ovsdb-server(1)               Open vSwitch Manual              ovsdb-server(1)

NAME
       ovsdb-server - Open vSwitch database server

SYNOPSIS
       ovsdb-server   [database]...    [relay:schema_name:remote]...    [--re‐
       mote=remote]...  [--config-file=file] [--run=command]

       Daemon options:
              [--pidfile[=pidfile]]      [--overwrite-pidfile]      [--detach]
              [--no-chdir] [--no-self-confinement]

       Service options:
              [--service] [--service-monitor]

       Logging options:
              [-v[module[:destination[:level]]]]...
              [--verbose[=module[:destination[:level]]]]...
              [--log-file[=file]]

       Active-backup options:
              [--sync-from=server]     [--sync-exclude-tables=db:table[,db:ta‐
              ble]...]  [--active]

       Public key infrastructure options:
              [--private-key=privkey.pem]
              [--certificate=cert.pem]
              [--ca-cert=cacert.pem]
              [--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem]
              [--peer-ca-cert=peer-cacert.pem]

       SSL connection options:
              [--ssl-protocols=protocols]
              [--ssl-ciphers=ciphers]

       Runtime management options:
              --unixctl=socket

       Replay options:
              [--record[=directory]] [--replay[=directory]]

       Common options:
              [-h | --help] [-V | --version]


DESCRIPTION
       The ovsdb-server program provides RPC interfaces to one  or  more  Open
       vSwitch  databases  (OVSDBs).   It supports JSON-RPC client connections
       over active or passive TCP/IP or Unix domain sockets.  For an introduc‐
       tion to OVSDB and its implementation in Open vSwitch, see ovsdb(7).

       Each OVSDB file may be specified on the command line as database.   Re‐
       lay   databases   may   be   specified  on  the  command  line  as  re‐
       lay:schema_name:remote.  For a detailed description of  relay  database
       argument,  see  ovsdb(7).  If none of database files or relay databases
       is specified, the default is  /usr/local/etc/openvswitch/conf.db.   The
       database  files  must  already have been created and initialized using,
       for example, ovsdb-tool's create, create-cluster, or join-cluster  com‐
       mand.

       All types of databases can alternatively be added using a configuration
       file provided via --config-file option.  This option is mutually exclu‐
       sive  with specifying database on the command line.  For a detailed de‐
       scription of the configuration file format see ovsdb(7).

       This OVSDB implementation supports standalone, active-backup, relay and
       clustered database service models, as  well  as  database  replication.
       See the Service Models section of ovsdb(7) for more information.

       For clustered databases, when the --detach option is used, ovsdb-server
       detaches  without waiting for the server to successfully join a cluster
       (if the database file is freshly created with ovsdb-tool  join-cluster)
       or  connect  to a cluster that it has already joined.  Use ovsdb-client
       wait (see ovsdb-client(1)) to wait until the  server  has  successfully
       joined  and  connected  to a cluster.  The same is true for relay data‐
       bases.  Same commands could be used to wait for  a  relay  database  to
       connect to the relay source (remote).

       In  addition  to user-specified databases, ovsdb-server version 2.9 and
       later also always hosts a built-in database named _Server.  Please  see
       ovsdb-server(5) for documentation on this database's schema.

OPTIONS
       --remote=remote
              Adds  remote  as  a connection method used by ovsdb-server.  The
              remote may be an OVSDB active or passive connection method, e.g.
              pssl:6640, as described in ovsdb(7).  The  following  additional
              form is also supported:

              db:db,table,column
                     Reads additional connection methods from column in all of
                     the  rows  in table within db.  As the contents of column
                     changes, ovsdb-server  also  adds  and  drops  connection
                     methods accordingly.

                     If  column's  type  is string or set of strings, then the
                     connection methods are taken directly  from  the  column.
                     The connection methods in the column must have one of the
                     forms described above.

                     If column's type is UUID or set of UUIDs and references a
                     table,  then each UUID is looked up in the referenced ta‐
                     ble to obtain a row.  The following columns in  the  row,
                     if  present  and of the correct type, configure a connec‐
                     tion method.  Any additional columns are ignored.

                     target (string)
                            Connection method, in one of the  forms  described
                            above.  This column is mandatory: if it is missing
                            or  empty then no connection method can be config‐
                            ured.

                     max_backoff (integer)
                            Maximum number of  milliseconds  to  wait  between
                            connection attempts.

                     inactivity_probe (integer)
                            Maximum  number  of  milliseconds  of idle time on
                            connection to client before sending an  inactivity
                            probe message.

                     read_only (boolean)
                            If  true,  only read-only transactions are allowed
                            on this connection.

                     It is an error for column to have another type.

              To connect or listen on multiple connection methods, use  multi‐
              ple --remote options.

              Alternatively,  remotes  can be specified in a "remotes" section
              of the configuration file, if provided using  --config-file  op‐
              tion.   --config-file  and  --remote options are mutually exclu‐
              sive.

       --config-file=file
              Specifies a configuration file for ovsdb-server.  This file  can
              contain  connection  methods  and  databases used by the server.
              The file contains a JSON object with two main elements:

              remotes
                     JSON object that contains a set of connection methods  in
                     the following format: "target": { "option": value, ... }.
                     Where  target is in the same format as remote in --remote
                     option.  option can be max-backoff (integer), inactivity-
                     probe (integer), read-only (boolean),  role  (string)  or
                     dscp  (integer)  with  their allowed values respectively.
                     The meaning of these options is the same as in configura‐
                     tion of remote via a database row with --remote option.

              databases
                     JSON object that describes databases that should be added
                     to the ovsdb-server in  the  following  format:  "name":{
                     "option": value, ... }.  Where name is either a file name
                     of  a  previously  created  and initialized database or a
                     schema name in case of relay  databases.   Available  op‐
                     tions are:

                     service-model (string)
                            Describes the service model of this database.  One
                            of: standalone, clustered, active-backup or relay.
                            This  option is required for all types, except for
                            standalone and clustered.  For these databases the
                            service model will be inferred from the  file,  if
                            not   specified   explicitly.   ovsdb-server  will
                            refuse to add a database if the specified service-
                            model doesn't match with the provided file.

                     source (JSON object; active-backup or relay)
                            Describes the  connection  method  to  the  active
                            database or to the relay source.  It is a JSON ob‐
                            ject  with  exactly one element in the same format
                            as elements of "remotes",  except  that  read-only
                            and   role   options  are  not  applicable.   E.g.
                            "source": { "unix:db.sock": {  "inactivity-probe":
                            10000, "max-backoff": 8000 } }

                     backup (boolean; active-backup only)
                            If  set  to true, ovsdb-server will use this data‐
                            base as a backup for the specified  source.   Will
                            be served as an active database otherwise.

                     exclude-tables (JSON array of strings; active-backup
                     only)
                            List  of  table names that should be excluded from
                            replication in backup mode, e.g. "exclude-tables":
                            [ "Table_One", "Table_Two" ].

              Content of the most basic configuration file may look like this:
              { "remotes": { "pssl:6640": {} }, "databases": { "conf.db": {} }
              }

              Examples of configuration files for different service models can
              be found in in ovsdb(7).

              --config-file option is mutually exclusive with the --remote  as
              well  as with specifying database on a command line.  It is also
              mutually exclusive with all the Active-Backup  Options  and  all
              the  RUNTIME  MANAGEMENT COMMANDS that can change the configura‐
              tion of the server in conflict with the  content  of  the  file,
              i.e.  all  the  commands  that manipulate with remotes and data‐
              bases.  Read-only commands can still be used.

              In case of changes in the file,  users  should  run  the  ovsdb-
              server/reload command with ovs-appctl(8) in order for changes to
              take effect.

