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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS | ACTIVE-STANDBY FOR HIGH AVAILABILITY | LOGICAL FLOW TABLE STRUCTURE | COLOPHON |
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ovn-northd(8) Open vSwitch Manual ovn-northd(8)
ovn-northd - Open Virtual Network central control daemon
ovn-northd [options]
ovn-northd is a centralized daemon responsible for translating
the high-level OVN configuration into logical configuration
consumable by daemons such as ovn-controller. It translates the
logical network configuration in terms of conventional network
concepts, taken from the OVN Northbound Database (see ovn-nb(5)),
into logical datapath flows in the OVN Southbound Database (see
ovn-sb(5)) below it.
--ovnnb-db=database
The OVSDB database containing the OVN Northbound Database.
If the OVN_NB_DB environment variable is set, its value is
used as the default. Otherwise, the default is
unix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/ovnnb_db.sock.
--ovnsb-db=database
The OVSDB database containing the OVN Southbound Database.
If the OVN_SB_DB environment variable is set, its value is
used as the default. Otherwise, the default is
unix:/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/ovnsb_db.sock.
database in the above options must be an OVSDB active or passive
connection method, as described in ovsdb(7).
Daemon Options
--pidfile[=pidfile]
Causes a file (by default, program.pid) to be created
indicating 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
pidfile already exists and is locked by a running process,
the daemon 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 this program 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.
--monitor
Creates an additional process to monitor this program. If
it dies due to a signal that indicates a programming error
(SIGABRT, SIGALRM, SIGBUS, SIGFPE, SIGILL, SIGPIPE,
SIGSEGV, SIGXCPU, or SIGXFSZ) then the monitor process
starts a new copy of it. If the daemon dies or exits for
another reason, the monitor process exits.
This option is normally used with --detach, but it also
functions without it.
--no-chdir
By default, when --detach is specified, the daemon changes
its current working directory to the root directory after
it detaches. Otherwise, invoking the daemon from a
carelessly chosen directory would prevent the
administrator from unmounting the file system that holds
that directory.
Specifying --no-chdir suppresses this behavior, preventing
the daemon from changing its current working directory.
This may be useful for collecting core files, since it is
common behavior 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 this daemon will try to self-confine itself to
work with files under well-known directories whitelisted
at build time. 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 implementations 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=user:group
Causes this program 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 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.
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 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,
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
--verbose=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/openvswitch/program.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 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 message 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 possible 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 example, 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
variable; if it is unset, the default is libc.
PKI Options
PKI configuration is required in order to use SSL for the
connections to the Northbound and Southbound databases.
-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
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
for verifying 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.
Other Options
--unixctl=socket
Sets the name of the control socket on which program
listens for runtime management commands (see RUNTIME
MANAGEMENT COMMANDS, below). If socket does not begin with
/, it is interpreted as relative to
/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch. If --unixctl is not used
at all, the default socket is
/usr/local/var/run/openvswitch/program.pid.ctl, where pid
is program’s process ID.
On Windows a local named pipe is used to listen for
runtime management 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 program in the
configured OVS_RUNDIR directory. The file exists just to
mimic the behavior of a Unix domain socket.
Specifying none for socket disables the control socket
feature.
-h
--help
Prints a brief help message to the console.
-V
--version
Prints version information to the console.
ovs-appctl can send commands to a running ovn-northd process. The
currently supported commands are described below.
exit Causes ovn-northd to gracefully terminate.
You may run ovn-northd more than once in an OVN deployment. OVN
will automatically ensure that only one of them is active at a
time. If multiple instances of ovn-northd are running and the
active ovn-northd fails, one of the hot standby instances of
ovn-northd will automatically take over.
One of the main purposes of ovn-northd is to populate the
Logical_Flow table in the OVN_Southbound database. This section
describes how ovn-northd does this for switch and router logical
datapaths.
Logical Switch Datapaths
Ingress Table 0: Admission Control and Ingress Port Security - L2
Ingress table 0 contains these logical flows:
• Priority 100 flows to drop packets with VLAN tags
or multicast Ethernet source addresses.
• Priority 50 flows that implement ingress port
security for each enabled logical port. For logical
ports on which port security is enabled, these
match the inport and the valid eth.src address(es)
and advance only those packets to the next flow
table. For logical ports on which port security is
not enabled, these advance all packets that match
the inport.
There are no flows for disabled logical ports because the
default-drop behavior of logical flow tables causes packets that
ingress from them to be dropped.
Ingress Table 1: Ingress Port Security - IP
Ingress table 1 contains these logical flows:
• For each element in the port security set having
one or more IPv4 or IPv6 addresses (or both),
• Priority 90 flow to allow IPv4 traffic if it
has IPv4 addresses which match the inport,
valid eth.src and valid ip4.src address(es).
• Priority 90 flow to allow IPv4 DHCP
discovery traffic if it has a valid eth.src.
This is necessary since DHCP discovery
messages are sent from the unspecified IPv4
address (0.0.0.0) since the IPv4 address has
not yet been assigned.
• Priority 90 flow to allow IPv6 traffic if it
has IPv6 addresses which match the inport,
valid eth.src and valid ip6.src address(es).
• Priority 90 flow to allow IPv6 DAD
(Duplicate Address Detection) traffic if it
has a valid eth.src. This is is necessary
since DAD include requires joining an
multicast group and sending neighbor
solicitations for the newly assigned
address. Since no address is yet assigned,
these are sent from the unspecified IPv6
address (::).
• Priority 80 flow to drop IP (both IPv4 and
IPv6) traffic which match the inport and
valid eth.src.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 2: Ingress Port Security - Neighbor discovery
Ingress table 2 contains these logical flows:
• For each element in the port security set,
• Priority 90 flow to allow ARP traffic which
match the inport and valid eth.src and
arp.sha. If the element has one or more IPv4
addresses, then it also matches the valid
arp.spa.
• Priority 90 flow to allow IPv6 Neighbor
Solicitation and Advertisement traffic which
match the inport, valid eth.src and
nd.sll/nd.tll. If the element has one or
more IPv6 addresses, then it also matches
the valid nd.target address(es) for Neighbor
Advertisement traffic.
• Priority 80 flow to drop ARP and IPv6
Neighbor Solicitation and Advertisement
traffic which match the inport and valid
eth.src.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 3: from-lport Pre-ACLs
This table prepares flows for possible stateful ACL processing in
ingress table ACLs. It contains a priority-0 flow that simply
moves traffic to the next table. If stateful ACLs are used in the
logical datapath, a priority-100 flow is added that sets a hint
(with reg0[0] = 1; next;) for table Pre-stateful to send IP
packets to the connection tracker before eventually advancing to
ingress table ACLs. If special ports such as route ports or
localnet ports can’t use ct(), a priority-110 flow is added to
skip over stateful ACLs.
Ingress Table 4: Pre-LB
This table prepares flows for possible stateful load balancing
processing in ingress table LB and Stateful. It contains a
priority-0 flow that simply moves traffic to the next table.
