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Configuring OVSDB with NetVisor OS

The NetVisor OS implementation of OVSDB provides a means of communication between SDN controllers and Arista switches. By leveraging OVSDB, Arista devices exchange control and network information with SDN controllers, thereby enabling VM traffic from the entities in a virtualized network to be forwarded to entities in a physical network and vice versa.

The OVSDB service runs in a container in NetVisor OS. This service maintains a database schema that stores information regarding Arista devices and SDN controllers in various tables. The OVSDB schema also includes the MAC address information of the physical servers and virtual hosts. SDN Controllers such as Ericsson ODL (Open-Day Light) controller communicates with OVSDB for provisioning and configuration of the overlay network. The overlay network configuration involves creating tunnels between local and remote hardware and software VTEPs.

Any configuration change in NetVisor OS updates the OVSDB schema which makes the SDN controller aware of the current configuration. A VTEP agent in NetVisor OS closely tracks the configuration updates pushed into OVSDB by the SDN controller as well as the changes in NetVisor OS. The VTEP agent then derives the required actions and executes the CLI commands needed to create VLANs and tunnels between local and remote VTEPs.

Follow the steps below to configure OVSDB using NetVisor OS.

Configure the vNET with private VLANs, VXLANs, and managed ports:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vnet-create name vpod1 scope fabric vlan-type private num-private-vlans 100 managed-ports 12 vxlans 10000-10099

Specify the VLANs reserved for the vNET by using the vnet-public-vlans-modify command. If you add managed ports to the vNET configuration, VLAN IDs from this range is assigned as public VLANs for the private VLANs.

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vnet-public-vlans-modify vlans 200-210

You can also define shared ports in a vNET configuration. Ideally, you can configure the border leaf ports that connect to the DC gateway as shared ports. If you add shared ports to the vNET configuration, specify a public VLAN range for the ports by using the command:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vnet-modify name vpod1 public-vlans 300-310

For shared ports, private VLAN IDs should have the same range as that of public VLAN IDs configured in the vNET.

Configure the underlay network:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vrouter-create name vpod1-vr1 vnet vpod1 router-type hardware

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vrouter-interface-add vrouter-name vpod1-vr1 ip 192.168.50.2/24 vlan 50

Create the SSL/TLS certificate for OVSDB if you want to create an SSL connection with the controller.

CLI (network-admin@switch) > cert-create country US state California city PA organization "Pluribus Networks Inc" organizational-unit Engineering common-name CN1 name cert1

Successfully generated self-signed certificate.

For detailed steps on how to configure and deploy TLS certificates for OVSDB, see Using OpenSSL TLS certificates for OVSDB and other Services.

Create Open vSwitch configuration:

Use the openvswitch-create command to configure Open vSwitch. This command creates the OVS container and services.

openvswitch-create	Create an OVS instance.
name name-string	Specify a name for the OVS instance.
vnet vnet-name	Specify the name of the vNET for OVS.
tunnel-ip ip-address	Specify the IP address for the tunnel.
Specify any of the following options:
dedicated-vnet-service\|shared-vnet-service	Specify if Open vSwitch is a dedicated or shared vNET service.
shared-vnet-mgr vnet-manager name	Specify the vNET manager to share with if this is a shared service.
location fabric-node-name	Specify the location of the service.
storage-pool storage-pool-name	Specify a storage pool to apply to the vNET.
gateway ip-address	Specify gateway IP address for service.
cert-name cert-name-string	Specify the certificate name for SSL connections
ca-cert-name ca-cert-name-string	Specify the CA Certificate name for SSL connections
cert-location none\|global\|container	Specify the Certificate location - global or within container.
global-vtep\|local-vtep	Specify the hardware VTEP associated with Open vSwitch.
bfd\|no-bfd	Specify if you want to enable BFD for OVSDB created tunnels.

