openflow/secchan/ofprotocol.8.in

.ds PN ofprotocol
.TH ofprotocol 8 "October 2008" "OpenFlow" "OpenFlow Manual"

.SH NAME
ofprotocol \- secure channel connecting an OpenFlow datapath to a controller

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ofprotocol
[\fIoptions\fR] \fIdatapath\fR controller[,\fIcontroller\fR...]

.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBofprotocol\fR program sets up a secure channel between a local
OpenFlow datapath and a remote controller.  \fBofprotocol\fR connects to
the local datapath over Netlink and to the controller over TCP or SSL,
and then forwards OpenFlow messages from one endpoint to the other.

The mandatory \fIdatapath\fR argument argument specifies the local datapath
to relay.  It takes one of the following forms:

.TP
\fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR
Attach to the local kernel-based datapath over the Netlink protocol.
The \fIdp_idx\fR argument is the number of a datapath created with
\fBdpctl\fR(8).

.TP
\fBunix:\fIfile\fR
Attach to the userspace datapath implemented by \fBofdatapath\fR(8).
The \fIfile\fR argument must the same one specified on the
\fBofdatapath\fR command line.

.PP
The optional \fIcontroller\fR argument specifies how to connect to 
an OpenFlow controller. Up to four controllers may be specified, 
using the following forms:

.TP
\fBssl:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
The specified SSL \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
\fIhost\fR.  The \fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, and
\fB--ca-cert\fR options are mandatory when this form is used.

.TP
\fBtcp:\fIhost\fR[\fB:\fIport\fR]
The specified TCP \fIport\fR (default: 6633) on the given remote
\fIhost\fR.

.TP
\fBunix:\fIfile\fR
The Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.

.PP
If multiple controllers are specified, \fBofprotocol\fR will attempt to
connect to a new controller when a controller connection fails, times
out, or is closed, or when a controller stops responding to echo requests.

If \fIcontroller\fR is omitted, \fBofprotocol\fR attempts to discover the
location of the controller automatically (see below).

.SH "CONTACTING THE CONTROLLER"
The OpenFlow switch must be able to contact the OpenFlow controller
over the network.  It can do so in one of two ways:

.IP out-of-band
In this configuration, OpenFlow traffic uses a network separate from
the data traffic that it controls, that is, the switch does not use
any of the network devices added to the datapath with \fBdpctl
addif\fR in its communication with the controller.

To use \fBofprotocol\fR in a network with out-of-band control, specify
\fB--out-of-band\fR on the \fBofprotocol\fR command line.  The control
network must be configured separately, before or after \fBofprotocol\fR
is started.

.IP in-band
In this configuration, a single network is used for OpenFlow traffic
and other data traffic, that is, the switch contacts the controller
over one of the network devices added to the datapath with \fBdpctl
addif\fR.  This configuration is often more convenient than
out-of-band control, because it is not necessary to maintain two
independent networks.

In-band control is the default for \fBofprotocol\fR, so no special
command-line option is required.

With in-band control, the location of the controller can be configured
manually or discovered automatically:

.RS
.IP "controller discovery"
To make \fBofprotocol\fR discover the location of the controller
automatically, do not specify the location of the controller on the
\fBofprotocol\fR command line.

In this mode, \fBofprotocol\fR will broadcast a DHCP request with vendor
class identifier \fBOpenFlow\fR across the network devices added to
the datapath with \fBdpctl addif\fR.  It will accept any valid DHCP
reply that has the same vendor class identifier and includes a
vendor-specific option with code 1 whose contents are a string
specifying the location of the controller in the same format used on
the \fBofprotocol\fR command line (e.g. \fBssl:192.168.0.1\fR).

The DHCP reply may also, optionally, include a vendor-specific option
with code 2 whose contents are a string specifying the URI to the base
of the OpenFlow PKI (e.g. \fBhttp://192.168.0.1/openflow/pki\fR).
This URI is used only for bootstrapping the OpenFlow PKI at initial
switch setup; \fBofprotocol\fR does not use it at all.

