ovsdb-client(1) Open vSwitch Manual ovsdb-client(1)
NAME
ovsdb-client - command-line interface to ovsdb-server(1)
SYNOPSIS
ovsdb-client [options] list-dbs [server]
ovsdb-client [options] get-schema [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] get-schema-version [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] list-tables [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] list-columns [server] [database] [table]
ovsdb-client [options] transact [server] transaction
ovsdb-client [options] dump [server] [database]
ovsdb-client [options] monitor [server] [database] table [column[,col‐
umn]...]...
ovsdb-client [options] monitor [server] [database] ALL
ovsdb-client help
Output formatting options:
[--format=format] [--data=format] [--no-heading] [--pretty]
[--bare] [--no-heading] [--timestamp]
Daemon options:
[--pidfile[=pidfile]] [--overwrite-pidfile] [--detach]
[--no-chdir]
Logging options:
[-v[module[:destination[:level]]]]...
[--verbose[=module[:destination[:level]]]]...
[--log-file[=file]]
Public key infrastructure options:
[--private-key=privkey.pem]
[--certificate=cert.pem]
[--ca-cert=cacert.pem]
[--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem]
Common options:
[-h | --help] [-V | --version]
DESCRIPTION
The ovsdb-client program is a command-line client for interacting with
a running ovsdb-server process. Each command connects to an OVSDB
server, which is unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock by default, or may
be specified as server in one of the following forms:
ssl:ip:port
The specified SSL port on the host at the given ip, which
must be expressed as an IP address (not a DNS name) in
IPv4 or IPv6 address format. If ip is an IPv6 address,
then wrap ip with square brackets, e.g.: ssl:[::1]:6640.
The --private-key, --certificate, and --ca-cert options
are mandatory when this form is used.
tcp:ip:port
Connect to the given TCP port on ip, where ip can be IPv4
or IPv6 address. If ip is an IPv6 address, then wrap ip
with square brackets, e.g.: tcp:[::1]:6640.
unix:file
On POSIX, connect to the Unix domain server socket named
file.
On Windows, connect to a localhost TCP port whose value
is written in file.
pssl:port[:ip]
Listen on the given SSL port for a connection. By
default, connections are not bound to a particular local
IP address and it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6)
addresses, but specifying ip limits connections to those
from the given ip, either IPv4 or IPv6 address. If ip is
an IPv6 address, then wrap ip with square brackets, e.g.:
pssl:6640:[::1]. The --private-key, --certificate, and
--ca-cert options are mandatory when this form is used.
ptcp:port[:ip]
Listen on the given TCP port for a connection. By
default, connections are not bound to a particular local
IP address and it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6)
addresses, but ip may be specified to listen only for
connections to the given ip, either IPv4 or IPv6 address.
If ip is an IPv6 address, then wrap ip with square brack‐
ets, e.g.: ptcp:6640:[::1].
punix:file
On POSIX, listen on the Unix domain server socket named
file for a connection.
On Windows, listen on a kernel chosen TCP port on the
localhost. The kernel chosen TCP port value is written in
file.
The default database is Open_vSwitch.
Commands
The following commands are implemented:
list-dbs [server]
Connects to server, retrieves the list of known databases, and
prints them one per line. These database names are the ones
that may be used for database in the following commands.
get-schema [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints it in JSON format.
get-schema-version [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints its version number on stdout. A schema version number
has the form x.y.z. See ovs-vswitchd.conf.db(5) for details.
Schema version numbers and Open vSwitch version numbers are
independent.
If database was created before schema versioning was introduced,
then it will not have a version number and this command will
print a blank line.
list-tables [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints a table listing the name of each table within the data‐
base.
list-columns [server] [database] table
Connects to server, retrieves the schema for database, and
prints a table listing the name and type of each column. If ta‐
ble is specified, only columns in that table are listed; other‐
wise, the tables include columns in all tables.
transact [server] transaction
Connects to server, sends it the specified transaction, which
must be a JSON array containing one or more valid OVSDB opera‐
tions, and prints the received reply on stdout.
dump [server] [database]
Connects to server, retrieves all of the data in database, and
prints it on stdout as a series of tables.
monitor [server] [database] table [column[,column]...]...
Connects to server and monitors the contents of table in data‐
base. By default, the initial contents of table are printed,
followed by each change as it occurs. If at least one column is
specified, only those columns are monitored. The following col‐
umn names have special meanings:
!initial
Do not print the initial contents of the specified col‐
umns.
