diff --git a/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/AqlExpressionToPlanTranslator.java b/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/AqlExpressionToPlanTranslator.java
index 9ebb9e5..2e0a09b 100644
--- a/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/AqlExpressionToPlanTranslator.java
+++ b/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/AqlExpressionToPlanTranslator.java
@@ -73,13 +73,13 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.expression.WriteStatement;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.expression.visitor.IAqlExpressionVisitor;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.util.FunctionUtils;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.DatasetConfig.DatasetType;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.functions.FunctionConstants;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.formats.base.IDataFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataTransactionContext;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.declared.AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.declared.AqlDataSource;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.declared.AqlLogicalPlanAndMetadataImpl;
diff --git a/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/MetadataDeclTranslator.java b/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/MetadataDeclTranslator.java
index bf13be0..77b8a04 100644
--- a/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/MetadataDeclTranslator.java
+++ b/asterix-algebra/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/translator/MetadataDeclTranslator.java
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.annotations.IRecordFieldDataGen;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.annotations.RecordDataGenAnnotation;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.annotations.TypeDataGen;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataTransactionContext;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.declared.AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.entities.AsterixBuiltinTypeMap;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.entities.Datatype;
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/aqlj/server/APIClientThread.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/aqlj/server/APIClientThread.java
index 908e99c..7f75e65 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/aqlj/server/APIClientThread.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/aqlj/server/APIClientThread.java
@@ -36,10 +36,10 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.expression.Query;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.parser.AQLParser;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.aql.parser.ParseException;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.hyracks.bootstrap.CCBootstrapImpl;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataManager;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.declared.AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.algebricks.common.exceptions.AlgebricksException;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.algebricks.common.utils.Pair;
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCBootstrapImpl.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCBootstrapImpl.java
index 001b179..fcd50b5 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCBootstrapImpl.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/CCBootstrapImpl.java
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.api.aqlj.server.APIClientThreadFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.api.aqlj.server.ThreadedServer;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.api.http.servlet.APIServlet;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.GlobalConfig;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.api.IAsterixStateProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixStateProxy;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.application.ICCApplicationContext;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.application.ICCBootstrap;
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCBootstrapImpl.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCBootstrapImpl.java
index 725f68f..24cf3a8 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCBootstrapImpl.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/hyracks/bootstrap/NCBootstrapImpl.java
@@ -48,8 +48,10 @@
 
         runtimeContext = new AsterixAppRuntimeContext(ncApplicationContext);
         runtimeContext.initialize();
+
         ncApplicationContext.setApplicationObject(runtimeContext);
 
+        // Initialize metadata if this node is the metadata node
         IAsterixStateProxy proxy = (IAsterixStateProxy) ncApplicationContext.getDistributedState();
         isMetadataNode = nodeId.equals(proxy.getAsterixProperties().getMetadataNodeName());
         if (isMetadataNode) {
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/resources/asterix-metadata.properties b/asterix-app/src/main/resources/asterix-metadata.properties
index 309f9f4..e9ccc63 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/resources/asterix-metadata.properties
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/resources/asterix-metadata.properties
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 MetadataNode=nc1
 NewUniverse=true
-nc1.stores=nc1data
-nc2.stores=nc2data
-nc1.iodevices=/tmp/
-nc2.iodevices=/tmp/
-OutputDir=/tmp/asterix_output/
+nc1.stores=/tmp/nc1data/
+nc2.stores=/tmp/nc2data/, /tmp/nc2data1/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/resources/test.properties b/asterix-app/src/main/resources/test.properties
index 309f9f4..4947dbf 100755
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/resources/test.properties
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/resources/test.properties
@@ -2,6 +2,4 @@
 NewUniverse=true
 nc1.stores=nc1data
 nc2.stores=nc2data
-nc1.iodevices=/tmp/
-nc2.iodevices=/tmp/
 OutputDir=/tmp/asterix_output/
diff --git a/asterix-common/pom.xml b/asterix-common/pom.xml
index d6e20f9..f7f3767 100644
--- a/asterix-common/pom.xml
+++ b/asterix-common/pom.xml
@@ -34,11 +34,6 @@
 			<version>0.2.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
-			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
-			<artifactId>hyracks-control-nc</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
-		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.asterix</groupId>
 			<artifactId>asterix-transactions</artifactId>
 			<version>0.0.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/api/IAsterixPropertiesProxy.java b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/api/IAsterixPropertiesProxy.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 5f54222..0000000
--- a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/api/IAsterixPropertiesProxy.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * you may obtain a copy of the License from
- * 
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.api;
-
-import java.io.Serializable;
-import java.rmi.Remote;
-import java.rmi.RemoteException;
-
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
-
-/**
- * Interface for setting/getting the remote Asterix properties.
- */
-public interface IAsterixPropertiesProxy extends Remote, Serializable {
-    public void setAsterixProperties(AsterixProperties asterixProperties) throws RemoteException;
-    public AsterixProperties getAsterixProperties() throws RemoteException;
-}
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
index fd1508b..52a67d3 100644
--- a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
+++ b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
@@ -1,22 +1,13 @@
 package edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context;
 