The following ISC DHCP server configuration file assigns the IP
address range 192.168.0.20 through 192.168.0.30 to OpenFlow switches
that follow the switch protocol and addresses 192.168.0.1 through
192.168.0.10 to all other DHCP clients:

default-lease-time 600;
.br
max-lease-time 7200;
.br
option space openflow;
.br
option openflow.controller-vconn code 1 = text;
.br
option openflow.pki-uri code 2 = text;
.br
class "OpenFlow" {
.br
  match if option vendor-class-identifier = "OpenFlow";
.br
  vendor-option-space openflow;
.br
  option openflow.controller-vconn "tcp:192.168.0.10";
.br
  option openflow.pki-uri "http://192.168.0.10/openflow/pki";
.br
  option vendor-class-identifier "OpenFlow";
.br
}
.br
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
.br
    pool {
.br
        allow members of "OpenFlow";
.br
        range 192.168.0.20 192.168.0.30;
.br
    }
.br
    pool {
.br
        deny members of "OpenFlow";
.br
        range 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.10;
.br
    }
.br
}
.br

.IP "manual configuration"
To configure in-band control manually, specify the location of the
controller on the \fBofprotocol\fR command line as the \fIcontroller\fR
argument.  You must also configure the network device for the OpenFlow
``local port'' to allow \fBofprotocol\fR to connect to that controller.
The OpenFlow local port is a virtual network port that \fBofprotocol\fR
bridges to the physical switch ports.  Its network device name depends
on the \fIdatapath\fR specified on the \fBofprotocol\fR command line:

.RS
.TP
\fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR
The local port network device for \fBnl:\fIdp_idx\fR is always named
\fBof\fIdp_idx\fR, i.e. the device for \fBnl:0\fR is \fBof0\fR.

.TP
\fBunix:\fIfile\fR
The local port network device name may be specified on the
\fBofdatapath\fR command line, using the \fB--local-port\fR option.  It
is often \fBtap0\fR.
.RE

.IP
Before \fBofprotocol\fR starts, the local port network device is not
bridged to any physical network, so the next step depends on whether
connectivity is required to configure the device's IP address.  If the
switch has a static IP address, you may configure its IP address now
with a command such as:
.RS
.IP
ifconfig of0 192.168.1.1
.RE
.IP
and then invoke \fBofprotocol\fR.

On the other hand, if the switch does not have a static IP address,
e.g. it obtains its IP address dynamically via DHCP, the DHCP client
will not be able to contact the DHCP server until the secure channel
has started up.  Thus, start \fBofprotocol\fR without configuring
the local port network device, and start the DHCP client afterward.
.RE

.SH OPTIONS
.SS "Controller Discovery Options"
.TP
\fB--accept-vconn=\fIregex\fR
When \fBofprotocol\fR performs controller discovery (see \fBCONTACTING
THE CONTROLLER\fR, above, for more information about controller
discovery), it validates the controller location obtained via DHCP
with a POSIX extended regular expression.  Only controllers whose
names match the regular expression will be accepted.

The default regular expression is \fBssl:.*\fR (meaning that only SSL
controller connections will be accepted) when any of the SSL
configuration options \fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, or
\fB--ca-cert\fR is specified.  The default is \fB.*\fR otherwise
(meaning that any controller will be accepted).

The \fIregex\fR is implicitly anchored at the beginning of the
controller location string, as if it begins with \fB^\fR.

When controller discovery is not performed, this option has no effect.

.TP
\fB--no-resolv-conf\fR
When \fBofprotocol\fR performs controller discovery (see \fBCONTACTING
THE CONTROLLER\fR, above, for more information about controller
discovery), by default it overwrites the system's
\fB/etc/resolv.conf\fR with domain information and DNS servers
obtained via DHCP.  If the location of the controller is specified
using a hostname, rather than an IP address, and the network's DNS
servers ever change, this behavior is essential.  But because it also
interferes with any administrator or process that manages
\fB/etc/resolv.conf\fR, when this option is specified, \fBofprotocol\fR
will not modify \fB/etc/resolv.conf\fR.

