Open Network Linux icon
Open Network Linux icon

Open Network Linux

Open Network Linux is a Linux distribution for open hardware switches, i.e. network forwarding devices built from commodity components. ONL uses ONIE to install onto on-board flash memory. Open Network Linux is a part of the Open Compute Project .

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  • Free
  • Open Source

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  • Linux
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OS & Utilities, Network & Admin

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  •  609 Stars
  •  362 Forks
  •  161 Open Issues
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What is Open Network Linux?

While ONL is based off of Debian Linux, it adds functionality specific to bare metal that's not included in existing traditional distributions. Relative to a standard server, bare metal switches have expanded infrastructure for their unique hardware including larger I2C buses, GPIO's, SFP's, LEDs, fans and temperature sensors. Additionally, while many of these components are roughly standardized in the server world, for a variety of reasons, switch vendors do not always use the server-comparable components. As a result, ONL ships with a number of additional drivers to support this collection of hardware. Additionally, there are a number of nicities that make working with a headless switch easier including network booting, cross-compilation workspace, overlayfs tricks to optimize flash writes, and a large collection of build utilities to leverage the ONIE install environment.