Configuring Open vSwitch

Open vSwitch (also known as OVS), is an open source, multilayer virtual switch. It’s designed to bring new levels of automation to networks through programmatic extensions and is used in many large production networks. Open vSwitch can be deployed as both a soft switch running on a hypervisor and as a control stack in switching silicon. It has been ported to various virtualization platforms and switching chipsets. It is the default switch in XenServer 6.0 and the Xen Cloud Platform, according to the Linux Foundation, which oversees the Open vSwitch project. It also supports Xen, KVM, Proxmox VE and VirtualBox. It supports standard management interfaces and protocols such as NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX, RSPAN, CLI, LACP and 802.1ag.

Open vSwitch is included in the Pica8 PICOS network operating system, running as a process in PICOs. This document describes how to configure Open vSwitch in PICOS on an open white box switch.