[Bug 1940043] Re: Upgrade from OVN 20.03 to newer OVN version will cause data plane outage

Launchpad Bug Tracker 1940043 at bugs.launchpad.net
Wed Mar 1 00:59:36 UTC 2023


This bug was fixed in the package ovn - 20.03.2-0ubuntu0.20.04.4

---------------
ovn (20.03.2-0ubuntu0.20.04.4) focal; urgency=medium

  * Adapt to changes made in previous OVS point release (LP: #1980213):
    - d/control: Update required openvswitch build requirement.
    - d/p/lp-1980213-treewide-bump-ovs-and-fix-problematic-loops.patch
  * Fix upgrade from OVN 20.03 to newer OVN versions (LP: #1940043):
    - d/ovn-host.ovn-controller.service: Pass --restart option when
      calling `ovn-ctl stop_controller`
    - d/p/lp-1940043-0001-Provide-the-option-to-pin-ovn-controller-and-ovn-nor.patch
    - d/p/lp-1940043-0002-controller-Allow-pinctrl-thread-to-handle-packet-ins.patch
  * d/rules, d/testlist.py, d/flaky-tests.txt:
    - Dynamically build list of tests to run from list of test descriptions.

 -- Frode Nordahl <frode.nordahl at canonical.com>  Wed, 20 Jul 2022
11:42:49 +0200

** Changed in: ovn (Ubuntu Focal)
       Status: Fix Committed => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1940043

Title:
  Upgrade from OVN 20.03 to newer OVN version will cause data plane
  outage

Status in charm-layer-ovn:
  Fix Released
Status in charm-ovn-chassis:
  Fix Released
Status in charm-ovn-dedicated-chassis:
  Fix Released
Status in Ubuntu Cloud Archive:
  Fix Released
Status in Ubuntu Cloud Archive wallaby series:
  Triaged
Status in ovn package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ovn source package in Focal:
  Fix Released
Status in ovn source package in Hirsute:
  Won't Fix
Status in ovn source package in Impish:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]
  When upgrading from OVN 20.03, as made available in Ubuntu Focal, to a newer version of OVN, it is currently not possible to upgrade without causing a data plane outage.

  If the user attempts to upgrade the central components first, the ovn-
  controller will tear down connectivity to running instances as it may
  not fully understand the data structure of a newer database.

  If the user attempts to upgrade the ovn-controler first, recent
  releases are not guaranteed to understand the older database and
  connectivity may remain down until all hypervisors and central
  components have been upgraded.

  If the user attempts to manually stop the ovn-controller during the
  upgrade to avoid it inadvertently tearing down connectivity on central
  component upgrade, cloud instances will be deprived of vital services
  such as DNS lookup and DHCP.

  To fix this situation two changes are needed:
  1) Backport of a upstream feature [0] that allows the ovn-controller to detect version mismatch and subsequently refrain from making further changes to the local Open vSwitch instance until the version mismatch is corrected.

  2) Make ovn-controller not clear out runtime flow state in Open
  vSwitch on exit by updating the ovn-controller systemd service to pass
  the `--restart` argument when stopping the controller.  This flag
  tells the ovn-controller process that it should not clear out Open
  vSwitch flows and OVN SB database records on exit, which  allows
  already installed state to continue operation until the new instance
  of the ovn-controller process starts. [1][2][3]

  It does not mean that the service will be restarted as opposed to
  being stopped, as one might think based on the name of the argument.

  This change serves two purposes:

  2a) Allow upgrading the ovn-controller to a newer version than the
  central components, while retaining connectivity to running instances
  until the central components are upgraded.

  2b) Minimize the downtime on package upgrade.

  [Test Plan]

  1. Deploy OpenStack Ussuri from the Focal archive.
  2. Launch and instance and confirm connectivity.
  3. Add UCA or other PPA with a newer version of OVN and perform upgrade of the OVN components on relevant units in the deployment.
  4. Confirm how new version of central components make the ovn-controller log version mismatch as well as show continued connectivity to the test instance.
  5. Upgrade data plane units and confirm how the version mismatch situation is resolved and at the same time instances retain connectivity with minimal downtime during the upgrade.

  [Regression Potential]

  The backported feature is optional and enabled by specifically
  entering a key-value pair into the local Open vSwitch database to
  enable it.  It has also been available upstream for several releases.

  The change to the ovn-controller systemd service has been in Ubuntu
  since Impish [3] and we have had no reports of side effects of this
  change.

  [Original Bug Description]
  The upstream recommendation for upgrades of OVN is to first upgrade the data plane components (chassis aka. ovn-controller), and then upgrade the central components (the database schema and ovn-northd). The rationale for this is that the new version of the ovn-controller is required to cope with any changes to database schema or how northd programs flows.

  However, during the course of rapid OVN development there has also
  been introduced changes that make the new ovn-controller not cope with
  a old database schema, breaking the recommended upgrade procedure.

  To cope with this upstream has introduced a new optional configuration
  for the ovn-controller that allows it to detect version
  inconsistencies, and when they are present stop it from making changes
  to the data plane until the version inconsistency is resolved [0].

  For the above mentioned configuration to be effective we also need the
  package to call ``ovn-ctl stop_controller`` with the --restart option
  so that the ovn-controller does not flush the installed flows on exit.

  We should make required changes to packages and charms to allow
  upgrades to progress with less data plane outage.

  0: https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn/commit/1dd27ea7aea40122c1edbff845e14abaa70c0413
  1: https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn/commit/f508fcc14abfaaa13e9f1bf3b5b6bac59bd27a5f
  2: https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn/commit/45c7a85dc7f2af56191a47f1357d16b8af618e20
  3: https://git.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-server-dev/ubuntu/+source/ovn/commit/debian/ovn-host.ovn-controller.service?id=3c601ecc13724d3f13ec0cc989f6ffd838f787f8

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