# Getting Started

## Overview/What's OS-Ken the Network Operating System

OS-Ken is an open-sourced Network Operating System which is licensed under Apache v2.0. It supports openflow protocol.

If you are not familiar with Software Defined Network(SDN) and OpenFlow/openflow controller, please refer to openflow org .

The mailing list is available at OpenStack-dev ML

## Installing OS-Ken Network Operating System

Extract source code and just type:

    % python ./setup.py install

Then, run osken-manager. It listens to ip address 0.0.0.0 and port 6633 by default. Then have your openflow switch (hardware or openvswitch OVS) to connect to osken-manager.

For OVS case, you can done it by

> % ovs-vsctl set-controller <your bridge> tcp:<ip addr>[:<port: default 6633>]

At the moment, osken-manager supports only tcp method.

## invoking application and Configuration

It can be configured by passing configuration file like:

    osken-manager [generic/application specific options...]

The generic available is as follows:

    --app-lists: application module name to run;
      repeat this option to specify a list of values
    --help: show help

The options for openflow controller:

    --ofp-listen-host: openflow listen host
      (default: '')
    --ofp-tcp-listen-port: openflow tcp listen port
      (default: '6633')
      (an integer)

The options for log:

    --default-log-level: default log level
      (an integer)
    --log-dir: log file directory
    --log-file: log file name
    --log-file-mode: default log file permission
      (default: '0644')
    --[no]use-stderr: log to standard error
      (default: 'true')
    --use-syslog: output to syslog
      (default: 'False')
    --[no]verbose: show debug output
      (default: 'false')

The option for oslo.config.cfg:

    --config-file: Path to a config file to use. Multiple config files
      can be specified, with values in later files taking precedence.
      (default: [])
    --config-dir: Path to a config directory to pull *.conf files from.
      This file set is sorted, so as to provide a predictable parse order if
      individual options are over-ridden. The set is parsed after the file(s),
      if any, specified via --config-file, hence over-ridden options in the
      directory take precedence.

this page last updated: 2026-04-10 03:11:34

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