Project Summary
Open vSwitch is a production quality, multilayer virtual switch licensed under the open source Apache 2.0 license. It is designed to enable massive network automation through programmatic extension, while still supporting standard management interfaces (e.g. NetFlow, sFlow, RSPAN, ERSPAN, CLI). In addition, it is designed to support distribution across multiple physical servers similar to VMware’s vNetwork distributed vswitch or Cisco’s Nexus 1000V.
In a Nutshell, Open vSwitch...
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has a well established, mature codebase
maintained by a very large development team
with stable Y-O-Y commits -
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took an estimated 101 years of effort (COCOMO model)
starting with its first commit in June, 2009
ending with its most recent commit 2 days ago
Quick Reference
Apache License 2.0
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These details are provided for information only. No information here is legal advice and should not be used as such.
BSD 2-clause "FreeBSD" License
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These details are provided for information only. No information here is legal advice and should not be used as such.
BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License
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These details are provided for information only. No information here is legal advice and should not be used as such.
GNU General Public License v2.0 only
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These details are provided for information only. No information here is legal advice and should not be used as such.
Sun Industry Standards Source License
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These details are provided for information only. No information here is legal advice and should not be used as such.
Project Security
Vulnerabilities per Version ( last 10 releases )
There are no reported vulnerabilities
Project Vulnerability Report
Security Confidence Index
Vulnerability Exposure Index
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30 Day SummaryJan 26 2026 — Feb 25 2026
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12 Month SummaryFeb 25 2025 — Feb 25 2026
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