermost label as a copy of the existing outermost label.
1225 A limitation of the implementation is that processing of actions will stop
1226 if \fBpush_mpls\fR follows another \fBpush_mpls\fR unless there is a
1227 \fBpop_mpls\fR in between.
1229 .IP \fBpop_mpls\fR:\fIethertype\fR
1230 Strips the outermost MPLS label stack entry.
1231 Currently the implementation restricts \fIethertype\fR to a non-MPLS Ethertype
1232 and thus \fBpop_mpls\fR should only be applied to packets with
1233 an MPLS label stack depth of one. A further limitation is that processing of
1234 actions will stop if \fBpop_mpls\fR follows another \fBpop_mpls\fR unless
1235 there is a \fBpush_mpls\fR in between.
1237 .IP \fBmod_dl_src\fB:\fImac\fR
1238 Sets the source Ethernet address to \fImac\fR.
1240 .IP \fBmod_dl_dst\fB:\fImac\fR
1241 Sets the destination Ethernet address to \fImac\fR.
1243 .IP \fBmod_nw_src\fB:\fIip\fR
1244 Sets the IPv4 source address to \fIip\fR.
1246 .IP \fBmod_nw_dst\fB:\fIip\fR
1247 Sets the IPv4 destination address to \fIip\fR.
1249 .IP \fBmod_tp_src\fB:\fIport\fR
1250 Sets the TCP or UDP or SCTP source port to \fIport\fR.
1252 .IP \fBmod_tp_dst\fB:\fIport\fR
1253 Sets the TCP or UDP or SCTP destination port to \fIport\fR.
1255 .IP \fBmod_nw_tos\fB:\fItos\fR
1256 Sets the DSCP bits in the IPv4 ToS/DSCP or IPv6 traffic class field to
1257 \fItos\fR, which must be a multiple of 4 between 0 and 255. This action
1258 does not modify the two least significant bits of the ToS field (the ECN bits).
1260 .IP \fBmod_nw_ecn\fB:\fIecn\fR
1261 Sets the ECN bits in the IPv4 ToS or IPv6 traffic class field to \fIecn\fR,
1262 which must be a value between 0 and 3, inclusive. This action does not modify
1263 the six most significant bits of the field (the DSCP bits).
1265 Requires OpenFlow 1.1 or later.
1267 .IP \fBmod_nw_ttl\fB:\fIttl\fR
1268 Sets the IPv4 TTL or IPv6 hop limit field to \fIttl\fR, which is specified as
1269 a decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive. Switch behavior when setting
1270 \fIttl\fR to zero is not well specified, though.
1272 Requires OpenFlow 1.1 or later.
1275 The following actions are Nicira vendor extensions that, as of this writing, are
1276 only known to be implemented by Open vSwitch:
1280 .IP \fBresubmit\fB:\fIport\fR
1281 .IQ \fBresubmit\fB(\fR[\fIport\fR]\fB,\fR[\fItable\fR]\fB)
1282 Re-searches this OpenFlow flow table (or the table whose number is
1283 specified by \fItable\fR) with the \fBin_port\fR field replaced by
1284 \fIport\fR (if \fIport\fR is specified) and executes the actions
1285 found, if any, in addition to any other actions in this flow entry.
1287 Recursive \fBresubmit\fR actions are obeyed up to an
1288 implementation-defined maximum depth. Open vSwitch 1.0.1 and earlier
1289 did not support recursion; Open vSwitch before 1.2.90 did not support
1292 .IP \fBset_tunnel\fB:\fIid\fR
1293 .IQ \fBset_tunnel64\fB:\fIid\fR
1294 If outputting to a port that encapsulates the packet in a tunnel and
1295 supports an identifier (such as GRE), sets the identifier to \fIid\fR.
1296 If the \fBset_tunnel\fR form is used and \fIid\fR fits in 32 bits,
1297 then this uses an action extension that is supported by Open vSwitch
1298 1.0 and later. Otherwise, if \fIid\fR is a 64-bit value, it requires
1299 Open vSwitch 1.1 or later.
1301 .IP \fBset_queue\fB:\fIqueue\fR
1302 Sets the queue that should be used to \fIqueue\fR when packets are
1303 output. The number of supported queues depends on the switch; some
1304 OpenFlow implementations do not support queuing at all.
1307 Restores the queue to the value it was before any \fBset_queue\fR
1308 actions were applied.
