- ovs-vsctl – utility to manage configuration state in ovsdb-server
- bridge management
- port management
- controller management
- failure mode management
- ovs-appctl – send commands to ovs-vswitchd
- ovs-dpctl – Tool to manage datapaths in the kernel directly.
- Direct management only reallu required when there is no ovs-vswitchd
- Mostly useful for inspecting kernel vs user flows
- ovs-ofctl – for working with openflow
Table of Contents
OVE-VSCTL
| Command | Description |
| ovs-vsctl show | show openvswitch switches and ports |
OVS-APPCTL
| Command | Description |
| ovs-appctl bridge/dump-flows | Dumps all flows, including hidden |
| ovs-appctl dpif/dump-flows | Dumps datapath flows for a spefic bridge |
| ovs-appctl ofproto/trace <switch_name> in_port=1 | Trace packet process for traffic coming in on port_1 of given switch |
OVS-DPCTL
| Command | Description |
| ovs-dpctl dump-flows | Dumps kernel table entries |
OVS-OFCTL
| Command | Description |
| ovs-ofctl dump-flows | Dumps OF flows (excluding hidden flows) |
Rick Donato is a Network Automation Architect/Evangelist and the founder of Packet Coders.
Latest posts by Rick Donato (see all)
- NETCONF & YANG: Automate Network Configs via Python - April 2, 2026
- Palo Alto – How to Configure Your Next-Generation Firewall - April 2, 2026
- How to Harden Linux SSH: Keys, Fail2ban & Ciphers - March 1, 2026
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