.\" -*- nroff -*-
.de IQ
.  br
.  ns
.  IP "\\$1"
..
.\" -*- nroff -*-
.TH ovsdb\-client 1 "November 2009" "Open vSwitch" "Open vSwitch Manual"
.\" This program's name:
.ds PN ovsdb\-client
.\" SSL peer program's name:
.ds SN ovsdb\-server
.
.SH NAME
ovsdb\-client \- command-line interface to \fBovsdb-server\fR(1)
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBlist\-dbs \fR[\fIserver\fR]
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBget\-schema \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBget\-schema\-version\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBlist\-tables\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBlist\-columns\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR] [\fItable\fR]
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBtransact\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fItransaction\fR
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBdump\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]\fR
.br
\fBovsdb\-client \fR[\fIoptions\fR] \fBmonitor\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR] \fItable\fR
[\fIcolumn\fR[\fB,\fIcolumn\fR]...]...
.br
\fBovsdb\-client help\fR
.IP "Output formatting options:"
[\fB\-\-format=\fIformat\fR]
[\fB\-\-no\-heading\fR]
.IP "Daemon options:"
[\fB\-\-pidfile\fR[\fB=\fIpidfile\fR]]
[\fB\-\-overwrite\-pidfile\fR]
[\fB\-\-detach\fR]
[\fB\-\-no\-chdir\fR]
.IP "Logging options:"
[\fB\-v\fR[\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]]]]\&...
.br
[\fB\-\-verbose[=\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]]]]\&...
.br
[\fB\-\-log\-file\fR[\fB=\fIfile\fR]]
.IP "Public key infrastructure options:"
[\fB\-\-private\-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR]
.br
[\fB\-\-certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR]
.br
[\fB\-\-ca\-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR]
.br
[\fB\-\-bootstrap\-ca\-cert=\fIcacert.pem]
.IP "Common options:"
[\fB\-h\fR | \fB\-\-help\fR]
[\fB\-V\fR | \fB\-\-version\fR]

.
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBovsdb\-client\fR program is a command-line client for
interacting with a running \fBovsdb\-server\fR process.
Each command connects to an OVSDB server, which is
\fBunix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock\fR by default, or may be specified as
\fIserver\fR in one of the following forms:
.RS
.IP "\fBssl:\fIip\fB:\fIport\fR"
The specified SSL \fIport\fR on the host at the given \fIip\fR, which
must be expressed as an IP address (not a DNS name).  The
\fB\-\-private\-key\fR, \fB\-\-certificate\fR, and \fB\-\-ca\-cert\fR
options are mandatory when this form is used.
.
.IP "\fBtcp:\fIip\fB:\fIport\fR"
Connect to the given TCP \fIport\fR on \fIip\fR.
.
.IP "\fBunix:\fIfile\fR"
Connect to the Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR.
.IP "\fBpssl:\fIport\fR[\fB:\fIip\fR]"
Listen on the given SSL \fIport\fR for a connection.  By default,
\fB\*(PN\fR listens for connections to any local IP address, but
specifying \fIip\fR limits connections to those from the given
\fIip\fR.  The \fB\-\-private\-key\fR, \fB\-\-certificate\fR, and
\fB\-\-ca\-cert\fR options are mandatory when this form is used.
.
.IP "\fBptcp:\fIport\fR[\fB:\fIip\fR]"
Listen on the given TCP \fIport\fR for a connection.  By default,
\fB\*(PN\fR listens for connections to any local IP address, but
\fIip\fR may be specified to listen only for connections to the given
\fIip\fR.
.
.IP "\fBpunix:\fIfile\fR"
Listen on the Unix domain server socket named \fIfile\fR for a
connection.
.RE
.PP
The default \fIdatabase\fR is \fBOpen_vSwitch\fR.
.
.SS "Commands"
The following commands are implemented:
.IP "\fBlist\-dbs \fR[\fIserver\fR]"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves the list of known databases, and
prints them one per line.  These database names are the ones that may
be used for \fIdatabase\fR in the following commands.
.
.IP "\fBget\-schema \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves the schema for \fIdatabase\fR, and
prints it in JSON format.
