diff --git a/src/util/virnetdevopenvswitch.c b/src/util/virnetdevopenvswitch.c
index 9bcbfb19f41d5763eb3b8b25019766b3b56c7979..8ea1def86c58568ec7d775a63c925a258fe57558 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdevopenvswitch.c
+++ b/src/util/virnetdevopenvswitch.c
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ int virNetDevOpenvswitchAddPort(const char *brname, const char *ifname,
 
     cmd = virCommandNew(OVSVSCTL);
 
-    virCommandAddArgList(cmd, "--timeout=5", "--", "--may-exist", "add-port",
-                        brname, ifname, NULL);
+    virCommandAddArgList(cmd, "--timeout=5", "--", "--if-exists", "del-port",
+                         ifname, "--", "add-port", brname, ifname, NULL);
 
     if (virtVlan && virtVlan->nTags > 0) {