/usr/bin/ovs-vswitchd --help — Chainguard OS Manuals

From ovs-3.5 3.5.4-r11 (enterprise-packages), captured 2026-11-09 by running ovs-vswitchd --help (exit 0). permalink

2026-11-09T15:07:05Z|00001|dns_resolve|WARN|Failed to read /etc/resolv.conf: No such file or directory
ovs-vswitchd: Open vSwitch daemon
usage: ovs-vswitchd [OPTIONS] [DATABASE]
where DATABASE is a socket on which ovsdb-server is listening
      (default: "unix:/run/openvswitch/db.sock").

Active DATABASE connection methods:
  tcp:HOST:PORT           PORT at remote HOST
  ssl:HOST:PORT           SSL/TLS PORT at remote HOST
  unix:FILE               Unix domain socket named FILE
PKI configuration (required to use SSL/TLS):
  -p, --private-key=FILE  file with private key
  -c, --certificate=FILE  file with certificate for private key
  -C, --ca-cert=FILE      file with peer CA certificate
  --bootstrap-ca-cert=FILE  file with peer CA certificate to read or create
SSL/TLS options:
  --ssl-protocols=PROTOS    range of SSL/TLS protocols to enable
  --ssl-ciphers=CIPHERS     list of SSL/TLS ciphers to enable
                            with TLSv1.2 and earlier
  --ssl-ciphersuites=SUITES list of SSL/TLS ciphersuites to
                            enable with TLSv1.3 and later

Daemon options:
  --detach                run in background as daemon
  --monitor               creates a process to monitor this daemon
  --user=username[:group] changes the effective daemon user:group
  --no-chdir              do not chdir to '/'
  --pidfile[=FILE]        create pidfile (default: /run/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.pid)
  --overwrite-pidfile     with --pidfile, start even if already running

Logging options:
  -vSPEC, --verbose=SPEC   set logging levels
  -v, --verbose            set maximum verbosity level
  --log-file[=FILE]        enable logging to specified FILE
                           (default: /var/log/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.log)
  --syslog-method=(libc|unix:file|udp:ip:port)
                           specify how to send messages to syslog daemon
  --syslog-target=HOST:PORT  also send syslog msgs to HOST:PORT via UDP

DPDK options:
Configuration of DPDK via command-line is removed from this
version of Open vSwitch. DPDK is configured through ovsdb.

Other options:
  --unixctl=SOCKET          override default control socket name
  -h, --help                display this help message
  -V, --version             display version information

Options (26)

Option	Description	Source
`-p, --private-key` FILE	Specifies a PEM file containing the private key used as ovs-vswitchd's identity for outgoing SSL/TLS connections.	help + man + man
`-c, --certificate` FILE	Specifies a PEM file containing a certificate that certifies the private key specified on -p or --private-key to be trustworthy.	help + man + man
`-C, --ca-cert` FILE	Specifies a PEM file containing the CA certificate that ovs-vswitchd should use to verify certificates presented to it by SSL/TLS peers.	help + man + man
`--bootstrap-ca-cert` FILE	When cacert.pem exists, this option has the same effect as -C or --ca-cert.	help + man
`--ssl-protocols` PROTOS	range of SSL/TLS protocols to enable	help
`--ssl-ciphers` CIPHERS	list of SSL/TLS ciphers to enable with TLSv1.2 and earlier	help
`--detach`	Runs ovs-vswitchd as a background process.	help + man
`--monitor`	Creates an additional process to monitor the ovs-vswitchd daemon.	help + man
`--no-chdir`	By default, when --detach is specified, ovs-vswitchd changes its current working directory to the root directory after it detaches.	help + man
`--pidfile` FILE	create pidfile (default: /run/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.pid)	help
`--overwrite-pidfile`	By default, when --pidfile is specified and the specified pidfile already exists and is locked by a running process, ovs-vswitchd refuses to start.	help + man
`-vSPEC, --verbose` SPEC	Sets the maximum logging verbosity level, equivalent to --verbose=dbg.	help + man
`--log-file` FILE	enable logging to specified FILE (default: /var/log/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.log)	help
`--syslog-method` (libc\|unix:file\|udp:ip:port)	Specify method how syslog messages should be sent to syslog daemon.	help + man
`--syslog-target` HOST:PORT	Send syslog messages to UDP port on host, in addition to the system syslog.	help + man
`--unixctl` SOCKET	Sets the name of the control socket on which ovs-vswitchd listens for runtime management commands (see RUNTIME MANAGEMENT COMMANDS, below).	help + man
`-h, --help`	Prints a brief help message to the console.	help + man + man
`-V, --version`	Prints version information to the console.	help + man + man
`--mlockall`	Causes ovs-vswitchd to call the mlockall() function, to attempt to lock all of its process memory into physical RAM on page faults (on allocation, when running on Linux kernel 4.4 or older),… (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--hw-rawio-access`	Tells ovs-vswitchd to retain the CAP_SYS_RAWIO capability, to allow userspace drivers access to raw hardware memory. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--no-self-confinement`	By default daemon will try to self-confine itself to work with files under well-known directories determined during build. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--user`	Causes ovs-vswitchd to run as a different user specified in "user:group", thus dropping most of the root privileges. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--service`	Causes ovs-vswitchd to run as a service in the background. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--service-monitor`	Causes the ovs-vswitchd service to be automatically restarted by the Windows services manager if the service dies or exits for unexpected reasons. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`--peer-ca-cert` peer-cacert.pem	Specifies a PEM file that contains one or more additional certificates to send to SSL/TLS peers. (in the manual page but not in --help)	man
`-v`	(in the manual page but not in --help)	man

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.