You may wish to add these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local to start the service: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch start fi Run Control script can also initialize the database: /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch clean-database One shot start with a clean initialized database can be performed with: /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch start-clean And if you want to stop, clean the database, and start again: /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch restart-clean You may also add these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.openvswitch stop fi Remember to give executable permission to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown: chmod 0755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown