Open vSwitch Setup: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before starting, ensure that you have root access or sudo privileges to follow through with these instructions.

Step 1: Download OVS Binaries

Step 2: Extract Files

Use the following command to extract the downloaded tar file:

Step 3: Build Open vSwitch

In the next step, navigate to the extracted binary directory and run the boot.sh script:

Step 4: Run the configuration script

Step 5: Make and Install

Once the configuration process runs without any errors, use the make and make install commands. These commands will compile and install OVS on your system.

Step 6: Add Open vSwitch scripts to $PATH

First, check if the path to the Open vSwitch script directory is already included in your PATH:

If this command does not output anything, you can add the path to your .bashrc file with this command

Step 7: Update the PATH variable

To load the updated PATH, run the following command in the terminal.

• It is advisable to reboot the system at this point to ensure all the changes have taken effect.
• While running any command, if you receive a "Permission Denied" error, try using "sudo" at the start of the command.

After you reboot, you should have a working Open vSwitch installation and will be ready to move forward and learn about how to configure and use it. Open vSwitch has a multitude of uses. With it, you can manage networking more efficiently and automate network tasks while utilizing standard management interfaces and protocols.

To ensure that Open vSwitch has been installed correctly, you can use the ovs-vsctl command to check its version. Type the following command in your terminal:

For example:

Stay tuned for more educational articles on how to use Open vSwitch and other open-source projects.

Source: This blog is authored by Faiz Ahmed, Principal Technical Consultant at GeekyAnts. Originally published on Hashnode: Read here.