Moreover it contains a priority-110 flow to move IPv6 Neighbor
Discovery traffic to the next table. If load balancing rules with
virtual IP addresses (and ports) are configured in OVN_Northbound
database for a logical switch datapath, a priority-100 flow is
added for each configured virtual IP address VIP. For IPv4 VIPs,
the match is ip && ip4.dst == VIP. For IPv6 VIPs, the match is ip
&& ip6.dst == VIP. The flow sets an action reg0[0] = 1; next; to
act as a hint for table Pre-stateful to send IP packets to the
connection tracker for packet de-fragmentation before eventually
advancing to ingress table LB.
Ingress Table 5: Pre-stateful
This table prepares flows for all possible stateful processing in
next tables. It contains a priority-0 flow that simply moves
traffic to the next table. A priority-100 flow sends the packets
to connection tracker based on a hint provided by the previous
tables (with a match for reg0[0] == 1) by using the ct_next;
action.
Ingress table 6: from-lport ACLs
Logical flows in this table closely reproduce those in the ACL
table in the OVN_Northbound database for the from-lport
direction. The priority values from the ACL table have a limited
range and have 1000 added to them to leave room for OVN default
flows at both higher and lower priorities.
• allow ACLs translate into logical flows with the
next; action. If there are any stateful ACLs on
this datapath, then allow ACLs translate to
ct_commit; next; (which acts as a hint for the next
tables to commit the connection to conntrack),
• allow-related ACLs translate into logical flows
with the ct_commit(ct_label=0/1); next; actions for
new connections and reg0[1] = 1; next; for existing
connections.
• Other ACLs translate to drop; for new or untracked
connections and ct_commit(ct_label=1/1); for known
connections. Setting ct_label marks a connection as
one that was previously allowed, but should no
longer be allowed due to a policy change.
This table also contains a priority 0 flow with action next;, so
that ACLs allow packets by default. If the logical datapath has a
statetful ACL, the following flows will also be added:
• A priority-1 flow that sets the hint to commit IP
traffic to the connection tracker (with action
reg0[1] = 1; next;). This is needed for the default
allow policy because, while the initiator’s
direction may not have any stateful rules, the
server’s may and then its return traffic would not
be known and marked as invalid.
• A priority-65535 flow that allows any traffic in
the reply direction for a connection that has been
committed to the connection tracker (i.e.,
established flows), as long as the committed flow
does not have ct_label.blocked set. We only handle
traffic in the reply direction here because we want
all packets going in the request direction to still
go through the flows that implement the currently
defined policy based on ACLs. If a connection is no
longer allowed by policy, ct_label.blocked will get
set and packets in the reply direction will no
longer be allowed, either.
• A priority-65535 flow that allows any traffic that
is considered related to a committed flow in the
connection tracker (e.g., an ICMP Port Unreachable
from a non-listening UDP port), as long as the
committed flow does not have ct_label.blocked set.
• A priority-65535 flow that drops all traffic marked
by the connection tracker as invalid.
• A priority-65535 flow that drops all traffic in the
reply direction with ct_label.blocked set meaning
that the connection should no longer be allowed due
to a policy change. Packets in the request
direction are skipped here to let a newly created
ACL re-allow this connection.
Ingress Table 7: from-lport QoS Marking
Logical flows in this table closely reproduce those in the QoS
table with the action column set in the OVN_Northbound database
for the from-lport direction.
• For every qos_rules entry in a logical switch with
DSCP marking enabled, a flow will be added at the
priority mentioned in the QoS table.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 8: from-lport QoS Meter
Logical flows in this table closely reproduce those in the QoS
table with the bandwidth column set in the OVN_Northbound
database for the from-lport direction.
• For every qos_rules entry in a logical switch with
metering enabled, a flow will be added at the
priorirty mentioned in the QoS table.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 9: LB
It contains a priority-0 flow that simply moves traffic to the
next table. For established connections a priority 100 flow
matches on ct.est && !ct.rel && !ct.new && !ct.inv and sets an
action reg0[2] = 1; next; to act as a hint for table Stateful to
send packets through connection tracker to NAT the packets. (The
packet will automatically get DNATed to the same IP address as
the first packet in that connection.)
Ingress Table 10: Stateful
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
switch in OVN_Northbound database that includes a
L4 port PORT of protocol P and IP address VIP, a
priority-120 flow is added. For IPv4 VIPs , the
flow matches ct.new && ip && ip4.dst == VIP && P &&
P.dst == PORT. For IPv6 VIPs, the flow matches
ct.new && ip && ip6.dst == VIP && P && P.dst ==
PORT. The flow’s action is ct_lb(args) , where args
contains comma separated IP addresses (and optional
port numbers) to load balance to. The address
family of the IP addresses of args is the same as
the address family of VIP
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
switch in OVN_Northbound database that includes
just an IP address VIP to match on, OVN adds a
priority-110 flow. For IPv4 VIPs, the flow matches
ct.new && ip && ip4.dst == VIP. For IPv6 VIPs, the
flow matches ct.new && ip && ip6.dst == VIP. The
action on this flow is ct_lb(args), where args
contains comma separated IP addresses of the same
address family as VIP.
• A priority-100 flow commits packets to connection
tracker using ct_commit; next; action based on a
hint provided by the previous tables (with a match
for reg0[1] == 1).
• A priority-100 flow sends the packets to connection
tracker using ct_lb; as the action based on a hint
provided by the previous tables (with a match for
reg0[2] == 1).
• A priority-0 flow that simply moves traffic to the
next table.
Ingress Table 11: ARP/ND responder
This table implements ARP/ND responder in a logical switch for
known IPs. The advantage of the ARP responder flow is to limit
ARP broadcasts by locally responding to ARP requests without the
need to send to other hypervisors. One common case is when the
inport is a logical port associated with a VIF and the broadcast
is responded to on the local hypervisor rather than broadcast
across the whole network and responded to by the destination VM.
This behavior is proxy ARP.
ARP requests arrive from VMs from a logical switch inport of type
default. For this case, the logical switch proxy ARP rules can be
for other VMs or logical router ports. Logical switch proxy ARP
rules may be programmed both for mac binding of IP addresses on
other logical switch VIF ports (which are of the default logical
switch port type, representing connectivity to VMs or
containers), and for mac binding of IP addresses on logical
switch router type ports, representing their logical router port
peers. In order to support proxy ARP for logical router ports, an
IP address must be configured on the logical switch router type
port, with the same value as the peer logical router port. The
configured MAC addresses must match as well. When a VM sends an
ARP request for a distributed logical router port and if the peer
router type port of the attached logical switch does not have an
IP address configured, the ARP request will be broadcast on the
logical switch. One of the copies of the ARP request will go
through the logical switch router type port to the logical router
datapath, where the logical router ARP responder will generate a
reply. The MAC binding of a distributed logical router, once
learned by an associated VM, is used for all that VM’s
communication needing routing. Hence, the action of a VM re-
arping for the mac binding of the logical router port should be
rare.
Logical switch ARP responder proxy ARP rules can also be hit when
receiving ARP requests externally on a L2 gateway port. In this
case, the hypervisor acting as an L2 gateway, responds to the ARP
request on behalf of a destination VM.