!insert
Do not print newly inserted rows.
!delete
Do not print deleted rows.
!modify
Do not print modifications to existing rows.
Multiple [column[,column]...] groups may be specified as sepa‐
rate arguments, e.g. to apply different reporting parameters to
each group. Whether multiple groups or only a single group is
specified, any given column may only be mentioned once on the
command line.
If --detach is used with monitor, then ovsdb-client detaches
after it has successfully received and printed the initial con‐
tents of table.
monitor [server] [database] ALL
Connects to server and monitors the contents of all tables in
database. Prints initial values and all kinds of changes to all
columns in the database. The --detach option causes
ovsdb-client to detach after it successfully receives and prints
the initial database contents.
OPTIONS
Output Formatting Options
Much of the output from ovsdb-client is in the form of tables. The
following options controlling output formatting:
-f format
--format=format
Sets the type of table formatting. The following types of for‐
mat are available:
table (default)
2-D text tables with aligned columns.
list A list with one column per line and rows separated by a
blank line.
html HTML tables.
csv Comma-separated values as defined in RFC 4180.
json JSON format as defined in RFC 4627. The output is a
sequence of JSON objects, each of which corresponds to
one table. Each JSON object has the following members
with the noted values:
caption
The table's caption. This member is omitted if
the table has no caption.
headings
An array with one element per table column. Each
array element is a string giving the corresponding
column's heading.
data An array with one element per table row. Each
element is also an array with one element per ta‐
ble column. The elements of this second-level
array are the cells that constitute the table.
Cells that represent OVSDB data or data types are
expressed in the format described in the OVSDB
specification; other cells are simply expressed as
text strings.
-d format
--data=format
Sets the formatting for cells within output tables. The follow‐
ing types of format are available:
string (default)
The simple format described in the Database Values sec‐
tion of ovs-vsctl(8).
bare The simple format with punctuation stripped off: [] and
{} are omitted around sets, maps, and empty columns,
items within sets and maps are space-separated, and
strings are never quoted. This format may be easier for
scripts to parse.
json JSON.
The json output format always outputs cells in JSON format,
ignoring this option.
--no-heading
This option suppresses the heading row that otherwise appears in
the first row of table output.
--pretty
By default, JSON in output is printed as compactly as possible.
This option causes JSON in output to be printed in a more read‐
able fashion. Members of objects and elements of arrays are
printed one per line, with indentation.
This option does not affect JSON in tables, which is always
printed compactly.
--bare Equivalent to --format=list --data=bare --no-headings.
--timestamp
For the monitor command, adds a timestamp to each table update.
Most output formats add the timestamp on a line of its own just
above the table. The JSON output format puts the timestamp in a
member of the top-level JSON object named time.
Daemon Options
The daemon options apply only to the monitor command. With any other
command, they have no effect. The following options are valid on POSIX
based platforms.
--pidfile[=pidfile]
Causes a file (by default, ovsdb-client.pid) to be created indi‐
cating the PID of the running process. If the pidfile argument
is not specified, or if it does not begin with /, then it is
created in /var/run/openvswitch.
If --pidfile is not specified, no pidfile is created.
--overwrite-pidfile
By default, when --pidfile is specified and the specified pid‐
file already exists and is locked by a running process,
ovsdb-client 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
Causes ovsdb-client to detach itself from the foreground session
and run as a background process.
--monitor
Creates an additional process to monitor the ovsdb-client dae‐
mon. If the daemon dies due to a signal that indicates a pro‐
gramming error (SIGABRT, SIGALRM, SIGBUS, SIGFPE, SIGILL, SIG‐
PIPE, SIGSEGV, SIGXCPU, or SIGXFSZ) then the monitor process
starts a new copy of it. If the daemon dies or exits for
another reason, the monitor process exits.
This option is normally used with --detach, but it also func‐
tions without it.
--no-chdir
By default, when --detach is specified, ovsdb-client changes its
current working directory to the root directory after it
detaches. Otherwise, invoking ovsdb-client 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
ovsdb-client 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.
--user Causes ovsdb-client to run as a non root user specified in
"user:group", thus dropping all root privileges. Short forms
"user" and ":group" are also allowed, with current user or group
are assumed respectively. Only daemons started by the root user
accepts this argument.