       --run=command]
              Ordinarily  ovsdb-server  runs  forever,  or until it is told to
              exit (see RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS below).  With this option,
              ovsdb-server instead starts a shell subprocess running  command.
              When  the  subprocess terminates, ovsdb-server also exits grace‐
              fully.  If the subprocess exits normally with exit code 0,  then
              ovsdb-server  exits  with  exit code 0 also; otherwise, it exits
              with exit code 1.

              This option can be useful where a database server is needed only
              to   run   a   single   command,   e.g.:   ovsdb-server    --re‐
              mote=punix:socket     --run='ovsdb-client    dump    unix:socket
              Open_vSwitch'

              This option is not supported on Windows platform.

   Daemon Options
       The following options are valid on POSIX based platforms.

       --pidfile[=pidfile]
              Causes a file (by default, ovsdb-server.pid) to be created indi‐
              cating the PID of the running process.  If the pidfile  argument
              is  not  specified,  or  if it does not begin with /, then it is
              created in /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.

              If --pidfile is not specified, no pidfile is created.

       --overwrite-pidfile
              By default, when --pidfile is specified and the  specified  pid‐
              file  already  exists  and  is  locked  by  a  running  process,
              ovsdb-server refuses to start.  Specify  --overwrite-pidfile  to
              cause it to instead overwrite the pidfile.

              When --pidfile is not specified, this option has no effect.

       --detach
              Runs  ovsdb-server  as a background process.  The process forks,
              and in the child it starts a new session,  closes  the  standard
              file descriptors (which has the side effect of disabling logging
              to  the  console), and changes its current directory to the root
              (unless --no-chdir is specified).  After the child completes its
              initialization, the parent exits.   ovsdb-server  detaches  only
              after  it  starts  listening on all configured remotes.  At this
              point, all standalone and active-backup databases are ready  for
              use.   Clustered  databases only become ready for use after they
              finish joining their clusters (which could have already happened
              in previous runs of ovsdb-server).

       --monitor
              Creates an additional process to monitor the  ovsdb-server  dae‐
              mon.   If  the daemon dies due to a signal that indicates a pro‐
              gramming error (SIGABRT, SIGALRM, SIGBUS, SIGFPE,  SIGILL,  SIG‐
              PIPE,  SIGSEGV,  SIGXCPU,  or  SIGXFSZ) then the monitor process
              starts a new copy of it.  If the daemon dies or  exits  for  an‐
              other reason, the monitor process exits.

              This  option  is  normally used with --detach, but it also func‐
              tions without it.

       --no-chdir
              By default, when --detach is specified, ovsdb-server changes its
              current working directory to the root  directory  after  it  de‐
              taches.  Otherwise, invoking ovsdb-server from a carelessly cho‐
              sen  directory  would  prevent the administrator from unmounting
              the file system that holds that directory.

              Specifying  --no-chdir  suppresses  this  behavior,   preventing
              ovsdb-server  from changing its current working directory.  This
              may be useful for collecting core files, since it is common  be‐
              havior  to  write  core dumps into the current working directory
              and the root directory is not a good directory to use.

              This option has no effect when --detach is not specified.

       --no-self-confinement
              By default daemon will try to self-confine itself to  work  with
              files  under well-known directories determined during build.  It
              is better to stick with this default behavior  and  not  to  use
              this  flag  unless  some other Access Control is used to confine
              daemon.  Note that in contrast to other access control implemen‐
              tations that are typically enforced from kernel-space (e.g.  DAC
              or  MAC), self-confinement is imposed from the user-space daemon
              itself and hence should not be considered as a full  confinement
              strategy, but instead should be viewed as an additional layer of
              security.

       --user Causes  ovsdb-server  to  run  as  a different user specified in
              "user:group", thus dropping most of the root  privileges.  Short
              forms "user" and ":group" are also allowed, with current user or
              group are assumed respectively. Only daemons started by the root
              user accepts this argument.

