This file documents how Open vSwitch may be used as a drop-in
replacement for a Linux kernel bridge in an environment that includes
elements that are tightly tied to the Linux bridge tools
-(e.g. "brctl") and architecture. We do not recommend using the
-approach described here outside such an environment, since the other
-tools included with Open vSwitch are easier to use and more
-general-purpose than the Linux bridging tools.
+(e.g. "brctl") and architecture. We recommend directly using the
+management tools provided with Open vSwitch rather than these
+compatibility hooks for environments that are not tightly tied to the
+Linux bridging tools; they are more efficient and better reflect the
+actual operation and status.
+
Installation Procedure
----------------------
bridge interfaces), to ensure that the Open vSwitch kernel modules
are loaded before the Linux kernel bridge module.
-3. Create an initial ovs-vswitchd.conf file. This file may be empty
- when ovs-vswitchd, or you may add any valid configuration
- directives to it (as described in ovs-vswitchd.conf(5)), but it
- must exist.
-
- To create an empty configuration file:
+3. Start ovsdb-server, ovs-vswitchd, and ovs-brcompatd, e.g.:
- % touch /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf
+ % ovsdb-server /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf.db \
+ --remote=punix:/var/run/ovsdb-server
-4. Start ovs-vswitchd and ovs-brcompatd, e.g.:
+ % ovs-vswitchd --pidfile --detach -vANY:console:EMER \
+ unix:/var/run/ovsdb-server
- % ovs-vswitchd -P -D -vANY:console:EMER /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf
- % ovs-brcompatd -P -D -vANY:console:EMER /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf
+ % ovs-brcompatd --pidfile --detach -vANY:console:EMER \
+ unix:/var/run/ovsdb-server
5. Now you should be able to manage the Open vSwitch using brctl and
related tools. For example, you can create an Open vSwitch bridge,
% brctl show
Each of these commands actually uses or modifies the Open vSwitch
- configuration. For example, after executing the commands above
- starting from an empty configuration file, "cat
- /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf" should show that the configuration file now
- contains the following:
-
- bridge.br0.port=br0
- bridge.br0.port=eth0
- bridge.br0.port=eth1
+ configuration database, then notifies the ovs-vswitchd daemon of
+ the change. For example, after executing the commands above
+ starting from an empty configuration file, "ovs-vsctl list-ports
+ br0" should show that bridge br0 contains two ports, eth0 and eth1.