[ovs-discuss] Remote connection method for ovn-controller ovs-ofctl invocation.

[Ben Pfaff]

Sure, send a patch to add a configuration option.

On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 05:41:11PM +0000, Rana, JaiSingh wrote:
> Hi Ben, 
> Sorry for the confusion. I meant ovn-controller invocation of function for pushing open-flows   from southdb to vswitchd which is running in nic using tcp connection and I agree with Lance that using external-ids for this purpose might be better idea.
> Also for now, only this assumption i.e. ovn-controller and vswitchd are running on same host is blocking me. As as a proof of concept, i hardcoded tcp connection instead of unix socket file in ovn and now flows are getting updated in vswitchd. 
> Other configuration change that is done is to setup OF controller on integration bridge with ptcp instead of tcp method. 
> 
> Thanks,
> Jai
> 
> 
> On July 13, 2017 10:35:07 PM Ben Pfaff <blp at ovn.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 12:53:11PM -0400, Lance Richardson wrote:
> >> > From: "Ben Pfaff" <blp at ovn.org>
> >> > To: "Lance Richardson" <lrichard at redhat.com>
> >> > Cc: "JaiSingh Rana" <JaiSingh.Rana at cavium.com>, ovs-discuss at openvswitch.org
> >> > Sent: Thursday, 13 July, 2017 12:47:47 PM
> >> > Subject: Re: [ovs-discuss] Remote connection method for ovn-controller ovs-ofctl	invocation.
> >> > 
> >> > On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 09:35:01AM -0400, Lance Richardson wrote:
> >> > > > From: "JaiSingh Rana" <JaiSingh.Rana at cavium.com>
> >> > > > To: ovs-discuss at openvswitch.org
> >> > > > Sent: Thursday, 13 July, 2017 3:49:15 AM
> >> > > > Subject: [ovs-discuss] Remote connection method for ovn-controller
> >> > > > ovs-ofctl	invocation.
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > Hi,
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > Currently in Openvswitch-2.7.1, ovn-controller hard codes connection
> >> > > > method
> >> > > > for ovs-ofctl invokation as unix:file as assumption is there will be unix
> >> > > > file created by vswitchd in OVS_RUNDIR for managing OF controller on
> >> > > > bridge
> >> > > > e.g. br-int.mgmt
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > There is an issue in our Openvswitch offload model where vswitchd is
> >> > > > running
> >> > > > on nic and ovn-controller on host. As there is no option for telling
> >> > > > ovn-controller to use tcp:port connection method for ovs-ofctl , flows
> >> > > > are
> >> > > > not being pushed to vswitchd.
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > For providing the patch, need some input. Should connection method be
> >> > > > provided as an argument to ovn-controller or it can be written to
> >> > > > /etc/sysconfig/openvswitch from where ovn-controller can read and use if
> >> > > > option is present otherwise it defaults to unix file method.
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > 
> >> > > 
> >> > > My suggestion would be to use external-ids in the local ovsdb, as is
> >> > > currently done for ovn-remote and ovn-encap. Maybe something like:
> >> > > 
> >> > >     ovs-vsctl set open . external-ids:ovn-ofctl=tcp:w.x.y.z:abcd
> >> > 
> >> > Using the name "ovs-ofctl" here is weird.  ovn-controller doesn't use
> >> > ovs-ofctl.
> >> > 
> >> 
> >> Well, I'm terrible with naming things, and should have added a comment to that
> >> effect :-) 
> >> 
> >> My rationale for "ovn-ofctl" was shallowly based on the the related file,
> >> ovn/controller/ofctrl.c (well, I omitted the 'r' for some reason,.)
> >> 
> >> What would be a more appropriate name?
> >
> > I really should have directed that to the original poster, since he
> > suggested that ovs-ofctl was involved.
> >
> > Probably, something that used words like "switch", "openflow", "remote",
> > "connection", "ovs", etc., like "ovn-switch-connection".
> >
> > However, this is not going to be the only problem that the OP will
> > encounter, since ovn-controller makes other assumptions that it is
> > running on the ovs-switchd host.