              On   Linux,   daemons   will   be   granted   CAP_IPC_LOCK   and
              CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICES before dropping root  privileges.  Daemons
              that  interact  with  a  datapath, such as ovs-vswitchd, will be
              granted three  additional  capabilities,  namely  CAP_NET_ADMIN,
              CAP_NET_BROADCAST  and  CAP_NET_RAW.  The capability change will
              apply even if the new user is root.

              On Windows, this option is not currently supported. For security
              reasons, specifying this option will cause  the  daemon  process
              not to start.

   Service Options
       The following options are valid only on Windows platform.

       --service
              Causes  ovsdb-server  to run as a service in the background. The
              service should already have been created through external  tools
              like SC.exe.

       --service-monitor
              Causes the ovsdb-server service to be automatically restarted by
              the  Windows  services  manager if the service dies or exits for
              unexpected reasons.

              When --service is not specified, this option has no effect.

   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  com‐
                     mand on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log level change to the
                     specified 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, ovsdb-server
                     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 be‐
              low).

              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/open‐
              vswitch/ovsdb-server.log.

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

       --syslog-method=method
              Specify method how syslog messages should be sent to syslog dae‐
              mon.  Following forms are supported:

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

              •      unix:file, use UNIX domain socket directly.  It is possi‐
                     ble 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, use UDP socket.  With this method it is pos‐
                     sible 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  ex‐
                     ample,  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, discards all messages logged to syslog.

              The  default  is  taken  from  the OVS_SYSLOG_METHOD environment
              variable; if it is unset, the default is libc.

   Active-Backup Options
       These options support the ovsdb-server active-backup service model  and
       database  replication.   These  options  apply only to databases in the
       format used for standalone and active-backup databases,  which  is  the
       database  format  created  by  ovsdb-tool  create.  By default, when it
       serves a database in this format, ovsdb-server  runs  as  a  standalone
       server.  These options can configure it for active-backup use:

       •      Use  --sync-from=server  to start the server in the backup role,
              replicating data from server.  When ovsdb-server is running as a
              backup server, it rejects all transactions that can  modify  the
              database content, including lock commands.  The same form can be
              used to configure the local database as a replica of server.

       •      Use  --sync-from=server  --active to start the server in the ac‐
              tive role, but prepared to switch to the backup role in which it
              would replicate data from server.  When ovsdb-server runs in ac‐
              tive mode, it allows all transactions, including those that mod‐
              ify the database.

       At runtime, management commands can change a server's role  and  other‐
       wise manage active-backup features.  See Active-Backup Commands, below,
       for more information.

       --sync-from=server
              Sets up ovsdb-server to synchronize its databases with the data‐
              bases  in  server,  which must be an active connection method in
              one of the forms documented in ovsdb-client(1).  Every  transac‐
              tion  committed  by  server  will be replicated to ovsdb-server.
              This option makes ovsdb-server start as  a  backup  server;  add
              --active to make it start as an active server.

       --sync-exclude-tables=db:table[,db:table]...
              Causes the specified tables to be excluded from replication.

       --active
              By  default, --sync-from makes ovsdb-server start up as a backup
              for server.  With --active, however, ovsdb-server starts  as  an
              active  server.  Use this option to allow the syncing options to
              be specified using command line options, yet start  the  server,
              as  the default, active server.  To switch the running server to
              backup mode, use ovs-appctl(1) to execute the  ovsdb-server/con‐
              nect-active-ovsdb-server command.

       These options are mutually exclusive with the --config-file.

   Public Key Infrastructure Options
       The  options  described below for configuring the SSL public key infra‐
       structure accept a special syntax  for  obtaining  their  configuration
       from the database.  If any of these options is given db:db,table,column
       as  its  argument, then the actual file name is read from the specified
       column in table within the db database.   The  column  must  have  type
       string  or  set  of strings.  The first nonempty string in the table is
       taken as the file name.  (This means that ordinarily there should be at
       most one row in table.)

