diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
index bdd86ba..b33f1eb 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@
       <artifactId>hyracks-client</artifactId>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+      <artifactId>hyracks-api</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.asterix</groupId>
       <artifactId>asterix-algebra</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
index c58462f..8342be5 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
 import org.apache.asterix.transaction.management.resource.PersistentLocalResourceRepository;
 import org.apache.asterix.transaction.management.resource.PersistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory;
 import org.apache.asterix.transaction.management.service.transaction.TransactionSubsystem;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.INCApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.io.IIOManager;
@@ -95,16 +96,6 @@
 public class AsterixAppRuntimeContext implements IAsterixAppRuntimeContext, IAsterixPropertiesProvider {
     private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(AsterixAppRuntimeContext.class.getName());
 
-    private static final AsterixPropertiesAccessor ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR;
-
-    static {
-        try {
-            ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor();
-        } catch (AsterixException e) {
-            throw new ExceptionInInitializerError(e);
-        }
-    }
-
     private ILSMMergePolicyFactory metadataMergePolicyFactory;
     private final INCApplicationContext ncApplicationContext;
 
@@ -137,16 +128,27 @@
     private IReplicaResourcesManager replicaResourcesManager;
     private final int metadataRmiPort;
 
-    public AsterixAppRuntimeContext(INCApplicationContext ncApplicationContext, int metadataRmiPort) {
+    public AsterixAppRuntimeContext(INCApplicationContext ncApplicationContext, int metadataRmiPort)
+            throws AsterixException {
         this.ncApplicationContext = ncApplicationContext;
-        compilerProperties = new AsterixCompilerProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        externalProperties = new AsterixExternalProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        metadataProperties = new AsterixMetadataProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        storageProperties = new AsterixStorageProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        txnProperties = new AsterixTransactionProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        feedProperties = new AsterixFeedProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        buildProperties = new AsterixBuildProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR);
-        replicationProperties = new AsterixReplicationProperties(ASTERIX_PROPERTIES_ACCESSOR,
+        // Determine whether to use old-style asterix-configuration.xml or new-style configuration.
+        // QQQ strip this out eventually
+        AsterixPropertiesAccessor propertiesAccessor;
+        IApplicationConfig cfg = ncApplicationContext.getAppConfig();
+        // QQQ this is NOT a good way to determine whether the config is valid
+        if (cfg.getString("cc", "cluster.address") != null) {
+            propertiesAccessor = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor(cfg);
+        } else {
+            propertiesAccessor = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor();
+        }
+        compilerProperties = new AsterixCompilerProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        externalProperties = new AsterixExternalProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        metadataProperties = new AsterixMetadataProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        storageProperties = new AsterixStorageProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        txnProperties = new AsterixTransactionProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        feedProperties = new AsterixFeedProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        buildProperties = new AsterixBuildProperties(propertiesAccessor);
+        replicationProperties = new AsterixReplicationProperties(propertiesAccessor,
                 AsterixClusterProperties.INSTANCE.getCluster());
         this.metadataRmiPort = metadataRmiPort;
     }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
index 8ceee62..62bdbf5 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/AsterixPropertiesAccessor.java
@@ -43,21 +43,27 @@
 import org.apache.asterix.common.configuration.Store;
 import org.apache.asterix.common.configuration.TransactionLogDir;
 import org.apache.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 
 public class AsterixPropertiesAccessor {
     private static Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(AsterixPropertiesAccessor.class.getName());
 
     private final String instanceName;
     private final String metadataNodeName;
-    private final List<String> nodeNames;
-    private final Map<String, String[]> stores;
-    private final Map<String, String> coredumpConfig;
+    private final List<String> nodeNames = new ArrayList<>();;
+    private final Map<String, String[]> stores = new HashMap<>();;
+    private final Map<String, String> coredumpConfig = new HashMap<>();
     private final Map<String, Property> asterixConfigurationParams;
-    private final Map<String, String> transactionLogDirs;
+    private final IApplicationConfig cfg;
+    private final Map<String, String> transactionLogDirs = new HashMap<>();
     private final Map<String, String> asterixBuildProperties;
     private final Map<String, ClusterPartition[]> nodePartitionsMap;
-    private final SortedMap<Integer, ClusterPartition> clusterPartitions;
+    private final SortedMap<Integer, ClusterPartition> clusterPartitions = new TreeMap<>();
 
+    /**
+     * Constructor which reads asterix-configuration.xml, the old way.
+     * @throws AsterixException
+     */
     public AsterixPropertiesAccessor() throws AsterixException {
         String fileName = System.getProperty(GlobalConfig.CONFIG_FILE_PROPERTY);
         if (fileName == null) {
@@ -75,6 +81,7 @@
         }
 
         AsterixConfiguration asterixConfiguration = null;
+        cfg = null;
         try {
             JAXBContext ctx = JAXBContext.newInstance(AsterixConfiguration.class);
             Unmarshaller unmarshaller = ctx.createUnmarshaller();
@@ -84,11 +91,8 @@
         }
         instanceName = asterixConfiguration.getInstanceName();
         metadataNodeName = asterixConfiguration.getMetadataNode();
-        stores = new HashMap<String, String[]>();
         List<Store> configuredStores = asterixConfiguration.getStore();
-        nodeNames = new ArrayList<String>();
         nodePartitionsMap = new HashMap<>();
-        clusterPartitions = new TreeMap<>();
         int uniquePartitionId = 0;
         for (Store store : configuredStores) {
             String trimmedStoreDirs = store.getStoreDirs().trim();
@@ -107,11 +111,9 @@
         for (Property p : asterixConfiguration.getProperty()) {
             asterixConfigurationParams.put(p.getName(), p);
         }
-        coredumpConfig = new HashMap<String, String>();
         for (Coredump cd : asterixConfiguration.getCoredump()) {
             coredumpConfig.put(cd.getNcId(), cd.getCoredumpPath());
         }
-        transactionLogDirs = new HashMap<String, String>();
         for (TransactionLogDir txnLogDir : asterixConfiguration.getTransactionLogDir()) {
             transactionLogDirs.put(txnLogDir.getNcId(), txnLogDir.getTxnLogDirPath());
         }
@@ -125,7 +127,44 @@
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new AsterixException(e);
         }
+    }
 
+    /**
+     * Constructor which wraps an IApplicationConfig.
+     */
+    public AsterixPropertiesAccessor (IApplicationConfig cfg) {
+        this.cfg = cfg;
+        instanceName = cfg.getString("asterix", "instance", "DEFAULT_INSTANCE");
+        String mdNode = null;
+        for (String section : cfg.getSections()) {
+            if (!section.startsWith("nc/")) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            String ncId = section.substring(3);
+            nodeNames.add(ncId);
+
+            if (mdNode == null) {
+                // Default is first node == metadata node
+                mdNode = ncId;
+            }
+            if (cfg.getString(section, "metadata.port") != null) {
+                // QQQ But we don't actually *honor* metadata.port yet!
+                mdNode = ncId;
+            }
+
+            // QQQ Default values? Should they be specified here? Or should there
+            // be a default.ini? They can't be inserted by TriggerNCWork except
+            // possibly for hyracks-specified values. Certainly wherever they are,
+            // they should be platform-dependent.
+            stores.put(ncId, cfg.getString(section, "iodevices", "/var/lib/asterixdb/data").split(","));
+            coredumpConfig.put(ncId, cfg.getString(section, "coredumpdir", "/var/lib/asterixdb/coredump"));
+            transactionLogDirs.put(ncId, cfg.getString(section, "txnlogdir", "/var/lib/asterixdb/txn-log"));
+        }
+
+        metadataNodeName = mdNode;
+        asterixConfigurationParams = null;
+        asterixBuildProperties = null;
+        nodePartitionsMap = null;
     }
 
