diff --git a/manifests/ovs.pp b/manifests/ovs.pp
index 62dbc827..acb29cfe 100644
--- a/manifests/ovs.pp
+++ b/manifests/ovs.pp
@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@
 #   is not available anymore for openvswitch.
 #   For RedHat this parameter is ignored.
 #   If you like turn off dkms on Debian/Ubuntu set to
-#   false. defaults to true.
+#   false. defaults to false.
 
 class vswitch::ovs(
   $package_ensure = 'present',
-  $dkms_ensure    = true,
+  $dkms_ensure    = false,
 ) {
 
   include ::vswitch::params
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/dkms-8d4cef878246820f.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/dkms-8d4cef878246820f.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f15e15a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/dkms-8d4cef878246820f.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+deprecations:
+  - Do not deploy openvswitch-datapath-dkms by default. In recent releases of
+    Ubuntu, openvswitch-datapath-dkms packaging is not needed anymore, so we set dkms_ensure
+    to False by default from now.
diff --git a/spec/classes/vswitch_ovs_spec.rb b/spec/classes/vswitch_ovs_spec.rb
index 3d81b086..4ce6ee95 100644
--- a/spec/classes/vswitch_ovs_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/vswitch_ovs_spec.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ describe 'vswitch::ovs' do
 
   let :default_params do {
     :package_ensure => 'present',
-    :dkms_ensure    => true,
   }
   end
 
@@ -149,13 +148,13 @@ describe 'vswitch::ovs' do
     let :platform_params do debian_platform_params end
 
     it_configures 'vswitch ovs'
-    it_configures 'install dkms'
+    it_configures 'do not install dkms'
   end
 
   context 'on Debian with parameters' do
     let :params do {
       :package_ensure => 'latest',
-      :dkms_ensure    => false,
+      :dkms_ensure    => true,
     }
     end
 
@@ -168,7 +167,7 @@ describe 'vswitch::ovs' do
     let :platform_params do debian_platform_params end
 
     it_configures 'vswitch ovs'
-    it_configures 'do not install dkms'
+    it_configures 'install dkms'
   end
 
   context 'on Ubuntu with default parameters' do
@@ -183,13 +182,13 @@ describe 'vswitch::ovs' do
     let :platform_params do ubuntu_platform_params end
 
     it_configures 'vswitch ovs'
-    it_configures 'install dkms'
+    it_configures 'do not install dkms'
   end
 
   context 'on Ubuntu with parameters' do
     let :params do {
       :package_ensure => 'latest',
-      :dkms_ensure    => false,
+      :dkms_ensure    => true,
     }
     end
 
@@ -202,7 +201,7 @@ describe 'vswitch::ovs' do
     let :platform_params do ubuntu_platform_params end
 
     it_configures 'vswitch ovs'
-    it_configures 'do not install dkms'
+    it_configures 'install dkms'
   end
 
   context 'on FreeBSD with default parameters' do