[ovs-discuss] Article about OpenVSwitch

[Ben Pfaff]

On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 10:37:01PM +0100, Konstantinos Agouros wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am writing an article for German Linux Magazine about OpenVSwitch.
> I set it up and have most of it working. However when I try to set up a
> gre or capwap tunnel I get the message: 
> Oct 28 22:13:10 lenovo ovs-vswitchd: 00478|dpif|WARN|system at switch1:
> failed to add gre1 as port: Address family not supported by protocol
> Oct 28 22:13:10 lenovo ovs-vswitchd: 00479|dpif|WARN|system at switch1:
> failed to add capwap0 as port: Address family not supported by protocol
> 
> respectively for the two methods.
> 
> I used the kernel module in the gentoo kernel. Since I read in the
> readme that the module from the distribution should be used if tunneling
> is needed. I tried building that, but that did not work either.
> 
> Can You confirm that the error is caused by using the kernel module from
> the kernel distribution?

Yes.  From the FAQ:

Q: What features are not available in the Open vSwitch kernel datapath
   that ships as part of the upstream Linux kernel?

A: The kernel module in upstream Linux 3.3 and later does not include
   the following features:

       - Bridge compatibility, that is, support for the ovs-brcompatd
         daemon that (if you enable it) lets "brctl" and other Linux
         bridge tools transparently work with Open vSwitch instead.

         We do not expect bridge compatibility to ever be available in
         upstream Linux.  If you need bridge compatibility, use the
         kernel module from the Open vSwitch distribution instead of the
         upstream Linux kernel module.

       - Tunnel virtual ports, that is, interfaces with type "gre",
         "ipsec_gre", "capwap".  It is possible to create tunnels in
         Linux and attach them to Open vSwitch as system devices.
         However, they cannot be dynamically created through the OVSDB
         protocol or set the tunnel ids as a flow action.

         Work is in progress in adding these features to the upstream
         Linux version of the Open vSwitch kernel module.  For now, if
         you need these features, use the kernel module from the Open
         vSwitch distribution instead of the upstream Linux kernel
         module.

       - Patch virtual ports, that is, interfaces with type "patch".
         You can use Linux "veth" devices as a substitute.

         We don't have any plans to add patch ports upstream.