Provided by: ovn-common_25.03.0-1_amd64 
NAME
ovn-ic-sb - OVN_IC_Southbound database schema
This database holds configuration and state for interconnecting different OVN deployments. The content of
the database is populated and used by the ovn-ic program in each OVN deployment, and not supposed to be
directly used by CMS or end user.
The OVN Interconnection Southbound database is shared by ovn-ic program in each OVN deployment. It
contains interconnection information from all related OVN deployments, and is used as the intermediate
store for each OVN deployment to exchange the information. The ovn-ic program in each deployment is
responsible for syncing the data between this database and the its own northbound and southbound
databases.
Database Structure
The OVN Interconnection Southbound database contains classes of data with different properties, as
described in the sections below.
Availability Zone Specific Information
These tables contain objects that are availability zone specific. Each object is owned and populated by
one availability zone, and read by other availability zones.
The Availability_Zone, Gateway, Encap and Port_Binding tables are the availability zone specific tables.
Global Information
The data that does not belong to any specific availability zone but is common for all availability zones.
The Datapath_Binding table contains the common datapath binding information.
Common Columns
Each of the tables in this database contains a special column, named external_ids. This column has the
same form and purpose each place it appears.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Key-value pairs for use by ovn-ic.
TABLE SUMMARY
The following list summarizes the purpose of each of the tables in the OVN_IC_Southbound database. Each
table is described in more detail on a later page.
Table Purpose
IC_SB_Global
IC Southbound configuration
Availability_Zone
Availability Zone Information
Gateway Interconnection Gateway Information
Encap Encapsulation Types
Datapath_Binding
Transit Switch Datapath Bindings
Port_Binding
Transit Port Bindings
Route Route
Connection
OVSDB client connections.
SSL SSL configuration.
IC_SB_Global TABLE
Interconnection Southbound configuration. This table must have exactly one row.
Summary:
Status:
nb_ic_cfg integer
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
options map of string-string pairs
Connection Options:
connections set of Connections
ssl optional SSL
Details:
Status:
This column allow a client to track the overall configuration state of the system.
nb_ic_cfg: integer
Sequence number for the configuration. When a CMS or ovn-ic-nbctl updates the Interconnect
northbound database, it increments the nb_ic_cfg column in the NB_IC_Global table in the
Interconnect northbound database. when OVN-ICs updates the southbound database to bring it up to
date with these changes, one OVN-IC updates this column to the same value.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
options: map of string-string pairs
Connection Options:
connections: set of Connections
Database clients to which the Open vSwitch database server should connect or on which it should
listen, along with options for how these connections should be configured. See the Connection
table for more information.
ssl: optional SSL
Global SSL/TLS configuration.
Availability_Zone TABLE
Each row in this table represents an Availability Zone. Each OVN deployment is considered an availability
zone from OVN control plane perspective, with its own central components, such as northbound and
southbound databases and ovn-northd daemon.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
nb_ic_cfg integer
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
A name that uniquely identifies the availability zone.
nb_ic_cfg: integer
This column is used by the OVN-IC to inform that this IC instance is aligned with the changes in
INB
Gateway TABLE
Each row in this table represents a interconnection gateway chassis in an availability zone.
Summary:
name string (must be unique within table)
availability_zone Availability_Zone
hostname string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Encapsulation Configuration:
encaps set of 1 or more Encaps
Details:
name: string (must be unique within table)
The name of the gateway. See name column of the OVN Southbound database’s Chassis table.
availability_zone: Availability_Zone
The availability zone that the gateway belongs to.
hostname: string
The hostname of the gateway.
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Encapsulation Configuration:
OVN uses encapsulation to transmit logical dataplane packets between gateways.
encaps: set of 1 or more Encaps
Points to supported encapsulation configurations to transmit logical dataplane packets to this
gateway. Each entry is a Encap record that describes the configuration. See encaps column of the
OVN Southbound database’s Chassis table.
Encap TABLE
The encaps column in the Gateway table refers to rows in this table to identify how OVN may transmit
logical dataplane packets to this gateway.