\fBofprotocol\fR will only modify \fBresolv.conf\fR if the DHCP response
that it receives specifies one or more DNS servers.

When controller discovery is not performed, this option has no effect.

.SS "Networking Options"
.TP
\fB-F\fR, \fB--fail=\fR[\fBopen\fR|\fBclosed\fR]
The controller is, ordinarily, responsible for setting up all flows on
the OpenFlow switch.  Thus, if the connection to the controller fails,
no new network connections can be set up.  If the connection to the
controller stays down long enough, no packets can pass through the
switch at all.

If this option is set to \fBopen\fR (the default), \fBofprotocol\fR will
take over responsibility for setting up flows in the local datapath
when no message has been received from the controller for three times
the inactivity probe interval (see below), or 45 seconds by default.
In this ``fail open'' mode, \fBofprotocol\fR causes the datapath to act
like an ordinary MAC-learning switch.  \fBofprotocol\fR will continue to
retry connection to the controller in the background and, when the
connection succeeds, it discontinues its fail-open behavior.  The
secure channel enters the fail-open mode when

If this option is set to \fBclosed\fR, then \fBofprotocol\fR will not
set up flows on its own when the controller connection fails.

.TP
\fB--inactivity-probe=\fIsecs\fR
When the secure channel is connected to the controller, the secure
channel waits for a message to be received from the controller for
\fIsecs\fR seconds before it sends a inactivity probe to the
controller.  After sending the inactivity probe, if no response is
received for an additional \fIsecs\fR seconds, the secure channel
assumes that the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
The default is 15 seconds, and the minimum value is 1 seconds.

When fail-open mode is configured, changing the inactivity probe
interval also changes the interval before entering fail-open mode (see
above).

.TP
\fB--max-idle=\fIsecs\fR|\fBpermanent\fR
Sets \fIsecs\fR as the number of seconds that a flow set up by the
secure channel will remain in the switch's flow table without any
matching packets being seen.  If \fBpermanent\fR is specified, which
is not recommended, flows set up by the secure channel will never
expire.  The default is 15 seconds.

Most flows are set up by the OpenFlow controller, not by the secure
channel.  This option affects only the following flows, which the
secure channel sets up itself:

.RS
.IP \(bu
When \fB--fail=open\fR is specified, flows set up when the secure
channel has not been able to contact the controller for the configured
fail-open delay.

.IP \(bu
When in-band control is in use, flows set up to bootstrap contacting
the controller (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR, above, for
more information about in-band control).
.RE

.IP
As a result, when both \fB--fail=closed\fR and \fB--out-of-band\fR are
specified, this option has no effect.

.TP
\fB--max-backoff=\fIsecs\fR
Sets the maximum time between attempts to connect to the controller to
\fIsecs\fR, which must be at least 1.  The actual interval between
connection attempts starts at 1 second and doubles on each failing
attempt until it reaches the maximum.  The default maximum backoff
time is 15 seconds.

.TP
\fB-l\fR, \fB--listen=\fImethod\fR
Configures the switch to additionally listen for incoming OpenFlow
connections for switch management with \fBdpctl\fR.  The \fImethod\fR
must be given as one of the passive OpenFlow connection methods listed
below.  This option may be specified multiple times to listen to
multiple connection methods.

.RS
.TP
\fBpssl:\fR[\fIport\fR]
Listens for SSL connections on \fIport\fR (default: 6633).  The
\fB--private-key\fR, \fB--certificate\fR, and \fB--ca-cert\fR options
are mandatory when this form is used.

.TP
\fBptcp:\fR[\fIport\fR]
Listens for TCP connections on \fIport\fR (default: 6633).

.TP
\fBpunix:\fIfile\fR
Listens for connections on Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.
.RE

.TP
\fB-m\fR, \fB--monitor=\fImethod\fR
Configures the switch to additionally listen for incoming OpenFlow
connections for switch monitoring with \fBdpctl\fR's \fBmonitor\fR
command.  The \fImethod\fR must be given as one of the passive
OpenFlow connection methods listed above as acceptable for
\fB--listen\fR.