     public String getMetadataNodeName() {
@@ -171,15 +210,28 @@
     }
 
     public <T> T getProperty(String property, T defaultValue, IPropertyInterpreter<T> interpreter) {
-        Property p = asterixConfigurationParams.get(property);
-        if (p == null) {
+        String value;
+        Property p = null;
+        if (asterixConfigurationParams != null) {
+            p = asterixConfigurationParams.get(property);
+            value = (p == null) ? null : p.getValue();
+        } else {
+            value = cfg.getString("asterix", property);
+        }
+        if (value == null) {
             return defaultValue;
         }
-
         try {
-            return interpreter.interpret(p);
+            return interpreter.interpret(value);
         } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            logConfigurationError(p, defaultValue);
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) {
+                StringBuilder msg = new StringBuilder("Invalid property value '" + value + "' for property '" + property + "'.\n");
+                if (p != null) {
+                    msg.append("See the description: \n" + p.getDescription() + "\n");
+                }
+                msg.append("Default = " + defaultValue);
+                LOGGER.severe(msg.toString());
+            }
             throw e;
         }
     }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/IPropertyInterpreter.java b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/IPropertyInterpreter.java
index b6793af..36f5716 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/IPropertyInterpreter.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/IPropertyInterpreter.java
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@
  */
 package org.apache.asterix.common.config;
 
-import org.apache.asterix.common.configuration.Property;
-
 public interface IPropertyInterpreter<T> {
-    public T interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException;
+    public T interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException;
 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/PropertyInterpreters.java b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/PropertyInterpreters.java
index 5e43971..b54bcc3 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/PropertyInterpreters.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-common/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/common/config/PropertyInterpreters.java
@@ -20,17 +20,14 @@
 
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 
-import org.apache.asterix.common.configuration.Property;
-
 public class PropertyInterpreters {
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<Integer> getIntegerPropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<Integer>() {
-
             @Override
-            public Integer interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+            public Integer interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
                 try {
-                    return Integer.parseInt(p.getValue());
+                    return Integer.parseInt(s);
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
                 }
@@ -40,20 +37,19 @@
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<Boolean> getBooleanPropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<Boolean>() {
-
-            public Boolean interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
-                return Boolean.parseBoolean(p.getValue());
+            @Override
+            public Boolean interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+                return Boolean.parseBoolean(s);
             }
         };
     }
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<Long> getLongPropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<Long>() {
-
             @Override
-            public Long interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+            public Long interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
                 try {
-                    return Long.parseLong(p.getValue());
+                    return Long.parseLong(s);
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
                 }
@@ -63,31 +59,28 @@
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<Level> getLevelPropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<Level>() {
-
             @Override
-            public Level interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
-                return Level.parse(p.getValue());
+            public Level interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+                return Level.parse(s);
             }
         };
     }
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<String> getStringPropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<String>() {
-
             @Override
-            public String interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
-                return p.getValue();
+            public String interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+                return s;
             }
         };
     }
 
     public static IPropertyInterpreter<Double> getDoublePropertyInterpreter() {
         return new IPropertyInterpreter<Double>() {
-
             @Override
-            public Double interpret(Property p) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+            public Double interpret(String s) throws IllegalArgumentException {
                 try {
-                    return Double.parseDouble(p.getValue());
+                    return Double.parseDouble(s);
                 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
                 }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/util/AsterixAppContextInfo.java b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/util/AsterixAppContextInfo.java
index 33584d4..e26a92b 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/util/AsterixAppContextInfo.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-om/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/om/util/AsterixAppContextInfo.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.apache.asterix.common.dataflow.IAsterixApplicationContextInfo;
 import org.apache.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import org.apache.asterix.transaction.management.service.transaction.AsterixRuntimeComponentsProvider;
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.ICCApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.client.IHyracksClientConnection;
 import org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.IIndexLifecycleManagerProvider;
@@ -62,10 +63,21 @@
 
     public static void initialize(ICCApplicationContext ccAppCtx, IHyracksClientConnection hcc,
             IGlobalRecoveryMaanger globalRecoveryMaanger) throws AsterixException {
-        if (INSTANCE == null) {
-            INSTANCE = new AsterixAppContextInfo(ccAppCtx, hcc, globalRecoveryMaanger);
+        if (INSTANCE != null) {
+            return;
         }
-        AsterixPropertiesAccessor propertiesAccessor = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor();
+        INSTANCE = new AsterixAppContextInfo(ccAppCtx, hcc, globalRecoveryMaanger);
+
+        // Determine whether to use old-style asterix-configuration.xml or new-style configuration.
+        // QQQ strip this out eventually
+        AsterixPropertiesAccessor propertiesAccessor;
+        IApplicationConfig cfg = ccAppCtx.getAppConfig();
+        // QQQ this is NOT a good way to determine whether the config is valid
+        if (cfg.getString("cc", "cluster.address") != null) {
+            propertiesAccessor = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor(cfg);
+        } else {
+            propertiesAccessor = new AsterixPropertiesAccessor();
+        }
         INSTANCE.compilerProperties = new AsterixCompilerProperties(propertiesAccessor);
         INSTANCE.externalProperties = new AsterixExternalProperties(propertiesAccessor);
         INSTANCE.metadataProperties = new AsterixMetadataProperties(propertiesAccessor);
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-server/pom.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-server/pom.xml
index 7f29317..f22049b 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-server/pom.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-server/pom.xml
@@ -74,6 +74,13 @@
                 <commandLineArgument>org.apache.asterix.hyracks.bootstrap.NCApplicationEntryPoint</commandLineArgument>
               </commandLineArguments>
             </program>
+            <program>
+              <platforms>
+                <platform>unix</platform>
+              </platforms>
+              <name>asterixncservice</name>
+              <mainClass>org.apache.hyracks.control.nc.service.NCService</mainClass>
+            </program>
           </programs>
           <daemons>
             <daemon>
@@ -161,6 +168,12 @@
       <scope>compile</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+      <artifactId>hyracks-nc-service</artifactId>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <scope>compile</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.asterix</groupId>
       <artifactId>asterix-app</artifactId>
       <version>0.8.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
diff --git a/asterixdb/pom.xml b/asterixdb/pom.xml
index 3ce25e1..59c5c96 100644
--- a/asterixdb/pom.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/pom.xml
@@ -639,6 +639,11 @@
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+        <artifactId>hyracks-nc-service</artifactId>
+        <version>${hyracks.version}</version>
+      </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
         <artifactId>hyracks-server</artifactId>
         <version>${hyracks.version}</version>
       </dependency>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd40813
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.api.application;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * Accessor for the data contained in the global application configuration file.
+ */
+public interface IApplicationConfig {
+    String getString(String section, String key);
+    String getString(String section, String key, String defaultValue);
+    int getInt(String section, String key);
+    int getInt(String section, String key, int defaultValue);
+    long getLong(String section, String key);
+    long getLong(String section, String key, long defaultValue);
+    Set<String> getSections();
+    Set<String> getKeys(String section);
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationContext.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationContext.java
index 6c79abd..7b07174 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationContext.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-api/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/api/application/IApplicationContext.java
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@
 
     public void setThreadFactory(ThreadFactory threadFactory);
 
