ovs-ofctl command not found

In this troubleshooting guide we learn how to fix ovs-ofctl command not found error message

Introduction

When you run more command in linux terminal / console, you get the following error message

ovs-ofctl: command not found

or when using sudo you get the following error message

sudo: ovs-ofctl: command not found

Solutions to ovs-ofctl: command not found

How To Fix ovs-ofctl: command not found in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux / Raspbian

In Ubuntu ovs-ofctl is provided by openvswitch-common package.

openvswitch-common is:

Open vSwitch is a production quality, multilayer, software-based, Ethernet virtual switch. It is designed to enable massive network automation through programmatic extension, while still supporting standard management interfaces and protocols (e.g. NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow, SPAN, RSPAN, CLI, LACP, 802.1ag). In addition, it is designed to support distribution across multiple physical servers similar to VMware’s vNetwork distributed vswitch or Cisco’s Nexus 1000V.

openvswitch-common provides components required by both openvswitch-switch and openvswitch-testcontroller.

To fix this problem, we can install more using the command below.

sudo apt-get -y install openvswitch-common

This command might take some time to finish depending on your machine internet connection.

You can also use apt command to install openvswitch-common.

sudo apt -y install openvswitch-common

Or if you have aptitude installed you can use the following command.

sudo aptitude install openvswitch-common

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to fix ovs-ofctl command not found error in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux or Raspbian distribution.