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+.TH ovs\-vswitchd 8 "March 2009" "Open vSwitch" "OpenVSwitch Manual"
+.ds PN ovs\-vswitchd
+.
+.SH NAME
+ovs\-vswitchd \- virtual switch daemon
+.
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B ovs\-vswitchd
+\fIconfig\fR
+.
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+A daemon that manages and controls any number of virtual switches on
+the local machine.
+.PP
+The mandatory \fIconfig\fR argument specifies a configuration file.
+For a description of \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR configuration syntax, see
+\fBovs\-vswitchd.conf\fR(5).
+.PP
+At startup or upon receipt of a \fBSIGHUP\fR signal, \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR
+reads the configuration file.  It sets up Open vSwitch datapaths and then 
+operates switching across each bridge described in its configuration 
+files.  If a logfile was specified on the command line it will also 
+be opened or reopened.
+.PP
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR virtual switches may be configured with any of the
+following features:
+.
+.IP \(bu
+L2 switching with MAC learning.
+.
+.IP \(bu
+NIC bonding with automatic fail-over and source MAC-based TX load
+balancing ("SLB").
+.
+.IP \(bu
+802.1Q VLAN support.
+.
+.IP \(bu
+Port mirroring, with optional VLAN tagging.
+.
+.IP \(bu
+NetFlow v5 flow logging.
+.
+.IP \(bu
+Connectivity to an external OpenFlow controller, such as NOX.
+.
+.PP
+Only a single instance of \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is intended to run at a time.
+A single \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR can manage any number of virtual switches, up
+to the maximum number of supported Open vSwitch datapaths.
+.PP
+\fBovs\-vswitchd\fR does all the necessary management of OpenVSwitch datapaths
+itself.  Thus, external tools, such \fBovs\-dpctl\fR(8), are not needed for
+managing datapaths in conjunction with \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR, and their use
+to modify datapaths when \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR is running can interfere with
+its operation.  (\fBovs\-dpctl\fR may still be useful for diagnostics.)
+.PP
+An Open vSwitch datapath kernel module must be loaded for \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR
+to be useful.  Please refer to the \fBINSTALL\fR file included in the
+Open vSwitch distribution for instructions on how to build and load
+the Open vSwitch kernel module.
+.PP
+.SH OPTIONS
+.IP "\fB--fake-proc-net\fR"
+Causes \fBovs\-vswitchd\fR to simulate some files in \fB/proc/net/vlan\fR
+and \fB/proc/net/bonding\fR that some legacy software expects to
+exist.  This option should only be used if such legacy software is
+actually in use.  It requires the \fBbrcompat_mod.ko\fR kernel module
+to be loaded.
+.
+.so lib/daemon.man
+.so lib/vlog.man
+.so lib/common.man
+.so lib/leak-checker.man
+.
+.SH "BUGS"
+.
+Only Open vSwitch kernel-based datapaths are currently supported.  In the
+future, this restriction may be lifted.
+.PP
+Only Linux 2.6.\fIx\fR is currently supported.
+.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.BR ovs\-appctl (8),
+.BR ovs\-vswitchd.conf (5),
+.BR ovs\-brcompatd (8),
+\fBINSTALL\fR in the Open vSwitch distribution.