+    public IApplicationConfig getAppConfig();
+
     /**
      * @return The controller service which the application context belongs to.
      */
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/CCDriver.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/CCDriver.java
index d2e7cb5..786a89f 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/CCDriver.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/CCDriver.java
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
                 cp.printUsage(System.err);
                 return;
             }
+            ccConfig.loadConfigAndApplyDefaults();
+
             ClusterControllerService ccService = new ClusterControllerService(ccConfig);
             ccService.start();
             while (true) {
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/ClusterControllerService.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/ClusterControllerService.java
index e8b2c27..8fb83d1 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/ClusterControllerService.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/ClusterControllerService.java
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
-
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.work.TriggerNCWork;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers.IniUtils;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.ICCApplicationEntryPoint;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.client.ClusterControllerInfo;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.client.HyracksClientInterfaceFunctions;
@@ -244,6 +247,7 @@
 
         datasetDirectoryService.init(executor);
         workQueue.start();
+        connectNCs();
         LOGGER.log(Level.INFO, "Started ClusterControllerService");
         if (aep != null) {
             // Sometimes, there is no application entry point. Check hyracks-client project
@@ -252,7 +256,7 @@
     }
 
     private void startApplication() throws Exception {
-        appCtx = new CCApplicationContext(this, serverCtx, ccContext);
+        appCtx = new CCApplicationContext(this, serverCtx, ccContext, ccConfig.getAppConfig());
         appCtx.addJobLifecycleListener(datasetDirectoryService);
         String className = ccConfig.appCCMainClass;
         if (className != null) {
@@ -265,6 +269,25 @@
         executor = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(appCtx.getThreadFactory());
     }
 
+    private void connectNCs() throws Exception {
+        Ini ini = ccConfig.getIni();
+        if (ini == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+        for (String section : ini.keySet()) {
+            if (!section.startsWith("nc/")) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            String ncid = section.substring(3);
+            String address = ini.get(section, "address");
+            int port = IniUtils.getInt(ini, section, "port", 9090);
+            if (address == null) {
+                address = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();
+            }
+            workQueue.schedule(new TriggerNCWork(this, address, port, ncid));
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void stop() throws Exception {
         LOGGER.log(Level.INFO, "Stopping ClusterControllerService");
@@ -317,7 +340,6 @@
     public Map<String, NodeControllerState> getNodeMap() {
         return nodeRegistry;
     }
-
     public CCConfig getConfig() {
         return ccConfig;
     }
@@ -614,7 +636,7 @@
      * Add a deployment run
      *
      * @param deploymentKey
-     * @param nodeControllerIds
+     * @param dRun
      */
     public synchronized void addDeploymentRun(DeploymentId deploymentKey, DeploymentRun dRun) {
         deploymentRunMap.put(deploymentKey, dRun);
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/application/CCApplicationContext.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/application/CCApplicationContext.java
index 61505eb..7917e4a 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/application/CCApplicationContext.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/application/CCApplicationContext.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.ICCApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IClusterLifecycleListener;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.context.ICCContext;
@@ -52,9 +53,9 @@
     private List<IClusterLifecycleListener> clusterLifecycleListeners;
     private final ClusterControllerService ccs;
 
-    public CCApplicationContext(ClusterControllerService ccs, ServerContext serverCtx, ICCContext ccContext)
-            throws IOException {
-        super(serverCtx);
+    public CCApplicationContext(ClusterControllerService ccs, ServerContext serverCtx, ICCContext ccContext,
+                                IApplicationConfig appConfig) throws IOException {
+        super(serverCtx, appConfig);
         this.ccContext = ccContext;
         this.ccs = ccs;
         initPendingNodeIds = new HashSet<String>();
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/web/WebServer.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/web/WebServer.java
index 71ae37d..ac98b646 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/web/WebServer.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/web/WebServer.java
@@ -18,11 +18,10 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.web;
 
-import java.util.EnumSet;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
-
-import javax.servlet.DispatcherType;
-
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.ClusterControllerService;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.adminconsole.HyracksAdminConsoleApplication;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.web.util.JSONOutputRequestHandler;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.web.util.RoutingHandler;
 import org.apache.wicket.Application;
 import org.apache.wicket.RuntimeConfigurationType;
 import org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.ContextParamWebApplicationFactory;
@@ -38,10 +37,9 @@
 import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.FilterHolder;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletContextHandler;
 
-import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.ClusterControllerService;
-import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.adminconsole.HyracksAdminConsoleApplication;
-import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.web.util.JSONOutputRequestHandler;
-import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.web.util.RoutingHandler;
+import javax.servlet.DispatcherType;
+import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 public class WebServer {
     private final static Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(WebServer.class.getName());
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/RemoveDeadNodesWork.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/RemoveDeadNodesWork.java
index dca6bc2..b3a3065 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/RemoveDeadNodesWork.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/RemoveDeadNodesWork.java
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
         Map<String, NodeControllerState> nodeMap = ccs.getNodeMap();
         for (Map.Entry<String, NodeControllerState> e : nodeMap.entrySet()) {
             NodeControllerState state = e.getValue();
-            if (state.incrementLastHeartbeatDuration() >= ccs.getConfig().maxHeartbeatLapsePeriods) {
+            if (state.incrementLastHeartbeatDuration() >= ccs.getCCConfig().maxHeartbeatLapsePeriods) {
                 deadNodes.add(e.getKey());
                 LOGGER.info(e.getKey() + " considered dead");
             }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/TriggerNCWork.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/TriggerNCWork.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75d4dd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-cc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/cc/work/TriggerNCWork.java
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.work;
+
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.cc.ClusterControllerService;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.work.AbstractWork;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.net.Socket;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * A work which is run at CC startup for each NC specified in the configuration file.
+ * It contacts the NC service on each node and passes in the NC-specific configuration.
+ */
+public class TriggerNCWork extends AbstractWork {
+
+    // This constant must match the corresponding constant in
+    // hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCService.java
+    // I didn't want to introduce a Maven-level dependency on the
+    // hyracks-nc-service package (or vice-versa).
+    public static final String NC_MAGIC_COOKIE = "hyncmagic";
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(TriggerNCWork.class.getName());
+
+    private final ClusterControllerService ccs;
+    private final String ncHost;
+    private final int ncPort;
+    private final String ncId;
+
+    public TriggerNCWork(ClusterControllerService ccs, String ncHost, int ncPort, String ncId) {
+        this.ccs = ccs;
+        this.ncHost = ncHost;
+        this.ncPort = ncPort;
+        this.ncId = ncId;
+    }
+    @Override
+    public final void run() {
+        ccs.getExecutor().execute(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                while (true) {
+                    try {
+                        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+                            LOGGER.info("Connecting NC service '" + ncId + "' at " + ncHost + ":" + ncPort);
+                        }
+                        Socket s = new Socket(ncHost, ncPort);
+                        ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
+                        oos.writeUTF(NC_MAGIC_COOKIE);
+                        oos.writeUTF(serializeIni(ccs.getCCConfig().getIni()));
+                        oos.close();
+                        break;
+                        // QQQ Should probably have an ACK here
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)) {
+                            LOGGER.log(Level.WARNING, "Failed to contact NC service at " + ncHost +
+                                    ":" + ncPort + "; will retry", e);
+                        }
+                    }
+                    try {
+                        Thread.sleep(5000);
+                    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Utility routine to copy all keys from a named section in Ini a
+     * to a named section in Ini b. We need to do this the hard way
+     * because Ini4j reacts inscrutably when attempting to copy
+     * Ini.Sections directly from one Ini to another.
+     */
+    private void copyIniSection(Ini a, String asect, Ini b, String bsect) {
+        Ini.Section source = a.get(asect);
+        for (String key : source.keySet()) {
+            b.put(bsect, key, source.get(key));
+        }
+    }
+    /**
+     * Given an Ini object, serialize it to String with some enhancements.
+     * @param ccini
+     */
+    String serializeIni(Ini ccini) throws IOException {
+        Ini ini = new Ini();
+        String ncsection = "nc/" + ncId;
+        for (String section : ccini.keySet()) {
+            if (section.equals(ncsection)) {
+                copyIniSection(ccini, ncsection, ini, "localnc");
+                ini.put("localnc", "id", ncId);
+            }
+            copyIniSection(ccini, section, ini, section);
+        }
+        StringWriter iniString = new StringWriter();
+        ini.store(iniString);
+        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) {
+            LOGGER.fine("Returning Ini file:\n" + iniString.toString());
+        }
+        return iniString.toString();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/pom.xml
index 912e447..d885b38 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/pom.xml
@@ -44,5 +44,10 @@
       <type>jar</type>
       <scope>compile</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.ini4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>ini4j</artifactId>
+      <version>0.5.4</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/ApplicationContext.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/ApplicationContext.java
index c4e9ea2..23d287c 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/ApplicationContext.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/ApplicationContext.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.job.IJobSerializerDeserializerContainer;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.job.JobSerializerDeserializerContainer;
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
     protected ServerContext serverCtx;
     protected Serializable distributedState;
     protected IMessageBroker messageBroker;
+    protected final IApplicationConfig appConfig;
     protected IJobSerializerDeserializerContainer jobSerDeContainer = new JobSerializerDeserializerContainer();
     protected ThreadFactory threadFactory = new ThreadFactory() {
         public Thread newThread(Runnable r) {
@@ -41,8 +43,9 @@
         }
     };
 