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

       -c cert.pem
       --certificate=cert.pem
              Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the
              private  key specified on -p or --private-key to be trustworthy.
              The certificate must be signed by the certificate 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   that
              ovsdb-server  should  use to verify certificates presented to it
              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  certifi‐
              cates 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 ovsdb-server 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 success‐
              ful, it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect,  and
              from then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a cer‐
              tificate 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  use‐
              ful for bootstrapping.

              This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA certifi‐
              cate  as  part  of  the SSL certificate chain.  The SSL protocol
              does not require the server to send the CA certificate.

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

       --peer-ca-cert=peer-cacert.pem
              Specifies a PEM file that contains one or more  additional  cer‐
              tificates  to  send to SSL peers.  peer-cacert.pem should be the
              CA certificate used to sign ovsdb-server's own certificate, that
              is, the  certificate  specified  on  -c  or  --certificate.   If
              ovsdb-server's  certificate  is  self-signed, then --certificate
              and --peer-ca-cert should specify the same file.

              This option is not useful in normal operation, because  the  SSL
              peer  must  already have the CA certificate for the peer to have
              any confidence in ovsdb-server's identity.  However, this offers
              a way for a new installation to bootstrap the CA certificate  on
              its first SSL connection.

   SSL Connection Options
       --ssl-protocols=protocols
              Specifies,  in  a comma- or space-delimited list, the SSL proto‐
              cols ovsdb-server will enable for  SSL  connections.   Supported
              protocols  include  TLSv1,  TLSv1.1, and TLSv1.2.  Regardless of
              order, the highest protocol supported by both sides will be cho‐
              sen when making the connection.  The default when this option is
              omitted is TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2.

       --ssl-ciphers=ciphers
              Specifies,  in  OpenSSL  cipher  string  format,   the   ciphers
              ovsdb-server will support for SSL connections.  The default when
              this option is omitted is HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5.

   Other Options
       --unixctl=socket
              Sets  the  name of the control socket on which ovsdb-server lis‐
              tens for runtime management  commands  (see  RUNTIME  MANAGEMENT
              COMMANDS, below).  If socket does not begin with /, it is inter‐
              preted   as   relative  to  /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.   If
              --unixctl is not used at all, the  default  socket  is  /usr/lo‐
              cal/var/run/openvswitch/ovsdb-server.pid.ctl,   where   pid   is
              ovsdb-server's process ID.

              On Windows a local named pipe is used to listen for runtime man‐
              agement commands.  A file is created in  the  absolute  path  as
              pointed  by socket or if --unixctl is not used at all, a file is
              created as ovsdb-server.ctl in the configured OVS_RUNDIR  direc‐
              tory.   The file exists just to mimic the behavior of a Unix do‐
              main socket.

              Specifying none for socket disables the control socket feature.

       --record[=directory]
              Sets the process in "recording" mode, in which  it  will  record
              all  the connections, data from streams (Unix domain and network
              sockets) and some other important necessary bits, so they  could
              be  replayed  later.  Recorded data is stored in replay files in
              specified directory.  If directory does not begin with /, it  is
              interpreted  as  relative to /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.  If
              directory is not specified, /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch  will
              be used.

       --replay[=directory]
              Sets  the process in "replay" mode, in which it will read infor‐
              mation about connections, data from  streams  (Unix  domain  and
              network sockets) and some other necessary bits directly from re‐
              play files instead of using real sockets.  Replay files from the
              directory  will be used.  If directory does not begin with /, it
              is interpreted as  relative  to  /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch.
              If  directory  is  not specified, /usr/local/var/run/openvswitch
              will be used.

