Open vSwitch
 | |
| Initial release | July 29, 2009[1] |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 3.5.1[2] 
/ 2 June 2025 |
| Repository | |
| Written in | Apache License 2.0 |
| Website | www |
Open vSwitch (OVS) is an open-source implementation of a distributed virtual multilayer switch. The main purpose of Open vSwitch is to provide a switching stack for hardware virtualization environments, while supporting multiple protocols and standards used in computer networks.[3]
The project's source code is distributed under the terms of
Apache License 2.0
.
Overview
Open vSwitch is a software implementation of a
802.1ag. In addition, Open vSwitch is designed to support transparent distribution across multiple physical servers by enabling creation of cross-server switches in a way that abstracts out the underlying server architecture, similar to the VMware vNetwork distributed vswitch or Cisco Nexus 1000V.[4][5][6]
Open vSwitch can operate both as a software-based network switch running within a
Proxmox VE and VirtualBox hypervisors, while a port to Hyper-V is also available.[10] Open vSwitch has also been integrated into various cloud computing software platforms and virtualization management systems, including OpenStack, openQRM, OpenNebula and oVirt.[4][5]
The
The majority of the Open vSwitch source code is written in platform-independent C language, which provides easy portability to various environments. The source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.[4]
Features
As of September 2015[update], features provided by Open vSwitch include the following:[16][17]
- Exposed communication between virtual machines, via NetFlow, sFlow, Generic Routing Encapsulation(GRE)
- IEEE 802.1AX-2008)
- Standard virtual LAN (VLAN) model for network partitioning, with support for trunking
- Support for multicast snooping using versions 1, 2 and 3 of the Internet Group Management Protocol(IGMP)
- Support for the Shortest Path Bridging Media Access Control (SPBM) and associated basic support for the Link Layer Discovery Protocol(LLDP)
- Support for the Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) and 802.1ag link monitoring
- Support for the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol(RSTP, IEEE 802.1D-2004)
- Fine-grained quality of service (QoS) control for different applications, users, or data flows
- Support for the queuing discipline(qdisc)
- Traffic policing at the level of virtual machine interface
- layer 4 hashing
- Support for the OpenFlow protocol, including various virtualization-related extensions
- Complete IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) support
- Support for multiple Internet Protocol Security(IPsec)
- Remote configuration protocol, with existing bindings for the C and Python programming languages
- Implementation of the packet forwarding engine in
- Multi-table forwarding pipeline with a flow-caching engine
- Forwarding layer abstraction, making it easier to port Open vSwitch to new software and hardware platforms
See also
- Distributed Overlay Virtual Ethernet (DOVE)
- LAN switching
- Network functions virtualization(NFV)
- Overlay transport virtualization (OTV)
- Software-defined networking (SDN)
References
- ^ "A complete list of Open vSwitch releases". openvswitch.org. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "Release 3.5.1". June 2, 2025. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
- ^ a b M. Tim Jones (October 27, 2010). "Virtual networking in Linux". IBM. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Open vSwitch: An Open Virtual Switch". openvswitch.org. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
- ^ a b Thomas Graf (April 24, 2013). "Underneath OpenStack Quantum: Software Defined Networking with Open vSwitch" (PDF). Red Hat. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ Ralf Spenneberg. "Virtual switching with Open vSwitch". admin-magazine.com. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "Tilera Launches Open Virtual Switch Solution (OVS) to Accelerate NFV and SDN". Marketwired. February 24, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ "XenServer 6.0 Release Notes". Citrix Systems. March 8, 2012. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ^ "XAPI: Open source software to build private and public clouds". xenproject.org. 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ^ Alessandro Pilotti (May 22, 2014). "Open vSwitch on Hyper-V". cloudbase.it. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ "Linux kernel 3.3, Section 1.3. Open vSwitch". kernelnewbies.org. March 18, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ Jonathan Corbet (November 30, 2011). "Routing Open vSwitch into the mainline". LWN.net. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "FreshPorts – net/openvswitch". freshports.org. December 30, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ Gaetano Catalli (November 7, 2011). "Open vSwitch: performance improvement and porting to FreeBSD" (PDF). ucl.ac.be. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ^ "openvswitch/ovs: ovs/INSTALL.NetBSD at master". github.com. January 11, 2014. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ "Open vSwitch: Features". openvswitch.org. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
- LinuxCon. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 6, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
- ^ Justin Pettit; Ben Pfaff; Ethan Jackson (November 13, 2014). "Accelerating Open vSwitch to 'Ludicrous Speed'". networkheresy.com. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- LinuxCon. pp. 6, 13–17. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Open vSwitch.
- Official website and source code on GitHub
- Introduction to Open vSwitch on YouTube, December 15, 2013
- Open vSwitch: Deep Dive The Virtual Switch for OpenStack on YouTube, November 8, 2013
- OVN, Bringing Native Virtual Networking to OVS, January 13, 2015, by Justin Pettit, Ben Pfaff, Chris Wright and Madhu Venugopal
- Open Virtual Network (OVN) Proposed Architecture, January 13, 2015, by Ben Pfaff
- 6WIND Announces Open vSwitch Acceleration for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, PRWeb, April 16, 2014
- Going With the Flow: Google's Secret Switch to the Next Wave of Networking, Wired, April 17, 2012, by Steven Levy
- Performance Characteristics of Virtual Switching, IEEE, 2014, by Paul Emmerich, Daniel Raumer, Florian Wohlfart and Georg Carle