-    public ApplicationContext(ServerContext serverCtx) throws IOException {
+    public ApplicationContext(ServerContext serverCtx, IApplicationConfig appConfig) {
         this.serverCtx = serverCtx;
+        this.appConfig = appConfig;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -74,4 +77,9 @@
     public void setThreadFactory(ThreadFactory threadFactory) {
         this.threadFactory = threadFactory;
     }
-}
+
+    @Override
+    public IApplicationConfig getAppConfig() {
+        return appConfig;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/IniApplicationConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/IniApplicationConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a8a2de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/application/IniApplicationConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.control.common.application;
+
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * An implementation of IApplicationConfig which is backed by Ini4j.
+ */
+public class IniApplicationConfig implements IApplicationConfig {
+    private final Ini ini;
+
+    public IniApplicationConfig(Ini ini) {
+        if (ini != null) {
+            this.ini = ini;
+        } else {
+            this.ini = new Ini();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private <T> T getIniValue(String section, String key, T default_value, Class<T> clazz) {
+        T value = ini.get(section, key, clazz);
+        return (value != null) ? value : default_value;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getString(String section, String key) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, null, String.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getString(String section, String key, String defaultValue) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, defaultValue, String.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getInt(String section, String key) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, 0, Integer.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getInt(String section, String key, int defaultValue) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, defaultValue, Integer.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long getLong(String section, String key) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, (long) 0, Long.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long getLong(String section, String key, long defaultValue) {
+        return getIniValue(section, key, defaultValue, Long.class);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> getSections() {
+        return ini.keySet();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> getKeys(String section) {
+        return ini.get(section).keySet();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/CCConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/CCConfig.java
index 4e7c394..a04d750 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/CCConfig.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/CCConfig.java
@@ -19,20 +19,31 @@
 package org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.application.IniApplicationConfig;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.Argument;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.Option;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.spi.StopOptionHandler;
 
 public class CCConfig {
-    @Option(name = "-client-net-ip-address", usage = "Sets the IP Address to listen for connections from clients", required = true)
+    @Option(name = "-address", usage = "IP Address for CC (default: localhost)", required = false)
+    public String ipAddress = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();
+
+    @Option(name = "-client-net-ip-address", usage = "Sets the IP Address to listen for connections from clients (default: same as -address)", required = false)
     public String clientNetIpAddress;
 
     @Option(name = "-client-net-port", usage = "Sets the port to listen for connections from clients (default 1098)")
     public int clientNetPort = 1098;
 
-    @Option(name = "-cluster-net-ip-address", usage = "Sets the IP Address to listen for connections from", required = true)
+    // QQQ Note that clusterNetIpAddress is *not directly used* yet. Both
+    // the cluster listener and the web server listen on "all interfaces".
+    // This IP address is only used to instruct the NC on which IP to call in.
+    @Option(name = "-cluster-net-ip-address", usage = "Sets the IP Address to listen for connections from NCs (default: same as -address)", required = false)
     public String clusterNetIpAddress;
 
     @Option(name = "-cluster-net-port", usage = "Sets the port to listen for connections from node controllers (default 1099)")
@@ -71,10 +82,77 @@
     @Option(name = "-app-cc-main-class", required = false, usage = "Application CC Main Class")
     public String appCCMainClass = null;
 
+    @Option(name = "-config-file", usage = "Specify path to master configuration file (default: none)", required = false)
+    public String configFile = null;
+
     @Argument
     @Option(name = "--", handler = StopOptionHandler.class)
     public List<String> appArgs;
 
+    private Ini ini = null;
+
+    private void loadINIFile() throws IOException {
+        // This method simply maps from the ini parameters to the CCConfig's fields.
+        // It does not apply defaults or any logic.
+        ini = IniUtils.loadINIFile(configFile);
+
+        ipAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "address", ipAddress);
+        clientNetIpAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "client.address", clientNetIpAddress);
+        clientNetPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "client.port", clientNetPort);
+        clusterNetIpAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "cluster.address", clusterNetIpAddress);
+        clusterNetPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "cluster.port", clusterNetPort);
+        httpPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "http.port", httpPort);
+        heartbeatPeriod = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "heartbeat.period", heartbeatPeriod);
+        maxHeartbeatLapsePeriods = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "heartbeat.maxlapse", maxHeartbeatLapsePeriods);
+        profileDumpPeriod = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "profiledump.period", profileDumpPeriod);
+        defaultMaxJobAttempts = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "job.defaultattempts", defaultMaxJobAttempts);
+        jobHistorySize = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "job.historysize", jobHistorySize);
+        resultTTL = IniUtils.getLong(ini, "cc", "results.ttl", resultTTL);
+        resultSweepThreshold = IniUtils.getLong(ini, "cc", "results.sweepthreshold", resultSweepThreshold);
+        ccRoot = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "rootfolder", ccRoot);
+        // QQQ clusterTopologyDefinition is a "File"; should support verifying that the file
+        // exists, as @Option likely does
+        appCCMainClass = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "app.class", appCCMainClass);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Once all @Option fields have been loaded from command-line or otherwise
+     * specified programmatically, call this method to:
+     * 1. Load options from a config file (as specified by -config-file)
+     * 2. Set default values for certain derived values, such as setting
+     *    clusterNetIpAddress to ipAddress
+     */
+    public void loadConfigAndApplyDefaults() throws IOException {
+        if (configFile != null) {
+            loadINIFile();
+            // QQQ This way of passing overridden/defaulted values back into
+            // the ini feels clunky, and it's clearly incomplete
+            ini.add("cc", "cluster.address", clusterNetIpAddress);
+            ini.add("cc", "client.address", clientNetIpAddress);
+        }
+
+        // "address" is the default for all IP addresses
+        if (clusterNetIpAddress == null) clusterNetIpAddress = ipAddress;
+        if (clientNetIpAddress == null) clientNetIpAddress = ipAddress;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the global config Ini file. Note: this will be null
+     * if -config-file wasn't specified.
+     */
+    public Ini getIni() {
+        return ini;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return An IApplicationConfig representing this NCConfig.
+     * Note: Currently this only includes the values from the configuration
+     * file, not anything specified on the command-line. QQQ
+     */
+    public IApplicationConfig getAppConfig() {
+        return new IniApplicationConfig(ini);
+    }
+
     public void toCommandLine(List<String> cList) {
         cList.add("-client-net-ip-address");
         cList.add(clientNetIpAddress);
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/IniUtils.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/IniUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a5c9a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/IniUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers;
+
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Some utility functions for reading Ini4j objects with default values.
+ */
+public class IniUtils {
+    public static String getString(Ini ini, String section, String key, String defaultValue) {
+        String value = ini.get(section, key, String.class);
+        return (value != null) ? value : defaultValue;
+    }
+
+    public static int getInt(Ini ini, String section, String key, int defaultValue) {
+        Integer value = ini.get(section, key, Integer.class);
+        return (value != null) ? value : defaultValue;
+    }
+
+    public static long getLong(Ini ini, String section, String key, long defaultValue) {
+        Long value = ini.get(section, key, Long.class);
+        return (value != null) ? value : defaultValue;
+    }
+
+    public static Ini loadINIFile(String configFile) throws IOException {
+        Ini ini = new Ini();
+        File conffile = new File(configFile);
+        if (!conffile.exists()) {
+            throw new FileNotFoundException(configFile);
+        }
+        ini.load(conffile);
+        return ini;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/NCConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/NCConfig.java
index 547ffe7..4240e3a 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/NCConfig.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/common/controllers/NCConfig.java
@@ -18,24 +18,32 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers;
 