Note that ARP requests received from localnet or vtep logical
inports can either go directly to VMs, in which case the VM
responds or can hit an ARP responder for a logical router port if
the packet is used to resolve a logical router port next hop
address. In either case, logical switch ARP responder rules will
not be hit. It contains these logical flows:
• Priority-100 flows to skip the ARP responder if
inport is of type localnet or vtep and advances
directly to the next table. ARP requests sent to
localnet or vtep ports can be received by multiple
hypervisors. Now, because the same mac binding
rules are downloaded to all hypervisors, each of
the multiple hypervisors will respond. This will
confuse L2 learning on the source of the ARP
requests. ARP requests received on an inport of
type router are not expected to hit any logical
switch ARP responder flows. However, no skip flows
are installed for these packets, as there would be
some additional flow cost for this and the value
appears limited.
• Priority-50 flows that match ARP requests to each
known IP address A of every logical switch port,
and respond with ARP replies directly with
corresponding Ethernet address E:
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
arp.op = 2; /* ARP reply. */
arp.tha = arp.sha;
arp.sha = E;
arp.tpa = arp.spa;
arp.spa = A;
outport = inport;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
These flows are omitted for logical ports (other
than router ports or localport ports) that are
down.
• Priority-50 flows that match IPv6 ND neighbor
solicitations to each known IP address A (and A’s
solicited node address) of every logical switch
port except of type router, and respond with
neighbor advertisements directly with corresponding
Ethernet address E:
nd_na {
eth.src = E;
ip6.src = A;
nd.target = A;
nd.tll = E;
outport = inport;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
};
Priority-50 flows that match IPv6 ND neighbor
solicitations to each known IP address A (and A’s
solicited node address) of logical switch port of
type router, and respond with neighbor
advertisements directly with corresponding Ethernet
address E:
nd_na_router {
eth.src = E;
ip6.src = A;
nd.target = A;
nd.tll = E;
outport = inport;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
};
These flows are omitted for logical ports (other
than router ports or localport ports) that are
down.
• Priority-100 flows with match criteria like the ARP
and ND flows above, except that they only match
packets from the inport that owns the IP addresses
in question, with action next;. These flows prevent
OVN from replying to, for example, an ARP request
emitted by a VM for its own IP address. A VM only
makes this kind of request to attempt to detect a
duplicate IP address assignment, so sending a reply
will prevent the VM from accepting the IP address
that it owns.
In place of next;, it would be reasonable to use
drop; for the flows’ actions. If everything is
working as it is configured, then this would
produce equivalent results, since no host should
reply to the request. But ARPing for one’s own IP
address is intended to detect situations where the
network is not working as configured, so dropping
the request would frustrate that intent.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 12: DHCP option processing
This table adds the DHCPv4 options to a DHCPv4 packet from the
logical ports configured with IPv4 address(es) and DHCPv4
options, and similarly for DHCPv6 options. This table also adds
flows for the logical ports of type external.
• A priority-100 logical flow is added for these
logical ports which matches the IPv4 packet with
udp.src = 68 and udp.dst = 67 and applies the
action put_dhcp_opts and advances the packet to the
next table.
reg0[3] = put_dhcp_opts(offer_ip = ip, options...);
next;
For DHCPDISCOVER and DHCPREQUEST, this transforms
the packet into a DHCP reply, adds the DHCP offer
IP ip and options to the packet, and stores 1 into
reg0[3]. For other kinds of packets, it just stores
0 into reg0[3]. Either way, it continues to the
next table.
• A priority-100 logical flow is added for these
logical ports which matches the IPv6 packet with
udp.src = 546 and udp.dst = 547 and applies the
action put_dhcpv6_opts and advances the packet to
the next table.
reg0[3] = put_dhcpv6_opts(ia_addr = ip, options...);
next;
For DHCPv6 Solicit/Request/Confirm packets, this
transforms the packet into a DHCPv6
Advertise/Reply, adds the DHCPv6 offer IP ip and
options to the packet, and stores 1 into reg0[3].
For other kinds of packets, it just stores 0 into
reg0[3]. Either way, it continues to the next
table.
• A priority-0 flow that matches all packets to
advances to table 11.
Ingress Table 13: DHCP responses
This table implements DHCP responder for the DHCP replies
generated by the previous table.
• A priority 100 logical flow is added for the
logical ports configured with DHCPv4 options which
matches IPv4 packets with udp.src == 68 && udp.dst
== 67 && reg0[3] == 1 and responds back to the
inport after applying these actions. If reg0[3] is
set to 1, it means that the action put_dhcp_opts
was successful.
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
ip4.dst = A;
ip4.src = S;
udp.src = 67;
udp.dst = 68;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
where E is the server MAC address and S is the
server IPv4 address defined in the DHCPv4 options
and A is the IPv4 address defined in the logical
port’s addresses column.
(This terminates ingress packet processing; the
packet does not go to the next ingress table.)
• A priority 100 logical flow is added for the
logical ports configured with DHCPv6 options which
matches IPv6 packets with udp.src == 546 && udp.dst
== 547 && reg0[3] == 1 and responds back to the
inport after applying these actions. If reg0[3] is
set to 1, it means that the action put_dhcpv6_opts
was successful.
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
ip6.dst = A;
ip6.src = S;
udp.src = 547;
udp.dst = 546;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
where E is the server MAC address and S is the
server IPv6 LLA address generated from the
server_id defined in the DHCPv6 options and A is
the IPv6 address defined in the logical port’s
addresses column.
(This terminates packet processing; the packet does
not go on the next ingress table.)
• A priority-0 flow that matches all packets to
advances to table 12.
Ingress Table 14 DNS Lookup
This table looks up and resolves the DNS names to the
corresponding configured IP address(es).
• A priority-100 logical flow for each logical switch
datapath if it is configured with DNS records,
which matches the IPv4 and IPv6 packets with
udp.dst = 53 and applies the action dns_lookup and
advances the packet to the next table.
reg0[4] = dns_lookup(); next;
For valid DNS packets, this transforms the packet
into a DNS reply if the DNS name can be resolved,
and stores 1 into reg0[4]. For failed DNS
resolution or other kinds of packets, it just
stores 0 into reg0[4]. Either way, it continues to
the next table.
Ingress Table 15 DNS Responses
This table implements DNS responder for the DNS replies generated
by the previous table.
• A priority-100 logical flow for each logical switch
datapath if it is configured with DNS records,
which matches the IPv4 and IPv6 packets with
udp.dst = 53 && reg0[4] == 1 and responds back to
the inport after applying these actions. If reg0[4]
is set to 1, it means that the action dns_lookup
was successful.
eth.dst <-> eth.src;
ip4.src <-> ip4.dst;
udp.dst = udp.src;
udp.src = 53;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
(This terminates ingress packet processing; the
packet does not go to the next ingress table.)
Ingress table 16 External ports
Traffic from the external logical ports enter the ingress
datapath pipeline via the localnet port. This table adds the
below logical flows to handle the traffic from these ports.
• A priority-100 flow is added for each external
logical port which doesn’t reside on a chassis to
drop the ARP/IPv6 NS request to the router IP(s)
(of the logical switch) which matches on the inport
of the external logical port and the valid eth.src
address(es) of the external logical port.
This flow guarantees that the ARP/NS request to the
router IP address from the external ports is
responded by only the chassis which has claimed
these external ports. All the other chassis, drops
these packets.
• A priority-0 flow that matches all packets to
advances to table 17.
