ovn-ic-nbctl(8)                   OVN Manual                   ovn-ic-nbctl(8)



NAME
       ovn-ic-nbctl  - Open Virtual Network interconnection northbound db man‐
       agement utility

SYNOPSIS
       ovn-ic-nbctl [options] command [arg...]

DESCRIPTION
       This utility can be used to manage the OVN  interconnection  northbound
       database.

GENERAL COMMANDS
       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.

TRANSIT SWITCH COMMANDS
       [--may-exist] ts-add switch
              Creates a new transit switch named switch.

              Transit switch names must be unique. Adding  a  duplicated  name
              results in error. With --may-exist, adding a duplicate name suc‐
              ceeds but does not create a new transit switch.

       [--if-exists] ts-del switch
              Deletes switch. It is an error if switch does not exist,  unless
              --if-exists is specified.

       ts-list
              Lists all existing switches on standard output, one per line.

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 ovn-ic-nbctl 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, which may be abbreviated to its first  4  (or  more)
       hex  digits,  as  long  as that is unique. 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-ic-nb(5) or see the ta‐
       ble 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 interchange‐
       ably. Unique abbreviations of table and column  names  are  acceptable,
       e.g. t or transit is sufficient to identify the Transit_Switch 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,  inclu‐
                     sive.

              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.  How‐
                     ever, 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 charac‐
                     ters. 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 ovs-vsctl invocation.

       Multiple values in a single column may be separated by spaces or a sin‐
       gle  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.

       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  col‐
       umn’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-con
       fig=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       [col
              umn[:key]=value]...
                     Lists  the  data  in  each  record  in table whose column
                     equals value or, if key is specified, whose  column  con‐
                     tains a key with the specified value. The following oper‐
                     ators may be used where = is written in the  syntax  sum‐
                     mary:

                     = != gt;>gt; = >gt;>gt;=
                            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  ele‐
                            ments. Identical sets are considered equal. Other‐
                            wise, if the sets have different numbers  of  ele‐
                            ments,  then the set with more elements is consid‐
                            ered 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 iden‐
                            tical 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.

                     {>gt;>gt;=} {>gt;>gt;}
                            Same as {=} and {},  respectively,  except  that
                            the   relationship   is   reversed.  For  example,
                            flood-vlans{>gt;>gt;=}1,2 selects records  in  which  the
                            flood-vlans column contains both 1 and 2.

                     The  following  operators  are  available  only  in  Open
                     vSwitch 2.16 and later:

                     {in}   Selects records in which  every  element  in  col
                            umn[:key]  is  also in value. (This is the same as
                            {=}.)

                     {not-in}
                            Selects records in which  every  element  in  col
                            umn[:key] is not in value.

                     For  arithmetic  operators  (= != gt;>gt; = >gt;>gt;=), when key is
                     specified but a particular record’s column does not  con‐
                     tain  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  par‐
                     ticular record’s column does not contain key, the compar‐
                     ison 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 gt;>gt; 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  ovs-vsctl
                     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 out‐
                     put 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  ovs-vsctl
                     invocation in contexts where a UUID is expected.

                     Both --id and the column arguments are optional, but usu‐
                     ally 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  associ‐
                     ated  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 col
                     umn 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 col‐
                     umns: 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|uuid)] 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 \*(PN
                     invocation in contexts where a  UUID  is  expected.  Such
                     references may precede or follow the create command.

                     If a valid uuid is specified, then it is used as the UUID
                     of the new row.

                     Caution (ovs-vsctl as example)
                            Records in the Open vSwitch database are  signifi‐
                            cant  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 ta‐
                            ble. 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.  This  command
                     supports  the  same operators and semantics described for
                     the find command above.

                     If no column[:key]=value arguments are given,  this  com‐
                     mand  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 begin‐
                            ning of a set of ovs-vsctl commands. For  example,
                            wait-until  bridge  br0  --  get  bridge br0 data
                            path_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 ovs-vsctl 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 com‐
                     mand and its arguments.

REMOTE CONNECTIVITY COMMANDS
       get-connection
              Prints the configured connection(s).

       del-connection
              Deletes the configured connection(s).

       [--inactivity-probe=msecs] set-connection target...
              Sets the configured manager target or  targets.  Use  --inactiv
              ity-probe=msecs to override the default idle connection inactiv‐
              ity probe time. Use 0 to disable inactivity probes.

SSL CONFIGURATION COMMANDS
       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.