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

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

RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS
       ovs-appctl(8) can send commands to a running ovsdb-server process.  The
       currently supported commands are described below.

   ovsdb-server Commands
       These commands are specific to ovsdb-server.

       exit   Causes ovsdb-server to gracefully terminate.

       ovsdb-server/compact [db]
              Compacts database db in-place.  If db is not specified, compacts
              every database in-place.  A database is also compacted automati‐
              cally when a transaction is logged if it  is  over  2  times  as
              large  as  its previous compacted size (and at least 10 MB), but
              not before 100 commits  have  been  added  or  10  minutes  have
              elapsed since the last compaction. It will also be compacted au‐
              tomatically after 24 hours since the last compaction if 100 com‐
              mits were added regardless of its size.

       ovsdb-server/memory-trim-on-compaction on|off
              If  this  option is on, ovsdb-server will try to reclaim all un‐
              used heap memory back to the system after each successful  data‐
              base compaction to reduce the memory consumption of the process.
              off by default.

       ovsdb-server/reconnect
              Makes ovsdb-server drop all of the JSON-RPC connections to data‐
              base clients and reconnect.

              This  command might be useful for debugging issues with database
              clients.

       ovsdb-server/add-remote remote
              Adds a remote, as if --remote=remote had been specified  on  the
              ovsdb-server command line.  (If remote is already a remote, this
              command succeeds without changing the configuration.)

              Mutually exclusive with the --config-file option.

       ovsdb-server/remove-remote remote
              Removes  the  specified  remote  from the configuration, failing
              with an error if remote is not configured  as  a  remote.   This
              command  only  works with remotes that were named on --remote or
              ovsdb-server/add-remote, that is, it  will  not  remove  remotes
              added  indirectly  because  they  were read from the database by
              configuring a db:db,table,column  remote.   (You  can  remove  a
              database source with ovsdb-server/remove-remote db:db,table,col‐
              umn,  but  not  individual  remotes found indirectly through the
              database.)

              Mutually exclusive with the --config-file option.

       ovsdb-server/list-remotes
              Outputs a list of the  currently  configured  remotes  named  on
              --remote  or  ovsdb-server/add-remote, that is, it does not list
              remotes added indirectly because they were read from  the  data‐
              base by configuring a db:db,table,column remote.

       ovsdb-server/add-db database
              Adds  the  database to the running ovsdb-server.  database could
              be a database file or a relay description in the following  for‐
              mat:  relay:schema_name:remote.   The database file must already
              have been created and initialized using, for example, ovsdb-tool
              create.

              Mutually exclusive with the --config-file option.

       ovsdb-server/remove-db database
              Removes database from the running ovsdb-server.   database  must
              be a database name as listed by ovsdb-server/list-dbs.

              If  a  remote  has  been configured that points to the specified
              database (e.g. --remote=db:database,... on  the  command  line),
              then  it  will  be disabled until another database with the same
              name is added again (with ovsdb-server/add-db).

              Any public key infrastructure  options  specified  through  this
              database  (e.g.  --private-key=db:database,...  on  the  command
              line) will be disabled until another database with the same name
              is added again (with ovsdb-server/add-db).

              Mutually exclusive with the --config-file option.

       ovsdb-server/list-dbs
              Outputs a list of the currently configured databases  added  ei‐
              ther through the command line or through the ovsdb-server/add-db
              command.

       ovsdb-server/tlog-set database:table on|off
              Enables  or  disables  logging of all operations executed on the
              specified database and table.  Logs are generated at INFO  level
              and are rate limtied.

       ovsdb-server/tlog-list
              Displays  the  logging  state for all currently configured data‐
              bases and tables.

   Active-Backup Commands
       These commands query and update the role of ovsdb-server within an  ac‐
       tive-backup pair of servers.  See Active-Backup Options, above, and Ac‐
       tive-Backup Database Service Model in ovsdb(7) for more information.