When \fBdpctl monitor\fR makes a monitoring connection, \fBofprotocol\fR
sends it a copy of every OpenFlow message sent to or received from the
kernel in the normal course of its operations.  It does not send a
copy of any messages sent to or from the OpenFlow connection to the
controller.  Most of these messages will be seen anyhow, however,
because \fBofprotocol\fR mainly acts as a relay between the controller
and the kernel.  \fBofprotocol\fR also does not send a copy of any
messages sent to or from the OpenFlow connection to the controller.
Such messages will typically \fBnot\fR be seen, because \fBofprotocol\fR
maintains a separate connection to the kernel for each management
connection.

Messages are copied to the monitoring connections on a best-effort
basis.  In particular, if the socket buffer of the monitoring
connection fills up, some messages will be lost.

.TP
\fB--in-band\fR, \fB--out-of-band\fR
Configures \fBofprotocol\fR to operate in in-band or out-of-band control
mode (see \fBCONTACTING THE CONTROLLER\fR above).  When neither option
is given, the default is in-band control.

.TP
\fB--stp\fR, \fB--no-stp\fR
Enable or disable implementation of IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol
at the switch.  The default is \fB--no-stp\fR in this distribution,
because bugs in the STP implementation are still being worked out.
The default will change to \fB--stp\fR at some point in the future.

.TP
\fB--emerg-flow\fR
Enable emergecny flow protection and restration at the switch.  If emergency
flow enabled, \fBofprotocol\fR will attempt to switch flow table to emergency's
one when a controller connection fails.  The default is disabled in this 
distribution.

.SS "Rate-Limiting Options"

These options configure how the switch applies a ``token bucket'' to
limit the rate at which packets in unknown flows are forwarded to an
OpenFlow controller for flow-setup processing.  This feature prevents
a single OpenFlow switch from overwhelming a controller.

.TP
\fB--rate-limit\fR[\fB=\fIrate\fR]
.
Limits the maximum rate at which packets will be forwarded to the
OpenFlow controller to \fIrate\fR packets per second.  If \fIrate\fR
is not specified then the default of 1,000 packets per second is used.

If \fB--rate-limit\fR is not used, then the switch does not limit the
rate at which packets are forwarded to the controller.

.TP
\fB--burst-limit=\fIburst\fR
.
Sets the maximum number of unused packet credits that the switch will
allow to accumulate during time in which no packets are being
forwarded to the OpenFlow controller to \fIburst\fR (measured in
packets).  The default \fIburst\fR is one-quarter of the \fIrate\fR
specified on \fB--rate-limit\fR.

This option takes effect only when \fB--rate-limit\fR is also specified.

.SS "Daemon Options"
.so lib/daemon.man

.SS "Public Key Infrastructure Options"

.TP
\fB-p\fR, \fB--private-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch's
identity for SSL connections to the controller.

.TP
\fB-c\fR, \fB--certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the
controller's certificate authority (CA), that certifies the switch's
private key to identify a trustworthy switch.

.TP
\fB-C\fR, \fB--ca-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that
the switch is connected to a trustworthy controller.

.TP
\fB--bootstrap-ca-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR
When \fIcacert.pem\fR exists, this option has the same effect as
\fB-C\fR or \fB--ca-cert\fR.  If it does not exist, then \fBofprotocol\fR
will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the controller on its
first SSL connection and save it to the named PEM file.  If it is
successful, it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and
from then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a
certificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained.

\fBThis option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
attack obtaining the initial CA certificate\fR, but it may be useful
for bootstrapping.

This option is only useful if the controller sends its CA certificate
as part of the SSL certificate chain.  The SSL protocol does not
require the controller to send the CA certificate, but
\fBcontroller\fR(8) can be configured to do so with the
\fB--peer-ca-cert\fR option.

.SS "Logging Options"
.so lib/vlog.man
.SS "Other Options"
.so lib/common.man
.so lib/leak-checker.man

.SH "SEE ALSO"

.BR dpctl (8),
.BR ofp-discover (8),
.BR controller (8),
.BR ofp-pki (8),
.BR ofdatapath (8),
.BR vlogconf (8)