Kube-OVN vs Open Virtual Network

Kube-OVN combines OVN and Open vSwitch with Kubernetes for cloud-native network orchestration. Its documented features include subnet management, static IP allocation, gateways, hybrid underlay and overlay networks, VPC features, QoS, ACLs, and traffic mirroring. VPC networks provide tenants with separate address spaces and networking resources. The project recommends it for Kubernetes environments needing KubeVirt support or multi-tenant networking; KubeVirt virtual machines can live-migrate without network interruption. Documented integrations include Cilium, MetalLB, OpenStack, Submariner, and OVN interconnect. With Cilium chaining, Kube-OVN network abstractions can be used with Cilium eBPF monitoring and security capabilities. The project runs on x86_64 and arm64, and its documentation provides one-click installation scripts. It is free under Apache-2.0, deployed on-premises, and uses a centralized control plane. The project advises against it for OpenShift, public-cloud managed Kubernetes, and cases requiring an all-in-one CNI, ingress, service mesh, and observability stack.

Open Virtual Network (OVN) provides logical networking for virtual machine and container environments, intended for cloud management software. It converts virtual network configurations into OpenFlow and organizes them around logical routers and switches. Listed capabilities include distributed virtual routers and logical switches, access control lists, DHCP, and a DNS server. Tunnels or other encapsulations isolate logical networks from physical and virtual networks, allowing overlapping address spaces. Virtual machines can move between physical machines without network disruption, and gateways connect tunnel-based logical networks to physical networks. Examples of cloud-management integrations include OpenStack Neutron’s ml2/ovn plugin and ovn-kubernetes. OVN runs in userspace, needs no kernel modules, and is written in platform-independent C; its generic build guide covers Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD hosts. It is free under the Apache 2 license, with on-premises deployment, a centralized control plane, and a Linux and self-hosted platform listing. OpenSSL libssl is optional but recommended for secure connections to OVN database servers.