Ingress Table 17 Destination Lookup
This table implements switching behavior. It contains these
logical flows:
• A priority-100 flow that outputs all packets with
an Ethernet broadcast or multicast eth.dst to the
MC_FLOOD multicast group, which ovn-northd
populates with all enabled logical ports.
• One priority-50 flow that matches each known
Ethernet address against eth.dst and outputs the
packet to the single associated output port.
For the Ethernet address on a logical switch port
of type router, when that logical switch port’s
addresses column is set to router and the connected
logical router port specifies a redirect-chassis:
• The flow for the connected logical router
port’s Ethernet address is only programmed
on the redirect-chassis.
• If the logical router has rules specified in
nat with external_mac, then those addresses
are also used to populate the switch’s
destination lookup on the chassis where
logical_port is resident.
For the Ethernet address on a logical switch port
of type router, when that logical switch port’s
addresses column is set to router and the connected
logical router port specifies a
reside-on-redirect-chassis and the logical router
to which the connected logical router port belongs
to has a redirect-chassis distributed gateway
logical router port:
• The flow for the connected logical router
port’s Ethernet address is only programmed
on the redirect-chassis.
• One priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and outputs them to the MC_UNKNOWN
multicast group, which ovn-northd populates with
all enabled logical ports that accept unknown
destination packets. As a small optimization, if no
logical ports accept unknown destination packets,
ovn-northd omits this multicast group and logical
flow.
Egress Table 0: Pre-LB
This table is similar to ingress table Pre-LB. It contains a
priority-0 flow that simply moves traffic to the next table.
Moreover it contains a priority-110 flow to move IPv6 Neighbor
Discovery traffic to the next table. If any load balancing rules
exist for the datapath, a priority-100 flow is added with a match
of ip and action of reg0[0] = 1; next; to act as a hint for table
Pre-stateful to send IP packets to the connection tracker for
packet de-fragmentation.
Egress Table 1: to-lport Pre-ACLs
This is similar to ingress table Pre-ACLs except for to-lport
traffic.
Egress Table 2: Pre-stateful
This is similar to ingress table Pre-stateful.
Egress Table 3: LB
This is similar to ingress table LB.
Egress Table 4: to-lport ACLs
This is similar to ingress table ACLs except for to-lport ACLs.
In addition, the following flows are added.
• A priority 34000 logical flow is added for each
logical port which has DHCPv4 options defined to
allow the DHCPv4 reply packet and which has DHCPv6
options defined to allow the DHCPv6 reply packet
from the Ingress Table 13: DHCP responses.
• A priority 34000 logical flow is added for each
logical switch datapath configured with DNS records
with the match udp.dst = 53 to allow the DNS reply
packet from the Ingress Table 15:DNS responses.
Egress Table 5: to-lport QoS Marking
This is similar to ingress table QoS marking except they apply to
to-lport QoS rules.
Egress Table 6: to-lport QoS Meter
This is similar to ingress table QoS meter except they apply to
to-lport QoS rules.
Egress Table 7: Stateful
This is similar to ingress table Stateful except that there are
no rules added for load balancing new connections.
Egress Table 8: Egress Port Security - IP
This is similar to the port security logic in table Ingress Port
Security - IP except that outport, eth.dst, ip4.dst and ip6.dst
are checked instead of inport, eth.src, ip4.src and ip6.src
Egress Table 9: Egress Port Security - L2
This is similar to the ingress port security logic in ingress
table Admission Control and Ingress Port Security - L2, but with
important differences. Most obviously, outport and eth.dst are
checked instead of inport and eth.src. Second, packets directed
to broadcast or multicast eth.dst are always accepted instead of
being subject to the port security rules; this is implemented
through a priority-100 flow that matches on eth.mcast with action
output;. Finally, to ensure that even broadcast and multicast
packets are not delivered to disabled logical ports, a
priority-150 flow for each disabled logical outport overrides the
priority-100 flow with a drop; action.
Logical Router Datapaths
Logical router datapaths will only exist for Logical_Router rows
in the OVN_Northbound database that do not have enabled set to
false
Ingress Table 0: L2 Admission Control
This table drops packets that the router shouldn’t see at all
based on their Ethernet headers. It contains the following flows:
• Priority-100 flows to drop packets with VLAN tags
or multicast Ethernet source addresses.
• For each enabled router port P with Ethernet
address E, a priority-50 flow that matches inport
== P && (eth.mcast || eth.dst == E), with action
next;.
For the gateway port on a distributed logical
router (where one of the logical router ports
specifies a redirect-chassis), the above flow
matching eth.dst == E is only programmed on the
gateway port instance on the redirect-chassis.
• For each dnat_and_snat NAT rule on a distributed
router that specifies an external Ethernet address
E, a priority-50 flow that matches inport == GW &&
eth.dst == E, where GW is the logical router
gateway port, with action next;.
This flow is only programmed on the gateway port
instance on the chassis where the logical_port
specified in the NAT rule resides.
Other packets are implicitly dropped.
Ingress Table 1: IP Input
This table is the core of the logical router datapath
functionality. It contains the following flows to implement very
basic IP host functionality.
• L3 admission control: A priority-100 flow drops
packets that match any of the following:
• ip4.src[28..31] == 0xe (multicast source)
• ip4.src == 255.255.255.255 (broadcast
source)
• ip4.src == 127.0.0.0/8 || ip4.dst ==
127.0.0.0/8 (localhost source or
destination)
• ip4.src == 0.0.0.0/8 || ip4.dst == 0.0.0.0/8
(zero network source or destination)
• ip4.src or ip6.src is any IP address owned
by the router, unless the packet was
recirculated due to egress loopback as
indicated by REGBIT_EGRESS_LOOPBACK.
• ip4.src is the broadcast address of any IP
network known to the router.
• ICMP echo reply. These flows reply to ICMP echo
requests received for the router’s IP address. Let
A be an IP address owned by a router port. Then,
for each A that is an IPv4 address, a priority-90
flow matches on ip4.dst == A and icmp4.type == 8 &&
icmp4.code == 0 (ICMP echo request). For each A
that is an IPv6 address, a priority-90 flow matches
on ip6.dst == A and icmp6.type == 128 && icmp6.code
== 0 (ICMPv6 echo request). The port of the router
that receives the echo request does not matter.
Also, the ip.ttl of the echo request packet is not
checked, so it complies with RFC 1812, section
4.2.2.9. Flows for ICMPv4 echo requests use the
following actions:
ip4.dst <-> ip4.src;
ip.ttl = 255;
icmp4.type = 0;
flags.loopback = 1;
next;
Flows for ICMPv6 echo requests use the following
actions:
ip6.dst <-> ip6.src;
ip.ttl = 255;
icmp6.type = 129;
flags.loopback = 1;
next;
• Reply to ARP requests.
These flows reply to ARP requests for the router’s
own IP address and populates mac binding table of
the logical router port. The ARP requests are
handled only if the requestor’s IP belongs to the
same subnets of the logical router port. For each
router port P that owns IP address A, which belongs
to subnet S with prefix length L, and Ethernet
address E, a priority-90 flow matches inport == P
&& arp.spa == S/L && arp.op == 1 && arp.tpa == A
(ARP request) with the following actions:
put_arp(inport, arp.spa, arp.sha);
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
arp.op = 2; /* ARP reply. */
arp.tha = arp.sha;
arp.sha = E;
arp.tpa = arp.spa;
arp.spa = A;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
For the gateway port on a distributed logical
router (where one of the logical router ports
specifies a redirect-chassis), the above flows are
only programmed on the gateway port instance on the
redirect-chassis. This behavior avoids generation
of multiple ARP responses from different chassis,
and allows upstream MAC learning to point to the
redirect-chassis.