-import java.io.Serializable;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.application.IniApplicationConfig;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.Argument;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.Option;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.spi.StopOptionHandler;
 
-public class NCConfig implements Serializable {
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 
-    @Option(name = "-cc-host", usage = "Cluster Controller host name", required = true)
-    public String ccHost;
+public class NCConfig implements Serializable {
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 2L;
+
+    @Option(name = "-cc-host", usage = "Cluster Controller host name (required unless specified in config file)", required = false)
+    public String ccHost = null;
 
     @Option(name = "-cc-port", usage = "Cluster Controller port (default: 1099)", required = false)
     public int ccPort = 1099;
 
-    @Option(name = "-cluster-net-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind cluster listener", required = true)
+    @Option(name = "-address", usage = "IP Address for NC (default: localhost)", required = false)
+    public String ipAddress = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();
+
+    @Option(name = "-cluster-net-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind cluster listener (default: same as -address)", required = false)
     public String clusterNetIPAddress;
 
     @Option(name = "-cluster-net-port", usage = "IP port to bind cluster listener (default: random port)", required = false)
@@ -47,10 +55,10 @@
     @Option(name = "-cluster-net-public-port", usage = "Public IP port to announce cluster listener (default: same as -cluster-net-port; must set -cluser-net-public-ip-address also)", required = false)
     public int clusterNetPublicPort = 0;
 
-    @Option(name = "-node-id", usage = "Logical name of node controller unique within the cluster", required = true)
-    public String nodeId;
+    @Option(name = "-node-id", usage = "Logical name of node controller unique within the cluster (required unless specified in config file)", required = false)
+    public String nodeId = null;
 
-    @Option(name = "-data-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind data listener", required = true)
+    @Option(name = "-data-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind data listener (default: same as -address)", required = false)
     public String dataIPAddress;
 
     @Option(name = "-data-port", usage = "IP port to bind data listener (default: random port)", required = false)
@@ -62,7 +70,7 @@
     @Option(name = "-data-public-port", usage = "Public IP port to announce data listener (default: same as -data-port; must set -data-public-ip-address also)", required = false)
     public int dataPublicPort = 0;
 
-    @Option(name = "-result-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind dataset result distribution listener", required = true)
+    @Option(name = "-result-ip-address", usage = "IP Address to bind dataset result distribution listener (default: same as -address)", required = false)
     public String resultIPAddress;
 
     @Option(name = "-result-port", usage = "IP port to bind dataset result distribution listener (default: random port)", required = false)
@@ -74,6 +82,9 @@
     @Option(name = "-result-public-port", usage = "Public IP port to announce dataset result distribution listener (default: same as -result-port; must set -result-public-ip-address also)", required = false)
     public int resultPublicPort = 0;
 
+    @Option(name = "-retries", usage ="Number of attempts to contact CC before giving up (default = 5)")
+    public int retries = 5;
+
     @Option(name = "-iodevices", usage = "Comma separated list of IO Device mount points (default: One device in default temp folder)", required = false)
     public String ioDevices = System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir");
 
@@ -98,10 +109,85 @@
     @Option(name = "-app-nc-main-class", usage = "Application NC Main Class")
     public String appNCMainClass;
 
+    @Option(name = "-config-file", usage = "Specify path to local configuration file (default: no local config)", required = false)
+    public String configFile = null;
+
     @Argument
     @Option(name = "--", handler = StopOptionHandler.class)
     public List<String> appArgs;
 
+    private transient Ini ini = null;
+
+    private void loadINIFile() throws IOException {
+        ini = IniUtils.loadINIFile(configFile);
+        // QQQ This should default to cc/address if cluster.address not set, but
+        // that logic really should be handled by the ini file sent from the CC
+        ccHost = IniUtils.getString(ini, "cc", "cluster.address", ccHost);
+        ccPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "cc", "cluster.port", ccPort);
+        nodeId = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "id", nodeId);
+
+        // Network ports
+
+        ipAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "address", ipAddress);
+
+        clusterNetIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "cluster.address", clusterNetIPAddress);
+        clusterNetPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "cluster.port", clusterNetPort);
+        dataIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "data.address", dataIPAddress);
+        dataPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "data.port", dataPort);
+        resultIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "result.address", resultIPAddress);
+        resultPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "result.port", resultPort);
+
+        clusterNetPublicIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "public.cluster.address", clusterNetPublicIPAddress);
+        clusterNetPublicPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "public.cluster.port", clusterNetPublicPort);
+        dataPublicIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "public.data.address", dataPublicIPAddress);
+        dataPublicPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "public.data.port", dataPublicPort);
+        resultPublicIPAddress = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "public.result.address", resultPublicIPAddress);
+        resultPublicPort = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "public.result.port", resultPublicPort);
+
+        retries = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "localnc", "retries", retries);
+
+        // Directories
+        ioDevices = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "iodevices", ioDevices);
+
+        // Hyracks client entrypoint
+        appNCMainClass = IniUtils.getString(ini, "localnc", "app.class", appNCMainClass);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * Once all @Option fields have been loaded from command-line or otherwise
+     * specified programmatically, call this method to:
+     * 1. Load options from a config file (as specified by -config-file)
+     * 2. Set default values for certain derived values, such as setting
+     *    clusterNetIpAddress to ipAddress
+     */
+    public void loadConfigAndApplyDefaults() throws IOException {
+        if (configFile != null) {
+            loadINIFile();
+        }
+
+        // "address" is the default for all IP addresses
+        if (clusterNetIPAddress == null) clusterNetIPAddress = ipAddress;
+        if (dataIPAddress == null) dataIPAddress = ipAddress;
+        if (resultIPAddress == null) resultIPAddress = ipAddress;
+
+        // All "public" options default to their "non-public" versions
+        if (clusterNetPublicIPAddress == null) clusterNetPublicIPAddress = clusterNetIPAddress;
+        if (clusterNetPublicPort == 0) clusterNetPublicPort = clusterNetPort;
+        if (dataPublicIPAddress == null) dataPublicIPAddress = dataIPAddress;
+        if (dataPublicPort == 0) dataPublicPort = dataPort;
+        if (resultPublicIPAddress == null) resultPublicIPAddress = resultIPAddress;
+        if (resultPublicPort == 0) resultPublicPort = resultPort;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return An IApplicationConfig representing this NCConfig.
+     * Note: Currently this only includes the values from the configuration
+     * file, not anything specified on the command-line. QQQ
+     */
+    public IApplicationConfig getAppConfig() {
+        return new IniApplicationConfig(ini);
+    }
+
     public void toCommandLine(List<String> cList) {
         cList.add("-cc-host");
         cList.add(ccHost);
@@ -133,6 +219,8 @@
         cList.add(resultPublicIPAddress);
         cList.add("-result-public-port");
         cList.add(String.valueOf(resultPublicPort));
+        cList.add("-retries");
+        cList.add(String.valueOf(retries));
         cList.add("-iodevices");
         cList.add(ioDevices);
         cList.add("-net-thread-count");
@@ -176,6 +264,7 @@
         configuration.put("result-port", String.valueOf(resultPort));
         configuration.put("result-public-ip-address", resultPublicIPAddress);
         configuration.put("result-public-port", String.valueOf(resultPublicPort));
+        configuration.put("retries", String.valueOf(retries));
         configuration.put("iodevices", ioDevices);
         configuration.put("net-thread-count", String.valueOf(nNetThreads));
         configuration.put("net-buffer-count", String.valueOf(nNetBuffers));
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NCDriver.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NCDriver.java
index db759cb..b015e3d 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NCDriver.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NCDriver.java
@@ -18,12 +18,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hyracks.control.nc;
 
