.TH dpctl 8 "May 2008" "OpenFlow" "OpenFlow Manual"

.SH NAME
dpctl \- administer OpenFlow datapaths

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dpctl
[\fIoptions\fR] \fIcommand \fR[\fIswitch\fR] [\fIargs\fR&...]

.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B dpctl
program is a command line tool for monitoring and administering OpenFlow 
datapaths.  It is able to show the current state of a datapath,
including features, configuration, and tables entries.  When using the
OpenFlow kernel module,
.B dpctl
is used to add, delete, modify, and monitor datapaths.  

Most \fBdpctl\fR commands take an argument that specifies the
method for connecting to an OpenFlow switch.  The following connection
methods are supported:

.TP
\fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR
The local Netlink datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR.  This form requires
that the local host has the OpenFlow kernel module for Linux loaded.

.TP
\fBssl:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
The specified SSL \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
\fIhost\fR.  The \fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, and
\fB--ca-cert\fR options are mandatory when this form is used.

.TP
\fBtcp:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
The specified TCP \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
\fIhost\fR.

.TP
\fBunix:\fIfile\fR
The Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.

.SH COMMANDS

With the \fBdpctl\fR program, datapaths running in the kernel can be 
created, deleted, and modified.  A single machine may 
host up to 32 datapaths (numbered 0 to 31).  In most situations, 
a machine hosts only one datapath.

A newly created datapath is not associated with any of the
host's network devices thus does not process any incoming
traffic.  To intercept and process traffic on a given network device, the
network device must be explicitly added to a datapath through the
\fBaddif\fR command.

The following commands manage local datapaths.

.TP
\fBadddp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
Creates datapath numbered \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host.  This will 
fail if \fIdp_idx\fR is not in the range 0 to 31, or if the datapath 
with that number already exists on the host.

.TP
\fBdeldp nl:\fIdp_idx\fR
Deletes datapath \fIdp_idx\fR on the local host.  \fIdp_idx\fR must be
an existing datapath.  All of a datapath's network devices must be
explicitly removed before the datapath can be deleted (see \fBdelif\fR
command).

.TP
\fBaddif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR...
Adds each \fInetdev\fR to the list of network devices datapath
\fIdp_idx\fR monitors, where \fIdp_idx\fR is the ID of an existing
datapath, and \fInetdev\fR is the name of one of the host's
network devices, e.g. \fBeth0\fR.  Once a network device has been added
to a datapath, the datapath has complete ownership of the network device's
traffic and the network device appears silent to the rest of the system.

.TP
\fBdelif nl:\fIdp_idx netdev\fR...
Removes each \fInetdev\fR from the list of network devices datapath
\fIdp_idx\fR monitors.

.PP
The following commands can be apply to OpenFlow switches regardless of
the connection method.

.TP
\fBshow \fIswitch\fR
Prints to the console information on datapath \fIswitch\fR including
information on its flow tables and ports.

.TP
\fBstatus \fIswitch\fR [\fIkey\fR]
Prints to the console a series of key-value pairs that report the
status of \fIswitch\fR.  If \fIkey\fR is specified, only the key-value
pairs whose key names begin with \fIkey\fR are printed.  If \fIkey\fR is
omitted, all key-value pairs are printed.

(In the OpenFlow reference implementation, the \fBstatus\fR command is
implemented in \fBsecchan\fR(8), not in the kernel module, so the
\fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR connection method should not be used with this
command.  Instead, specify \fB-l\fR or \fB--listen\fR on the
\fBsecchan\fR command line and tell \fBdpctl\fR to use the connection
method specified there.)

.TP
\fBdump-tables \fIswitch\fR
Prints to the console statistics for each of the flow tables used by
datapath \fIswitch\fR.

.TP
\fBdump-ports \fIswitch\fR
Prints to the console statistics for each of the network devices
associated with datapath \fIswitch\fR.

.TP
\fBmod-port \fIswitch\fR \fInetdev\fR \fIaction\fR
Modify characteristics of an interface monitored by \fIswitch\fR.  
\fInetdev\fR can be referred to by its OpenFlow assigned port number or 
the device name, e.g. \fBeth0\fR.  The \fIaction\fR may be any one of the
following:

.RS
.IP \fBup\fR
Enables the interface.  This is equivalent to ``ifconfig up'' on a Unix
system.