For the logical router port with the option
reside-on-redirect-chassis set (which is
centralized), the above flows are only programmed
on the gateway port instance on the
redirect-chassis (if the logical router has a
distributed gateway port). This behavior avoids
generation of multiple ARP responses from different
chassis, and allows upstream MAC learning to point
to the redirect-chassis.
• These flows handles ARP requests not for router’s
own IP address. They use the SPA and SHA to
populate the logical router port’s mac binding
table, with priority 80. The typical use case of
these flows are GARP requests handling. For the
gateway port on a distributed logical router, these
flows are only programmed on the gateway port
instance on the redirect-chassis.
• These flows reply to ARP requests for the virtual
IP addresses configured in the router for DNAT or
load balancing. For a configured DNAT IP address or
a load balancer IPv4 VIP A, for each router port P
with Ethernet address E, a priority-90 flow matches
inport == P && arp.op == 1 && arp.tpa == A (ARP
request) with the following actions:
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
arp.op = 2; /* ARP reply. */
arp.tha = arp.sha;
arp.sha = E;
arp.tpa = arp.spa;
arp.spa = A;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
For the gateway port on a distributed logical
router with NAT (where one of the logical router
ports specifies a redirect-chassis):
• If the corresponding NAT rule cannot be
handled in a distributed manner, then this
flow is only programmed on the gateway port
instance on the redirect-chassis. This
behavior avoids generation of multiple ARP
responses from different chassis, and allows
upstream MAC learning to point to the
redirect-chassis.
• If the corresponding NAT rule can be handled
in a distributed manner, then this flow is
only programmed on the gateway port instance
where the logical_port specified in the NAT
rule resides.
Some of the actions are different for this
case, using the external_mac specified in
the NAT rule rather than the gateway port’s
Ethernet address E:
eth.src = external_mac;
arp.sha = external_mac;
This behavior avoids generation of multiple
ARP responses from different chassis, and
allows upstream MAC learning to point to the
correct chassis.
• ARP reply handling. This flow uses ARP replies to
populate the logical router’s ARP table. A
priority-90 flow with match arp.op == 2 has actions
put_arp(inport, arp.spa, arp.sha);.
• Reply to IPv6 Neighbor Solicitations. These flows
reply to Neighbor Solicitation requests for the
router’s own IPv6 address and load balancing IPv6
VIPs and populate the logical router’s mac binding
table.
For each router port P that owns IPv6 address A,
solicited node address S, and Ethernet address E, a
priority-90 flow matches inport == P && nd_ns &&
ip6.dst == {A, E} && nd.target == A with the
following actions:
put_nd(inport, ip6.src, nd.sll);
nd_na_router {
eth.src = E;
ip6.src = A;
nd.target = A;
nd.tll = E;
outport = inport;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
};
For each router port P that has load balancing VIP
A, solicited node address S, and Ethernet address
E, a priority-90 flow matches inport == P && nd_ns
&& ip6.dst == {A, E} && nd.target == A with the
following actions:
put_nd(inport, ip6.src, nd.sll);
nd_na {
eth.src = E;
ip6.src = A;
nd.target = A;
nd.tll = E;
outport = inport;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
};
For the gateway port on a distributed logical
router (where one of the logical router ports
specifies a redirect-chassis), the above flows
replying to IPv6 Neighbor Solicitations are only
programmed on the gateway port instance on the
redirect-chassis. This behavior avoids generation
of multiple replies from different chassis, and
allows upstream MAC learning to point to the
redirect-chassis.
• IPv6 neighbor advertisement handling. This flow
uses neighbor advertisements to populate the
logical router’s mac binding table. A priority-90
flow with match nd_na has actions put_nd(inport,
nd.target, nd.tll);.
• IPv6 neighbor solicitation for non-hosted addresses
handling. This flow uses neighbor solicitations to
populate the logical router’s mac binding table
(ones that were directed at the logical router
would have matched the priority-90 neighbor
solicitation flow already). A priority-80 flow with
match nd_ns has actions put_nd(inport, ip6.src,
nd.sll);.
• UDP port unreachable. Priority-80 flows generate
ICMP port unreachable messages in reply to UDP
datagrams directed to the router’s IP address,
except in the special case of gateways, which
accept traffic directed to a router IP for load
balancing and NAT purposes.
These flows should not match IP fragments with
nonzero offset.
• TCP reset. Priority-80 flows generate TCP reset
messages in reply to TCP datagrams directed to the
router’s IP address, except in the special case of
gateways, which accept traffic directed to a router
IP for load balancing and NAT purposes.
These flows should not match IP fragments with
nonzero offset.
• Protocol or address unreachable. Priority-70 flows
generate ICMP protocol or address unreachable
messages for IPv4 and IPv6 respectively in reply to
packets directed to the router’s IP address on IP
protocols other than UDP, TCP, and ICMP, except in
the special case of gateways, which accept traffic
directed to a router IP for load balancing
purposes.
These flows should not match IP fragments with
nonzero offset.
• Drop other IP traffic to this router. These flows
drop any other traffic destined to an IP address of
this router that is not already handled by one of
the flows above, which amounts to ICMP (other than
echo requests) and fragments with nonzero offsets.
For each IP address A owned by the router, a
priority-60 flow matches ip4.dst == A and drops the
traffic. An exception is made and the above flow is
not added if the router port’s own IP address is
used to SNAT packets passing through that router.
The flows above handle all of the traffic that might be directed
to the router itself. The following flows (with lower priorities)
handle the remaining traffic, potentially for forwarding:
• Drop Ethernet local broadcast. A priority-50 flow
with match eth.bcast drops traffic destined to the
local Ethernet broadcast address. By definition
this traffic should not be forwarded.
• ICMP time exceeded. For each router port P, whose
IP address is A, a priority-40 flow with match
inport == P && ip.ttl == {0, 1} && !ip.later_frag
matches packets whose TTL has expired, with the
following actions to send an ICMP time exceeded
reply for IPv4 and IPv6 respectively:
icmp4 {
icmp4.type = 11; /* Time exceeded. */
icmp4.code = 0; /* TTL exceeded in transit. */
ip4.dst = ip4.src;
ip4.src = A;
ip.ttl = 255;
next;
};
icmp6 {
icmp6.type = 3; /* Time exceeded. */
icmp6.code = 0; /* TTL exceeded in transit. */
ip6.dst = ip6.src;
ip6.src = A;
ip.ttl = 255;
next;
};
• TTL discard. A priority-30 flow with match ip.ttl
== {0, 1} and actions drop; drops other packets
whose TTL has expired, that should not receive a
ICMP error reply (i.e. fragments with nonzero
offset).
• Next table. A priority-0 flows match all packets
that aren’t already handled and uses actions next;
to feed them to the next table.