1311 .IQ \fBdec_ttl\fB[\fR(\fIid1,id2\fI)\fR]\fR
1312 Decrement TTL of IPv4 packet or hop limit of IPv6 packet. If the
1313 TTL or hop limit is initially zero or decrementing would make it so, no
1314 decrement occurs, as packets reaching TTL zero must be rejected. Instead,
1315 a ``packet-in'' message with reason code \fBOFPR_INVALID_TTL\fR is
1316 sent to each connected controller that has enabled receiving them,
1317 if any. Processing the current set of actions then stops. However,
1318 if the current set of actions was reached through ``resubmit'' then
1319 remaining actions in outer levels resume processing. This action
1320 also optionally supports the ability to specify a list of valid
1321 controller ids. Each of controllers in the list will receive the
1322 ``packet_in'' message only if they have registered to receive the
1323 invalid ttl packets. If controller ids are not specified, the
1324 ``packet_in'' message will be sent only to the controllers having
1325 controller id zero which have registered for the invalid ttl packets.
1327 .IP \fBset_mpls_label\fR:\fIlabel\fR
1328 Set the label of the outer MPLS label stack entry of a packet.
1329 \fIlabel\fR should be a 20-bit value that is decimal by default;
1330 use a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify them in hexadecimal.
1332 .IP \fBset_mpls_tc\fR:\fItc\fR
1333 Set the traffic-class of the outer MPLS label stack entry of a packet.
1334 \fItc\fR should be a in the range 0 to 7 inclusive.
1336 .IP \fBset_mpls_ttl\fR:\fIttl\fR
1337 Set the TTL of the outer MPLS label stack entry of a packet.
1338 \fIttl\fR should be in the range 0 to 255 inclusive.
1340 .IP \fBdec_mpls_ttl\fR
1341 Decrement TTL of the outer MPLS label stack entry of a packet. If the TTL
1342 is initially zero or decrementing would make it so, no decrement occurs.
1343 Instead, a ``packet-in'' message with reason code \fBOFPR_INVALID_TTL\fR
1344 is sent to the main controller (id zero), if it has enabled receiving them.
1345 Processing the current set of actions then stops. However, if the current
1346 set of actions was reached through ``resubmit'' then remaining actions in
1347 outer levels resume processing.
1349 .IP \fBnote:\fR[\fIhh\fR]...
1350 Does nothing at all. Any number of bytes represented as hex digits
1351 \fIhh\fR may be included. Pairs of hex digits may be separated by
1352 periods for readability.
1353 The \fBnote\fR action's format doesn't include an exact length for its
1354 payload, so the provided bytes will be padded on the right by enough
1355 bytes with value 0 to make the total number 6 more than a multiple of
1358 .IP "\fBmove:\fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\->\fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR"
1359 Copies the named bits from field \fIsrc\fR to field \fIdst\fR.
1360 \fIsrc\fR and \fIdst\fR must be NXM field names as defined in
1361 \fBnicira\-ext.h\fR, e.g. \fBNXM_OF_UDP_SRC\fR or \fBNXM_NX_REG0\fR.
1362 Each \fIstart\fR and \fIend\fR pair, which are inclusive, must specify
1363 the same number of bits and must fit within its respective field.
1364 Shorthands for \fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR exist: use
1365 \fB[\fIbit\fB]\fR to specify a single bit or \fB[]\fR to specify an
1368 Examples: \fBmove:NXM_NX_REG0[0..5]\->NXM_NX_REG1[26..31]\fR copies the
1369 six bits numbered 0 through 5, inclusive, in register 0 into bits 26
1370 through 31, inclusive;
1371 \fBmove:NXM_NX_REG0[0..15]\->NXM_OF_VLAN_TCI[]\fR copies the least
1372 significant 16 bits of register 0 into the VLAN TCI field.
1374 .IP "\fBload:\fIvalue\fB\->\fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]"
1375 Writes \fIvalue\fR to bits \fIstart\fR through \fIend\fR, inclusive,
1378 Example: \fBload:55\->NXM_NX_REG2[0..5]\fR loads value 55 (bit pattern
1379 \fB110111\fR) into bits 0 through 5, inclusive, in register 2.
1381 .IP "\fBpush:\fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]"
1382 Pushes \fIstart\fR to \fIend\fR bits inclusive, in fields
1383 on top of the stack.
1385 Example: \fBpush:NXM_NX_REG2[0..5]\fR push the value stored in register
1386 2 bits 0 through 5, inclusive, on to the internal stack.