OPTIONS
       --db database
              The  OVSDB database remote to contact. If the OVN_IC_NB_DB envi‐
              ronment variable is set, its value is used as the default.  Oth‐
              erwise, the default is unix:/ovn_ic_nb_db.sock, but this default
              is unlikely to be useful  outside  of  single-machine  OVN  test
              environments.

       --leader-only
       --no-leader-only
            By  default,  or with --leader-only, when the database server is a
            clustered database, ovn-ic-nbctl will avoid servers other than the
            cluster leader. This ensures that any data that ovn-ic-nbctl reads
            and reports is  up-to-date.  With  --no-leader-only,  ovn-ic-nbctl
            will use any server in the cluster, which means that for read-only
            transactions it can report and act  on  stale  data  (transactions
            that   modify   the  database  are  always  serialized  even  with
            --no-leader-only). Refer to Understanding Cluster  Consistency  in
            ovsdb(7) for more information.

LOGGING OPTIONS
       -v[spec]
       --verbose=[spec]
            Sets  logging  levels.  Without  any  spec, sets the log level for
            every module and destination to dbg. Otherwise, spec is a list  of
            words separated by spaces or commas or colons, up to one from each
            category below:

            ·      A valid module name, as displayed by the vlog/list  command
                   on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log level change to the speci‐
                   fied module.

            ·      syslog, console, or file, to limit the log level change  to
                   only  to  the  system  log,  to  the console, or to a file,
                   respectively. (If --detach is specified, the daemon  closes
                   its  standard  file  descriptors, so logging to the console
                   will have no effect.)

                   On Windows platform, syslog is accepted as a  word  and  is
                   only useful along with the --syslog-target option (the word
                   has no effect otherwise).

            ·      off, emer, err, warn, info, or  dbg,  to  control  the  log
                   level.  Messages  of  the  given severity or higher will be
                   logged, and messages of lower  severity  will  be  filtered
                   out.  off filters out all messages. See ovs-appctl(8) for a
                   definition of each log level.

            Case is not significant within spec.

            Regardless of the log levels set for file, logging to a file  will
            not take place unless --log-file is also specified (see below).

            For compatibility with older versions of OVS, any is accepted as a
            word but has no effect.

       -v
       --verbose
            Sets the maximum logging verbosity  level,  equivalent  to  --ver
            bose=dbg.

       -vPATTERN:destination:pattern
       --verbose=PATTERN:destination:pattern
            Sets  the  log  pattern  for  destination  to  pattern.  Refer  to
            ovs-appctl(8) for a description of the valid syntax for pattern.

       -vFACILITY:facility
       --verbose=FACILITY:facility
            Sets the RFC5424 facility of the log message. facility can be  one
            of kern, user, mail, daemon, auth, syslog, lpr, news, uucp, clock,
            ftp, ntp, audit, alert, clock2, local0,  local1,  local2,  local3,
            local4, local5, local6 or local7. If this option is not specified,
            daemon is used as the default for  the  local  system  syslog  and
            local0  is used while sending a message to the target provided via
            the --syslog-target option.

       --log-file[=file]
            Enables logging to a file. If file is specified, then it  is  used
            as the exact name for the log file. The default log file name used
            if file is omitted is /usr/local/var/log/ovn/program.log.

       --syslog-target=host:port
            Send syslog messages to UDP port on host, in addition to the  sys‐
            tem  syslog.  The host must be a numerical IP address, not a host‐
            name.

       --syslog-method=method
            Specify method as how syslog messages should  be  sent  to  syslog
            daemon. The following forms are supported:

            ·      libc,  to use the libc syslog() function. Downside of using
                   this options is that libc adds fixed prefix to  every  mes‐
                   sage  before  it is actually sent to the syslog daemon over
                   /dev/log UNIX domain socket.

            ·      unix:file, to use a UNIX domain socket directly. It is pos‐
                   sible to specify arbitrary message format with this option.
                   However, rsyslogd 8.9 and older  versions  use  hard  coded
                   parser  function anyway that limits UNIX domain socket use.
                   If you want to use  arbitrary  message  format  with  older
                   rsyslogd  versions,  then  use  UDP  socket to localhost IP
                   address instead.

            ·      udp:ip:port, to use a UDP socket. With this  method  it  is
                   possible  to  use  arbitrary message format also with older
                   rsyslogd. When sending  syslog  messages  over  UDP  socket
                   extra  precaution needs to be taken into account, for exam‐
                   ple, syslog daemon needs to be configured to listen on  the
                   specified  UDP  port,  accidental  iptables  rules could be
                   interfering with local syslog traffic and  there  are  some
                   security  considerations  that apply to UDP sockets, but do
                   not apply to UNIX domain sockets.