Ingress Table 2: DEFRAG
This is to send packets to connection tracker for tracking and
defragmentation. It contains a priority-0 flow that simply moves
traffic to the next table. If load balancing rules with virtual
IP addresses (and ports) are configured in OVN_Northbound
database for a Gateway router, a priority-100 flow is added for
each configured virtual IP address VIP. For IPv4 VIPs the flow
matches ip && ip4.dst == VIP. For IPv6 VIPs, the flow matches ip
&& ip6.dst == VIP. The flow uses the action ct_next; to send IP
packets to the connection tracker for packet de-fragmentation and
tracking before sending it to the next table.
Ingress Table 3: UNSNAT
This is for already established connections’ reverse traffic.
i.e., SNAT has already been done in egress pipeline and now the
packet has entered the ingress pipeline as part of a reply. It is
unSNATted here.
Ingress Table 3: UNSNAT on Gateway Routers
• If the Gateway router has been configured to force
SNAT any previously DNATted packets to B, a
priority-110 flow matches ip && ip4.dst == B with
an action ct_snat; .
If the Gateway router has been configured to force
SNAT any previously load-balanced packets to B, a
priority-100 flow matches ip && ip4.dst == B with
an action ct_snat; .
For each NAT configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the source IP address
of a packet from A to B, a priority-90 flow matches
ip && ip4.dst == B with an action ct_snat; .
A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 3: UNSNAT on Distributed Routers
• For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the source IP address
of a packet from A to B, a priority-100 flow
matches ip && ip4.dst == B && inport == GW, where
GW is the logical router gateway port, with an
action ct_snat;.
If the NAT rule cannot be handled in a distributed
manner, then the priority-100 flow above is only
programmed on the redirect-chassis.
For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the source IP address
of a packet from A to B, a priority-50 flow matches
ip && ip4.dst == B with an action
REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT = 1; next;. This flow is for
east/west traffic to a NAT destination IPv4
address. By setting the REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT flag,
in the ingress table Gateway Redirect this will
trigger a redirect to the instance of the gateway
port on the redirect-chassis.
A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 4: DNAT
Packets enter the pipeline with destination IP address that needs
to be DNATted from a virtual IP address to a real IP address.
Packets in the reverse direction needs to be unDNATed.
Ingress Table 4: Load balancing DNAT rules
Following load balancing DNAT flows are added for Gateway router
or Router with gateway port. These flows are programmed only on
the redirect-chassis. These flows do not get programmed for load
balancers with IPv6 VIPs.
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
Gateway router or Router with gateway port in
OVN_Northbound database that includes a L4 port
PORT of protocol P and IPv4 address VIP, a
priority-120 flow that matches on ct.new && ip &&
ip4.dst == VIP && P && P.dst == PORT
with an action of ct_lb(args), where args contains
comma separated IPv4 addresses (and optional port
numbers) to load balance to. If the router is
configured to force SNAT any load-balanced packets,
the above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_lb = 1; ct_lb(args);.
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
router in OVN_Northbound database that includes a
L4 port PORT of protocol P and IPv4 address VIP, a
priority-120 flow that matches on ct.est && ip &&
ip4.dst == VIP && P && P.dst == PORT
with an action of ct_dnat;. If the router is
configured to force SNAT any load-balanced packets,
the above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_lb = 1; ct_dnat;.
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
router in OVN_Northbound database that includes
just an IP address VIP to match on, a priority-110
flow that matches on ct.new && ip && ip4.dst == VIP
with an action of ct_lb(args), where args contains
comma separated IPv4 addresses. If the router is
configured to force SNAT any load-balanced packets,
the above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_lb = 1; ct_lb(args);.
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
router in OVN_Northbound database that includes
just an IP address VIP to match on, a priority-110
flow that matches on ct.est && ip && ip4.dst == VIP
with an action of ct_dnat;. If the router is
configured to force SNAT any load-balanced packets,
the above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_lb = 1; ct_dnat;.
Ingress Table 4: DNAT on Gateway Routers
• For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the destination IP
address of a packet from A to B, a priority-100
flow matches ip && ip4.dst == A with an action
flags.loopback = 1; ct_dnat(B);. If the Gateway
router is configured to force SNAT any DNATed
packet, the above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_dnat = 1; flags.loopback = 1;
ct_dnat(B);.
• For all IP packets of a Gateway router, a
priority-50 flow with an action flags.loopback = 1;
ct_dnat;.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 4: DNAT on Distributed Routers
On distributed routers, the DNAT table only handles packets with
destination IP address that needs to be DNATted from a virtual IP
address to a real IP address. The unDNAT processing in the
reverse direction is handled in a separate table in the egress
pipeline.
• For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the destination IP
address of a packet from A to B, a priority-100
flow matches ip && ip4.dst == B && inport == GW,
where GW is the logical router gateway port, with
an action ct_dnat(B);.
If the NAT rule cannot be handled in a distributed
manner, then the priority-100 flow above is only
programmed on the redirect-chassis.
For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the destination IP
address of a packet from A to B, a priority-50 flow
matches ip && ip4.dst == B with an action
REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT = 1; next;. This flow is for
east/west traffic to a NAT destination IPv4
address. By setting the REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT flag,
in the ingress table Gateway Redirect this will
trigger a redirect to the instance of the gateway
port on the redirect-chassis.
A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 5: IPv6 ND RA option processing
• A priority-50 logical flow is added for each
logical router port configured with IPv6 ND RA
options which matches IPv6 ND Router Solicitation
packet and applies the action put_nd_ra_opts and
advances the packet to the next table.
reg0[5] = put_nd_ra_opts(options);next;
For a valid IPv6 ND RS packet, this transforms the
packet into an IPv6 ND RA reply and sets the RA
options to the packet and stores 1 into reg0[5].
For other kinds of packets, it just stores 0 into
reg0[5]. Either way, it continues to the next
table.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 6: IPv6 ND RA responder
This table implements IPv6 ND RA responder for the IPv6 ND RA
replies generated by the previous table.
• A priority-50 logical flow is added for each
logical router port configured with IPv6 ND RA
options which matches IPv6 ND RA packets and
reg0[5] == 1 and responds back to the inport after
applying these actions. If reg0[5] is set to 1, it
means that the action put_nd_ra_opts was
successful.
eth.dst = eth.src;
eth.src = E;
ip6.dst = ip6.src;
ip6.src = I;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
output;
where E is the MAC address and I is the IPv6 link
local address of the logical router port.
(This terminates packet processing in ingress
pipeline; the packet does not go to the next
ingress table.)
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 7: IP Routing
A packet that arrives at this table is an IP packet that should
be routed to the address in ip4.dst or ip6.dst. This table
implements IP routing, setting reg0 (or xxreg0 for IPv6) to the
next-hop IP address (leaving ip4.dst or ip6.dst, the packet’s
final destination, unchanged) and advances to the next table for
ARP resolution. It also sets reg1 (or xxreg1) to the IP address
owned by the selected router port (ingress table ARP Request will
generate an ARP request, if needed, with reg0 as the target
protocol address and reg1 as the source protocol address).
