Open Virtual Network

5.9easy start · #14 of 23
in Software-Defined Networking Software

Free to practise onnot on record
Free trialnot on record
Well documentednot on record
Runs where you worknot on record

Runs on Linux, self-hosted.

Open Virtual Network is ranked #14 of 23 in software-defined networking software on The Geeks Club. It runs on Linux, Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

Open Virtual Network plans and pricing

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OVN Free Open source Apache 2 license ovn.org · 5 Oct 2026

Compared on software-defined networking software

Free plan: Yes
Deployment model: on-premises
Control-plane model: centralized
Policy segmentation: Yes
Northbound API: Yes
Supported protocols: Geneve, VXLAN, OpenFlow, OVSDB, IPsec

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The record

Purpose: OVN is a system that supports logical network abstraction in virtual machine and container environments.
Architecture: OVN translates virtual network configurations into OpenFlow and provides a higher-level abstraction based on logical routers and switches.
Features: Listed features include distributed virtual routers, distributed logical switches, access control lists, DHCP, and a DNS server.
Overlays: OVN logical networks use tunnels or other encapsulations to isolate them from physical and virtual networks, allowing address spaces to overlap.
Mobility: Virtual machines in a logical network can migrate between physical machines without network disruption.
Gateways: OVN provides gateways to connect tunnel-based logical networks to physical networks.
Integrations: The architecture page names OpenStack Neutron’s ml2/ovn plugin and the ovn-kubernetes project as cloud management system examples.
Runtime: OVN is written in platform-independent C, runs entirely in userspace, and requires no kernel modules to be installed.
Supported systems: The generic build and installation guide covers Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD hosts.
Security: OVN’s security process directs vulnerability reports to the ovs-security mailing list for coordinated handling.
Transport security: OpenSSL libssl is optional but recommended for securely connecting OVN services to OVN database servers.
Support: The installation guide directs users to GitHub issues or [email protected] to report problems.
Release support: Standard term releases receive full bug-fix support for one year after initial release; LTS releases receive bug-fix support for two years and another year of critical and security fixes after a new LTS is released.
Audience: OVN is intended to be used by cloud management software.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Software-Defined Networking Software in 2026#14 of 23

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Sources

ovn.org/en/architecture/· checked 5 Oct 2026
ovn.org/en/· checked 5 Oct 2026
docs.ovn.org/en/latest/intro/install/general.html· checked 5 Oct 2026
docs.ovn.org/en/latest/internals/security.html· checked 5 Oct 2026
ovn.org/en/releases/· checked 5 Oct 2026