.IP \fBdown\fR
Disables the interface.  This is equivalent to ``ifconfig down'' on a Unix
system.

.IP \fBflood\fR
When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will be sent out this
interface.  This is the default posture for monitored ports.

.IP \fBnoflood\fR
When a \fIflood\fR action is specified, traffic will not be sent out 
this interface.  This is primarily useful to prevent loops when a
spanning tree protocol is not in use.

.RE

.TP
\fBdump-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
Prints to the console all flow entries in datapath \fIswitch\fR's
tables that match \fIflows\fR.  If \fIflows\fR is omitted, all flows
in the datapath are retrieved.  See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the
syntax of \fIflows\fR.

.TP
\fBdump-aggregate \fIswitch \fR[\fIflows\fR]
Prints to the console aggregate statistics for flows in datapath
\fSWITCH\fR's tables that match \fIflows\fR.  If \fIflows\fR is omitted, 
the statistics are aggregated across all flows in the datapath's flow
tables.  See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.

.TP
\fBadd-flow \fIswitch flow\fR
Add the flow entry as described by \fIflow\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's 
tables.  The flow entry is in the format described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, 
below.

.TP
\fBadd-flows \fIswitch file\fR
Add flow entries as described in \fIfile\fR to the datapath \fIswitch\fR's 
tables.  Each line in \fIfile\fR is a flow entry in the format
described in \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below.

.TP
\fBmod-flows \fIswitch flow\fR
Modify the actions in entries from the datapath \fIswitch\fR's tables 
that match \fIflow\fR.  When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option,
wildcards are not treated as active for matching purposes.  See 
\fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the syntax of \fIflows\fR.

.TP
\fBdel-flows \fIswitch \fR[\fIflow\fR]
Deletes entries from the datapath \fIswitch\fR's tables that match
\fIflow\fR.  When invoked with the \fB--strict\fR option, wildcards are 
not treated as active for matching purposes.  If \fIflow\fR is 
omitted and the \fB--strict\fR option is not used, all flows in the 
datapath's tables are removed.  See \fBFLOW SYNTAX\fR, below, for the 
syntax of \fIflows\fR.

.TP
\fBmonitor \fIswitch\fR
Connects to \fIswitch\fR and prints to the console all OpenFlow
messages received.  Usually, \fIswitch\fR should specify a connection
named on \fBsecchan\fR(8)'s \fB-m\fR or \fB--monitor\fR command line
option, in which the messages printed will be all those sent or
received by \fBsecchan\fR to or from the kernel datapath module.  A
\fIswitch\fR of the form \fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR will print all
asynchronously generated OpenFlow messages (such as packet-in
messages), but it will not print any messages sent to the kernel by
\fBsecchan\fR and other processes, nor will it print replies sent by
the kernel in response to those messages.

.TP
\fBexecute \fIswitch command \fR[\fIarg\fR...]

Sends a request to \fIswitch\fR to execute \fIcommand\fR along with
each \fIarg\fR, if any, then waits for the command to complete and
reports its completion status on \fBstderr\fR and its output, if any,
on \fBstdout\fR.  The set of available commands and their argument is
switch-dependent.  (This command uses a Nicira extension to OpenFlow
that may not be available on all switches.)

.PP
The following commands can be used regardless of the connection
method.  They apply to OpenFlow switches and controllers.

.TP
\fBprobe \fIvconn\fR
Connects to \fIvconn\fR and sends a single OpenFlow echo-request
packet and waits for the response.  With the \fB-t\fR or
\fB--timeout\fR option, this command can test whether an OpenFlow
switch or controller is up and running.

.TP
\fBping \fIvconn \fR[\fIn\fR]
Sends a series of 10 echo request packets to \fIvconn\fR and times
each reply.  The echo request packets consist of an OpenFlow header
plus \fIn\fR bytes (default: 64) of randomly generated payload.  This
measures the latency of individual requests.

.TP
\fBbenchmark \fIvconn n count\fR
Sends \fIcount\fR echo request packets that each consist of an
OpenFlow header plus \fIn\fR bytes of payload and waits for each
response.  Reports the total time required.  This is a measure of the
maximum bandwidth to \fIvconn\fR for round-trips of \fIn\fR-byte
messages.

.SH "FLOW SYNTAX"

Some \fBdpctl\fR commands accept an argument that describes a flow or
flows.  Such flow descriptions comprise a series
\fIfield\fB=\fIvalue\fR assignments, separated by commas or white
space.

