1 Open vSwitch <http://openvswitch.org>
6 Open vSwitch is an Ethernet switch for virtual servers with the
9 * NIC bonding with automatic fail-over and source MAC-based TX
10 load balancing ("SLB").
12 * 802.1Q VLAN support.
14 * Port mirroring, with optional VLAN tagging.
16 * NetFlow v5 flow logging.
18 * Connectivity to an external OpenFlow controller, such as
24 The most important components of this distribution are:
26 - A Linux kernel module for flow-based switching, in the
29 - ovs-vswitchd, a daemon that implements the virtual switch.
31 - ovs-dpctl, a tool for configuring the kernel module and
32 controlling OpenFlow switches.
34 This distribution includes some additional software as well:
36 - secchan, a program that implements a simple OpenFlow switch
37 (without the special features provided by ovs-vswitchd) using
38 the same kernel module as ovs-vswitchd.
40 - ovs-controller, a simple OpenFlow switch
42 - ovs-ofctl, a utility for querying and controlling OpenFlow
43 switches and controllers.
45 - vlog-appctl, a utility that can control Open vSwitch daemons,
46 adjusting their logging levels among other uses.
48 - ovs-pki, a utility for creating and managing the public-key
49 infrastructure for OpenFlow switches.
51 - A patch to tcpdump that enables it to parse OpenFlow
54 For installation instructions, read INSTALL. Each userspace program
55 is also accompanied by a manpage.
60 Our primary test environment is Debian GNU/Linux. Ports to other
61 platforms are welcome. Please contact us with portability-related bug
64 The testing of the kernel module has focused on version 2.6.18 from
65 Xen and version 2.6.26 from kernel.org. Linux 2.6 releases from
66 2.6.15 onward should also work.
68 GCC is the expected compiler.
73 ovs-bugs@openvswitch.org
74 http://openvswitch.org/