1388 .IP "\fBpop:\fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]"
1389 Pops from the top of the stack, retrieves the \fIstart\fR to \fIend\fR bits
1390 inclusive, from the value popped and store them into the corresponding
1394 Example: \fBpop:NXM_NX_REG2[0..5]\fR pops the value from top of the stack.
1395 Set register 2 bits 0 through 5, inclusive, based on bits 0 through 5 from the
1398 .IP "\fBset_field:\fIvalue\fB\->\fIdst"
1399 Writes the literal \fIvalue\fR into the field \fIdst\fR, which should
1400 be specified as a name used for matching. (This is similar to
1401 \fBload\fR but more closely matches the set-field action defined in
1402 OpenFlow 1.2 and above.)
1405 Example: \fBset_field:00:11:22:33:44:55->eth_src\fR.
1407 .IP "\fBmultipath(\fIfields\fB, \fIbasis\fB, \fIalgorithm\fB, \fIn_links\fB, \fIarg\fB, \fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB])\fR"
1408 Hashes \fIfields\fR using \fIbasis\fR as a universal hash parameter,
1409 then the applies multipath link selection \fIalgorithm\fR (with
1410 parameter \fIarg\fR) to choose one of \fIn_links\fR output links
1411 numbered 0 through \fIn_links\fR minus 1, and stores the link into
1412 \fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR, which must be an NXM field as
1415 Currently, \fIfields\fR must be either \fBeth_src\fR or
1416 \fBsymmetric_l4\fR and \fIalgorithm\fR must be one of \fBmodulo_n\fR,
1417 \fBhash_threshold\fR, \fBhrw\fR, and \fBiter_hash\fR. Only
1418 the \fBiter_hash\fR algorithm uses \fIarg\fR.
1420 Refer to \fBnicira\-ext.h\fR for more details.
1422 .IP "\fBbundle(\fIfields\fB, \fIbasis\fB, \fIalgorithm\fB, \fIslave_type\fB, slaves:[\fIs1\fB, \fIs2\fB, ...])\fR"
1423 Hashes \fIfields\fR using \fIbasis\fR as a universal hash parameter, then
1424 applies the bundle link selection \fIalgorithm\fR to choose one of the listed
1425 slaves represented as \fIslave_type\fR. Currently the only supported
1426 \fIslave_type\fR is \fBofport\fR. Thus, each \fIs1\fR through \fIsN\fR should
1427 be an OpenFlow port number. Outputs to the selected slave.
1429 Currently, \fIfields\fR must be either \fBeth_src\fR or \fBsymmetric_l4\fR and
1430 \fIalgorithm\fR must be one of \fBhrw\fR and \fBactive_backup\fR.
1432 Example: \fBbundle(eth_src,0,hrw,ofport,slaves:4,8)\fR uses an Ethernet source
1433 hash with basis 0, to select between OpenFlow ports 4 and 8 using the Highest
1434 Random Weight algorithm.
1436 Refer to \fBnicira\-ext.h\fR for more details.
1438 .IP "\fBbundle_load(\fIfields\fB, \fIbasis\fB, \fIalgorithm\fB, \fIslave_type\fB, \fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB], slaves:[\fIs1\fB, \fIs2\fB, ...])\fR"
1439 Has the same behavior as the \fBbundle\fR action, with one exception. Instead
1440 of outputting to the selected slave, it writes its selection to
1441 \fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR, which must be an NXM field as described
1444 Example: \fBbundle_load(eth_src, 0, hrw, ofport, NXM_NX_REG0[],
1445 slaves:4, 8)\fR uses an Ethernet source hash with basis 0, to select
1446 between OpenFlow ports 4 and 8 using the Highest Random Weight
1447 algorithm, and writes the selection to \fBNXM_NX_REG0[]\fR.
1449 Refer to \fBnicira\-ext.h\fR for more details.
1451 .IP "\fBlearn(\fIargument\fR[\fB,\fIargument\fR]...\fB)\fR"
1452 This action adds or modifies a flow in an OpenFlow table, similar to
1453 \fBovs\-ofctl \-\-strict mod\-flows\fR. The arguments specify the
1454 flow's match fields, actions, and other properties, as follows. At
1455 least one match criterion and one action argument should ordinarily be
1458 .IP \fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
1459 .IQ \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
1460 .IQ \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
1461 These key-value pairs have the same meaning as in the usual
1462 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR flow syntax.
1464 .IP \fBfin_idle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
1465 .IQ \fBfin_hard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
1466 Adds a \fBfin_timeout\fR action with the specified arguments to the
1467 new flow. This feature was added in Open vSwitch 1.5.90.
1469 .IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
1470 The table in which the new flow should be inserted. Specify a decimal
1471 number between 0 and 254. The default, if \fBtable\fR is unspecified,
1474 .IP \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR
1475 .IQ \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]=\fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR
1476 .IQ \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR
1477 Adds a match criterion to the new flow.
1479 The first form specifies that \fIfield\fR must match the literal
1480 \fIvalue\fR, e.g. \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR. All of the fields and values
1481 for \fBovs\-ofctl\fR flow syntax are available with their usual
1484 The second form specifies that \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR
1485 in the new flow must match \fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR taken
1486 from the flow currently being processed.
