Faucet

FAUCET is an OpenFlow controller for multi table OpenFlow 1.3 switches, that implements layer 2 switching, VLANs, ACLs, and layer 3 IPv4 and IPv6 routing, static and via BGP. It is based on Waikato University's Valve and the Ryu OpenFlow Controller. FAUCET's design and background is described in ACM Queue.

It supports:

• OpenFlow v1.3 (multi table) switches (including optional table features), hardware and software
• Multiple datapaths and distributed switching under a single controller
• VLANs, mixed tagged/untagged ports
• ACLs matching layer 2 and layer 3 fields
• IPv4 and IPv6 routing, static and via BGP
• Policy based forwarding to offload to external NFV applications (Eg 802.1x via hostapd, DHCP to isc DHCPD)
• Port and flow statistics via InfluxDB/Grafana
• Controller health and statistics via Prometheus
• Unit and systems tests run under Travis based on mininet and OVS

Hardware and software switch support

Detailed guides for some switches are available on readthedocs.

FAUCET has been tested against the following switches (see also SUPPORTED_HARDWARE in faucet/valve.py):

• Open vSwitch v2.1+
• Lagopus Openflow Switch
• Allied Telesis x510 and x930 series
• NoviFlow 1248
• Northbound Networks - Zodiac FX and Zodiac GX
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Aruba 5400R, 3810 and 2930F
• Netronome produces PCIe adaptors, via OVS - Agilio CX 2x10GbE card
• Cisco Systems - Catalyst 9000 Family Switches

Faucet's design principle is to be as hardware agnostic as possible and not require Table Type Patterns. This means that Faucet expects the hardware Open Flow Agent (OFA) to hide implementation details, including which tables are best for certain matches or whether there is special support for multicast - Faucet expects the OFA to leverage the right hardware transparently.

If you are a hardware vendor wanting to support FAUCET, you need to support all the matches in faucet/faucet_pipeline.py and pass all tests.

Installation

Please see the installation guide.

Configuration

Please see the configuration guide for documentation regarding the general configuration of faucet and the recipe book for configuration snippets for common use cases.

Development and testing

Please see the developer guide.

Support

We run a number of mailing lists for communication between users and developers of Faucet, as well as a low traffic mailing list for announcements of new versions:

• https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/faucet-announce
• https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/faucet-dev
• https://lists.geant.org/sympa/info/faucet-users

Faucet dev blog by Josh Bailey available at https://www.vandervecken.com/faucet.

To create a issue, use GitHub Issues.