diff --git a/asterix-dist/src/main/scripts/startasterix.sh b/asterix-dist/src/main/scripts/startasterix.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b84834f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-dist/src/main/scripts/startasterix.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Logging output for the CC and NCs is directed to their appropriately named
+# files in LOG_HOME
+#
+# Example usage: ./runasterix.sh 4
+# Loads 1 CC, 4 NCs (nc0, nc1, nc2, and nc3)
+#
+
+BASEDIR=`pwd`/$(dirname $0)
+echo "Base dir: " ${BASEDIR}
+
+ASTERIX_BIN=${BASEDIR}/asterix/asterix-app.zip
+HYRACKS_SERVER_BIN=${BASEDIR}/hyracks-server/bin
+HYRACKS_CLI_BIN=${BASEDIR}/hyracks-cli/bin
+
+CONFIG_DIR=${BASEDIR}/config
+LOG_DIR=${BASEDIR}/log
+
+mkdir ${LOG_DIR} ${CONFIG_DIR}
+
+CONFIG_NAME=local-autogen.properties	        # name of config file to generate
+
+# check existence of directories
+dirs=($HYRACKS_SERVER_BIN $HYRACKS_CLI_BIN $LOG_DIR $CONFIG_DIR)
+for i in  "${dirs[@]}"
+do
+    if [ ! -d "$i" ]
+    then
+	    printf "Error: invalid directory layout -- can't access $i\n" >&2
+	    exit 2
+    fi
+done
+
+# set number of node controllers to load
+if [ "$1" == "" ]
+then
+	numnc=1
+else
+	if echo $1 | egrep -q '^[0-9]+$'; then
+		numnc=$1
+	else
+		printf "Error: $1 is not a number.\n" >&2
+		printf "usage: %s [number_of_ncs]\n" $(basename $0) >&2
+		exit 2
+	fi
+fi
+
+# generate a suitable config file
+echo "generating config file..."
+printf "MetadataNode=nc1\nNewUniverse=true\n" > $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_NAME
+for ((i=1;i<=$numnc;i++)); do
+    echo "nc$i.stores=/tmp/nc$i/" >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_NAME
+done
+echo "OutputDir=/tmp/asterix_output/" >> $CONFIG_DIR/$CONFIG_NAME
+
+# point to the config file and give java some extra memory
+export CLASSPATH_PREFIX=$CONFIG_DIR
+export JAVA_OPTS="-DAsterixConfigFileName=$CONFIG_NAME -Xms256m -Xmx512m"
+
+echo "cluster controller starting..."
+sh $HYRACKS_SERVER_BIN/hyrackscc -cc-root localhost -client-net-ip-address 127.0.0.1 -cluster-net-ip-address 127.0.0.1 &> $LOG_DIR/cc.log &
+
+# for some reason this helps against getting a socket error
+sleep 3
+
+# start the node controllers
+for ((i=1;i<=$numnc;i++)); do
+	echo "node controller (nc$i) starting..."
+	sh $HYRACKS_SERVER_BIN/hyracksnc -cc-host localhost -cluster-net-ip-address 127.0.0.1 -data-ip-address 127.0.0.1 -node-id "nc$i" \
+		&> $LOG_DIR/nc$i.log &
+
+    # avoid socket error
+	sleep .5
+done
+
+# deploy the asterix application to hyracks
+echo "connect to \"localhost\";create application asterix \"$ASTERIX_BIN\";" > $CONFIG_DIR/deploy.hcli
+cat $CONFIG_DIR/deploy.hcli | sh $HYRACKS_CLI_BIN/hyrackscli