1488 The third form is a shorthand for the second form. It specifies that
1489 \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR in the new flow must match
1490 \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR taken from the flow currently
1493 .IP \fBload:\fIvalue\fB\->\fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]
1494 .IQ \fBload:\fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\->\fIdst\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]
1496 Adds a \fBload\fR action to the new flow.
1498 The first form loads the literal \fIvalue\fR into bits \fIstart\fR
1499 through \fIend\fR, inclusive, in field \fIdst\fR. Its syntax is the
1500 same as the \fBload\fR action described earlier in this section.
1502 The second form loads \fIsrc\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR, a value
1503 from the flow currently being processed, into bits \fIstart\fR
1504 through \fIend\fR, inclusive, in field \fIdst\fR.
1506 .IP \fBoutput:\fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR
1507 Add an \fBoutput\fR action to the new flow's actions, that outputs to
1508 the OpenFlow port taken from \fIfield\fB[\fIstart\fB..\fIend\fB]\fR,
1509 which must be an NXM field as described above.
1512 For best performance, segregate learned flows into a table (using
1513 \fBtable=\fInumber\fR) that is not used for any other flows except
1514 possibly for a lowest-priority ``catch-all'' flow, that is, a flow
1515 with no match criteria. (This is why the default \fBtable\fR is 1, to
1516 keep the learned flows separate from the primary flow table 0.)
1520 .IP \fBapply_actions(\fR[\fIaction\fR][\fB,\fIaction\fR...]\fB)
1521 Applies the specific action(s) immediately. The syntax of actions are same
1522 to \fBactions=\fR field.
1524 .IP \fBclear_actions\fR
1525 Clears all the actions in the action set immediately.
1527 .IP \fBwrite_actions(\fR[\fIaction\fR][\fB,\fIaction\fR...]\fB)
1528 Add the specific actions to the action set. The syntax of
1529 \fIactions\fR is the same as in the \fBactions=\fR field. The action
1530 set is carried between flow tables and then executed at the end of the
1534 The actions in the action set are applied in the following order, as
1535 required by the OpenFlow specification, regardless of the order in
1536 which they were added to the action set. Except as specified
1537 otherwise below, the action set only holds at most a single action of
1538 each type. When more than one action of a single type is written to
1539 the action set, the one written later replaces the earlier action:
1589 The action set can contain any number of these actions, with
1590 cumulative effect. That is, when multiple actions modify the same
1591 part of a field, the later modification takes effect, and when they
1592 modify different parts of a field (or different fields), then both
1593 modifications are applied.
1603 If both actions are present, then \fBgroup\fR is executed and
1604 \fBoutput\fR is ignored, regardless of the order in which they were
1605 added to the action set. (If neither action is present, the action
1606 set has no real effect, because the modified packet is not sent
1607 anywhere and thus the modifications are not visible.)
1610 Only the actions listed above may be written to the action set.
1612 .IP \fBwrite_metadata\fB:\fIvalue\fR[/\fImask\fR]
1613 Updates the metadata field for the flow. If \fImask\fR is omitted, the
1614 metadata field is set exactly to \fIvalue\fR; if \fImask\fR is specified, then
1615 a 1-bit in \fImask\fR indicates that the corresponding bit in the metadata
1616 field will be replaced with the corresponding bit from \fIvalue\fR. Both
1617 \fIvalue\fR and \fImask\fR are 64-bit values that are decimal by default; use
1618 a \fB0x\fR prefix to specify them in hexadecimal.
1620 .IP \fBmeter\fR:\fImeter_id\fR
1621 Apply the \fImeter_id\fR before any other actions. If a meter band rate is
1622 exceeded, the packet may be dropped, or modified, depending on the meter
1623 band type. See the description of the \fBMeter Table Commands\fR, above,
1626 .IP \fBgoto_table\fR:\fItable\fR
1627 Indicates the next table in the process pipeline.
1629 .IP "\fBfin_timeout(\fIargument\fR[\fB,\fIargument\fR]\fB)"
1630 This action changes the idle timeout or hard timeout, or both, of this
1631 OpenFlow rule when the rule matches a TCP packet with the FIN or RST
1632 flag. When such a packet is observed, the action reduces the rule's
1633 timeouts to those specified on the action. If the rule's existing
1634 timeout is already shorter than the one that the action specifies,
1635 then that timeout is unaffected.
1637 \fIargument\fR takes the following forms:
1639 .IP "\fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR"
1640 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
1643 .IP "\fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR"
1644 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
1645 regardless of activity. (\fIseconds\fR specifies time since the
1646 flow's creation, not since the receipt of the FIN or RST.)
1649 This action was added in Open vSwitch 1.5.90.
1651 .IP "\fBsample(\fIargument\fR[\fB,\fIargument\fR]...\fB)\fR"
1652 Samples packets and sends one sample for every sampled packet.
1654 \fIargument\fR takes the following forms:
1656 .IP "\fBprobability=\fIpackets\fR"
1657 The number of sampled packets out of 65535. Must be greater or equal to 1.
1658 .IP "\fBcollector_set_id=\fIid\fR"
1659 The unsigned 32-bit integer identifier of the set of sample collectors
1660 to send sampled packets to. Defaults to 0.
