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Observing Open vSwitch with native prometheus metrics#

OVS + OVN 2025 Fall Conference (Prague) digest Program Adjacent pick Prague · 19–20 November 2025

Abstract Slides Recording

Gaetan Rivet (NVIDIA)

Play the recording: Observing Open vSwitch with native prometheus metrics

  • Why: OVS observability today depends on external exporters that assume the kernel datapath and scrape CLIs; a native exporter unifies kernel and userspace observability with lower footprint — practical for anyone running OVS at scale.
  • What: A Prometheus-compatible metrics framework inside the OVS library: counter/gauge/histogram types, and a per-process metrics tree whose internal nodes mirror module structure (datapath cache/conntrack/offloads, interfaces, memory, ofproto). Node types cover subsystems, labeled collections (FOREACH), bounded collections for label generation, and conditionals (e.g., offload metrics only when hw-offload is on). Exposed via an ovs-exporter systemd service (default port 6103), ovs-appctl metrics/show, and Python bindings; new metrics appear automatically without new CLI plumbing.
  • How: The tree is statically defined (API in lib/metrics.h), interpreted at scrape time, and rendered into the Prometheus text model — the design is deliberately output-format-agnostic so other formats could follow.
  • Where applicable: OVS kernel and userspace datapaths alike; initial coverage: resource consumption, interface counters and link state, ofproto upcalls/revalidation, and coverage counters. Complements (rather than competes with) DOCA-Telemetry on NVIDIA kit.