projects / ovs.git / blame
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| 2eaf6a08 SF |
1 | .. NOTE(stephenfin): If making changes to this file, ensure that the line |
| 2 | numbers found in 'Documentation/intro/what-is-ovs' are kept up-to-date. | |
| 3 | ||
| b1fe1c94 SF |
4 | ============ |
| 5 | Open vSwitch | |
| 6 | ============ | |
| 7 | ||
| b1fe1c94 SF |
8 | .. image:: https://travis-ci.org/openvswitch/ovs.png |
| 9 | :target: https://travis-ci.org/openvswitch/ovs | |
| 10 | ||
| 11 | What is Open vSwitch? | |
| 12 | --------------------- | |
| 13 | ||
| 14 | Open vSwitch is a multilayer software switch licensed under the open source | |
| 15 | Apache 2 license. Our goal is to implement a production quality switch | |
| 16 | platform that supports standard management interfaces and opens the forwarding | |
| 17 | functions to programmatic extension and control. | |
| 18 | ||
| 19 | Open vSwitch is well suited to function as a virtual switch in VM environments. | |
| 20 | In addition to exposing standard control and visibility interfaces to the | |
| 21 | virtual networking layer, it was designed to support distribution across | |
| 22 | multiple physical servers. Open vSwitch supports multiple Linux-based | |
| 23 | virtualization technologies including Xen/XenServer, KVM, and VirtualBox. | |
| 24 | ||
| 25 | The bulk of the code is written in platform-independent C and is easily ported | |
| 26 | to other environments. The current release of Open vSwitch supports the | |
| 27 | following features: | |
| 28 | ||
| 29 | - Standard 802.1Q VLAN model with trunk and access ports | |
| 30 | - NIC bonding with or without LACP on upstream switch | |
| 31 | - NetFlow, sFlow(R), and mirroring for increased visibility | |
| 32 | - QoS (Quality of Service) configuration, plus policing | |
| 33 | - Geneve, GRE, VXLAN, STT, and LISP tunneling | |
| 34 | - 802.1ag connectivity fault management | |
| 35 | - OpenFlow 1.0 plus numerous extensions | |
| 36 | - Transactional configuration database with C and Python bindings | |
| 37 | - High-performance forwarding using a Linux kernel module | |
| 38 | ||
| 39 | The included Linux kernel module supports Linux 3.10 and up. | |
| 40 | ||
| 41 | Open vSwitch can also operate, at a cost in performance, entirely in userspace, | |
| 42 | without assistance from a kernel module. This userspace implementation should | |
| 43 | be easier to port than the kernel-based switch. It is considered experimental. | |
| 44 | ||
| 45 | What's here? | |
| 46 | ------------ | |
| 47 | ||
| 48 | The main components of this distribution are: | |
| 49 | ||
| 50 | - ovs-vswitchd, a daemon that implements the switch, along with a companion | |
| 51 | Linux kernel module for flow-based switching. | |
| 52 | - ovsdb-server, a lightweight database server that ovs-vswitchd queries to | |
| 53 | obtain its configuration. | |
| 54 | - ovs-dpctl, a tool for configuring the switch kernel module. | |
| 55 | - Scripts and specs for building RPMs for Citrix XenServer and Red Hat | |
| 56 | Enterprise Linux. The XenServer RPMs allow Open vSwitch to be installed on a | |
| 57 | Citrix XenServer host as a drop-in replacement for its switch, with | |
| 58 | additional functionality. | |
| 59 | - ovs-vsctl, a utility for querying and updating the configuration of | |
| 60 | ovs-vswitchd. | |
| 61 | - ovs-appctl, a utility that sends commands to running Open vSwitch daemons. | |
| 62 | ||
| 63 | Open vSwitch also provides some tools: | |
| 64 | ||
| 65 | - ovs-ofctl, a utility for querying and controlling OpenFlow switches and | |
| 66 | controllers. | |
| 67 | - ovs-pki, a utility for creating and managing the public-key infrastructure | |
| 68 | for OpenFlow switches. | |
| 69 | - ovs-testcontroller, a simple OpenFlow controller that may be useful for | |
| 70 | testing (though not for production). | |
| 71 | - A patch to tcpdump that enables it to parse OpenFlow messages. | |
| 72 | ||
| 73 | What other documentation is available? | |
| 74 | -------------------------------------- | |
| 75 | ||
| 795752a3 SF |
76 | .. TODO(stephenfin): Update with a link to the hosting site of the docs, once |
| 77 | we know where that is | |
| b1fe1c94 | 78 | |
| 795752a3 SF |
79 | To install Open vSwitch on a regular Linux or FreeBSD host, please read the |
| 80 | `installation guide <Documentation/intro/install/general.rst>`__. For specifics | |
| 81 | around installation on a specific platform, refer to one of the `other | |
| 82 | installation guides <Documentation/intro/install/index.rst>`__ | |
| b1fe1c94 | 83 | |
| 11e02906 | 84 | For answers to common questions, refer to the `FAQ <Documentation/faq>`__. |
| b1fe1c94 | 85 | |
| b1fe1c94 | 86 | To learn about some advanced features of the Open vSwitch software switch, read |
| e12569bb | 87 | the `tutorial <Documentation/tutorials/ovs-advanced.rst>`__. |
| b1fe1c94 SF |
88 | |
| 89 | Each Open vSwitch userspace program is accompanied by a manpage. Many of the | |
| 90 | manpages are customized to your configuration as part of the build process, so | |
| 91 | we recommend building Open vSwitch before reading the manpages. | |
| 92 | ||
| 93 | Contact | |
| 94 | ------- | |
| 95 | ||
| 96 | bugs@openvswitch.org |