1661 .IP "\fBobs_domain_id=\fIid\fR"
1662 When sending samples to IPFIX collectors, the unsigned 32-bit integer
1663 Observation Domain ID sent in every IPFIX flow record. Defaults to 0.
1664 .IP "\fBobs_point_id=\fIid\fR"
1665 When sending samples to IPFIX collectors, the unsigned 32-bit integer
1666 Observation Point ID sent in every IPFIX flow record. Defaults to 0.
1669 Refer to \fBovs\-vswitchd.conf.db\fR(8) for more details on
1670 configuring sample collector sets.
1672 This action was added in Open vSwitch 1.10.90.
1675 This action causes Open vSwitch to immediately halt execution of
1676 further actions. Those actions which have already been executed are
1677 unaffected. Any further actions, including those which may be in
1678 other tables, or different levels of the \fBresubmit\fR call stack,
1679 are ignored. Actions in the action set is still executed (specify
1680 \fBclear_actions\fR before \fBexit\fR to discard them).
1684 An opaque identifier called a cookie can be used as a handle to identify
1687 .IP \fBcookie=\fIvalue\fR
1689 A cookie can be associated with a flow using the \fBadd\-flow\fR,
1690 \fBadd\-flows\fR, and \fBmod\-flows\fR commands. \fIvalue\fR can be any
1691 64-bit number and need not be unique among flows. If this field is
1692 omitted, a default cookie value of 0 is used.
1694 .IP \fBcookie=\fIvalue\fR\fB/\fImask\fR
1696 When using NXM, the cookie can be used as a handle for querying,
1697 modifying, and deleting flows. \fIvalue\fR and \fImask\fR may be
1698 supplied for the \fBdel\-flows\fR, \fBmod\-flows\fR, \fBdump\-flows\fR, and
1699 \fBdump\-aggregate\fR commands to limit matching cookies. A 1-bit in
1700 \fImask\fR indicates that the corresponding bit in \fIcookie\fR must
1701 match exactly, and a 0-bit wildcards that bit. A mask of \-1 may be used
1702 to exactly match a cookie.
1704 The \fBmod\-flows\fR command can update the cookies of flows that
1705 match a cookie by specifying the \fIcookie\fR field twice (once with a
1706 mask for matching and once without to indicate the new value):
1708 .IP "\fBovs\-ofctl mod\-flows br0 cookie=1,actions=normal\fR"
1709 Change all flows' cookies to 1 and change their actions to \fBnormal\fR.
1710 .IP "\fBovs\-ofctl mod\-flows br0 cookie=1/\-1,cookie=2,actions=normal\fR"
1711 Update cookies with a value of 1 to 2 and change their actions to
1715 The ability to match on cookies was added in Open vSwitch 1.5.0.
1718 The following additional field sets the priority for flows added by
1719 the \fBadd\-flow\fR and \fBadd\-flows\fR commands. For
1720 \fBmod\-flows\fR and \fBdel\-flows\fR when \fB\-\-strict\fR is
1721 specified, priority must match along with the rest of the flow
1722 specification. For \fBmod-flows\fR without \fB\-\-strict\fR,
1723 priority is only significant if the command creates a new flow, that
1724 is, non-strict \fBmod\-flows\fR does not match on priority and will
1725 not change the priority of existing flows. Other commands do not
1726 allow priority to be specified.
1728 .IP \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
1729 The priority at which a wildcarded entry will match in comparison to
1730 others. \fIvalue\fR is a number between 0 and 65535, inclusive. A higher
1731 \fIvalue\fR will match before a lower one. An exact-match entry will always
1732 have priority over an entry containing wildcards, so it has an implicit
1733 priority value of 65535. When adding a flow, if the field is not specified,
1734 the flow's priority will default to 32768.
1736 OpenFlow leaves behavior undefined when two or more flows with the
1737 same priority can match a single packet. Some users expect
1738 ``sensible'' behavior, such as more specific flows taking precedence
1739 over less specific flows, but OpenFlow does not specify this and Open
1740 vSwitch does not implement it. Users should therefore take care to
1741 use priorities to ensure the behavior that they expect.
1744 The \fBadd\-flow\fR, \fBadd\-flows\fR, and \fBmod\-flows\fR commands
1745 support the following additional options. These options affect only
1746 new flows. Thus, for \fBadd\-flow\fR and \fBadd\-flows\fR, these
1747 options are always significant, but for \fBmod\-flows\fR they are
1748 significant only if the command creates a new flow, that is, their
1749 values do not update or affect existing flows.