-import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.api.IAsterixPropertiesProxy;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.GlobalConfig;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.transaction.management.exception.ACIDException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.transaction.management.service.transaction.TransactionProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.application.INCApplicationContext;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.io.IIOManager;
-import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.io.IODeviceHandle;
-import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.control.nc.io.IOManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.IIndexLifecycleManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.dataflow.IndexLifecycleManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.lsm.common.api.ILSMFlushController;
@@ -46,7 +37,6 @@
     private static final int DEFAULT_LIFECYCLEMANAGER_MEMORY_BUDGET = 1024 * 1024 * 1024; // 1GB
     private final INCApplicationContext ncApplicationContext;
 
-    private IIOManager ioManager;
     private IIndexLifecycleManager indexLifecycleManager;
     private IFileMapManager fileMapManager;
     private IBufferCache bufferCache;
@@ -63,24 +53,15 @@
         this.ncApplicationContext = ncApplicationContext;
     }
 
-    public void initialize() throws AsterixException, IOException, ACIDException {
+    public void initialize() throws IOException, ACIDException {
         int pageSize = getBufferCachePageSize();
         int numPages = getBufferCacheNumPages();
 
-        // Create a new IOManager based on the I/O device paths given in the Asterix .properties configuration file.
-        IAsterixPropertiesProxy proxy = (IAsterixPropertiesProxy) ncApplicationContext.getDistributedState();
-        AsterixProperties asterixProperties = proxy.getAsterixProperties();
-        String[] ioDevicePaths = asterixProperties.getIODevicePaths(ncApplicationContext.getNodeId());
-        if (ioDevicePaths == null) {
-            throw new AsterixException("I/O devices not configured for Node Controller '" + ncApplicationContext.getNodeId() + "'."); 
-        }
-        ioManager = new IOManager(getDevices(ioDevicePaths), Executors.newCachedThreadPool());
-        
         fileMapManager = new AsterixFileMapManager();
         ICacheMemoryAllocator allocator = new HeapBufferAllocator();
         IPageReplacementStrategy prs = new ClockPageReplacementStrategy();
-        
-        bufferCache = new BufferCache(ioManager, allocator, prs, fileMapManager, pageSize, numPages, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+        IIOManager ioMgr = ncApplicationContext.getRootContext().getIOManager();
+        bufferCache = new BufferCache(ioMgr, allocator, prs, fileMapManager, pageSize, numPages, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
         indexLifecycleManager = new IndexLifecycleManager(DEFAULT_LIFECYCLEMANAGER_MEMORY_BUDGET);
         provider = new TransactionProvider(ncApplicationContext.getNodeId());
 
@@ -90,7 +71,7 @@
         opTracker = new ReferenceCountingOperationTracker();
 
         ILocalResourceRepositoryFactory persistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory = new PersistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory(
-                ioManager);
+                ioMgr);
         localResourceRepository = persistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory.createRepository();
         resourceIdFactory = (new ResourceIdFactoryProvider(localResourceRepository)).createResourceIdFactory();
     }
@@ -138,22 +119,10 @@
         return numPages;
     }
 
-    private List<IODeviceHandle> getDevices(String[] ioDevicePaths) {
-        List<IODeviceHandle> devices = new ArrayList<IODeviceHandle>();
-        for (String ioDevStr : ioDevicePaths) {
-            devices.add(new IODeviceHandle(new File(ioDevStr), "."));
-        }
-        return devices;
-    }
-    
     public void deinitialize() {
         bufferCache.close();
     }
 
-    public IIOManager getIOManager() {
-        return ioManager;
-    }
-    
     public IBufferCache getBufferCache() {
         return bufferCache;
     }
diff --git a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/api/IAsterixStateProxy.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/api/IAsterixStateProxy.java
index 29a23cf..5f772c7 100644
--- a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/api/IAsterixStateProxy.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/api/IAsterixStateProxy.java
@@ -19,13 +19,17 @@
 import java.rmi.Remote;
 import java.rmi.RemoteException;
 