Summary:
type string, one of geneve, stt, or vxlan
options map of string-string pairs
ip string
gateway_name string
Details:
type: string, one of geneve, stt, or vxlan
The encapsulation to use to transmit packets to this gateway. See type column of the OVN
Southbound database’s Encap table.
options: map of string-string pairs
Options for configuring the encapsulation, which may be type specific. See options column of the
OVN Southbound database’s Encap table.
ip: string
The IPv4 address of the encapsulation tunnel endpoint.
gateway_name: string
The name of the gateway that created this encap.
Datapath_Binding TABLE
Each row in this table represents a logical datapath for a transit logical switch configured in the OVN
Interconnection Northbound database’s Transit_Switch table.
Summary:
transit_switch string
tunnel_key integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215 (must be unique within table)
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
transit_switch: string
The name of the transit logical switch that is configured in the OVN Interconnection Northbound
database’s Transit_Switch table.
tunnel_key: integer, in range 1 to 16,777,215 (must be unique within table)
The tunnel key value to which the logical datapath is bound. The key can be generated by any
ovn-ic but the same key is shared by all availability zones so that the logical datapaths can be
peered across them. A tunnel key for transit switch datapath binding must be globally unique.
For more information about the meanings of a tunnel key, see tunnel_key column of the OVN
Southbound database’s Datapath_Binding table.
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Port_Binding TABLE
Each row in this table binds a logical port on the transit switch to a physical gateway and a tunnel key.
Each port on the transit switch belongs to a specific availability zone.
Summary:
Core Features:
transit_switch string
logical_port string (must be unique within table)
availability_zone Availability_Zone
encap optional weak reference to Encap
gateway string
tunnel_key integer, in range 1 to 32,767
address string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
Core Features:
transit_switch: string
The name of the transit switch that the corresponding logical port belongs to.
logical_port: string (must be unique within table)
A logical port, taken from name in the OVN_Northbound database’s Logical_Switch_Port table. The
logical port name must be unique across all availability zones.
availability_zone: Availability_Zone
The availability zone that the port belongs to.
encap: optional weak reference to Encap
Points to supported encapsulation configurations to transmit logical dataplane packets to this
gateway. Each entry is a Encap record that describes the configuration.
gateway: string
The name of the gateway that this port is physically located.
tunnel_key: integer, in range 1 to 32,767
A number that represents the logical port in the key (e.g. STT key or Geneve TLV) field carried
within tunnel protocol packets. The key can be generated by any ovn-ic but the same key is shared
by all availability zones so that the packets can go through the datapath pipelines of different
availability zones.
The tunnel ID must be unique within the scope of a logical datapath.
For more information about tunnel key, see tunnel_key column of the OVN Southbound database’s
Port_Binding table.
address: string
The Ethernet address and IP addresses used by the corresponding logical router port peering with
the transit switch port. It is a string combined with the value of mac column followed by the
values in networks column in Logical_Router_Port table.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Route TABLE
Each row in this table represents a route advertised.
Summary:
Core Features:
transit_switch string
availability_zone Availability_Zone
route_table string
ip_prefix string
nexthop string
origin string, either connected or static
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
Core Features:
transit_switch: string
The name of the transit switch, upon which the route is advertised.
availability_zone: Availability_Zone
The availability zone that has advertised the route.
route_table: string
Route table within which this route was created. Empty value means <main> routing table.
Routes for directly-connected networks will be learned to <main> routing table and if Logical
Routers have more than one Transit Switch, which interconnects them, directly-connected routes
will be added via each transit switch port and configured as ECMP routes.
Static routes within route tables will be advertised and learned only if interconnecting transit
switch’s LRPs will have same value in options:route_table as NB route_table or ICSB route_table
value respectively.
ip_prefix: string
IP prefix of this route (e.g. 192.168.100.0/24).
nexthop: string
Nexthop IP address for this route.
origin: string, either connected or static
Can be one of connected or static. Routes to directly-connected subnets - LRP’s CIDRs are inserted
to OVN IC SB DB with connected value in origin. Static routes are inserted to OVN IC SB DB with
static value. Next when route is learned to another AZ NB DB by ovn-ic, route origin is synced to
options:origin.
