- How to Install Open vSwitch on Linux and FreeBSD
- ================================================
+ How to Install Open vSwitch on Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD
+ ========================================================
This document describes how to build and install Open vSwitch on a
-generic Linux or FreeBSD host. If you want to install Open vSwitch on
-a Citrix XenServer, see INSTALL.XenServer instead.
+generic Linux, FreeBSD, or NetBSD host. For specifics around installation
+on a specific platform, please see one of these files:
-This version of Open vSwitch may be built manually with "configure"
-and "make", as described below. You may also build Debian packages by
-running "dpkg-buildpackage".
+ - INSTALL.Debian
+ - INSTALL.Fedora
+ - INSTALL.RHEL
+ - INSTALL.XenServer
Build Requirements
------------------
To compile the userspace programs in the Open vSwitch distribution,
you will need the following software:
- - A make program, e.g. GNU make. BSD make should also work.
+ - GNU make.
- The GNU C compiler. We generally test with version 4.1, 4.2, or
4.3.
- - pkg-config. We test with version 0.22.
-
- libssl, from OpenSSL, is optional but recommended if you plan to
connect the Open vSwitch to an OpenFlow controller. libssl is
required to establish confidentiality and authenticity in the
(On Debian "lenny" the above can be installed with "apt-get install
python-json python-qt4 python-zopeinterface python-twisted-conch".)
-Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux or FreeBSD
-=========================================================
+Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD
+=================================================================
Once you have installed all the prerequisites listed above in the Base
Prerequisites section, follow the procedure below to build.
additional environment variables. For a full list, invoke
configure with the --help option.
-3. Run make in the top source directory:
+3. Run GNU make in the top source directory, e.g.:
% make
- On FreeBSD you may need to use GNU make (gmake) or NetBSD make
- (bmake) instead of the native make.
+ or if GNU make is installed as "gmake":
+
+ % gmake
For improved warnings if you installed "sparse" (see
- "Prerequisites"), add C=1 to the "make" command line.
+ "Prerequisites"), add C=1 to the command line.
+
+4. Consider running the testsuite. Refer to "Running the Testsuite"
+ below, for instructions.
-4. Become root by running "su" or another program.
+5. Become root by running "su" or another program.
-5. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
+6. Run "make install" to install the executables and manpages into the
running system, by default under /usr/local.
-6. If you built kernel modules, you may load them with "insmod", e.g.:
+7. If you built kernel modules, you may load them with "insmod", e.g.:
% insmod datapath/linux/openvswitch.ko
% make modules_install
-7. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
+8. Initialize the configuration database using ovsdb-tool, e.g.:
% mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/openvswitch
% ovsdb-tool create /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
- If there is no important data in your database, then you may
delete the database file and recreate it with ovsdb-tool,
following the instructions under "Building and Installing Open
- vSwitch for Linux or FreeBSD".
+ vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD".
- If you want to preserve the contents of your database, back it
up first, then use "ovsdb-tool convert" to upgrade it, e.g.:
% ovsdb-tool convert /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
4. Start the Open vSwitch daemons as described under "Building and
- Installing Open vSwitch for Linux or FreeBSD" above.
+ Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above.
+
+Hot Upgrading
+=============
+Upgrading Open vSwitch from one version to the next version with minimum
+disruption of traffic going through the system that is using that Open vSwitch
+needs some considerations:
+
+1. If the upgrade only involves upgrading the userspace utilities and daemons
+of Open vSwitch, make sure that the new userspace version is compatible with
+the previously loaded kernel module.
+
+2. An upgrade of userspace daemons means that they have to be restarted.
+Restarting the daemons means that the Openflow flows in the ovs-vswitchd daemon
+will be lost. One way to restore the flows is to let the controller
+re-populate it. Another way is to save the previous flows using a utility
+like ovs-ofctl and then re-add them after the restart. Restoring the old flows
+is accurate only if the new Open vSwitch interfaces retain the old 'ofport'
+values.
+
+3. When the new userspace daemons get restarted, they automatically flush
+the old flows setup in the kernel. This can be expensive if there are hundreds
+of new flows that are entering the kernel but userspace daemons are busy
+setting up new userspace flows from either the controller or an utility like
+ovs-ofctl. Open vSwitch database provides an option to solve this problem
+through the other_config:flow-restore-wait column of the Open_vSwitch table.
+Refer to the ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) manpage for details.
+
+4. If the upgrade also involves upgrading the kernel module, the old kernel
+module needs to be unloaded and the new kernel module should be loaded. This
+means that the kernel network devices belonging to Open vSwitch is recreated
+and the kernel flows are lost. The downtime of the traffic can be reduced
+if the userspace daemons are restarted immediately and the userspace flows
+are restored as soon as possible.
+
+The ovs-ctl utility's "restart" function only restarts the userspace daemons,
+makes sure that the 'ofport' values remain consistent across restarts, restores
+userspace flows using the ovs-ofctl utility and also uses the
+other_config:flow-restore-wait column to keep the traffic downtime to the
+minimum. The ovs-ctl utility's "force-reload-kmod" function does all of the
+above, but also replaces the old kernel module with the new one. Open vSwitch
+startup scripts for Debian, XenServer and RHEL use ovs-ctl's functions and it
+is recommended that these functions be used for other software platforms too.
+
+Running the Testsuite
+=====================
+
+Open vSwitch includes a testsuite. Before you submit patches
+upstream, we advise that you run the tests and ensure that they pass.
+If you add new features to Open vSwitch, then adding tests for those
+features will ensure your features don't break as developers modify
+other areas of Open vSwitch.
+
+You must configure and build Open vSwitch (steps 1 through 3 in
+"Building and Installing Open vSwitch for Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD" above)
+before you run the testsuite. You do not need to install Open vSwitch
+or to build or load the kernel module to run the testsuite. You do
+not need supervisor privilege to run the testsuite.
+
+To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, one at a time:
+ make check
+This takes under 5 minutes on a modern desktop system.
+
+To run all the unit tests in Open vSwitch, up to 8 in parallel:
+ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=-j8
+This takes under a minute on a modern 4-core desktop system.
+
+To see a list of all the available tests, run:
+ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--list
+
+To run only a subset of tests, e.g. test 123 and tests 477 through 484:
+ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='123 477-484'
+(Tests do not have inter-dependencies, so you may run any subset.)
+
+To run tests matching a keyword, e.g. "ovsdb":
+ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS='-k ovsdb'
+
+To see a complete list of test options:
+ make check TESTSUITEFLAGS=--help
+
+The results of a testing run are reported in tests/testsuite.log.
+Please report test failures as bugs and include the testsuite.log in
+your report.
+
+If you have "valgrind" installed, then you can also run the testsuite
+under valgrind by using "make check-valgrind" in place of "make
+check". All the same options are available via TESTSUITEFLAGS. When
+you do this, the "valgrind" results for test <N> are reported in files
+named tests/testsuite.dir/<N>/valgrind.*. You may find that the
+valgrind results are easier to interpret if you put "-q" in
+~/.valgrindrc, since that reduces the amount of output.
+
+Sometimes a few tests may fail on some runs but not others. This is
+usually a bug in the testsuite, not a bug in Open vSwitch itself. If
+you find that a test fails intermittently, please report it, since the
+developers may not have noticed.
Bug Reporting
-------------
git://git.onelab.eu / sliver-openvswitch.git / blobdiff