This table contains the following logical flows:
• For distributed logical routers where one of the
logical router ports specifies a redirect-chassis,
a priority-400 logical flow for each ip
source/destination couple that matches the
dnat_and_snat NAT rules configured. These flows
will allow to properly forward traffic to the
external connections if available and avoid sending
it through the tunnel. Assuming the two following
NAT rules have been configured:
external_ip{0,1} = EIP{0,1};
external_mac{0,1} = MAC{0,1};
logical_ip{0,1} = LIP{0,1};
the following action will be applied:
eth.dst = MAC0;
eth.src = MAC1;
reg0 = ip4.dst;
reg1 = EIP1;
outport = redirect-chassis-port;
REGBIT_DISTRIBUTED_NAT = 1; next;.
Morover a priority-400 logical flow is configured
for each dnat_and_snat NAT rule configured in order
to not send traffic for local FIP through the
overlay tunnels but manage it in the local
hypervisor
• For distributed logical routers where one of the
logical router ports specifies a redirect-chassis,
a priority-300 logical flow with match
REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT == 1 has actions ip.ttl--;
next;. The outport will be set later in the Gateway
Redirect table.
• IPv4 routing table. For each route to IPv4 network
N with netmask M, on router port P with IP address
A and Ethernet address E, a logical flow with match
ip4.dst == N/M, whose priority is the number of
1-bits in M, has the following actions:
ip.ttl--;
reg0 = G;
reg1 = A;
eth.src = E;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
next;
(Ingress table 1 already verified that ip.ttl--;
will not yield a TTL exceeded error.)
If the route has a gateway, G is the gateway IP
address. Instead, if the route is from a configured
static route, G is the next hop IP address. Else it
is ip4.dst.
• IPv6 routing table. For each route to IPv6 network
N with netmask M, on router port P with IP address
A and Ethernet address E, a logical flow with match
in CIDR notation ip6.dst == N/M, whose priority is
the integer value of M, has the following actions:
ip.ttl--;
xxreg0 = G;
xxreg1 = A;
eth.src = E;
outport = P;
flags.loopback = 1;
next;
(Ingress table 1 already verified that ip.ttl--;
will not yield a TTL exceeded error.)
If the route has a gateway, G is the gateway IP
address. Instead, if the route is from a configured
static route, G is the next hop IP address. Else it
is ip6.dst.
If the address A is in the link-local scope, the
route will be limited to sending on the ingress
port.
Ingress Table 8: ARP/ND Resolution
Any packet that reaches this table is an IP packet whose next-hop
IPv4 address is in reg0 or IPv6 address is in xxreg0. (ip4.dst or
ip6.dst contains the final destination.) This table resolves the
IP address in reg0 (or xxreg0) into an output port in outport and
an Ethernet address in eth.dst, using the following flows:
• For distributed logical routers where one of the
logical router ports specifies a redirect-chassis,
a priority-400 logical flow with match
REGBIT_DISTRIBUTED_NAT == 1 has action next;
For distributed logical routers where one of the
logical router ports specifies a redirect-chassis,
a priority-200 logical flow with match
REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT == 1 has actions eth.dst = E;
next;, where E is the ethernet address of the
router’s distributed gateway port.
• Static MAC bindings. MAC bindings can be known
statically based on data in the OVN_Northbound
database. For router ports connected to logical
switches, MAC bindings can be known statically from
the addresses column in the Logical_Switch_Port
table. For router ports connected to other logical
routers, MAC bindings can be known statically from
the mac and networks column in the
Logical_Router_Port table.
For each IPv4 address A whose host is known to have
Ethernet address E on router port P, a priority-100
flow with match outport === P && reg0 == A has
actions eth.dst = E; next;.
For each IPv6 address A whose host is known to have
Ethernet address E on router port P, a priority-100
flow with match outport === P && xxreg0 == A has
actions eth.dst = E; next;.
For each logical router port with an IPv4 address A
and a mac address of E that is reachable via a
different logical router port P, a priority-100
flow with match outport === P && reg0 == A has
actions eth.dst = E; next;.
For each logical router port with an IPv6 address A
and a mac address of E that is reachable via a
different logical router port P, a priority-100
flow with match outport === P && xxreg0 == A has
actions eth.dst = E; next;.
• Dynamic MAC bindings. These flows resolve MAC-to-IP
bindings that have become known dynamically through
ARP or neighbor discovery. (The ingress table ARP
Request will issue an ARP or neighbor solicitation
request for cases where the binding is not yet
known.)
A priority-0 logical flow with match ip4 has
actions get_arp(outport, reg0); next;.
A priority-0 logical flow with match ip6 has
actions get_nd(outport, xxreg0); next;.
Ingress Table 9: Check packet length
For distributed logical routers with distributed gateway port
configured with options:gateway_mtu to a valid integer value,
this table adds a priority-50 logical flow with the match ip4 &&
outport == GW_PORT where GW_PORT is the distributed gateway
router port and applies the action check_pkt_larger and advances
the packet to the next table.
REGBIT_PKT_LARGER = check_pkt_larger(L); next;
where L is the packet length to check for. If the packet is
larger than L, it stores 1 in the register bit REGBIT_PKT_LARGER.
The value of L is taken from options:gateway_mtu column of
Logical_Router_Port row.
This table adds one priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 10: Handle larger packets
For distributed logical routers with distributed gateway port
configured with options:gateway_mtu to a valid integer value,
this table adds the following priority-50 logical flow for each
logical router port with the match ip4 && inport == LRP &&
outport == GW_PORT && REGBIT_PKT_LARGER, where LRP is the logical
router port and GW_PORT is the distributed gateway router port
and applies the following action
icmp4 {
icmp4.type = 3; /* Destination Unreachable. */
icmp4.code = 4; /* Frag Needed and DF was Set. */
icmp4.frag_mtu = M;
eth.dst = E;
ip4.dst = ip4.src;
ip4.src = I;
ip.ttl = 255;
REGBIT_EGRESS_LOOPBACK = 1;
next(pipeline=ingress, table=0);
};
• Where M is the (fragment MTU - 58) whose value is
taken from options:gateway_mtu column of
Logical_Router_Port row.
• E is the Ethernet address of the logical router
port.
• I is the IPv4 address of the logical router port.
This table adds one priority-0 fallback flow that matches all
packets and advances to the next table.
Ingress Table 11: Gateway Redirect
For distributed logical routers where one of the logical router
ports specifies a redirect-chassis, this table redirects certain
packets to the distributed gateway port instance on the
redirect-chassis. This table has the following flows:
• A priority-300 logical flow with match
REGBIT_DISTRIBUTED_NAT == 1 has action next;
• A priority-200 logical flow with match
REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT == 1 has actions outport = CR;
next;, where CR is the chassisredirect port
representing the instance of the logical router
distributed gateway port on the redirect-chassis.
• A priority-150 logical flow with match outport ==
GW && eth.dst == 00:00:00:00:00:00 has actions
outport = CR; next;, where GW is the logical router
distributed gateway port and CR is the
chassisredirect port representing the instance of
the logical router distributed gateway port on the
redirect-chassis.
• For each NAT rule in the OVN Northbound database
that can be handled in a distributed manner, a
priority-100 logical flow with match ip4.src == B
&& outport == GW, where GW is the logical router
distributed gateway port, with actions next;.