.
.IP "\fBget\-schema\-version\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves the schema for \fIdatabase\fR, and
prints its version number on stdout.  A schema version number has the form
\fIx\fB.\fIy\fB.\fIz\fR.  See \fBovs\-vswitchd.conf.db\fR(5) for
details.
.IP
Schema version numbers and Open vSwitch version numbers are
independent.
.IP
If \fIdatabase\fR was created before schema versioning was introduced,
then it will not have a version number and this command will print a
blank line.
.
.IP "\fBlist\-columns\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves the schema for \fIdatabase\fR, and
prints a table listing the name of each table
within the database.
.
.IP "\fBlist\-columns\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR] \fItable\fR"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves the schema for \fIdatabase\fR, and
prints a table listing the name and type of each
column.  If \fItable\fR is specified, only columns in that table are
listed; otherwise, the tables include columns in all tables.
.
.IP "\fBtransact\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fItransaction\fR"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, sends it the specified \fItransaction\fR,
which must be a JSON array containing one or more valid OVSDB
operations, and prints the received reply on stdout.
.
.IP "\fBdump\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR]\fR"
Connects to \fIserver\fR, retrieves all of the data in \fIdatabase\fR,
and prints it on stdout as a series of tables.
.
.IP "\fBmonitor\fI \fR[\fIserver\fR] \fR[\fIdatabase\fR] \fItable\fR"
Connects to \fIserver\fR and monitors the contents of \fItable\fR in
\fIdatabase\fR.  By default, the initial contents of \fItable\fR are
printed, followed by each change as it occurs.  If at least one
\fIcolumn\fR is specified, only those columns are monitored.  The
following \fIcolumn\fR names have special meanings:
.RS
.IP "\fB!initial\fR"
Do not print the initial contents of the specified columns.
.IP "\fB!insert\fR"
Do not print newly inserted rows.
.IP "\fB!delete\fR"
Do not print deleted rows.
.IP "\fB!modify\fR"
Do not print modifications to existing rows.
.RE
.IP
Multiple [\fIcolumn\fR[\fB,\fIcolumn\fR]...] groups may be specified
as separate arguments, e.g. to apply different reporting parameters to
each group.  Whether multiple groups or only a single group is
specified, any given column may only be mentioned once on the command
line.
.IP
If \fB\-\-detach\fR is used with \fBmonitor\fR, then \fBovsdb\-client\fR
detaches after it has successfully received and printed the initial
contents of \fItable\fR.
.SH OPTIONS
.SS "Output Formatting Options"
Much of the output from \fBovsdb\-client\fR is in the form of tables.
The following options controlling output formatting:
.
.ds TD (default)
.IP "\fB\-f \fIformat\fR"
.IQ "\fB\-\-format=\fIformat\fR"
Sets the type of table formatting.  The following types of
\fIformat\fR are available:
.RS
.ie '\*(PN'ovs\-vsctl' .IP "\fBtable\fR"
.el                    .IP "\fBtable\fR (default)"
2-D text tables with aligned columns.
.ie '\*(PN'ovs\-vsctl' .IP "\fBlist\fR (default)"
.el                    .IP "\fBlist\fR"
A list with one column per line and rows separated by a blank line.
.IP "\fBhtml\fR"
HTML tables.
.IP "\fBcsv\fR"
Comma-separated values as defined in RFC 4180.
.IP "\fBjson\fR"
JSON format as defined in RFC 4627.  The output is a sequence of JSON
objects, each of which corresponds to one table.  Each JSON object has
the following members with the noted values:
.RS
.IP "\fBcaption\fR"
The table's caption.  This member is omitted if the table has no
caption.
.IP "\fBheadings\fR"
An array with one element per table column.  Each array element is a
string giving the corresponding column's heading.
.IP "\fBdata\fR"
An array with one element per table row.  Each element is also an
array with one element per table column.  The elements of this
second-level array are the cells that constitute the table.  Cells
that represent OVSDB data or data types are expressed in the format
described in the OVSDB specification; other cells are simply expressed
as text strings.
.RE
.RE
.