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.api.IAsterixPropertiesProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 
 /**
  * Interface for setting/getting distributed state of Asterix.
  */
-public interface IAsterixStateProxy extends Remote, Serializable, IAsterixPropertiesProxy {
+public interface IAsterixStateProxy extends Remote, Serializable {
     public void setMetadataNode(IMetadataNode metadataNode) throws RemoteException;
 
+    public void setAsterixProperties(AsterixProperties asterixProperties) throws RemoteException;
+
     public IMetadataNode getMetadataNode() throws RemoteException;
+
+    public AsterixProperties getAsterixProperties() throws RemoteException;
 }
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixProperties.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixProperties.java
similarity index 84%
rename from asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixProperties.java
rename to asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixProperties.java
index 3fd9c79..71a7de3 100644
--- a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixProperties.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixProperties.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-package edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config;
+package edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.GlobalConfig;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.algebricks.common.exceptions.AlgebricksException;
 
 /**
@@ -40,7 +41,6 @@
     private static Boolean isNewUniverse;
     private static HashSet<String> nodeNames;
     private static Map<String, String[]> stores;
-    private static Map<String, String[]> ioDevicePaths;
     private static String outputDir;
 
     public static AsterixProperties INSTANCE = new AsterixProperties();
@@ -78,8 +78,6 @@
         }
         Enumeration<String> pNames = (Enumeration<String>) p.propertyNames();
         stores = new HashMap<String, String[]>();
-        ioDevicePaths = new HashMap<String, String[]>();
-        nodeNames = new HashSet<String>();
         boolean newUniverseChosen = false;
         String pn;
         String val;
@@ -97,13 +95,6 @@
                 outputDir = val;
             } else {
                 String ncName = pn.substring(0, pn.indexOf('.'));
-                String ncAttribute = pn.substring(pn.indexOf('.') + 1).toLowerCase();
-                Map<String, String[]> targetMap = null;
-                if (ncAttribute.equals("stores")) {
-                    targetMap = stores;
-                } else if (ncAttribute.equals("iodevices")) {
-                    targetMap = ioDevicePaths;
-                }
                 val = p.getProperty(pn);
                 String[] folderNames = val.split("\\s*,\\s*");
                 int i = 0;
@@ -119,11 +110,11 @@
                     }
                     i++;
                 }
-                targetMap.put(ncName, folderNames);
-            }            
+                stores.put(ncName, folderNames);
+                nodeNames = new HashSet<String>();
+                nodeNames.addAll(stores.keySet());
+            }
         }
-        nodeNames.addAll(stores.keySet());
-        nodeNames.addAll(ioDevicePaths.keySet());
         if (metadataNodeName == null)
             throw new AlgebricksException("You need to specify the metadata node!");
         if (!newUniverseChosen)
@@ -146,14 +137,6 @@
         return stores;
     }
 
-    public Map<String, String[]> getIODevicePaths() {
-        return ioDevicePaths;
-    }
-    
-    public String[] getIODevicePaths(String nodeId) {
-        return ioDevicePaths.get(nodeId);
-    }
-    
     public HashSet<String> getNodeNames() {
         return nodeNames;
     }
diff --git a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixStateProxy.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixStateProxy.java
index 55aaf33..3946fa6 100644
--- a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixStateProxy.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/AsterixStateProxy.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 import java.rmi.server.UnicastRemoteObject;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.api.IAsterixStateProxy;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.api.IMetadataNode;
 
diff --git a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/MetadataBootstrap.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/MetadataBootstrap.java
index a8f1116..a1a510c 100644
--- a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/MetadataBootstrap.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/bootstrap/MetadataBootstrap.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.DatasetConfig.DatasetType;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.DatasetConfig.IndexType;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context.AsterixAppRuntimeContext;
@@ -147,7 +146,7 @@
         localResourceRepository = runtimeContext.getLocalResourceRepository();
         bufferCache = runtimeContext.getBufferCache();
         fileMapProvider = runtimeContext.getFileMapManager();
-        ioManager = runtimeContext.getIOManager();
+        ioManager = ncApplicationContext.getRootContext().getIOManager();
 
         // Begin a transaction against the metadata.
         // Lock the metadata in X mode.
diff --git a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/declared/AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations.java b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/declared/AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations.java
index f9c604b..6973f28 100644
--- a/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/declared/AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations.java
+++ b/asterix-metadata/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/metadata/declared/AqlCompiledMetadataDeclarations.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.annotations.TypeDataGen;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.DatasetConfig.DatasetType;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.formats.base.IDataFormat;
@@ -30,6 +29,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.MetadataTransactionContext;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.api.IMetadataManager;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.AsterixProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.entities.Dataset;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.entities.Datatype;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.entities.Dataverse;