• A priority-50 logical flow with match outport == GW
has actions outport = CR; next;, where GW is the
logical router distributed gateway port and CR is
the chassisredirect port representing the instance
of the logical router distributed gateway port on
the redirect-chassis.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Ingress Table 12: ARP Request
In the common case where the Ethernet destination has been
resolved, this table outputs the packet. Otherwise, it composes
and sends an ARP or IPv6 Neighbor Solicitation request. It holds
the following flows:
• Unknown MAC address. A priority-100 flow for IPv4
packets with match eth.dst == 00:00:00:00:00:00 has
the following actions:
arp {
eth.dst = ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff;
arp.spa = reg1;
arp.tpa = reg0;
arp.op = 1; /* ARP request. */
output;
};
Unknown MAC address. For each IPv6 static route
associated with the router with the nexthop IP: G,
a priority-200 flow for IPv6 packets with match
eth.dst == 00:00:00:00:00:00 && xxreg0 == G with
the following actions is added:
nd_ns {
eth.dst = E;
ip6.dst = I
nd.target = G;
output;
};
Where E is the multicast mac derived from the
Gateway IP, I is the solicited-node multicast
address corresponding to the target address G.
Unknown MAC address. A priority-100 flow for IPv6
packets with match eth.dst == 00:00:00:00:00:00 has
the following actions:
nd_ns {
nd.target = xxreg0;
output;
};
(Ingress table IP Routing initialized reg1 with the
IP address owned by outport and (xx)reg0 with the
next-hop IP address)
The IP packet that triggers the ARP/IPv6 NS request
is dropped.
• Known MAC address. A priority-0 flow with match 1
has actions output;.
Egress Table 0: UNDNAT
This is for already established connections’ reverse traffic.
i.e., DNAT has already been done in ingress pipeline and now the
packet has entered the egress pipeline as part of a reply. For
NAT on a distributed router, it is unDNATted here. For Gateway
routers, the unDNAT processing is carried out in the ingress DNAT
table.
• For all the configured load balancing rules for a
router with gateway port in OVN_Northbound database
that includes an IPv4 address VIP, for every
backend IPv4 address B defined for the VIP a
priority-120 flow is programmed on redirect-chassis
that matches ip && ip4.src == B && outport == GW,
where GW is the logical router gateway port with an
action ct_dnat;. If the backend IPv4 address B is
also configured with L4 port PORT of protocol P,
then the match also includes P.src == PORT. These
flows are not added for load balancers with IPv6
VIPs.
If the router is configured to force SNAT any load-
balanced packets, above action will be replaced by
flags.force_snat_for_lb = 1; ct_dnat;.
• For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database that asks to change the destination IP
address of a packet from an IP address of A to B, a
priority-100 flow matches ip && ip4.src == B &&
outport == GW, where GW is the logical router
gateway port, with an action ct_dnat;.
If the NAT rule cannot be handled in a distributed
manner, then the priority-100 flow above is only
programmed on the redirect-chassis.
If the NAT rule can be handled in a distributed
manner, then there is an additional action eth.src
= EA;, where EA is the ethernet address associated
with the IP address A in the NAT rule. This allows
upstream MAC learning to point to the correct
chassis.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Egress Table 1: SNAT
Packets that are configured to be SNATed get their source IP
address changed based on the configuration in the OVN Northbound
database.
Egress Table 1: SNAT on Gateway Routers
• If the Gateway router in the OVN Northbound
database has been configured to force SNAT a packet
(that has been previously DNATted) to B, a
priority-100 flow matches flags.force_snat_for_dnat
== 1 && ip with an action ct_snat(B);.
If the Gateway router in the OVN Northbound
database has been configured to force SNAT a packet
(that has been previously load-balanced) to B, a
priority-100 flow matches flags.force_snat_for_lb
== 1 && ip with an action ct_snat(B);.
For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the source IP address
of a packet from an IP address of A or to change
the source IP address of a packet that belongs to
network A to B, a flow matches ip && ip4.src == A
with an action ct_snat(B);. The priority of the
flow is calculated based on the mask of A, with
matches having larger masks getting higher
priorities.
A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Egress Table 1: SNAT on Distributed Routers
• For each configuration in the OVN Northbound
database, that asks to change the source IP address
of a packet from an IP address of A or to change
the source IP address of a packet that belongs to
network A to B, a flow matches ip && ip4.src == A
&& outport == GW, where GW is the logical router
gateway port, with an action ct_snat(B);. The
priority of the flow is calculated based on the
mask of A, with matches having larger masks getting
higher priorities.
If the NAT rule cannot be handled in a distributed
manner, then the flow above is only programmed on
the redirect-chassis increasing flow priority by
128 in order to be run first
If the NAT rule can be handled in a distributed
manner, then there is an additional action eth.src
= EA;, where EA is the ethernet address associated
with the IP address A in the NAT rule. This allows
upstream MAC learning to point to the correct
chassis.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Egress Table 2: Egress Loopback
For distributed logical routers where one of the logical router
ports specifies a redirect-chassis.
Earlier in the ingress pipeline, some east-west traffic was
redirected to the chassisredirect port, based on flows in the
UNSNAT and DNAT ingress tables setting the REGBIT_NAT_REDIRECT
flag, which then triggered a match to a flow in the Gateway
Redirect ingress table. The intention was not to actually send
traffic out the distributed gateway port instance on the
redirect-chassis. This traffic was sent to the distributed
gateway port instance in order for DNAT and/or SNAT processing to
be applied.
While UNDNAT and SNAT processing have already occurred by this
point, this traffic needs to be forced through egress loopback on
this distributed gateway port instance, in order for UNSNAT and
DNAT processing to be applied, and also for IP routing and ARP
resolution after all of the NAT processing, so that the packet
can be forwarded to the destination.
This table has the following flows:
• For each dnat_and_snat NAT rule couple in the OVN
Northbound database on a distributed router, a
priority-200 logical with match ip4.dst ==
external_ip0 && ip4.src == external_ip1, has action
next;
For each NAT rule in the OVN Northbound database on
a distributed router, a priority-100 logical flow
with match ip4.dst == E && outport == GW, where E
is the external IP address specified in the NAT
rule, and GW is the logical router distributed
gateway port, with the following actions:
clone {
ct_clear;
inport = outport;
outport = "";
flags = 0;
flags.loopback = 1;
reg0 = 0;
reg1 = 0;
...
reg9 = 0;
REGBIT_EGRESS_LOOPBACK = 1;
next(pipeline=ingress, table=0);
};
flags.loopback is set since in_port is unchanged
and the packet may return back to that port after
NAT processing. REGBIT_EGRESS_LOOPBACK is set to
indicate that egress loopback has occurred, in
order to skip the source IP address check against
the router address.
• A priority-0 logical flow with match 1 has actions
next;.
Egress Table 3: Delivery
Packets that reach this table are ready for delivery. It contains
priority-100 logical flows that match packets on each enabled
logical router port, with action output;.
This page is part of the Open vSwitch (a distributed virtual
multilayer switch) project. Information about the project can be
found at ⟨http://openvswitch.org/⟩. If you have a bug report for
this manual page, send it to bugs@openvswitch.org. This page was
obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/openvswitch/ovs.git⟩ on 2020-12-18. (At that
time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2020-12-16.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Open vSwitch 2.12.90 ovn-northd ovn-northd(8)
Pages that refer to this page: ovn-sb(5), ovn-architecture(7)