.IP "\fB\-d \fIformat\fR"
.IP "\fB\-\-data=\fIformat\fR"
Sets the formatting for cells within output tables.  The following
types of \fIformat\fR are available:
.RS
.IP "\fBstring\fR (default)"
The simple format described in the \fBDatabase Values\fR
.ie '\*(PN'ovs\-vsctl' section below.
.el                    section of \fBovs\-vsctl\fR(8).
.IP "\fBbare\fR"
The simple format with punctuation stripped off: \fB[]\fR and \fB{}\fR
are omitted around sets, maps, and empty columns, items within sets
and maps are space-separated, and strings are never quoted.  This
format may be easier for scripts to parse.
.IP "\fBjson\fR"
JSON.
.RE
.IP
The \fBjson\fR output format always outputs cells in JSON format,
ignoring this option.
.
.IP "\fB\-\-no\-heading\fR"
This option suppresses the heading row that otherwise appears in the
first row of table output.
.
.IP "\fB\-\-pretty\fR"
By default, JSON in output is printed as compactly as possible.  This
option causes JSON in output to be printed in a more readable
fashion.  Members of objects and elements of arrays are printed one
per line, with indentation.
.IP
This option does not affect JSON in tables, which is always printed
compactly.
.IP "\fB\-\-bare\fR"
Equivalent to \fB\-\-format=list \-\-data=bare \-\-no\-headings\fR.
.
.SS "Daemon Options"
The daemon options apply only to the \fBmonitor\fR command.  With any
other command, they have no effect.
.ds DD
.TP
\fB\-\-pidfile\fR[\fB=\fIpidfile\fR]
Causes a file (by default, \fB\*(PN.pid\fR) to be created indicating
the PID of the running process.  If the \fIpidfile\fR argument is not
specified, or
if it does not begin with \fB/\fR, then it is created in
\fB/var/run/openvswitch\fR.
.IP
If \fB\-\-pidfile\fR is not specified, no pidfile is created.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-overwrite\-pidfile\fR
By default, when \fB\-\-pidfile\fR is specified and the specified pidfile 
already exists and is locked by a running process, \fB\*(PN\fR refuses 
to start.  Specify \fB\-\-overwrite\-pidfile\fR to cause it to instead 
overwrite the pidfile.
.IP
When \fB\-\-pidfile\fR is not specified, this option has no effect.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-detach\fR
Causes \fB\*(PN\fR to detach itself from the foreground session and
run as a background process. \*(DD
.
.TP
\fB\-\-monitor\fR
Creates an additional process to monitor the \fB\*(PN\fR daemon.  If
the daemon dies due to a signal that indicates a programming error
(e.g. \fBSIGSEGV\fR, \fBSIGABRT\fR), then the monitor process starts a
new copy of it.  If the daemon die or exits for another reason, the
monitor process exits.
.IP
This option is normally used with \fB\-\-detach\fR, but it also
functions without it.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-no\-chdir\fR
By default, when \fB\-\-detach\fR is specified, \fB\*(PN\fR 
changes its current working directory to the root directory after it 
detaches.  Otherwise, invoking \fB\*(PN\fR from a carelessly chosen 
directory would prevent the administrator from unmounting the file 
system that holds that directory.
.IP
Specifying \fB\-\-no\-chdir\fR suppresses this behavior, preventing
\fB\*(PN\fR from changing its current working directory.  This may be 
useful for collecting core files, since it is common behavior to write 
core dumps into the current working directory and the root directory 
is not a good directory to use.
.IP
This option has no effect when \fB\-\-detach\fR is not specified.
.SS "Logging Options"
.TP
\fB\-v\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]], \fB\-\-verbose=\fImodule\fR[\fB:\fIfacility\fR[\fB:\fIlevel\fR]]
.
Sets the logging level for \fImodule\fR in \fIfacility\fR to
\fIlevel\fR:
.
.RS
.IP \(bu
\fImodule\fR may be any valid module name (as displayed by the
\fB\-\-list\fR action on \fBovs\-appctl\fR(8)), or the special name
\fBANY\fR to set the logging levels for all modules.
.