-import java.util.logging.Level;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
-
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers.NCConfig;
 import org.kohsuke.args4j.CmdLineParser;
 
-import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers.NCConfig;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 public class NCDriver {
     private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(NCDriver.class.getName());
@@ -35,13 +34,14 @@
             try {
                 cp.parseArgument(args);
             } catch (Exception e) {
-                System.err.println(e.getMessage());
+                e.printStackTrace();
                 cp.printUsage(System.err);
-                return;
+                System.exit(1);
             }
+            ncConfig.loadConfigAndApplyDefaults();
 
             final NodeControllerService nService = new NodeControllerService(ncConfig);
-            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) {
                 LOGGER.severe("Setting uncaught exception handler " + nService.getLifeCycleComponentManager());
             }
             Thread.currentThread().setUncaughtExceptionHandler(nService.getLifeCycleComponentManager());
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
index 598d6db..2f8def1 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/NodeControllerService.java
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
         init();
 
         datasetNetworkManager.start();
-        IIPCHandle ccIPCHandle = ipc.getHandle(new InetSocketAddress(ncConfig.ccHost, ncConfig.ccPort), -1);
+        IIPCHandle ccIPCHandle = ipc.getHandle(new InetSocketAddress(ncConfig.ccHost, ncConfig.ccPort), ncConfig.retries);
         this.ccs = new ClusterControllerRemoteProxy(ccIPCHandle);
         HeartbeatSchema.GarbageCollectorInfo[] gcInfos = new HeartbeatSchema.GarbageCollectorInfo[gcMXBeans.size()];
         for (int i = 0; i < gcInfos.length; ++i) {
@@ -270,14 +270,12 @@
         // Use "public" versions of network addresses and ports
         NetworkAddress datasetAddress = datasetNetworkManager.getPublicNetworkAddress();
         NetworkAddress netAddress = netManager.getPublicNetworkAddress();
-        if (ncConfig.dataPublicIPAddress != null) {
-            netAddress = new NetworkAddress(ncConfig.dataPublicIPAddress, ncConfig.dataPublicPort);
-        }
-        ccs.registerNode(new NodeRegistration(ipc.getSocketAddress(), id, ncConfig, netAddress, datasetAddress,
-                osMXBean.getName(), osMXBean.getArch(), osMXBean.getVersion(), osMXBean.getAvailableProcessors(),
-                runtimeMXBean.getVmName(), runtimeMXBean.getVmVersion(), runtimeMXBean.getVmVendor(),
-                runtimeMXBean.getClassPath(), runtimeMXBean.getLibraryPath(), runtimeMXBean.getBootClassPath(),
-                runtimeMXBean.getInputArguments(), runtimeMXBean.getSystemProperties(), hbSchema));
+        ccs.registerNode(new NodeRegistration(ipc.getSocketAddress(), id, ncConfig, netAddress,
+                datasetAddress, osMXBean.getName(), osMXBean.getArch(), osMXBean
+                        .getVersion(), osMXBean.getAvailableProcessors(), runtimeMXBean.getVmName(), runtimeMXBean
+                        .getVmVersion(), runtimeMXBean.getVmVendor(), runtimeMXBean.getClassPath(), runtimeMXBean
+                        .getLibraryPath(), runtimeMXBean.getBootClassPath(), runtimeMXBean.getInputArguments(),
+                runtimeMXBean.getSystemProperties(), hbSchema));
 
         synchronized (this) {
             while (registrationPending) {
@@ -316,7 +314,7 @@
     }
 
     private void startApplication() throws Exception {
-        appCtx = new NCApplicationContext(this, serverCtx, ctx, id, memoryManager, lccm);
+        appCtx = new NCApplicationContext(this, serverCtx, ctx, id, memoryManager, lccm, ncConfig.getAppConfig());
         String className = ncConfig.appNCMainClass;
         if (className != null) {
             Class<?> c = Class.forName(className);
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/application/NCApplicationContext.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/application/NCApplicationContext.java
index d0fd524..d23c701 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/application/NCApplicationContext.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-control-nc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/application/NCApplicationContext.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.Serializable;
 
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.INCApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IStateDumpHandler;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.context.IHyracksRootContext;
@@ -42,10 +43,10 @@
     private IStateDumpHandler sdh;
     private final NodeControllerService ncs;
 
