OpenFlow Switch Specification - Open Networking Foundation

1 OpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion (Wire Protocol 0x04) June 25, 2012 ONF TS-006 OpenFlow Switch Specification Version (Wire Protocol 0x04) Open Networking Foundation ONF Document Type: OpenFlow Spec ONF Document Name: THIS Specification IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL, Specification OR SAMPLE. Without limitation, ONF disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this Specification and to the implementation of this Specification , and ONF disclaims all liability for cost of procurement of substitute goods or services, lost profits, loss of use, loss of data or any incidental, consequential, direct, indirect, or special damages, whether under contract, tort, warranty or otherwise, arising in any way out of use or reliance upon this Specification or any information herein.

2 No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any Open Networking Foundation or Open Networking Foundation member intellectual property rights is granted herein. Except that a license is hereby granted by ONF to copy and reproduce this Specification for internal use only. Contact the Open Networking Foundation at for information on Specification licensing through membership agreements. Any marks and brands contained herein are the property of their respective owners. WITHOUT LIMITING THE DISCLAIMER ABOVE, THIS Specification OF THE OPEN Networking Foundation ( ONF ) IS SUBJECT TO THE ROYALTY FREE, REASONABLE AND NONDISCRIMINATORY ( RANDZ ) LICENSING COMMITMENTS OF THE MEMBERS OF ONF PURSUANT TO THE ONF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS POLICY.

3 ONF DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ALL NECESSARY CLAIMS OF PATENT WHICH MAY BE IMPLICATED BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS Specification ARE OWNED OR LICENSABLE BY ONF'S MEMBERS AND THEREFORE SUBJECT TO THE RANDZ COMMITMENT OF THE MEMBERS. OpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion Introduction62 Switch Components63 Glossary74 OpenFlow OpenFlow ports .. Standard ports .. Physical ports .. Logical ports .. Reserved ports ..95 OpenFlow Pipeline Processing .. Flow Table .. Matching .. Table-miss .. Flow Removal .. Group Table .. Types .. Meter Table .. Bands .. Counters .. Instructions .. Action Set .. Action List .. Actions.

4 Default values for fields on push ..216 OpenFlow OpenFlow Protocol Overview .. Message Handling .. OpenFlow Channel Connections .. Setup .. Interruption .. Controllers .. Connections .. Flow Table Modification Messages .. Group Table Modification Messages .. Meter Modification Messages ..332c 2012 The Open Networking FoundationOpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion The OpenFlow OpenFlow Header .. Common Structures .. Port Structures .. Queue Structures .. Flow Match Structures .. Flow Instruction Structures .. Action Structures .. Controller-to- Switch Messages .. Handshake .. Switch Configuration .. Flow Table Configuration.

5 Modify State Messages .. Multipart Messages .. Queue Configuration Messages .. Packet-Out Message .. Barrier Message .. Role Request Message .. Set Asynchronous Configuration Message .. Asynchronous Messages .. Packet-In Message .. Flow Removed Message .. Port Status Message .. Error Message .. Symmetric Messages .. Hello .. Echo Request .. Echo Reply .. Experimenter ..84B Release OpenFlow version .. OpenFlow version .. OpenFlow version .. OpenFlow version .. OpenFlow version .. OpenFlow version .. IP Netmasks .. New Physical Port Stats .. INPORT Virtual Port .. Port and Link Status and Configuration.

6 Echo Request/Reply Messages .. Vendor Extensions .. Explicit Handling of IP Fragments .. Spanning Tree .. Modify Actions in Existing Flow Entries .. More Flexible Description of Tables .. Lookup Count in Tables .. Modifying Flags in Port-Mod More Explicit .. New Packet-Out Message Format .. Hard Timeout for Flow Entries .. Reworked initial handshake to support backwards compatibility ..913c 2012 The Open Networking FoundationOpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion Description of Switch Stat .. Variable Length and Vendor Actions .. VLAN Action Changes .. Max Supported Ports Set to 65280 .. Send Error Message When Flow Not Added Due To Full Tables .. Behavior Defined When Controller Connection Lost.

7 ICMP Type and Code Fields Now Matchable .. Output Port Filtering for Delete*, Flow Stats and Aggregate Stats .. OpenFlow version .. Failover .. Emergency Flow Cache .. Barrier Command .. Match on VLAN Priority Bits .. Selective Flow Expirations .. Flow Mod Behavior .. Flow Expiration Duration .. Notification for Flow Deletes .. Rewrite DSCP in IP ToS header .. Port Enumeration now starts at 1 .. Other changes to the Specification .. OpenFlow version .. Slicing .. Flow cookies .. User-specifiable datapath description .. Match on IP fields in ARP packets .. Match on IP ToS/DSCP bits .. Querying port stats for individual ports.

8 Improved flow duration resolution in stats/expiry messages .. Other changes to the Specification .. OpenFlow version .. Multiple Tables .. Groups .. Tags : MPLS & VLAN .. Virtual ports .. Controller connection failure .. Other changes .. OpenFlow version .. Extensible match support .. Extensible setfield packet rewriting support .. Extensible context expression in packet-in .. Extensible Error messages via experimenter error type .. IPv6 support added .. Simplified behaviour of flow-mod request .. Removed packet parsing Specification .. Controller role change mechanism .. Other changes .. OpenFlow version.

9 Refactor capabilities negotiation .. More flexible table miss support .. IPv6 Extension Header handling support .. Per flow meters .. 1024c 2012 The Open Networking FoundationOpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion Per connection event filtering .. Auxiliary connections .. MPLS BoS matching .. Provider Backbone Bridging tagging .. Rework tag order .. metadata .. in packet-in .. for stats .. demand flow counters .. changes .. 104C Credits104 List of Tables1 Main components of a flow entry in a flow table..122 Main components of a group entry in the group table..143 Main components of a meter entry in the meter table..154 Main components of a meter band in a meter entry.

10 165 List of counters ..176 Push/pop tag actions..207 Change-TTL actions..218 Existing fields that may be copied into new fields on a push action..219 OXM TLV header fields ..4010 Required match fields..4311 Match fields details..4512 Match combinations for VLAN tags..45 List of Figures1 Main components of an OpenFlow Switch ..62 Packet flow through the processing pipeline ..113 Flowchart detailing packet flow through an OpenFlow Switch ..124 OXM TLV header layout ..395c 2012 The Open Networking FoundationOpenFlow Switch SpecificationVersion IntroductionThis document describes the requirements of an OpenFlow Switch . We recommend that you read the latestversion of the OpenFlow whitepaper before reading this Specification .