diff options
author | Ben Pfaff <blp@nicira.com> | 2009-07-10 10:35:36 -0700 |
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committer | Ben Pfaff <blp@nicira.com> | 2009-07-10 10:35:36 -0700 |
commit | 5fca1acd934c87b4ea4e47ff24235343b6db3035 (patch) | |
tree | 3f428ca69db809f24309f0647901cae9db74e55c /INSTALL.bridge | |
parent | 8cd4882fd5c3080816a070ad582ef06842f7c482 (diff) |
Document how to use Open vSwitch as a replacement for the Linux bridge.
Diffstat (limited to 'INSTALL.bridge')
-rw-r--r-- | INSTALL.bridge | 75 |
1 files changed, 75 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/INSTALL.bridge b/INSTALL.bridge new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ec9e0914 --- /dev/null +++ b/INSTALL.bridge @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ + Replacing a Linux Bridge with Open vSwitch + ========================================== + +This file documents how Open vSwitch may be used as a drop-in +replacement for a Linux kernel bridge in an environment that includes +elements that are tightly tied to the Linux bridge tools +(e.g. "brctl") and architecture. We do not recommend using the +approach described here outside such an environment, since the other +tools included with Open vSwitch are easier to use and more +general-purpose than the Linux bridging tools. + +Installation Procedure +---------------------- + +The procedure below explains how to use the Open vSwitch bridge +compatibility support. This procedure is written from the perspective +of a system administrator manually loading and starting Open vSwitch +in bridge compatibility mode, but of course in practice one would want +to update system scripts to follow these steps. + +1. Build and install the Open vSwitch kernel modules and userspace + programs as described in INSTALL.Linux. + + It is important to run "make install", because some Open vSwitch + programs expect to find files in locations selected at installation + time. + +2. Load both the openvswitch and brcompat kernel modules (which were + built in step 1), e.g.: + + % insmod datapath/linux-2.6/openvswitch_mod.ko + % insmod datapath/linux-2.6/brcompat_mod.ko + + These kernel modules cannot be loaded if the Linux bridge module is + already loaded. Thus, you may need to remove any existing bridges + and unload the bridge module with "rmmod bridge" before you can do + this. In addition, if you edit your system configuration files to + load these modules at boot time, it should happen before any bridge + configuration (e.g. before any calls to "brctl" or "ifup" of any + bridge interfaces), to ensure that the Open vSwitch kernel modules + are loaded before the Linux kernel bridge module. + +3. Create an initial ovs-vswitchd.conf file. This file may be empty + when ovs-vswitchd, or you may add any valid configuration + directives to it (as described in ovs-vswitchd.conf(5)), but it + must exist. + + To create an empty configuration file: + + % touch /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf + +4. Start ovs-vswitchd and ovs-brcompatd, e.g.: + + % ovs-vswitchd -P -D -vANY:console:EMER /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf + % ovs-brcompatd -P -D -vANY:console:EMER /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf + +5. Now you should be able to manage the Open vSwitch using brctl and + related tools. For example, you can create an Open vSwitch bridge, + add interfaces to it, then print information about bridges with the + commands: + + % brctl addbr br0 + % brctl addif br0 eth0 + % brctl addif br0 eth1 + % brctl show + + Each of these commands actually uses or modifies the Open vSwitch + configuration. For example, after executing the commands above + starting from an empty configuration file, "cat + /etc/ovs-vswitchd.conf" should show that the configuration file now + contains the following: + + bridge.br0.port=br0 + bridge.br0.port=eth0 + bridge.br0.port=eth1 |