diff --git a/docker/openvswitch-base/Dockerfile.j2 b/docker/openvswitch-base/Dockerfile.j2
index 6d5b668..85d07db 100644
--- a/docker/openvswitch-base/Dockerfile.j2
+++ b/docker/openvswitch-base/Dockerfile.j2
@@ -1,7 +1,20 @@
 FROM {{ image_spec("base-tools") }}
 MAINTAINER {{ maintainer }}
 
+{% if ovs_version == "system" %}
 RUN apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends \
         openvswitch-switch \
     && apt-get clean
-
+{% else %}
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get -y install --no-install-recommends gcc libc6-dev libssl-dev libcap-ng-dev make module-init-tools && \
+    curl -Lo openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }}.tar.gz {{ url.ovs }}/openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }}.tar.gz && \
+    tar -xvzf openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }}.tar.gz && \
+    rm -rf openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }}.tar.gz && \
+    cd openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }} && \
+    ./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var --sysconfdir=/etc && \
+    make && make install && make clean && \
+    rm -rf openvswitch-{{ ovs_version }} && \
+    apt-get purge -y gcc libc6-dev libssl-dev libcap-ng-dev && \
+    apt-get clean
+{% endif %}
diff --git a/service/files/defaults.yaml b/service/files/defaults.yaml
index 1dbe6e9..a446195 100644
--- a/service/files/defaults.yaml
+++ b/service/files/defaults.yaml
@@ -71,3 +71,9 @@ sources:
   openstack/networking-calico:
     git_url: https://github.com/openstack/networking-calico.git
     git_ref: master
+
+versions:
+  ovs_version: "system"
+
+url:
+  ovs: http://openvswitch.org/releases