Common Columns:
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
See External IDs at the beginning of this document.
Connection TABLE
Configuration for a database connection to an Open vSwitch database (OVSDB) client.
This table primarily configures the Open vSwitch database server (ovsdb-server).
The Open vSwitch database server can initiate and maintain active connections to remote clients. It can
also listen for database connections.
Summary:
Core Features:
target string (must be unique within table)
Client Failure Detection and Handling:
max_backoff optional integer, at least 1,000
inactivity_probe optional integer
Status:
is_connected boolean
status : last_error optional string
status : state optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID
status : sec_since_connect optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
status : sec_since_disconnect
optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
status : locks_held optional string
status : locks_waiting optional string
status : locks_lost optional string
status : n_connections optional string, containing an integer, at least 2
status : bound_port optional string, containing an integer
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
other_config map of string-string pairs
Details:
Core Features:
target: string (must be unique within table)
Connection methods for clients.
The following connection methods are currently supported:
ssl:host[:port]
The specified SSL/TLS port on the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with
unbound library) or an IP address. A valid SSL/TLS configuration must be provided when this
form is used, this configuration can be specified via command-line options or the SSL
table.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
SSL/TLS support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of OVN or Open
vSwitch.
tcp:host[:port]
The specified TCP port on the given host, which can either be a DNS name (if built with
unbound library) or an IP address (IPv4 or IPv6). If host is an IPv6 address, wrap it in
square brackets, e.g. tcp:[::1]:6640.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
pssl:[port][:host]
Listens for SSL/TLS connections on the specified TCP port. Specify 0 for port to have the
kernel automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if
built with unbound library) or an IP address, is specified, then connections are restricted
to the resolved or specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an
IPv6 address, wrap in square brackets, e.g. pssl:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified then
it listens only on IPv4 (but not IPv6) addresses. A valid SSL/TLS configuration must be
provided when this form is used, this can be specified either via command-line options or
the SSL table.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
SSL/TLS support is an optional feature that is not always built as part of OVN or Open
vSwitch.
ptcp:[port][:host]
Listens for connections on the specified TCP port. Specify 0 for port to have the kernel
automatically choose an available port. If host, which can either be a DNS name (if built
with unbound library) or an IP address, is specified, then connections are restricted to
the resolved or specified local IP address (either IPv4 or IPv6 address). If host is an
IPv6 address, wrap it in square brackets, e.g. ptcp:6640:[::1]. If host is not specified
then it listens only on IPv4 addresses.
If port is not specified, it defaults to 6640.
When multiple clients are configured, the target values must be unique. Duplicate target values
yield unspecified results.
Client Failure Detection and Handling:
max_backoff: optional integer, at least 1,000
Maximum number of milliseconds to wait between connection attempts. Default is implementation-
specific.
inactivity_probe: optional integer
Maximum number of milliseconds of idle time on connection to the client before sending an
inactivity probe message. If Open vSwitch does not communicate with the client for the specified
number of seconds, it will send a probe. If a response is not received for the same additional
amount of time, Open vSwitch assumes the connection has been broken and attempts to reconnect.
Default is implementation-specific. A value of 0 disables inactivity probes.
Status:
Key-value pair of is_connected is always updated. Other key-value pairs in the status columns may be
updated depends on the target type.
When target specifies a connection method that listens for inbound connections (e.g. ptcp: or punix:),
both n_connections and is_connected may also be updated while the remaining key-value pairs are omitted.
On the other hand, when target specifies an outbound connection, all key-value pairs may be updated,
except the above-mentioned two key-value pairs associated with inbound connection targets. They are
omitted.
is_connected: boolean
true if currently connected to this client, false otherwise.
status : last_error: optional string
A human-readable description of the last error on the connection to the manager; i.e.
strerror(errno). This key will exist only if an error has occurred.
status : state: optional string, one of ACTIVE, BACKOFF, CONNECTING, IDLE, or VOID
The state of the connection to the manager:
VOID Connection is disabled.