-    public NCApplicationContext(NodeControllerService ncs, ServerContext serverCtx, IHyracksRootContext rootCtx,
-            String nodeId, MemoryManager memoryManager, ILifeCycleComponentManager lifeCyclecomponentManager)
-                    throws IOException {
-        super(serverCtx);
+    public NCApplicationContext(NodeControllerService ncs, ServerContext serverCtx, IHyracksRootContext rootCtx, String nodeId,
+                                MemoryManager memoryManager, ILifeCycleComponentManager lifeCyclecomponentManager,
+                                IApplicationConfig appConfig) throws IOException {
+        super(serverCtx, appConfig);
         this.lccm = lifeCyclecomponentManager;
         this.nodeId = nodeId;
         this.rootCtx = rootCtx;
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66d4d24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+ ! Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ ! or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ ! distributed with this work for additional information
+ ! regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ ! to you 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 at
+ !
+ !   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.
+ !-->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <parent>
+     <artifactId>hyracks-control</artifactId>
+      <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+      <version>0.2.18-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </parent>
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <artifactId>hyracks-nc-service</artifactId>
+
+    <build>
+      <plugins>
+        <plugin>
+          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>2.0.2</version>
+          <configuration>
+            <source>1.7</source>
+            <target>1.7</target>
+            <fork>true</fork>
+          </configuration>
+        </plugin>
+      </plugins>
+    </build>
+
+    <dependencies>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>args4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>args4j</artifactId>
+        <version>2.0.12</version>
+        <type>jar</type>
+        <scope>compile</scope>
+      </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.ini4j</groupId>
+        <artifactId>ini4j</artifactId>
+        <version>0.5.4</version>
+      </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+        <artifactId>hyracks-control-nc</artifactId>
+        <version>0.2.18-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <type>jar</type>
+        <scope>compile</scope>
+      </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCService.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df92d1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,220 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.control.nc.service;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.SystemUtils;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+import org.kohsuke.args4j.CmdLineParser;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
+import java.io.StringReader;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.net.ServerSocket;
+import java.net.Socket;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Stand-alone process which listens for configuration information from the
+ * CC and starts an NC. Intended to be a constantly-running service.
+ */
+public class NCService {
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(NCService.class.getName());
+
+    /**
+     * The .ini read from the CC (*not* the ncservice.ini file)
+     */
+    private static Ini ini = new Ini();
+
+    /**
+     * The NCServiceConfig
+     */
+    private static NCServiceConfig config;
+
+    /**
+     * The child Process, if one is active
+     */
+    private static Process proc = null;
+
+    private static final String MAGIC_COOKIE = "hyncmagic";
+
+    private static String getStringINIOpt(Ini ini, String section, String key, String default_value) {
+        String value = ini.get(section, key, String.class);
+        return (value != null) ? value : default_value;
+    }
+
+    private static int getIntINIOpt(Ini ini, String section, String key, int default_value) {
+        Integer value = ini.get(section, key, Integer.class);
+        return (value != null) ? value : default_value;
+    }
+
+    private static List<String> buildCommand() throws IOException {
+        List<String> cList = new ArrayList<String>();
+        if (SystemUtils.IS_OS_WINDOWS) {
+            cList.add(config.command + ".bat");
+        }
+        else {
+            cList.add(config.command);
+        }
+        cList.add("-config-file");
+        // Store the Ini file from the CC locally so NCConfig can read it.
+        // QQQ should arrange to delete this when done
+        File tempIni = File.createTempFile("ncconf", ".conf");
+        ini.store(tempIni);
+        cList.add(tempIni.getCanonicalPath());
+        return cList;
+    }
+
+    private static void configEnvironment(Map<String,String> env) {
+        if (env.containsKey("JAVA_OPTS")) {
+            return;
+        }
+        String jvmargs = getStringINIOpt(ini, "localnc", "jvm.args", "-Xmx1536m");
+        env.put("JAVA_OPTS", jvmargs);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Attempts to launch the "real" NCDriver, based on the configuration
+     * information gathered so far.
+     * @return true if the process was successfully launched and has now
+     * exited with a 0 (normal) exit code. false if some configuration error
+     * prevented the process from being launched or the process returned
+     * a non-0 (abnormal) exit code.
+     */
+    private static boolean launchNCProcess() {
+        try {
+            ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(buildCommand());
+            configEnvironment(pb.environment());
+            // QQQ inheriting probably isn't right
+            pb.inheritIO();
+
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+                LOGGER.info("Launching NCDriver process");
+            }
+            proc = pb.start();
+
+            boolean waiting = true;
+            int retval = 0;
+            while (waiting) {
+                try {
+                    retval = proc.waitFor();
+                    waiting = false;
+                } catch (InterruptedException ignored) {
+                }
+            }
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+                LOGGER.info("NCDriver exited with return value " + retval);
+            }
+            return (retval == 0);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) {
+                LOGGER.log(Level.SEVERE, "Configuration from CC broken", e);
+            }
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static boolean acceptConnection(InputStream is) {
+        // Simple on-wire protocol: magic cookie (string), CC address (string),
+        // port (string), as encoded on CC by ObjectOutputStream. If we see
+        // anything else or have any error, crap out and await a different
+        // connection.
+        // QQQ This should probably be changed to directly accept the full
+        // config file from the CC, rather than calling back to the CC's
+        // "config" webservice to retrieve it. Revisit when the CC is fully
+        // parsing and validating the master config file.
+        try {
+            ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(is);
+            String magic = ois.readUTF();
+            if (! MAGIC_COOKIE.equals(magic)) {
+                LOGGER.severe("Connection used incorrect magic cookie");
+                return false;
+            }
+            String iniString = ois.readUTF();
+            ini = new Ini(new StringReader(iniString));
+            return launchNCProcess();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            LOGGER.log(Level.SEVERE, "Error decoding connection from server", e);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        // Register a shutdown hook which will kill the NC if the NC Service is killed.
+        Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new Thread() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                if (proc != null) {
+                    proc.destroy();
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        config = new NCServiceConfig();
+        CmdLineParser cp = new CmdLineParser(config);
+        try {
+            cp.parseArgument(args);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            cp.printUsage(System.err);
+            System.exit(1);
+        }
+        config.loadConfigAndApplyDefaults();
+
+        // For now we implement a trivial listener which just
+        // accepts an IP/port combination from the CC. This could
+        // be made more advanced in several ways depending on whether
+        // we want to expand the functionality of this service.
+        // For now this gets the job done, without radically changing
+        // the NC itself so that Managix can continue to function.
+        InetAddress addr = config.address == null ? null : InetAddress.getByName(config.address);
+        int port = config.port;
+
+        // Loop forever - the NCService will always return to "waiting for CC" state
+        // when the child NC terminates for any reason.
+        while (true) {
+            ServerSocket listener = new ServerSocket(port, 5, addr);
+            try {
+                boolean launched = false;
+                while (!launched) {
+                    if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+                        LOGGER.info("Waiting for connection from CC on " + addr + ":" + port);
+                    }
+                    Socket socket = listener.accept();
+                    try {
+                        // QQQ Because acceptConnection() doesn't return if the
+                        // service is started appropriately, the socket remains
+                        // open but non-responsive.
+                        launched = acceptConnection(socket.getInputStream());
+                    } finally {
+                        socket.close();
+                    }
+                }
+            } finally {
+                listener.close();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCServiceConfig.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCServiceConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af80b33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/hyracks-nc-service/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/control/nc/service/NCServiceConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.control.nc.service;
+
+import org.apache.hyracks.control.common.controllers.IniUtils;
+import org.ini4j.Ini;
+import org.kohsuke.args4j.Option;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+
+/**
+ * Command-line arguments for NC Service.
+ */
+public class NCServiceConfig {
+
+    /**
+     * Normally one should only pass this argument. Other arguments are for debugging and test purposes.
+     * If an option is specified both in the config file and on the command line, the config file
+     * version will take precedence.
+     */
+    @Option(name = "-config-file", usage = "Local NC configuration file (default: none)", required = false)
+    public String configFile = null;
+
+    @Option(name = "-address", usage = "Address to listen on for connections from CC (default: localhost)", required = false)
+    public String address = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();
+
+    @Option(name = "-port", usage = "Port to listen on for connections from CC (default: 9090)", required = false)
+    public int port = 9090;
+
+    @Option(name = "-command", usage = "NC command to run (default: 'hyracksnc' on PATH)", required = false)
+    public String command = "hyracksnc";
+
+    private Ini ini = null;
+
+    /**
+     * This method simply maps from the ini parameters to the NCServiceConfig's fields.
+     * It does not apply defaults or any logic.
+     */
+    private void loadINIFile() throws IOException {
+        ini = IniUtils.loadINIFile(configFile);
+        address = IniUtils.getString(ini, "ncservice", "address", address);