       All  Active-Backup  Commands  that change the state of ovsdb-server are
       mutually exclusive with the --config-file option.

       ovsdb-server/set-active-ovsdb-server server
              Sets  the active server from which ovsdb-server connects through
              ovsdb-server/connect-active-ovsdb-server.   This  overrides  the
              --sync-from command-line option.

       ovsdb-server/get-active-ovsdb-server
              Gets the active server from which ovsdb-server is currently syn‐
              chronizing its databases.

       ovsdb-server/connect-active-ovsdb-server
              Switches  the  server  to a backup role.  The server starts syn‐
              chronizing its databases with the  active  server  specified  by
              ovsdb-server/set-active-ovsdb-server  (or  the  --sync-from com‐
              mand-line option) and closes all  existing  client  connections,
              which requires clients to reconnect.

       ovsdb-server/disconnect-active-ovsdb-server
              Switches  the  server  to an active role.  The server stops syn‐
              chronizing its databases with an active server  and  closes  all
              existing  client  connections,  which requires clients to recon‐
              nect.

       ovsdb-server/set-active-ovsdb-server-probe-interval probe interval
              Sets  the probe interval (in milli seconds) for  the  connection
              to active server.

       ovsdb-server/set-sync-exclude-tables db:table[,db:table]...
              Sets the table within db that will be excluded from synchroniza‐
              tion.  This overrides the --sync-exclude-tables command-line op‐
              tion.

       ovsdb-server/get-sync-exclude-tables
              Gets  the  tables  that are currently excluded from synchroniza‐
              tion.

       ovsdb-server/sync-status
              Prints  a summary of replication run time information. The state
              information is always provided, indicating whether the server is
              running in the active or the backup  mode.   For  all  databases
              with active-backup service model, replication connection status,
              which can be either connecting, replicating or error, are shown.
              When  the  connection  is  in  replicating state, further output
              shows the tables that are currently excluded from replication.

   Cluster Commands
       These commands support the ovsdb-server clustered service model.   They
       apply  only  to  databases  in the format used for clustered databases,
       which is the database format created by ovsdb-tool  create-cluster  and
       ovsdb-tool join-cluster.

       cluster/cid db
              Prints  the  cluster  ID for db, which is a UUID that identifies
              the cluster.  If db is a database newly  created  by  ovsdb-tool
              cluster-join  that  has not yet successfully joined its cluster,
              and --cid was not specified on the  cluster-join  command  line,
              then this command will report an error because the cluster ID is
              not yet known.

       cluster/sid db
              Prints  the  server  ID  for db, which is a UUID that identifies
              this server within the cluster.

       cluster/status db
              Prints this server's status within the cluster and the status of
              its connections to other servers in the cluster.

       cluster/leave db
              This command starts the server gracefully removing  itself  from
              its  cluster.   At least one server must remain, and the cluster
              must be healthy, that is, over half  of  the  cluster's  servers
              must be up.

              When  the server successfully leaves the cluster, it stops serv‐
              ing db, as if ovsdb-server/remove-db db had been executed.

              Use ovsdb-client wait (see ovsdb-client(1)) to  wait  until  the
              server has left the cluster.

              Once  a  server  leaves  a cluster, it may never rejoin it.  In‐
              stead, create a new server and join it to the cluster.

              Note that removing the server from the cluster alters the  total
              size of the cluster. For example, if you remove two servers from
              a  three  server  cluster,  then  the "cluster" becomes a single
              functioning server.  This does not  result  in  a  three  server
              cluster that lacks quorum.

       cluster/kick db server
              Start  graceful  removal of server from db's cluster, like clus‐
              ter/leave, except that it can remove any server, not  just  this
              one.

              server  may  be  a  server ID, as printed by cluster/sid, or the
              server's local network address as passed  to  ovsdb-tool's  cre‐
              ate-cluster  or join-cluster command.  Use cluster/status to see
              a list of cluster members.

       cluster/change-election-timer db time
              Change the leader election timeout base value of the cluster, in
              milliseconds.

              Leader election will be initiated by a follower if there  is  no
              heartbeat  received from the leader within this time plus a ran‐
              dom time within 1 second.

              The default value is 1000, if not  changed  with  this  command.
              This command can be used to adjust the value when necessary, ac‐
              cording to the expected load and response time of the servers.

