Open vSwitch explained

Open vSwitch
Logo Alt:Open vSwitch logo
Released:[1]
Programming Language:C
Operating System:Linux, Hyper-V, FreeBSD and NetBSD
Genre:Virtual network switch
License:Apache License 2.0

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.[2]

The project's source code is distributed under the terms of Apache License 2.0.

Overview

Open vSwitch is a software implementation of a virtual multilayer network switch, designed to enable effective network automation through programmatic extensions, while supporting standard management interfaces and protocols such as NetFlow, sFlow, SPAN, RSPAN, CLI, LACP and 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.[3] [4] [5]

Open vSwitch can operate both as a software-based network switch running within a virtual machine (VM) hypervisor, and as the control stack for dedicated switching hardware; as a result, it has been ported to multiple virtualization platforms, switching chipsets, and networking hardware accelerators.[6] Open vSwitch is the default network switch in the XenServer virtualization platform since its version 6.0,[7] and in the Xen Cloud Platform via its XAPI management toolstack.[8] It also supports Xen, Linux KVM, Proxmox VE and VirtualBox hypervisors, while a port to Hyper-V is also available.[9] Open vSwitch has also been integrated into various cloud computing software platforms and virtualization management systems, including OpenStack, openQRM, OpenNebula and oVirt.

The Linux kernel implementation of Open vSwitch was merged into the kernel mainline in kernel version 3.3, which was released on March 18, 2012;[10] [11] official Linux packages are available for Debian, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu., FreeBSD and NetBSD implementations are also available, with the NetBSD's implementation operating completely in userspace.[12] [13] [14]

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.

Features

, features provided by Open vSwitch include the following:[15] [16]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A complete list of Open vSwitch releases . https://web.archive.org/web/20171109121307/http://openvswitch.org/releases/ . 2017-11-09 . April 2, 2014 . openvswitch.org.
  2. Web site: Virtual networking in Linux . October 27, 2010 . April 9, 2014 . M. Tim Jones . IBM.
  3. Web site: Open vSwitch: An Open Virtual Switch . November 24, 2013 . openvswitch.org.
  4. Web site: Underneath OpenStack Quantum: Software Defined Networking with Open vSwitch . April 24, 2013 . April 9, 2014 . Thomas Graf . .
  5. Web site: Virtual switching with Open vSwitch . April 2, 2014 . Ralf Spenneberg . admin-magazine.com.
  6. Web site: Tilera Launches Open Virtual Switch Solution (OVS) to Accelerate NFV and SDN . February 24, 2014 . June 22, 2015 . Marketwired.
  7. Web site: XenServer 6.0 Release Notes . March 8, 2012 . January 22, 2015 . . March 8, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210308025022/https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130418 . dead .
  8. Web site: XAPI: Open source software to build private and public clouds . 2013 . January 22, 2015 . xenproject.org.
  9. Web site: Open vSwitch on Hyper-V . May 22, 2014 . June 22, 2015 . Alessandro Pilotti . cloudbase.it.
  10. Web site: Linux kernel 3.3, Section 1.3. Open vSwitch . March 18, 2012 . April 2, 2014 . kernelnewbies.org.
  11. Web site: Routing Open vSwitch into the mainline . November 30, 2011 . April 2, 2014 . Jonathan Corbet . LWN.net.
  12. Web site: FreshPorts – net/openvswitch . December 30, 2013 . April 2, 2014 . freshports.org.
  13. Web site: Open vSwitch: performance improvement and porting to FreeBSD . November 7, 2011 . June 22, 2015 . Gaetano Catalli . ucl.ac.be . March 5, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305023647/http://changeofelia.info.ucl.ac.be/pmwiki/uploads/SummerSchool/Program/poster_001.pdf . dead .
  14. Web site: openvswitch/ovs: ovs/INSTALL.NetBSD at master . https://archive.today/20140409182840/https://github.com/openvswitch/ovs/blob/master/INSTALL.NetBSD . 2014-04-09 . January 11, 2014 . April 9, 2014 . github.com .
  15. Web site: Open vSwitch: Features . September 17, 2015 . openvswitch.org.
  16. Web site: Programmable Networking with Open vSwitch . September 2013 . November 24, 2013 . Jesse Gross . . linuxfoundation.org . March 6, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160306044348/http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/OVS-LinuxCon%202013.pdf . dead .
  17. Web site: Accelerating Open vSwitch to 'Ludicrous Speed' . November 13, 2014 . May 26, 2015 . Justin Pettit . Ben Pfaff . Ethan Jackson . networkheresy.com.
  18. Web site: The Evolution of Open vSwitch . August 21, 2014 . May 28, 2015 . Jesse Gross . . events.linuxfoundation.org . 6, 13 - 17.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Open vSwitch".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.