ovn-bridge-controller(5) Open vSwitch Manual ovn-bridge-controller(5) NAME ovn-bridge-controller - OVN_Bridge_Controller database schema This database is the interface between OVN Bridge Controller and the cloud management system (CMS) to program and control the OVS bridges using OVN logical flows. The CMS produces almost all of the contents of the database. The ovn-bridge-controller program monitors the database contents and programs the OVS bridges with the OpenFlow rules. External IDs Each of the tables in this database contains a special column, named external_ids. This column has the same form and purpose each place it appears. external_ids: map of string-string pairs Key-value pairs for use by the CMS. The CMS might use certain pairs, for example, to identify entities in its own configuration that correspond to those in this data‐ base. TABLE SUMMARY The following list summarizes the purpose of each of the tables in the OVN_Bridge_Controller database. Each table is described in more detail on a later page. Table Purpose BR_Global Bridge Controller configuration Connection OVSDB client connections. SSL SSL configuration. Bridge OVS Bridge to control Logical_Flow Logical flow BR_Global TABLE Summary: br_cfg integer Common Columns: external_ids map of string-string pairs Common options: options map of string-string pairs Connection Options: connections set of Connections ssl optional SSL Details: br_cfg: integer Sequence number for client to increment. When a client modifies any part of the bridge Controller database configuration and wishes to wait for ovn-br-controller to finish applying the changes, it may increment this sequence number. Common Columns: external_ids: map of string-string pairs See External IDs at the beginning of this document. Common options: options: map of string-string pairs This column provides general key/value settings. The supported options are described individually below. Connection Options: connections: set of Connections Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should connect or on which it should listen, along with options for how these connections should be configured. See the Connec‐ tion table for more information. ssl: optional SSL Global SSL/TLS configuration. Connection TABLE Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database (OVSDB) client. This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database server (ovsdb-server). The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active con‐ nections to remote clients. It can also listen for database connec‐ tions. Summary: Core Features: target string (must be unique within table) Client Failure Detection and Handling: max_backoff optional integer, at least 1,000 inactivity_probe optional integer Status: is_connected boolean status : last_error optional string status : state optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID status : sec_since_connect optional string, containing an integer, at least 0 status : sec_since_disconnect optional string, containing an integer, at least 0 status : locks_held optional string status : locks_waiting optional string status : locks_lost optional string status : n_connections optional string, containing an integer, at least 2 status : bound_port optional string, containing an integer Common Columns: external_ids map of string-string pairs other_config map of string-string pairs Details: Core Features: target: string (must be unique within table) Connection methods for clients. The following connection methods are currently supported: ssl:host[:port] The specified SSL/TLS port on the host at the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with unbound li‐ brary) or an IP address. A valid SSL/TLS configuration must be provided when this form is used, this configura‐ tion can be specified via command-line options or the SSL table. If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640. SSL/TLS support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of OVN or Open vSwitch. tcp:host[:port] The specified TCP port on the host at the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with unbound li‐ brary) or an IP address. If host is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets, e.g. tcp:[::1]:6640. If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640. pssl:[port][:host] Listens for SSL/TLS connections on the specified TCP port. Specify 0 for port to have the kernel automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with unbound library) or an IP ad‐ dress, is specified, then connections are restricted to the resolved or specified local IPaddress (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an IPv6 address, wrap in square brackets, e.g. pssl:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified then it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6) addresses. A valid SSL/TLS configuration must be provided when this form is used, this can be specified either via command- line options or the SSL table. If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640. SSL/TLS support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of OVN or Open vSwitch. ptcp:[port][:host] Listens for connections on the specified TCP port. Spec‐ ify 0 for port to have the kernel automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with unbound library) or an IP address, is specified, then connections are restricted to the re‐ solved or specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets, e.g. ptcp:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified then it listens only on IPv4 addresses. If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640. When multiple clients are configured, the target values must be unique. Duplicate target values yield unspecified results. Client Failure Detection and Handling: max_backoff: optional integer, at least 1,000 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection at‐ tempts. Default is implementation-specific. inactivity_probe: optional integer Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client before sending an inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not communicate with the client for the specified number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same additional amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to recon‐ nect. Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables inactivity probes. Status: Key-value pair of is_connected is always updated. Other key-value pairs in the status columns may be updated depends on the target type. When target specifies a connection method that listens for inbound con‐ nections (e.g. ptcp: or punix:), both n_connections and is_connected may also be updated while the remaining key-value pairs are omitted. On the other hand, when target specifies an outbound connection, all key-value pairs may be updated, except the above-mentioned two key- value pairs associated with inbound connection targets. They are omit‐ ted. is_connected: boolean true if currently connected to this client, false otherwise. status : last_error: optional string A human-readable description of the last error on the connection to the manager; i.e. strerror(errno). This key will exist only if an error has occurred. status : state: optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID The state of the connection to the manager: VOID Connection is disabled. BACKOFF Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period. CONNECTING Attempting to connect. ACTIVE Connected, remote host responsive. IDLE Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive. These values may change in the future. They are provided only for human consumption. status : sec_since_connect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0 The amount of time since this client last successfully connected to the database (in seconds). Value is empty if client has never successfully been connected. status : sec_since_disconnect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0 The amount of time since this client last disconnected from the database (in seconds). Value is empty if client has never dis‐ connected. status : locks_held: optional string Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the con‐ nection holds. Omitted if the connection does not hold any locks. status : locks_waiting: optional string Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the con‐ nection is currently waiting to acquire. Omitted if the connec‐ tion is not waiting for any locks. status : locks_lost: optional string Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the con‐ nection has had stolen by another OVSDB client. Omitted if no locks have been stolen from this connection. status : n_connections: optional string, containing an integer, at least 2 When target specifies a connection method that listens for in‐ bound connections (e.g. ptcp: or pssl:) and more than one con‐ nection is actually active, the value is the number of active connections. Otherwise, this key-value pair is omitted. status : bound_port: optional string, containing an integer When target is ptcp: or pssl:, this is the TCP port on which the OVSDB server is listening. (This is particularly useful when target specifies a port of 0, allowing the kernel to choose any available port.) Common Columns: The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document. external_ids: map of string-string pairs other_config: map of string-string pairs SSL TABLE SSL/TLS configuration for ovn-nb database access. Summary: private_key string certificate string ca_cert string bootstrap_ca_cert boolean ssl_protocols string ssl_ciphers string ssl_ciphersuites string Common Columns: external_ids map of string-string pairs Details: private_key: string Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch’s identity for SSL/TLS connections to the controller. certificate: string Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the cer‐ tificate authority (CA) used by the controller and manager, that certifies the switch’s private key, identifying a trustworthy switch. ca_cert: string Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller. bootstrap_ca_cert: boolean If set to true, then Open vSwitch will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its first SSL/TLS 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/TLS connections must be authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained. This option exposes the SSL/TLS connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial CA certificate. It may still be useful for boot‐ strapping. ssl_protocols: string Range or a comma- or space-delimited list of the SSL/TLS proto‐ cols to enable for SSL/TLS connections. Supported protocols include TLSv1.2 and TLSv1.3. Ranges can be provided in a form of two protocol names separated with a dash (TLSv1.2-TLSv1.3), or as a single protocol name with a plus sign (TLSv1.2+). The value can be a list of protocols or exactly one range. The range is a preferred way of specifying protocols and the configuration always behaves as if the range between the minimum and the maximum specified version is provided, i.e., if the value is set to TLSv1.X,TLSv1.(X+2), the TLSv1.(X+1) will also be enabled as if it was a range. Regardless of order, the highest protocol supported by both sides will be chosen when making the connection. The default when this option is omitted is TLSv1.2+. ssl_ciphers: string List of ciphers (in OpenSSL cipher string format) to be sup‐ ported for SSL/TLS connections with TLSv1.2. The default when this option is omitted is DEFAULT:@SECLEVEL=2. ssl_ciphersuites: string List of ciphersuites (in OpenSSL ciphersuites string format) to be supported for SSL/TLS connections with TLSv1.3 and later. De‐ fault value from OpenSSL will be used when this option is omit‐ ted. Common Columns: The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document. external_ids: map of string-string pairs Bridge TABLE Summary: name string (must be unique within table) options map of string-string pairs external_ids map of string-string pairs Details: name: string (must be unique within table) Name of the OVS bridge. This bridge should exist in the local OVS database. options: map of string-string pairs Reserved for future use. external_ids: map of string-string pairs See External IDs at the beginning of this document. Logical_Flow TABLE Summary: bridge optional Bridge table_id integer, in range 0 to 100 priority integer, in range 0 to 65,535 match string actions string external_ids map of string-string pairs Details: bridge: optional Bridge The bridge to which the logical flow belongs to. table_id: integer, in range 0 to 100 The stage in the logical pipeline, analogous to an OpenFlow ta‐ ble number. priority: integer, in range 0 to 65,535 The flow’s priority. Flows with numerically higher priority take precedence over those with lower. If two logical flows with the same priority both match, then the one actually applied to the packet is undefined. match: string A matching expression. OVN provides a superset of OpenFlow matching capabilities, using a syntax similar to Boolean expres‐ sions in a programming language. Please see the documentation of the match column of the Logi‐ cal_Flow table in the OVN_Southbound database. actions: string Logical datapath actions, to be executed when the logical flow represented by this row is the highest-priority match. Actions share lexical syntax with the match column. An empty set of actions (or one that contains just white space or comments), or a set of actions that consists of just drop;, causes the matched packets to be dropped. Otherwise, the column should con‐ tain a sequence of actions, each terminated by a semicolon. Please see the documentation of the actions column of the Logi‐ cal_Flow table in the OVN_Southbound database. While ovn-br-controller technically supports all OVN logical flow actions defined in the actions column of the Logical_Flow table in the OVN_Southbound, some actions are not intended for use by the CMS. These include controller OpenFlow actions (e.g., put_dhcp_opts, dns_lookup) and OVN-specific actions (e.g., look_arp, look_fdb). It is the CMS’s responsibility to avoid using such actions. When the CMS defines the packet pipeline in the OVS bridge and adds logical flows using ovn-br-controller, it is expected to be mindful of using only relevant OVN actions. external_ids: map of string-string pairs See External IDs at the beginning of this document. Open vSwitch 25.09.90 DB Schema 0.0.1 ovn-bridge-controller(5)