1751 .IP "\fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR"
1752 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
1753 inactivity. A value of 0 (the default) prevents a flow from expiring
1756 .IP \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
1757 Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
1758 regardless of activity. A value of 0 (the default) gives the flow no
1759 hard expiration deadline.
1761 .IP "\fBsend_flow_rem\fR"
1762 Marks the flow with a flag that causes the switch to generate a ``flow
1763 removed'' message and send it to interested controllers when the flow
1764 later expires or is removed.
1766 .IP "\fBcheck_overlap\fR"
1767 Forces the switch to check that the flow match does not overlap that
1768 of any different flow with the same priority in the same table. (This
1769 check is expensive so it is best to avoid it.)
1772 The \fBdump\-flows\fR, \fBdump\-aggregate\fR, \fBdel\-flow\fR
1773 and \fBdel\-flows\fR commands support one additional optional field:
1776 \fBout_port=\fIport\fR
1777 If set, a matching flow must include an output action to \fIport\fR,
1778 which must be an OpenFlow port number or name (e.g. \fBlocal\fR).
1780 .SS "Table Entry Output"
1782 The \fBdump\-tables\fR and \fBdump\-aggregate\fR commands print information
1783 about the entries in a datapath's tables. Each line of output is a
1784 flow entry as described in \fBFlow Syntax\fR, above, plus some
1787 .IP \fBduration=\fIsecs\fR
1788 The time, in seconds, that the entry has been in the table.
1789 \fIsecs\fR includes as much precision as the switch provides, possibly
1790 to nanosecond resolution.
1793 The number of packets that have matched the entry.
1796 The total number of bytes from packets that have matched the entry.
1799 The following additional fields are included only if the switch is
1800 Open vSwitch 1.6 or later and the NXM flow format is used to dump the
1801 flow (see the description of the \fB\-\-flow-format\fR option below).
1802 The values of these additional fields are approximations only and in
1803 particular \fBidle_age\fR will sometimes become nonzero even for busy
1806 .IP \fBhard_age=\fIsecs\fR
1807 The integer number of seconds since the flow was added or modified.
1808 \fBhard_age\fR is displayed only if it differs from the integer part
1809 of \fBduration\fR. (This is separate from \fBduration\fR because
1810 \fBmod\-flows\fR restarts the \fBhard_timeout\fR timer without zeroing
1813 .IP \fBidle_age=\fIsecs\fR
1814 The integer number of seconds that have passed without any packets
1815 passing through the flow.
1819 Some \fBovs\-ofctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a group or
1820 groups. Such flow descriptions comprise a series
1821 \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
1822 space. (Embedding spaces into a group description normally requires
1823 quoting to prevent the shell from breaking the description into
1824 multiple arguments.). Unless noted otherwise only the last instance
1825 of each field is honoured.
1827 .IP \fBgroup_id=\fIid\fR
1828 The integer group id of group.
1829 When this field is specified in \fBdel-groups\fR or \fBdump-groups\fR,
1830 the keyword "all" may be used to designate all groups.
1832 This field is required.
1835 .IP \fBtype=\fItype\fR
1836 The type of the group. This \fBadd-group\fR, \fBadd-groups\fR and
1837 \fBdel-groups\fR command require this field. The following keywords
1838 designated the allowed types:
1841 Execute all buckets in the group.
1843 Execute one bucket in the group.
1844 The switch should select the bucket in such a way that should implement
1845 equal load sharing is achieved. The switch may optionally select the
1846 bucket based on bucket weights.
1848 Executes the one bucket in the group.
1850 .IQ \fBfast_failover\fR
1851 Executes the first live bucket in the group which is associated with
1852 a live port or group.
1855 .IP \fBbucket\fR=\fIbucket_parameters\fR
1856 The \fBadd-group\fR, \fBadd-groups\fR and \fBmod-group\fR commands
1857 require at least one bucket field. Bucket fields must appear after
1860 Multiple bucket fields to specify multiple buckets.
1861 The order in which buckets are specified corresponds to their order in
1862 the group. If the type of the group is "indirect" then only one group may
1865 \fIbucket_parameters\fR consists of a list of \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR
1866 assignments, separated by commas or white space followed by a
1867 comma-separated list of actions.
1868 The syntax of actions are same
1869 to \fBactions=\fR field described in \fBFlow Syntax\fR above.
1870 The fields for \fIbucket_parameters\fR are:
1873 .IP \fBweight=\fIvalue\fR
1874 The relative weight of the bucket as an integer. This may be used by the switch
1875 during bucket select for groups whose \fBtype\fR is \fBselect\fR.
1876 .IP \fBwatch_port=\fIport\fR
1877 Port used to determine liveness of group.
1878 This or the \fBwatch_group\fR field is required
1879 for groups whose \fBtype\fR is \fBff\fR or \fBfast_failover\fR.