The following field assignments describe how a flow matches a packet.
If any of these assignments is omitted from the flow syntax, the field
is treated as a wildcard; thus, if all of them are omitted, the
resulting flow matches all packets.  The string \fB*\fR or \fBANY\fR
may be specified a value to explicitly mark any of these fields as a
wildcard.

.IP \fBin_port=\fIport_no\fR
Matches physical port \fIport_no\fR.  Switch ports are numbered as
displayed by \fBdpctl show\fR.

.IP \fBdl_vlan=\fIvlan\fR
Matches IEEE 802.1q virtual LAN tag \fIvlan\fR.  Specify \fB0xffff\fR
as \fIvlan\fR to match packets that are not tagged with a virtual LAN;
otherwise, specify a number between 0 and 4095, inclusive, as the
12-bit VLAN ID to match.

.IP \fBdl_src=\fImac\fR
Matches Ethernet source address \fImac\fR, which should be specified
as 6 pairs of hexadecimal digits delimited by colons,
e.g. \fB00:0A:E4:25:6B:B0\fR.

.IP \fBdl_dst=\fImac\fR
Matches Ethernet destination address \fImac\fR.

.IP \fBdl_type=\fIethertype\fR
Matches Ethernet protocol type \fIethertype\fR, which should be
specified as a integer between 0 and 65535, inclusive, either in
decimal or as a hexadecimal number prefixed by \fB0x\fR,
e.g. \fB0x0806\fR to match ARP packets.

.IP \fBnw_src=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
Matches IPv4 source address \fIip\fR, which should be specified as an
IP address or host name, e.g. \fB192.168.1.1\fR or
\fBwww.example.com\fR.  The optional \fInetmask\fR allows matching
only on an IPv4 address prefix.  It may be specified as a dotted quad
(e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0\fR) or as a count of bits
(e.g. \fB192.168.1.0/24\fR).

.IP \fBnw_dst=\fIip\fR[\fB/\fInetmask\fR]
Matches IPv4 destination address \fIip\fR.

.IP \fBnw_proto=\fIproto\fR
Matches IP protocol type \fIproto\fR, which should be specified as a
decimal number between 0 and 255, inclusive, e.g. 6 to match TCP
packets.

.IP \fBtp_src=\fIport\fR
Matches UDP or TCP source port \fIport\fR, which should be specified
as a decimal number between 0 and 65535, inclusive, e.g. 80 to match
packets originating from a HTTP server.

.IP \fBtp_dst=\fIport\fR
Matches UDP or TCP destination port \fIport\fR.

.IP \fBicmp_type=\fItype\fR
Matches ICMP message with \fItype\fR, which should be specified as a decimal 
number between 0 and 255, inclusive.

.IP \fBicmp_code=\fIcode\fR
Matches ICMP messages with \fIcode\fR.

.PP
The following shorthand notations are also available:

.IP \fBip\fR
Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800\fR.

.IP \fBicmp\fR
Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=1\fR.

.IP \fBtcp\fR
Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=6\fR.

.IP \fBudp\fR
Same as \fBdl_type=0x0800,nw_proto=17\fR.

.IP \fBarp\fR
Same as \fBdl_type=0x0806\fR.

.PP
The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands require an additional field:

.IP \fIactions\fB=\fItarget\fR[\fB,\fItarget\fR...]\fR
Specifies a comma-separated list of actions to take on a packet when the 
flow entry matches.  The \fItarget\fR may be a decimal port number 
designating the physical port on which to output the packet, or one of 
the following keywords:

.RS
.IP \fBoutput\fR:\fIport\fR
Outputs the packet on the port specified by \fIport\fR.

.IP \fBnormal\fR
Subjects the packet to the device's normal L2/L3 processing.  (This
action is not implemented by all OpenFlow switches.)

.IP \fBflood\fR
Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
which it was received and any ports on which flooding is disabled
(typically, these would be ports disabled by the IEEE 802.1D spanning
tree protocol).

.IP \fBall\fR
Outputs the packet on all switch physical ports other than the port on
which it was received.

.IP \fBcontroller\fR:\fImax_len\fR
Sends the packet to the OpenFlow controller as a ``packet in''
message.  If \fImax_len\fR is a number, then it specifies the maximum
number of bytes that should be sent.  If \fImax_len\fR is \fBALL\fR or
omitted, then the entire packet is sent.