For example:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > openvswitch-create name ovs-1 vnet vpod1 tunnel-ip 192.168.0.10 cert-name cert1 ca-cert-name ca-cert1

Create an OVSDB interface using the openvswitch-interface-add command.

openvswitch-interface-add	Add an interface to OVS.
ovs-name name-string	This parameter is not configurable. It assumes the name of the OVS service.
Specify one or more of the following options:
ip ip-address	Specify the IP address for the interface.
netmask netmask	Specify the netmask.
assignment none\|static\|dhcp\|dhcpv6\|autov6	Specify the method of IP address assignment.
linklocal ip-address	Specify the IPv6 Link Local address.
vnet vnet-name	Specify interface VLAN vNET.
bd bridge-domain name	Specify the bridge domain name.
vlan vlan-id	Specify the VLAN assigned to the interface.
vlan-type public\|private	Specify the type of VLAN for the interface.
if mgmt\|data\|span\|span2\|span3	Specify the interface type.
alias-on alias-on-string	Specify an alias if desired.
exclusive\|no-exclusive	Specify if the interface is exclusive or not.
nic-enable\|nic-disable	Specify to enable or disable the NIC.
vrrp-id id	Specify the ID assigned by VRRP.
vrrp-primary vrrp-primary-string	Specify the primary interface for VRRP.
vrrp-priority 0..254	Specify the VRRP priority for the interface.
vrrp-adv-int milliseconds	Specify the VRRP advertisement interval in milliseconds. The range is 10 to 40950 with a default value of 1000.
vrrp-preempt-mode disable\|enable	Used to allow/prevent high priority VRRP backup from becoming VRRP primary.
secondary-macs secondary-macs-string	Specify a secondary MAC address for the interface.
if-nat-realm internal\|external	Specify the NAT interface realm.
priority-tag\|no-priority-tag	Specify to add priority tag on forwarded traffic.

For example:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > openvswitch-interface-add ovs-name ovs-1 ip 192.168.31.148 netmask 24 vlan 3001 vlan-type public

Configuring the interface as data or mgmt depends on if the SDN controller is located on the data network or the management network.

If the controller is on a Layer 3 network several hops away, use openvswitch-modify command to configure a gateway IP address.

CLI (network-admin@switch) > openvswitch-modify name ovs-1 gateway 192.168.31.1

Add the hardware VTEP manager:

Use the openvswitch-hwvtep-manager-add command to configure the connection between OVSDB and the SDN controller.

openvswitch-hwvtep-manager-add	Create a VTEP manager for OVSDB.
name name-string	This parameter is not configurable. The parameter assumes the name of the OVS service.
Specify the following options:
manager-type odl\|nsx	Specify the type of SDN controller. Note: NetVisor OS only supports ODL controller currently.
connection-method unix-socket\|tcp\|\|unix-socketlisten\|tcp-listen\|ssl\|default	Specify the connection method.
ip ip-address	Specify the IP address of the SDN controller.
username username-string	Specify the username.
password password-string	Specify the password.
port port-number	Specify the port number of the database.

CLI (network-admin@switch) > opensvswitch-hwvtep-manager-add name ovs-1 manager-type odl connection-method ssl ip 10.10.10.1

When you execute the command above, the connection to the ODL controller is established. You can now define the tunnel networks for software and hardware VTEPs by using the following commands:

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vnet-tunnel-network-add name vpod1 network 192.168.1.0/24 description SWVTEPS

CLI (network-admin@switch) > vnet-tunnel-network-add name vpod1 network 192.168.0.0/24 description HWVTEPS

You can establish a connection between the ODL controller and OVSDB by using SSL, TCP, or unix-socket options.

NetVisor OS features an error reporting mechanism to make the SDN controller aware of any error that occurs while orchestrating tunnels. If an error occurs while the ODL controller provisions tunnels between VTEPs, NetVisor OS updates the OVSDB VTEP schema with the error, thereby notifying the ODL controller.