1880 .IP \fBwatch_group=\fIgroup_id\fR
1881 Group identifier of group used to determine liveness of group.
1882 This or the \fBwatch_port\fR field is required
1883 for groups whose \fBtype\fR is \fBff\fR or \fBfast_failover\fR.
1888 The meter table commands accept an argument that describes a meter.
1889 Such meter descriptions comprise a series \fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR
1890 assignments, separated by commas or white space.
1891 (Embedding spaces into a group description normally requires
1892 quoting to prevent the shell from breaking the description into
1893 multiple arguments.). Unless noted otherwise only the last instance
1894 of each field is honoured.
1896 .IP \fBmeter=\fIid\fR
1897 The integer meter id of the meter.
1898 When this field is specified in \fBdel-meter\fR, \fBdump-meter\fR, or
1899 \fBmeter-stats\fR, the keyword "all" may be used to designate all meters.
1901 This field is required, exept for \fBmeter-stats\fR, which dumps all stats
1902 when this field is not specified.
1906 The unit for the meter band rate parameters, either kilobits per second, or
1907 packets per second, respectively. One of these must be specified. The burst
1908 size unit corresponds to the rate unit by dropping the "per second", i.e.,
1909 burst is in units of kilobits or packets, respectively.
1912 Specify burst size for all bands, or none of them, if this flag is not given.
1915 Collect meter and band statistics.
1917 .IP \fBbands\fR=\fIband_parameters\fR
1918 The \fBadd-meter\fR and \fBmod-meter\fR commands require at least one
1919 band specification. Bands must appear after all other fields.
1921 .IP \fBtype=\fItype\fR
1922 The type of the meter band. This keyword starts a new band specification.
1923 Each band specifies a rate above which the band is to take some action. The
1924 action depends on the band type. If multiple bands' rate is exceeded, then
1925 the band with the highest rate among the exceeded bands is selected.
1926 The following keywords designate the allowed
1930 Drop packets exceeding the band's rate limit.
1933 .IP "The other \fIband_parameters\fR are:"
1934 .IP \fBrate=\fIvalue\fR
1935 The relative rate limit for this band, in kilobits per second or packets per
1936 second, depending on the meter flags defined above.
1937 .IP \fBburst_size=\fIport\fR
1938 The maximum burst allowed for the band. If unspecified, the switch is free to
1939 select some reasonable value depending on it's configuration.
1945 Uses strict matching when running flow modification commands.
1947 .so lib/ofp-version.man
1949 .IP "\fB\-F \fIformat\fR[\fB,\fIformat\fR...]"
1950 .IQ "\fB\-\-flow\-format=\fIformat\fR[\fB,\fIformat\fR...]"
1951 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR supports the following individual flow formats, any
1952 number of which may be listed as \fIformat\fR:
1954 .IP "\fBOpenFlow10\-table_id\fR"
1955 This is the standard OpenFlow 1.0 flow format. All OpenFlow switches
1956 and all versions of Open vSwitch support this flow format.
1958 .IP "\fBOpenFlow10+table_id\fR"
1959 This is the standard OpenFlow 1.0 flow format plus a Nicira extension
1960 that allows \fBovs\-ofctl\fR to specify the flow table in which a
1961 particular flow should be placed. Open vSwitch 1.2 and later supports
1964 .IP "\fBNXM\-table_id\fR (Nicira Extended Match)"
1965 This Nicira extension to OpenFlow is flexible and extensible. It
1966 supports all of the Nicira flow extensions, such as \fBtun_id\fR and
1967 registers. Open vSwitch 1.1 and later supports this flow format.
1969 .IP "\fBNXM+table_id\fR (Nicira Extended Match)"
1970 This combines Nicira Extended match with the ability to place a flow
1971 in a specific table. Open vSwitch 1.2 and later supports this flow
1974 .IP "\fBOXM-OpenFlow12\fR"
1975 .IQ "\fBOXM-OpenFlow13\fR"
1976 These are the standard OXM (OpenFlow Extensible Match) flow format in
1977 OpenFlow 1.2 and 1.3, respectively.
1981 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR also supports the following abbreviations for
1982 collections of flow formats:
1985 Any supported flow format.
1986 .IP "\fBOpenFlow10\fR"
1987 \fBOpenFlow10\-table_id\fR or \fBOpenFlow10+table_id\fR.
1989 \fBNXM\-table_id\fR or \fBNXM+table_id\fR.
1991 \fBOXM-OpenFlow12\fR or \fBOXM-OpenFlow13\fR.