On Linux, daemons will be granted CAP_IPC_LOCK and
CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICES before dropping root privileges. Daemons
interact with datapath, such as ovs-vswitchd, will be granted
two additional capabilities, namely CAP_NET_ADMIN and
CAP_NET_RAW.
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 com‐
mand on ovs-appctl(8), limits the log level change to the
specified module.
· syslog, console, or file, to limit the log level change
to only to the system log, to the console, or to a file,
respectively.
On Windows platform, syslog is accepted as a word and is
only useful along with the --syslog-target option (the
word has no effect otherwise).
· off, emer, err, warn, info, or dbg, to control the log
level. Messages of the given severity or higher will be
logged, and messages of lower severity will be filtered
out. off filters out all messages. See ovs-appctl(8)
for a definition of each log level.
Case is not significant within spec.
Regardless of the log levels set for file, logging to a file
will not take place unless --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 --ver‐
bose=dbg.
-vPATTERN:destination:pattern
--verbose=PATTERN:destination:pattern
Sets the log pattern for destination to pattern. Refer to
ovs-appctl(8) for a description of the valid syntax for pattern.
-vFACILITY:facility
--verbose=FACILITY:facility
Sets the RFC5424 facility of the log message. facility can be
one of kern, user, mail, daemon, auth, syslog, lpr, news, uucp,
clock, ftp, ntp, audit, alert, clock2, local0, local1, local2,
local3, local4, local5, local6 or local7. If this option is not
specified, daemon is used as the default for the local system
syslog and local0 is used while sending a message to the target
provided via the --syslog-target option.
--log-file[=file]
Enables logging to a file. If file is specified, then it is
used as the exact name for the log file. The default log file
name used if file is omitted is /var/log/open‐
vswitch/ovsdb-client.log.
--syslog-target=host:port
Send syslog messages to UDP port on host, in addition to the
system syslog. The host must be a numerical IP address, not a
hostname.
--syslog-method=method
Specify method how syslog messages should be sent to syslog dae‐
mon. Following forms are supported:
· libc, use libc syslog() function. This is the default
behavior. Downside of using this options is that libc
adds fixed prefix to every message before it is actually
sent to the syslog daemon over /dev/log UNIX domain
socket.
· unix:file, use UNIX domain socket directly. It is possi‐
ble to specify arbitrary message format with this option.
However, rsyslogd 8.9 and older versions use hard coded
parser function anyway that limits UNIX domain socket
use. If you want to use arbitrary message format with
older rsyslogd versions, then use UDP socket to localhost
IP address instead.
· udp:ip:port, use UDP socket. With this method it is pos‐
sible to use arbitrary message format also with older
rsyslogd. When sending syslog messages over UDP socket
extra precaution needs to be taken into account, for
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 sock‐
ets, but do not apply to UNIX domain sockets.
Public Key Infrastructure Options
-p privkey.pem
--private-key=privkey.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as
ovsdb-client's identity for outgoing SSL connections.
-c cert.pem
--certificate=cert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the
private key specified on -p or --private-key to be trustworthy.
The certificate must be signed by the certificate authority (CA)
that the peer in SSL connections will use to verify it.
-C cacert.pem
--ca-cert=cacert.pem
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate that
ovsdb-client should use to verify certificates presented to it
by SSL peers. (This may be the same certificate that SSL peers
use to verify the certificate specified on -c or --certificate,
or it may be a different one, depending on the PKI design in
use.)
-C none
--ca-cert=none
Disables verification of certificates presented by SSL peers.
This introduces a security risk, because it means that certifi‐
cates cannot be verified to be those of known trusted hosts.
--bootstrap-ca-cert=cacert.pem
When cacert.pem exists, this option has the same effect as -C or
--ca-cert. If it does not exist, then ovsdb-client will attempt
to obtain the CA certificate from the SSL peer on its first SSL
connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is success‐
ful, it will immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and
from then on all SSL connections must be authenticated by a cer‐
tificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained.
This option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
attack obtaining the initial CA certificate, but it may be use‐
ful for bootstrapping.
This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA certifi‐
cate as part of the SSL certificate chain. The SSL protocol
does not require the server to send the CA certificate.
This option is mutually exclusive with -C and --ca-cert.
Other Options
-h
--help Prints a brief help message to the console.
-V
--version
Prints version information to the console.
SEE ALSO
ovsdb-server(1), ovsdb-client(1), and the OVSDB specification.
Open vSwitch 2.4.90 ovsdb-client(1)