.IP \(bu
\fIfacility\fR may be \fBsyslog\fR, \fBconsole\fR, or \fBfile\fR to
set the levels for logging to the system log, the console, or a file
respectively, or \fBANY\fR to set the logging levels for both
facilities.  If it is omitted, \fIfacility\fR defaults to \fBANY\fR.
.IP
Regardless of the log levels set for \fBfile\fR, logging to a file
will not take place unless \fB\-\-log\-file\fR is also specified (see
below).
.
.IP \(bu 
\fIlevel\fR must be one of \fBoff\fR, \fBemer\fR, \fBerr\fR, \fBwarn\fR,
\fBinfo\fR, or
\fBdbg\fR, designating the minimum severity of a message for it to be
logged.  If it is omitted, \fIlevel\fR defaults to \fBdbg\fR.  See
\fBovs\-appctl\fR(8) for a definition of each log level.
.RE
.
.TP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
Sets the maximum logging verbosity level, equivalent to
\fB\-\-verbose=ANY:ANY:dbg\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-vPATTERN:\fIfacility\fB:\fIpattern\fR, \fB\-\-verbose=PATTERN:\fIfacility\fB:\fIpattern\fR
Sets the log pattern for \fIfacility\fR to \fIpattern\fR.  Refer to
\fBovs\-appctl\fR(8) for a description of the valid syntax for \fIpattern\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-log\-file\fR[\fB=\fIfile\fR]
Enables logging to a file.  If \fIfile\fR is specified, then it is
used as the exact name for the log file.  The default log file name
used if \fIfile\fR is omitted is \fB/var/log/openvswitch/\*(PN.log\fR.
.SS "Public Key Infrastructure Options"
.de IQ
.  br
.  ns
.  IP "\\$1"
..
.IP "\fB\-p\fR \fIprivkey.pem\fR"
.IQ "\fB\-\-private\-key=\fIprivkey.pem\fR"
Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as \fB\*(PN\fR's
identity for outgoing SSL connections.
.
.IP "\fB\-c\fR \fIcert.pem\fR"
.IQ "\fB\-\-certificate=\fIcert.pem\fR"
Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the
private key specified on \fB\-p\fR or \fB\-\-private\-key\fR to be
trustworthy.  The certificate must be signed by the certificate
authority (CA) that the peer in SSL connections will use to verify it.
.
.IP "\fB\-C\fR \fIcacert.pem\fR"
.IQ "\fB\-\-ca\-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR"
Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate that \fB\*(PN\fR
should use to verify certificates presented to it by SSL peers.  (This
may be the same certificate that SSL peers use to verify the
certificate specified on \fB\-c\fR or \fB\-\-certificate\fR, or it may
be a different one, depending on the PKI design in use.)
.
.IP "\fB\-C none\fR"
.IQ "\fB\-\-ca\-cert=none\fR"
Disables verification of certificates presented by SSL peers.  This
introduces a security risk, because it means that certificates cannot
be verified to be those of known trusted hosts.
.IP "\fB\-\-bootstrap\-ca\-cert=\fIcacert.pem\fR"
When \fIcacert.pem\fR exists, this option has the same effect as
\fB\-C\fR or \fB\-\-ca\-cert\fR.  If it does not exist, then
\fB\*(PN\fR will attempt to obtain the CA certificate from the
SSL peer on its first SSL 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 connections must be
authenticated by a certificate signed by the CA certificate thus
obtained.
.IP
\fBThis option exposes the SSL connection to a man-in-the-middle
attack obtaining the initial CA certificate\fR, but it may be useful
for bootstrapping.
.IP
This option is only useful if the SSL peer sends its CA certificate as
part of the SSL certificate chain.  The SSL protocol does not require
the server to send the CA certificate, but
\fB\*(SN\fR(8) can be configured to do so with the
\fB\-\-peer\-ca\-cert\fR option.
.IP
This option is mutually exclusive with \fB\-C\fR and
\fB\-\-ca\-cert\fR.
.SS "Other Options"
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Prints a brief help message to the console.
.
.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
Prints version information to the console.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.
\fBovsdb\-server\fR(1),
\fBovsdb\-client\fR(1),
and the OVSDB specification.