There are two places that SSL will need to be configured if SSL is to be used between the controller and the Open vSwtich. The instructions below assume an installation of Open vSwitch using Ubuntu packages. If you installed by alternate means, the location of the openvswitch/pki might be different.

Open vSwtich Setup

Create all the keys and register them with Open vSwitch.

cd /etc/openvswitchsudo ovs-pki req+sign sc switchsudo ovs-vsctl set-ssl     /etc/openvswitch/sc-privkey.pem     /etc/openvswitch/sc-cert.pem     /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/controllerca/cacert.pem

The above might not be the most secure way to manage the keys, but again, this is for research and experimentation.

Open vSwtich test controller ovs-controller Setup

Create all the keys.

cd /etc/openvswitchsudo ovs-pki req+sign ctl controller

Running a Sample Test

In one window, let’s start the ovs-controller with SSL support.

sudo ovs-controller -v pssl:6633      -p /etc/openvswitch/ctl-privkey.pem      -c /etc/openvswitch/ctl-cert.pem      -C /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/switchca/cacert.pem

Next, below is a sample Mininet Python script. Run this Mininet script that creates a simple single switch topology and sets the controller to SSL.

#!/usr/bin/pythonfrom mininet.net import Mininetfrom mininet.node import Controller, RemoteControllerfrom mininet.cli import CLIfrom mininet.log import setLogLevel, infodef emptyNet():    net = Mininet( controller=RemoteController )    net.addController( ‘c0‘ )    h1 = net.addHost( ‘h1‘ )    h2 = net.addHost( ‘h2‘ )    s1 = net.addSwitch( ‘s1‘ )    net.addLink( h1, s1 )    net.addLink( h2, s1 )    net.start()    s1.cmd(‘ovs-vsctl set-controller s1 ssl:127.0.0.1:6633‘)    CLI( net )    net.stop()if __name__ == ‘__main__‘:setLogLevel( ‘info‘ )emptyNet()

When you run the script, you will see that a PingAll test ran and passed. You can also check and see that switch is connected using SSL.

mininet@mininet:~$ sudo ovs-vsctl show902d6aa3-6a0a-4708-a286-3301c8b36430    Bridge "s1"        Controller "ssl:127.0.0.1:6633"            is_connected: true        fail_mode: secure        Port "s1"            Interface "s1"                type: internal        Port "s1-eth1"            Interface "s1-eth1"        Port "s1-eth2"            Interface "s1-eth2"    ovs_version: "2.0.1"