BACKOFF
Attempting to reconnect at an increasing period.
CONNECTING
Attempting to connect.
ACTIVE Connected, remote host responsive.
IDLE Connection is idle. Waiting for response to keep-alive.
These values may change in the future. They are provided only for human consumption.
status : sec_since_connect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
The amount of time since this client last successfully connected to the database (in seconds).
Value is empty if client has never successfully been connected.
status : sec_since_disconnect: optional string, containing an integer, at least 0
The amount of time since this client last disconnected from the database (in seconds). Value is
empty if client has never disconnected.
status : locks_held: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection holds. Omitted if the
connection does not hold any locks.
status : locks_waiting: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection is currently waiting to
acquire. Omitted if the connection is not waiting for any locks.
status : locks_lost: optional string
Space-separated list of the names of OVSDB locks that the connection has had stolen by another
OVSDB client. Omitted if no locks have been stolen from this connection.
status : n_connections: optional string, containing an integer, at least 2
When target specifies a connection method that listens for inbound connections (e.g. ptcp: or
pssl:) and more than one connection is actually active, the value is the number of active
connections. Otherwise, this key-value pair is omitted.
status : bound_port: optional string, containing an integer
When target is ptcp: or pssl:, this is the TCP port on which the OVSDB server is listening. (This
is particularly useful when target specifies a port of 0, allowing the kernel to choose any
available port.)
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
other_config: map of string-string pairs
SSL TABLE
SSL/TLS configuration for ovn-sb database access.
Summary:
private_key string
certificate string
ca_cert string
bootstrap_ca_cert boolean
ssl_protocols string
ssl_ciphers string
ssl_ciphersuites string
Common Columns:
external_ids map of string-string pairs
Details:
private_key: string
Name of a PEM file containing the private key used as the switch’s identity for SSL/TLS
connections to the controller.
certificate: string
Name of a PEM file containing a certificate, signed by the certificate authority (CA) used by the
controller and manager, that certifies the switch’s private key, identifying a trustworthy switch.
ca_cert: string
Name of a PEM file containing the CA certificate used to verify that the switch is connected to a
trustworthy controller.
bootstrap_ca_cert: boolean
If set to true, then Open vSwitch will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the controller on
its first SSL/TLS connection and save it to the named PEM file. If it is successful, it will
immediately drop the connection and reconnect, and from then on all SSL/TLS connections must be
authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA certificate thus obtained. This option exposes the
SSL/TLS connection to a man-in-the-middle attack obtaining the initial CA certificate. It may
still be useful for bootstrapping.
ssl_protocols: string
Range or a comma- or space-delimited list of the SSL/TLS protocols to enable for SSL/TLS
connections.
Supported protocols include TLSv1 (deprecated), TLSv1.1 (deprecated), TLSv1.2 and TLSv1.3. Ranges
can be provided in a form of two protocol names separated with a dash (TLSv1.1-TLSv1.2), or as a
single protocol name with a plus sign (TLSv1.2+). The value can be a list of protocols or exactly
one range. The range is a preferred way of specifying protocols and the configuration always
behaves as if the range between the minimum and the maximum specified version is provided, i.e.,
if the value is set to TLSv1.1,TLSv1.3, the TLSv1.2 will also be enabled as if it was a range.
Regardless of order, the highest protocol supported by both sides will be chosen when making the
connection.
The default when this option is omitted is TLSv1.2+.
ssl_ciphers: string
List of ciphers (in OpenSSL cipher string format) to be supported for SSL/TLS connections with
TLSv1.2 and earlier. The default when this option is omitted is DEFAULT:@SECLEVEL=2.
ssl_ciphersuites: string
List of ciphersuites (in OpenSSL ciphersuites string format) to be supported for SSL/TLS
connections with TLSv1.3 and later. Default value from OpenSSL will be used when this option is
omitted.
Common Columns:
The overall purpose of these columns is described under Common Columns at the beginning of this document.
external_ids: map of string-string pairs
Open vSwitch 25.03.0 DB Schema 1.3.0 ovn-ic-sb(5)