            ·      null, to discard all messages logged to syslog.

            The default is taken from the OVS_SYSLOG_METHOD environment  vari‐
            able; if it is unset, the default is libc.

TABLE FORMATTING OPTIONS
       These  options control the format of output from the list and find com‐
       mands.

              -f format
              --format=format
                   Sets the type of table formatting. The following  types  of
                   format are available:

                   table  2-D text tables with aligned columns.

                   list (default)
                          A  list  with one column per line and rows separated
                          by a blank line.

                   html   HTML tables.

                   csv    Comma-separated values as defined in RFC 4180.

                   json   JSON format as defined in RFC 4627. The output is  a
                          sequence  of JSON objects, each of which corresponds
                          to one table. Each JSON  object  has  the  following
                          members with the noted values:

                          caption
                                 The  table’s  caption. This member is omitted
                                 if the table has no caption.

                          headings
                                 An array with one element per  table  column.
                                 Each  array  element  is  a string giving the
                                 corresponding column’s heading.

                          data   An array with one element per table row. Each
                                 element is also an array with one element per
                                 table column. The elements  of  this  second-
                                 level array are the cells that constitute the
                                 table. Cells that  represent  OVSDB  data  or
                                 data   types  are  expressed  in  the  format
                                 described in the OVSDB  specification;  other
                                 cells are simply expressed as text strings.

              -d format
              --data=format
                   Sets  the  formatting for cells within output tables unless
                   the table format is set to json, in which case json format‐
                   ting  is  always  used when formatting cells. The following
                   types of format are available:

                   string (default)
                          The simple format described in the  Database  Values
                          section of ovs-vsctl(8).

                   bare   The  simple format with punctuation stripped off: []
                          and {} are omitted around sets, maps, and empty col‐
                          umns,  items  within  sets  and maps are space-sepa‐
                          rated, and strings are never quoted. This format may
                          be easier for scripts to parse.

                   json   The RFC 4627 JSON format as described above.

              --no-headings
                   This  option  suppresses  the  heading  row  that otherwise
                   appears in the first row of table output.

              --pretty
                   By default, JSON in output is printed as compactly as  pos‐
                   sible. This option causes JSON in output to be printed in a
                   more readable fashion. Members of objects and  elements  of
                   arrays are printed one per line, with indentation.

                   This option does not affect JSON in tables, which is always
                   printed compactly.

              --bare
                   Equivalent to --format=list --data=bare --no-headings.

   PKI Options
       PKI configuration is required to use SSL  for  the  connection  to  the
       database.

              -p privkey.pem
              --private-key=privkey.pem
                   Specifies  a  PEM  file  containing the private key used as
                   identity for outgoing SSL connections.

              -c cert.pem
              --certificate=cert.pem
                   Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate  that  certi‐
                   fies the private key specified on -p or --private-key to be
                   trustworthy. The certificate must be signed by the certifi‐
                   cate  authority  (CA) that the peer in SSL connections will
                   use to verify it.

              -C cacert.pem
              --ca-cert=cacert.pem
                   Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate for ver‐
                   ifying certificates presented to this program by SSL peers.
                   (This may be the same certificate that  SSL  peers  use  to
                   verify the certificate specified on -c or --certificate, or
                   it may be a different one, depending on the PKI  design  in
                   use.)

              -C none
              --ca-cert=none
                   Disables  verification  of  certificates  presented  by SSL
                   peers. This introduces a security risk,  because  it  means
                   that  certificates  cannot be verified to be those of known
                   trusted hosts.

              --bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem
                     When cacert.pem exists, this option has the  same  effect
                     as  -C  or --ca-cert. If it does not exist, then the exe‐
                     cutable will attempt to obtain the  CA  certificate  from
                     the  SSL  peer on its first SSL connection and save it to
                     the named PEM file. If it is successful, it will  immedi‐
                     ately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then on
                     all SSL connections must be authenticated by  a  certifi‐
                     cate 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 server to send the CA cer‐
                     tificate.

                     This option is mutually exclusive with -C and --ca-cert.

   Other Options
       -h
       --help
            Prints a brief help message to the console.

       -V
       --version
            Prints version information to the console.



OVN 22.12.1                      ovn-ic-nbctl                  ovn-ic-nbctl(8)