The commands implemented by ovn-sbctl are described in the
sections below.
OVN_Southbound Commands
These commands work with an OVN_Southbound database as a whole.
init Initializes the database, if it is empty. If the database
has already been initialized, this command has no effect.
show Prints a brief overview of the database contents.
Chassis Commands
These commands manipulate OVN_Southbound chassis.
[--may-exist] chassis-add chassis encap-type encap-ip
Creates a new chassis named chassis. encap-type is a
comma-separated list of tunnel types. The chassis will
have one encap entry for each specified tunnel type with
encap-ip as the destination IP for each.
Without --may-exist, attempting to create a chassis that
exists is an error. With --may-exist, this command does
nothing if chassis already exists.
[--if-exists] chassis-del chassis
Deletes chassis and its encaps and gateway_ports.
Without --if-exists, attempting to delete a chassis that
does not exist is an error. With --if-exists, attempting
to delete a chassis that does not exist has no effect.
Port binding Commands
These commands manipulate OVN_Southbound port bindings.
[--may-exist] lsp-bind logical-port chassis
Binds the logical port named logical-port to chassis.
Without --may-exist, attempting to bind a logical port
that has already been bound is an error. With
--may-exist, this command does nothing if logical-port has
already been bound to a chassis.
[--if-exists] lsp-unbind logical-port
Resets the binding of logical-port to NULL.
Without --if-exists, attempting to unbind a logical port
that is not bound is an error. With --if-exists,
attempting to unbind logical port that is not bound has no
effect.
Logical Flow Commands
[--uuid] [--ovs[=remote]] [--stats] lflow-list [logical-datapath]
[lflow...]
List logical flows. If logical-datapath is specified,
only list flows for that logical datapath. The logical-
datapath may be given as a UUID or as a datapath name
(reporting an error if multiple datapaths have the same
name).
If at least one lflow is given, only matching logical
flows, if any, are listed. Each lflow may be specified as
a UUID or the first few characters of a UUID, optionally
prefixed by 0x. (Because ovn-controller sets OpenFlow
flow cookies to the first 32 bits of the corresponding
logical flow's UUID, this makes it easy to look up the
logical flow that generated a particular OpenFlow flow.)
If --uuid is specified, the output includes the first 32
bits of each logical flow's UUID. This makes it easier to
find the OpenFlow flows that correspond to a given logical
flow.
If --ovs is included, ovn-sbctl attempts to obtain and
display the OpenFlow flows that correspond to each OVN
logical flow. To do so, ovn-sbctl connects to remote (by
default, unix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/br-int.mgmt)
over OpenFlow and retrieves the flows. If remote is
specified, it must be an active OpenFlow connection method
described in ovsdb(7). Please see the discussion of the
similar --ovs option in ovn-trace(8) for more information
about the OpenFlow flow output.
By default, OpenFlow flow output includes only match and
actions. Add --stats to include all OpenFlow information,
such as packet and byte counters, duration, and timeouts.
[--uuid] dump-flows [logical-datapath]
Alias for lflow-list.
Remote Connectivity Commands
These commands manipulate the connections column in the SB_Global
table and rows in the Connection table. When ovsdb-server is
configured to use the connections column for OVSDB connections,
this allows the administrator to use ovn-sbctl to configure
database connections.
get-connection
Prints the configured connection(s).
del-connection
Deletes the configured connection(s).
set-connection [access-specifier] target...
Sets the configured manager target or targets. Each
target may may be an OVSDB active or passive connection
method, e.g. pssl:6640, as described in ovsdb(7),
optionally preceded by an optional access-specifier
(read-only or read-write). If provided, the effect of the
access specifier persists for subsequent targets until
changed by another access specifier.
SSL Configuration
When ovsdb-server is configured to connect using SSL, the
following parameters are required:
private-key
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used for
SSL connections.
certificate
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by
the certificate authority (CA) used by the connection
peers, that certifies the private key, identifying a
trustworthy peer.
ca-cert
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to
verify that the connection peers are trustworthy.
These SSL settings apply to all SSL connections made by the
southbound database server.
get-ssl
Prints the SSL configuration.
del-ssl
Deletes the current SSL configuration.
[--bootstrap] set-ssl private-key certificate ca-cert [ssl-
protocol-list [ssl-cipher-list]]
Sets the SSL configuration. The --bootstrap option is
described below.
CA Certificate Bootstrap
Ordinarily, all of the files named in the SSL configuration must
exist before SSL connectivity can be used. However, if the ca-
cert file does not exist and the --bootstrap option is given,
then ovsdb-server will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from
the target on its first SSL connection and save it to the named
PEM file. If it is successful, it will immediately drop the
connection and reconnect, and from then on all SSL connections
must be authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA
certificate thus obtained.
This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
attack obtaining the initial CA certificate, but it may be useful
for bootstrapping.
This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA
certificate as part of the SSL certificate chain. The SSL
protocol does not require the controller to send the CA
certificate.
Database Commands
These commands query and modify the contents of ovsdb tables.
They are a slight abstraction of the ovsdb interface and as such
they operate at a lower level than other ovs-sbctl commands.
Identifying Tables, Records, and Columns
Each of these commands has a table parameter to identify a table
within the database. Many of them also take a record parameter
that identifies a particular record within a table. The record
parameter may be the UUID for a record, and many tables offer
additional ways to identify records. Some commands also take
column parameters that identify a particular field within the
records in a table.
For a list of tables and their columns, see ovn-sb(5) or see the
table listing from the --help option.
Record names must be specified in full and with correct
capitalization, except that UUIDs may be abbreviated to their
first 4 (or more) hex digits, as long as that is unique within
the table. Names of tables and columns are not case-sensitive,
and - and _ are treated interchangeably. Unique abbreviations of
table and column names are acceptable, e.g. addr or a is
sufficient to identify the Address_Set table.
Database Values
Each column in the database accepts a fixed type of data. The
currently defined basic types, and their representations, are:
integer
A decimal integer in the range -2**63 to 2**63-1,
inclusive.
real A floating-point number.
Boolean
True or false, written true or false, respectively.
string An arbitrary Unicode string, except that null bytes are
not allowed. Quotes are optional for most strings that
begin with an English letter or underscore and consist
only of letters, underscores, hyphens, and periods.
However, true and false and strings that match the syntax
of UUIDs (see below) must be enclosed in double quotes to
distinguish them from other basic types. When double
quotes are used, the syntax is that of strings in JSON,
e.g. backslashes may be used to escape special characters.
The empty string must be represented as a pair of double
quotes ("").
UUID Either a universally unique identifier in the style of RFC
4122, e.g. f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6, or an
@name defined by a get or create command within the same
ovn-sbctl invocation.
Multiple values in a single column may be separated by spaces or
a single comma. When multiple values are present, duplicates are
not allowed, and order is not important. Conversely, some
database columns can have an empty set of values, represented as
[], and square brackets may optionally enclose other non-empty
sets or single values as well. For a column accepting a set of
integers, database commands accept a range. A range is
represented by two integers separated by -. A range is inclusive.
A range has a maximum size of 4096 elements. If more elements are
needed, they can be specified in seperate ranges.
A few database columns are ``maps'' of key-value pairs, where the
key and the value are each some fixed database type. These are
specified in the form key=value, where key and value follow the
syntax for the column's key type and value type, respectively.
When multiple pairs are present (separated by spaces or a comma),
duplicate keys are not allowed, and again the order is not
important. Duplicate values are allowed. An empty map is
represented as {}. Curly braces may optionally enclose non-empty
maps as well (but use quotes to prevent the shell from expanding
other-config={0=x,1=y} into other-config=0=x other-config=1=y,
which may not have the desired effect).
Database Command Syntax
[--if-exists] [--columns=column[,column]...] list table
[record]...
Lists the data in each specified record. If no records
are specified, lists all the records in table.
If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are
listed, in the specified order. Otherwise, all columns
are listed, in alphabetical order by column name.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if any specified
record does not exist. With --if-exists, the command
ignores any record that does not exist, without producing
any output.
[--columns=column[,column]...] find table [column[:key]=value]...
Lists the data in each record in table whose column equals
value or, if key is specified, whose column contains a key
with the specified value. The following operators may be
used where = is written in the syntax summary:
= != < > <= >=
Selects records in which column[:key] equals, does
not equal, is less than, is greater than, is less
than or equal to, or is greater than or equal to
value, respectively.
Consider column[:key] and value as sets of
elements. Identical sets are considered equal.
Otherwise, if the sets have different numbers of
elements, then the set with more elements is
considered to be larger. Otherwise, consider a
element from each set pairwise, in increasing order
within each set. The first pair that differs
determines the result. (For a column that contains
key-value pairs, first all the keys are compared,
and values are considered only if the two sets
contain identical keys.)
{=} {!=}
Test for set equality or inequality, respectively.
{<=} Selects records in which column[:key] is a subset
of value. For example, flood-vlans{<=}1,2 selects
records in which the flood-vlans column is the
empty set or contains 1 or 2 or both.
{<} Selects records in which column[:key] is a proper
subset of value. For example, flood-vlans{<}1,2
selects records in which the flood-vlans column is
the empty set or contains 1 or 2 but not both.
{>=} {>}
Same as {<=} and {<}, respectively, except that the
relationship is reversed. For example, flood-
vlans{>=}1,2 selects records in which the flood-
vlans column contains both 1 and 2.
For arithmetic operators (= != < > <= >=), when key is
specified but a particular record's column does not
contain key, the record is always omitted from the
results. Thus, the condition other-config:mtu!=1500
matches records that have a mtu key whose value is not
1500, but not those that lack an mtu key.