.IP \fBlocal\fR
Outputs the packet on the ``local port,'' which corresponds to the
\fBof\fIn\fR network device (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR in
\fBsecchan\fR(8) for information on the \fBof\fIn\fR network device).

.IP \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR:\fIvlan_vid\fR
Modifies the VLAN id on a packet.  The VLAN tag is added or modified 
as necessary to match the value specified.  If the VLAN tag is added,
a priority of zero is used (see the \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR action to set
this).

.IP \fBmod_vlan_pcp\fR:\fIvlan_pcp\fR
Modifies the VLAN priority on a packet.  The VLAN tag is added or modified 
as necessary to match the value specified.  Valid values are between 0
(lowest) and 7 (highest).  If the VLAN tag is added, a vid of zero is used 
(see the \fBmod_vlan_vid\fR action to set this).

.IP \fBstrip_vlan\fR
Strips the VLAN tag from a packet if it is present.
.RE

.IP
(The OpenFlow protocol supports other actions that \fBdpctl\fR does
not yet expose to the user.)

.PP
The \fBadd-flow\fR, \fBadd-flows\fR, and \fBdel-flows\fR commands
support an additional optional field:

.IP \fBpriority=\fIvalue\fR
Sets the priority of the flow to be added or deleted to \fIvalue\fR,
which should be a number between 0 and 65535, inclusive.  If this
field is not specified, it defaults to 32768.

.PP
The \fBadd-flow\fR and \fBadd-flows\fR commands support additional
optional fields:

.TP
\fBidle_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds of
inactivity.  A value of 0 prevents a flow from expiring due to
inactivity.  The default is 60 seconds.

.IP \fBhard_timeout=\fIseconds\fR
Causes the flow to expire after the given number of seconds,
regardless of activity.  A value of 0 (the default) gives the flow no
hard expiration deadline.

.PP
The \fBdump-flows\fR, \fBdump-aggregate\fR, \fBdel-flow\fR 
and \fBdel-flows\fR commands support the additional optional field:

.TP
\fBout_port=\fIport\fR
If set, a matching flow must include an output action to \fIport\fR.

.PP
The \fBdump-flows\fR and \fBdump-aggregate\fR commands support an
additional optional field:

.IP \fBtable=\fInumber\fR
If specified, limits the flows about which statistics are gathered to
those in the table with the given \fInumber\fR.  Tables are numbered
as shown by the \fBdump-tables\fR command.

If this field is not specified, or if \fInumber\fR is given as
\fB255\fR, statistics are gathered about flows from all tables.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB--strict\fR
Uses strict matching when running flow modification commands.

.TP
\fB-t\fR, \fB--timeout=\fIsecs\fR
Limits \fBdpctl\fR runtime to approximately \fIsecs\fR seconds.  If
the timeout expires, \fBdpctl\fR will exit with a \fBSIGALRM\fR
signal.

.TP
\fB-p\fR, \fB--private-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the
identity for SSL connections to a switch.

.TP
\fB-c\fR, \fB--certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
controller's certificate authority (CA), that certifies the
private key to identify a trustworthy controller.

.TP
\fB-C\fR, \fB--ca-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that
a switch is trustworthy.

.TP
.BR \-h ", " \-\^\-help
Prints a brief help message to the console.

@VLOG_OPTIONS@

.TP
.BR \-V ", " \-\^\-version
Prints version information to the console.

.SH EXAMPLES

A typical dpctl command sequence for controlling an OpenFlow kernel module:
.nf
.TP
Create datapath numbered 0:

.B % dpctl adddp nl:0

.TP
Add two network devices to the new datapath:

.B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth0
.B % dpctl addif nl:0 eth1

.TP
Monitor traffic received by the datapath (exit with control-C):

.B % dpctl monitor nl:0


.TP
View the datapath's table stats after some traffic has passed through:

.B % dpctl dump-tables nl:0

.TP
View the flow entries in the datapath:

.B % dpctl dump-flows nl:0 

.TP
Remove network devices from the datapath when finished:

.B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth0
.B % dpctl delif nl:0 eth1

.TP
Delete the datapath:

.B % dpctl deldp nl:0
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"

.BR secchan (8),
.BR controller (8),
.BR udatapath (8),
.BR vlogconf (8)