diff --git a/helm/all_values.yaml b/helm/all_values.yaml
index 7edc079b8..bab5ca20c 100755
--- a/helm/all_values.yaml
+++ b/helm/all_values.yaml
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset:
                         setup_bridge: true
                         add_port: false
                         ext_bridge_name: br-ex
+                        ext_bridge_up: false
                         ext_interface_name: eth1
 
 rabbitmq-init-element-job:
diff --git a/helm/microservice/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset/templates/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset.yaml b/helm/microservice/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset/templates/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset.yaml
index 09ca9a885..889f86152 100644
--- a/helm/microservice/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset/templates/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset.yaml
+++ b/helm/microservice/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset/templates/openvswitch-vswitchd-daemonset.yaml
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ spec:
 {{- if $localVals.add_port }}
                   ovs-vsctl --no-wait --db=unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock add-port {{ $extBridgeName }} {{ $extInterfaceName }};
 {{- end }}
+{{- if $localVals.ext_bridge_up }}
+              ip link set {{ $extBridgeName }} up;
+{{- end }}
 {{- end }}
                   echo $(date) >> /var/log/kolla/vswitchd-init.log;" ],
              "volumeMounts": [
diff --git a/tests/bin/common_workflow_config.sh b/tests/bin/common_workflow_config.sh
index b67887988..c2b0e0340 100755
--- a/tests/bin/common_workflow_config.sh
+++ b/tests/bin/common_workflow_config.sh
@@ -44,4 +44,7 @@ function common_workflow_config {
     echo "      external_vip: $IP"
     echo "      base_distro: $base_distro"
     echo "      tunnel_interface: $tunnel_interface"
+    echo "    openvswitch:"
+    echo "      all:"
+    echo "        ext_bridge_up: true"
 }