For the set operators, when key is specified but a
particular record's column does not contain key, the
comparison is done against an empty set. Thus, the
condition other-config:mtu{!=}1500 matches records that
have a mtu key whose value is not 1500 and those that lack
an mtu key.
Don't forget to escape < or > from interpretation by the
shell.
If --columns is specified, only the requested columns are
listed, in the specified order. Otherwise all columns are
listed, in alphabetical order by column name.
The UUIDs shown for rows created in the same ovn-sbctl
invocation will be wrong.
[--if-exists] [--id=@name] get table record [column[:key]]...
Prints the value of each specified column in the given
record in table. For map columns, a key may optionally be
specified, in which case the value associated with key in
the column is printed, instead of the entire map.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not
exist or key is specified, if key does not exist in
record. With --if-exists, a missing record yields no
output and a missing key prints a blank line.
If @name is specified, then the UUID for record may be
referred to by that name later in the same ovn-sbctl
invocation in contexts where a UUID is expected.
Both --id and the column arguments are optional, but
usually at least one or the other should be specified. If
both are omitted, then get has no effect except to verify
that record exists in table.
--id and --if-exists cannot be used together.
[--if-exists] set table record column[:key]=value...
Sets the value of each specified column in the given
record in table to value. For map columns, a key may
optionally be specified, in which case the value
associated with key in that column is changed (or added,
if none exists), instead of the entire map.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not
exist. With --if-exists, this command does nothing if
record does not exist.
[--if-exists] add table record column [key=]value...
Adds the specified value or key-value pair to column in
record in table. If column is a map, then key is
required, otherwise it is prohibited. If key already
exists in a map column, then the current value is not
replaced (use the set command to replace an existing
value).
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not
exist. With --if-exists, this command does nothing if
record does not exist.
[--if-exists] remove table record column value...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key...
[--if-exists] remove table record column key=value...
Removes the specified values or key-value pairs from
column in record in table. The first form applies to
columns that are not maps: each specified value is removed
from the column. The second and third forms apply to map
columns: if only a key is specified, then any key-value
pair with the given key is removed, regardless of its
value; if a value is given then a pair is removed only if
both key and value match.
It is not an error if the column does not contain the
specified key or value or pair.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not
exist. With --if-exists, this command does nothing if
record does not exist.
[--if-exists] clear table record column...
Sets each column in record in table to the empty set or
empty map, as appropriate. This command applies only to
columns that are allowed to be empty.
Without --if-exists, it is an error if record does not
exist. With --if-exists, this command does nothing if
record does not exist.
[--id=@name] create table column[:key]=value...
Creates a new record in table and sets the initial values
of each column. Columns not explicitly set will receive
their default values. Outputs the UUID of the new row.
If @name is specified, then the UUID for the new row may
be referred to by that name elsewhere in the same
ovn-sbctl invocation in contexts where a UUID is expected.
Such references may precede or follow the create command.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
Records in the Open vSwitch database are
significant only when they can be reached directly
or indirectly from the Open_vSwitch table. Except
for records in the QoS or Queue tables, records
that are not reachable from the Open_vSwitch table
are automatically deleted from the database. This
deletion happens immediately, without waiting for
additional ovs-vsctl commands or other database
activity. Thus, a create command must generally be
accompanied by additional commands within the same
ovs-vsctl invocation to add a chain of references
to the newly created record from the top-level
Open_vSwitch record. The EXAMPLES section gives
some examples that show how to do this.
[--if-exists] destroy table record...
Deletes each specified record from table. Unless
--if-exists is specified, each records must exist.
--all destroy table
Deletes all records from the table.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
The destroy command is only useful for records in
the QoS or Queue tables. Records in other tables
are automatically deleted from the database when
they become unreachable from the Open_vSwitch
table. This means that deleting the last reference
to a record is sufficient for deleting the record
itself. For records in these tables, destroy is
silently ignored. See the EXAMPLES section below
for more information.
wait-until table record [column[:key]=value]...
Waits until table contains a record named record whose
column equals value or, if key is specified, whose column
contains a key with the specified value. Any of the
operators !=, <, >, <=, or >= may be substituted for = to
test for inequality, less than, greater than, less than or
equal to, or greater than or equal to, respectively.
(Don't forget to escape < or > from interpretation by the
shell.)
If no column[:key]=value arguments are given, this command
waits only until record exists. If more than one such
argument is given, the command waits until all of them are
satisfied.
Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
Usually wait-until should be placed at the
beginning of a set of ovs-vsctl commands. For
example, wait-until bridge br0 -- get bridge br0
datapath_id waits until a bridge named br0 is
created, then prints its datapath_id column,
whereas get bridge br0 datapath_id -- wait-until
bridge br0 will abort if no bridge named br0 exists
when ovs-vsctl initially connects to the database.
Consider specifying --timeout=0 along with --wait-until,
to prevent ovn-sbctl from terminating after waiting only
at most 5 seconds.
comment [arg]...
This command has no effect on behavior, but any database
log record created by the command will include the command
and its arguments.