1995 For commands that modify the flow table, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR by default
1996 negotiates the most widely supported flow format that supports the
1997 flows being added. For commands that query the flow table,
1998 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR by default uses the most advanced format supported by
2001 This option, where \fIformat\fR is a comma-separated list of one or
2002 more of the formats listed above, limits \fBovs\-ofctl\fR's choice of
2003 flow format. If a command cannot work as requested using one of the
2004 specified flow formats, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR will report a fatal error.
2006 .IP "\fB\-P \fIformat\fR"
2007 .IQ "\fB\-\-packet\-in\-format=\fIformat\fR"
2008 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR supports the following packet_in formats, in order of
2009 increasing capability:
2011 .IP "\fBopenflow10\fR"
2012 This is the standard OpenFlow 1.0 packet in format. It should be supported by
2013 all OpenFlow switches.
2015 .IP "\fBnxm\fR (Nicira Extended Match)"
2016 This packet_in format includes flow metadata encoded using the NXM format.
2020 Usually, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR prefers the \fBnxm\fR packet_in format, but will
2021 allow the switch to choose its default if \fBnxm\fR is unsupported. When
2022 \fIformat\fR is one of the formats listed in the above table, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR
2023 will insist on the selected format. If the switch does not support the
2024 requested format, \fBovs\-ofctl\fR will report a fatal error. This option only
2025 affects the \fBmonitor\fR command.
2027 .IP "\fB\-\-timestamp\fR"
2028 Print a timestamp before each received packet. This option only
2029 affects the \fBmonitor\fR, \fBsnoop\fR, and \fBofp\-parse\-pcap\fR
2033 .IQ "\fB\-\-more\fR"
2034 Increases the verbosity of OpenFlow messages printed and logged by
2035 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR commands. Specify this option more than once to
2036 increase verbosity further.
2038 .IP \fB\-\-sort\fR[\fB=\fIfield\fR]
2039 .IQ \fB\-\-rsort\fR[\fB=\fIfield\fR]
2040 Display output sorted by flow \fIfield\fR in ascending
2041 (\fB\-\-sort\fR) or descending (\fB\-\-rsort\fR) order, where
2042 \fIfield\fR is any of the fields that are allowed for matching or
2043 \fBpriority\fR to sort by priority. When \fIfield\fR is omitted, the
2044 output is sorted by priority. Specify these options multiple times to
2045 sort by multiple fields.
2047 Any given flow will not necessarily specify a value for a given
2048 field. This requires special treatement:
2051 A flow that does not specify any part of a field that is used for sorting is
2052 sorted after all the flows that do specify the field. For example,
2053 \fB\-\-sort=tcp_src\fR will sort all the flows that specify a TCP
2054 source port in ascending order, followed by the flows that do not
2055 specify a TCP source port at all.
2057 A flow that only specifies some bits in a field is sorted as if the
2058 wildcarded bits were zero. For example, \fB\-\-sort=nw_src\fR would
2059 sort a flow that specifies \fBnw_src=192.168.0.0/24\fR the same as
2060 \fBnw_src=192.168.0.0\fR.
2063 These options currently affect only \fBdump\-flows\fR output.
2066 \fBovs\-ofctl\fR detaches only when executing the \fBmonitor\fR or \
2067 \fBsnoop\fR commands.
2069 .SS "Public Key Infrastructure Options"
2074 .SH "RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS"
2075 \fBovs\-appctl\fR(8) can send commands to a running \fBovs\-ofctl\fR
2076 process. The supported commands are listed below.
2079 Causes \fBovs\-ofctl\fR to gracefully terminate. This command applies
2080 only when executing the \fBmonitor\fR or \fBsnoop\fR commands.
2082 .IP "\fBofctl/set\-output\-file \fIfile\fR"
2083 Causes all subsequent output to go to \fIfile\fR instead of stderr.
2084 This command applies only when executing the \fBmonitor\fR or
2085 \fBsnoop\fR commands.
2087 .IP "\fBofctl/send \fIofmsg\fR..."
2088 Sends each \fIofmsg\fR, specified as a sequence of hex digits that
2089 express an OpenFlow message, on the OpenFlow connection. This command
2090 is useful only when executing the \fBmonitor\fR command.
2092 .IP "\fBofctl/barrier\fR"
2093 Sends an OpenFlow barrier request on the OpenFlow connection and waits
2094 for a reply. This command is useful only for the \fBmonitor\fR
2099 The following examples assume that \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR has a bridge
2100 named \fBbr0\fR configured.
2103 \fBovs\-ofctl dump\-tables br0\fR
2104 Prints out the switch's table stats. (This is more interesting after
2105 some traffic has passed through.)
2108 \fBovs\-ofctl dump\-flows br0\fR
2109 Prints the flow entries in the switch.
2113 .BR ovs\-appctl (8),
2114 .BR ovs\-vswitchd (8)
2115 .BR ovs\-vswitchd.conf.db (8)