              This  command  must be executed on the leader.  It initiates the
              change to the cluster.  To see if the change takes effect  (com‐
              mitted), use cluster/status to show the current setting.  Once a
              change is committed, it persists at server restarts.

       cluster/set-backlog-threshold db n_msgs n_bytes
              Sets  the  backlog limits for db's RAFT connections to a maximum
              of n_msgs messages or n_bytes bytes.  If the backlog on  one  of
              the  connections reaches the limit, it will be disconnected (and
              re-established).  Values are checked only if  the  backlog  con‐
              tains more than 50 messages.

   VLOG COMMANDS
       These commands manage ovsdb-server's logging settings.

       vlog/set [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 com‐
                     mand on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log level change to the
                     specified 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.

                     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 ovsdb-server was invoked with the
              --log-file option.

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

       vlog/set 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.

       vlog/list
              Lists the supported logging modules and their current levels.

       vlog/list-pattern
              Lists logging patterns used for each destination.

       vlog/close
              Causes  ovsdb-server to close its log file, if it is open.  (Use
              vlog/reopen to reopen it later.)

       vlog/reopen
              Causes ovsdb-server to close its log file, if it  is  open,  and
              then  reopen  it.   (This is useful after rotating log files, to
              cause a new log file to be used.)

              This has no effect unless  ovsdb-server  was  invoked  with  the
              --log-file option.

       vlog/disable-rate-limit [module]...
       vlog/enable-rate-limit [module]...
              By  default,  ovsdb-server limits the rate at which certain mes‐
              sages can be logged.  When a  message  would  appear  more  fre‐
              quently  than  the  limit,  it  is  suppressed.  This saves disk
              space, makes logs easier to read, and speeds up  execution,  but
              occasionally  troubleshooting  requires more detail.  Therefore,
              vlog/disable-rate-limit allows rate limits to be disabled at the
              level of an individual log module.  Specify one or  more  module
              names, as displayed by the vlog/list command.  Specifying either
              no  module  names at all or the keyword any disables rate limits
              for every log module.

              The vlog/enable-rate-limit command, whose syntax is the same  as
              vlog/disable-rate-limit,  can  be used to re-enable a rate limit
              that was previously disabled.

   MEMORY COMMANDS
       These commands report memory usage.

       memory/show
              Displays some basic statistics about ovsdb-server's  memory  us‐
              age.  ovsdb-server also logs this information soon after startup
              and periodically as its memory consumption grows.

   COVERAGE COMMANDS
       These commands manage ovsdb-server's ``coverage counters,'' which count
       the  number of times particular events occur during a daemon's runtime.
       In addition to these commands, ovsdb-server automatically logs coverage
       counter values, at INFO level, when it detects that the  daemon's  main
       loop takes unusually long to run.

       Coverage counters are useful mainly for performance analysis and debug‐
       ging.

       coverage/show
              Displays the averaged per-second rates for the last few seconds,
              the  last  minute and the last hour, and the total counts of all
              of the coverage counters.

       coverage/read-counter counter
              Displays the total count for the given coverage counter.

BUGS
       In Open vSwitch before version 2.4, when ovsdb-server sent JSON-RPC er‐
       ror responses to some requests, it incorrectly formulated them with the
       result and error swapped, so that the  response  appeared  to  indicate
       success (with a nonsensical result) rather than an error.  The requests
       that suffered from this problem were:

       transact
       get_schema
              Only if the request names a nonexistent database.

       monitor
       lock
       unlock In all error cases.

       Of  these  cases,  the  only  error  that a well-written application is
       likely to encounter in practice is monitor of tables or columns that do
       not exist, in an situation where the application has been upgraded  but
       the  old  database  schema is still temporarily in use.  To handle this
       situation gracefully, we recommend that clients should treat a  monitor
       response  with a result that contains an error key-value pair as an er‐
       ror (assuming that the database being monitored does not contain a  ta‐
       ble named error).

SEE ALSO
       ovsdb(7), ovsdb-tool(1), ovsdb-server(5), ovsdb-server(7).

Open vSwitch                         3.4.0                     ovsdb-server(1)