Update top-level documentation to bring it up to date with latest features.

[ovs.git] / INSTALL.OpenFlow

            Using Open vSwitch as a Simple OpenFlow Switch
            ==============================================

Open vSwitch uses OpenFlow as its preferred method of remote flow
table configuration.  This is the simplest method of using it with an
OpenFlow controller.  The ovs-vsctl "set-controller" command can also
be used in conjunction with ovs-vswitchd to set the controller for one
or more bridges.  We recommend using OpenFlow in this manner and in this
case you should not run ovs-openflowd.  Directions for setting up
ovs-vswitchd can be found in INSTALL.Linux.

However, it is also possible to use Open vSwitch as a simple OpenFlow
switch like that provided by the OpenFlow reference implementation
[1].  The remainder of this file describes how to use it in that
manner.

What is OpenFlow?
-----------------

OpenFlow is a flow-based switch specification designed to enable
researchers to run experiments in live networks.  OpenFlow is based on a
simple Ethernet flow switch that exposes a standardized interface for
adding and removing flow entries.

An OpenFlow switch consists of three parts: (1) A "flow table" in
which each flow entry is associated with an action telling the switch
how to process the flow, (2) a "secure channel" that connects the switch
to a remote process (a controller), allowing commands and packets to
be sent between the controller and the switch, and (3) an OpenFlow
protocol implementation, providing an open and standard way for a
controller to talk to the switch.

An OpenFlow switch can thus serve as a simple datapath element that
forwards packets between ports according to flow actions defined by
the controller using OpenFlow commands.  Example actions are:

    - Forward this flow's packets to the given port(s)
    - Drop this flow's packets
    - Encapsulate and forward this flow's packets to the controller.

The OpenFlow switch is defined in detail in the OpenFlow switch
Specification [2].

Installation Procedure
----------------------

The procedure below explains how to use the Open vSwitch as a simple
OpenFlow switch. 

1. Build and install the Open vSwitch kernel modules and userspace
   programs as described in INSTALL.Linux.

   It is important to run "make install", because some Open vSwitch
   programs expect to find files in locations selected at installation
   time.

2. Load the openvswitch kernel module (which was built in step 1), e.g.:

      % insmod datapath/linux-2.6/openvswitch_mod.ko

   If your Linux kernel is earlier than 2.6.36, this kernel module
   cannot be loaded if the Linux bridge module is already loaded.
   Thus, you may need to remove any existing bridges and unload the
   bridge module with "rmmod bridge" before you can do this.

3. Create a datapath instance.  The command below creates a datapath
   identified as dp0 (see ovs-dpctl(8) for more detailed usage
   information).

      # ovs-dpctl add-dp dp0
   
   Creating datapath dp0 creates a new network device, also named dp0.
   This network device, called the datapath's "local port", will be
   bridged to the physical switch ports by ovs-openflowd(8).  It is
   optionally used for in-band control as described in step 5.

4. Use ovs-dpctl to attach the datapath to physical interfaces on the
   machine.  Say, for example, you want to create a trivial 2-port
   switch using interfaces eth1 and eth2, you would issue the following
   commands:

      # ovs-dpctl add-if dp0 eth1
      # ovs-dpctl add-if dp0 eth2

   You can verify that the interfaces were successfully added by asking
   ovs-dpctl to print the current status of datapath dp0:

      # ovs-dpctl show dp0

5. Arrange so that the switch can reach the controller over the network.  
   This can be done in two ways.  The switch may be configured for 
   out-of-band control, which means it uses a network separate from the 
   data traffic that it controls.  Alternatively, the switch may be 
   configured to contact the controller over one of the network devices 
   under its control.  In-band control is often more convenient than 
   out-of-band, because it is not necessary to maintain two independent 
   networks.

      - If you are using out-of-band control, at this point make sure
        that the switch machine can reach the controller over the
        network.

      - If you are using in-band control, then at this point you must
        configure the dp0 network device created in step 3.  This
        device is not yet bridged to any physical network (because
        ovs-openflowd does that, and it is not yet running), so the next
        step depends on whether connectivity is required to configure
        the device's IP address:

           * If the switch has a static IP address, you may configure
             its IP address now, e.g.:

                # ifconfig dp0 192.168.1.1

           * If the switch does not have a static IP address, e.g. its
             IP address is obtained dynamically via DHCP, then proceed
             to the next step.  The DHCP client will not be able to 
             contact the DHCP server until the secure channel has 
             started.  The address will be obtained in step 7.

6. Run ovs-openflowd to start the secure channel connecting the datapath to
   a remote controller.  If the controller is running on host
   192.168.1.2 port 6633 (the default port), the ovs-openflowd invocation
   would look like this:

      # ovs-openflowd dp0 tcp:192.168.1.2

   - If you are using out-of-band control, add --out-of-band to the
     command line.

   Using the "tcp:<controller_ip>" argument causes the switch to connect
   in an insecure manner.  Please see INSTALL.SSL for a description of
   how to connect securely using SSL.

7. If you are using in-band control, and the switch obtains its IP address
   dynamically, then you may now obtain the switch's IP address, e.g. by
   invoking a DHCP client.  The secure channel will only be able to connect
   to the controller after an IP address has been obtained.

8. The secure channel should connect to the controller within a few
   seconds.

References
----------

    [1] OpenFlow Reference Implementation.
        <http://www.openflowswitch.org/wp/downloads/>

    [2] OpenFlow Switch Specification.
        <http://openflowswitch.org/documents/openflow-spec-latest.pdf>