+        port = IniUtils.getInt(ini, "ncservice", "port", port);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Once all @Option fields have been loaded from command-line or otherwise
+     * specified programmatically, call this method to:
+     * 1. Load options from a config file (as specified by -config-file)
+     * 2. Set default values for certain derived values
+     */
+    public void loadConfigAndApplyDefaults() throws IOException {
+        if (configFile != null) {
+            loadINIFile();
+        }
+        // No defaults necessary beyond the static ones for this config
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/pom.xml
index ddb4e89..bd8d739 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-control/pom.xml
@@ -46,5 +46,6 @@
     <module>hyracks-control-common</module>
     <module>hyracks-control-cc</module>
     <module>hyracks-control-nc</module>
+    <module>hyracks-nc-service</module>
   </modules>
 </project>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-dist/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-dist/pom.xml
index 99f8eca..a7c7a15 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-dist/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-dist/pom.xml
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
             <phase>package</phase>
             <configuration>
               <target>
-                <chmod file="target/appassembler/bin/*)" perm="755"/>
+                <chmod file="target/appassembler/bin/*" perm="755"/>
               </target>
             </configuration>
             <goals>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/pom.xml b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/pom.xml
index facaae8..3bda1d3 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/pom.xml
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/pom.xml
@@ -43,6 +43,30 @@
   <build>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>2.6</version>
+        <configuration>
+          <runOrder>alphabetical</runOrder>
+          <forkMode>pertest</forkMode>
+          <systemProperties>
+            <property>
+              <name>java.util.logging.config.file</name>
+              <value>src/test/resources/logging.properties</value>
+            </property>
+          </systemProperties>
+        </configuration>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>integration-test</goal>
+              <goal>verify</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+
+      <plugin>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
         <artifactId>appassembler-maven-plugin</artifactId>
         <version>1.3</version>
@@ -59,6 +83,10 @@
                   <name>hyracksnc</name>
                 </program>
                 <program>
+                  <mainClass>org.apache.hyracks.control.nc.service.NCService</mainClass>
+                  <name>hyracksncservice</name>
+                </program>
+                <program>
                   <mainClass>org.apache.hyracks.server.drivers.VirtualClusterDriver</mainClass>
                   <name>hyracks-virtual-cluster</name>
                 </program>
@@ -80,6 +108,24 @@
           <skip>true</skip>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>1.6</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>process-test-classes</id>
+            <phase>package</phase>
+            <configuration>
+              <target>
+                <chmod file="target/appassembler/bin/*" perm="755" />
+              </target>
+            </configuration>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>run</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
   <dependencies>
@@ -97,5 +143,18 @@
       <type>jar</type>
       <scope>compile</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.hyracks</groupId>
+      <artifactId>hyracks-nc-service</artifactId>
+      <version>0.2.18-SNAPSHOT</version>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <scope>compile</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-httpclient</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-httpclient</artifactId>
+      <version>3.0.1</version>
+      <scope>test</scope>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/server/test/NCServiceIT.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/server/test/NCServiceIT.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f431f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/server/test/NCServiceIT.java
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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 at
+ *
+ *   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 org.apache.hyracks.server.test;
+
+import junit.framework.Assert;
+import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
+import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpStatus;
+import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.GetMethod;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.json.JSONArray;
+import org.json.JSONObject;
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+public class NCServiceIT {
+
+    private static final String RESOURCE_DIR = StringUtils
+            .join(new String[]{System.getProperty("user.dir"), "src", "test", "resources", "NCServiceIT"},
+                    File.separator);
+    private static final String APP_DIR = StringUtils
+            .join(new String[]{System.getProperty("user.dir"), "target", "appassembler", "bin"},
+                    File.separator);
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(NCServiceIT.class.getName());
+    private static List<Process> procs = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    @BeforeClass
+    public static void setUp() throws Exception {
+        // Start two NC Services - don't read their output as they don't terminate
+        procs.add(invoke(APP_DIR + File.separator + "hyracksncservice",
+                "-config-file", RESOURCE_DIR + File.separator + "nc-red.conf",
+                "-command", APP_DIR + File.separator + "hyracksnc"));
+        procs.add(invoke(APP_DIR + File.separator + "hyracksncservice",
+                "-config-file", RESOURCE_DIR + File.separator + "nc-blue.conf",
+                "-command", APP_DIR + File.separator + "hyracksnc"));
+        try {
+            Thread.sleep(2000);
+        }
+        catch (InterruptedException ignored) {
+        }
+
+        // Start CC
+        procs.add(invoke(APP_DIR + File.separator + "hyrackscc",
+                "-config-file", RESOURCE_DIR + File.separator + "cc.conf"));
+        try {
+            Thread.sleep(10000);
+        }
+        catch (InterruptedException ignored) {
+        }
+    }
+
+    @AfterClass
+    public static void tearDown() throws Exception {
+        for (Process p : procs) {
+            p.destroy();
+            p.waitFor();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static String getHttp(String url) throws Exception {
+        HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
+        GetMethod get = new GetMethod(url);
+        int statusCode;
+        try {
+            statusCode = client.executeMethod(get);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            throw e;
+        }
+        String response = get.getResponseBodyAsString();
+        if (statusCode == HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
+            return response;
+        } else {
+            throw new Exception("HTTP error " + statusCode + ":\n" + response);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static Process invoke(String... args) throws Exception {
+        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(args);
+        pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
+        Process p = pb.start();
+        return p;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void IsNodelistCorrect() throws Exception {
+        // Ping the nodelist HTTP API
+        String localhost = InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().getHostAddress();
+        String response = getHttp("http://" + localhost + ":12345/rest/nodes");
+        JSONObject result = new JSONObject(response);
+        JSONArray nodes = result.getJSONArray("result");
+        int numNodes = nodes.length();
+        Assert.assertEquals("Wrong number of nodes!", numNodes, 2);
+        for (int i = 0; i < nodes.length(); i++) {
+            JSONObject node = nodes.getJSONObject(i);
+            String id = node.getString("node-id");
+            if (id.equals("red") || id.equals("blue")) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            Assert.fail("Unexpected node ID '" + id + "'!");
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        try {
+            setUp();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            LOGGER.severe("TEST CASE(S) FAILED");
+        } finally {
+            tearDown();
+        }
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/cc.conf b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/cc.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25ac530
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/cc.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+[nc/red]
+address=127.0.0.1
+
+[nc/blue]
+address=127.0.0.1
+port=9091
+
+[cc]
+cluster.address = 127.0.0.1
+http.port = 12345
+
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-blue.conf b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-blue.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d070b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-blue.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[ncservice]
+address=127.0.0.1
+port=9091
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-red.conf b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-red.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58a8f1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/NCServiceIT/nc-red.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[ncservice]
+address=127.0.0.1
+port=9090
+
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/logging.properties b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/logging.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c888bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-server/src/test/resources/logging.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#/*
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you 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 at
+#
+#   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.
+############################################################
+# Default Logging Configuration File
+#
+# You can use a different file by specifying a filename
+# with the java.util.logging.config.file system property.
+# For example java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=myfile
+############################################################
+
+############################################################
+# Global properties
+############################################################
+
+# "handlers" specifies a comma separated list of log Handler
+# classes.  These handlers will be installed during VM startup.
+# Note that these classes must be on the system classpath.
+# By default we only configure a ConsoleHandler, which will only
+# show messages at the INFO and above levels.
+
+handlers= java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler
+
+# To also add the FileHandler, use the following line instead.
+
+# handlers= java.util.logging.FileHandler, java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler
+
+# Default global logging level.
+# This specifies which kinds of events are logged across
+# all loggers.  For any given facility this global level
+# can be overriden by a facility specific level
+# Note that the ConsoleHandler also has a separate level
+# setting to limit messages printed to the console.
+
+.level= WARNING
+# .level= INFO
+# .level= FINE
+# .level = FINEST
+
+############################################################
+# Handler specific properties.
+# Describes specific configuration info for Handlers.
+############################################################
+
+# default file output is in user's home directory.
+
+# java.util.logging.FileHandler.pattern = %h/java%u.log
+# java.util.logging.FileHandler.limit = 50000
+# java.util.logging.FileHandler.count = 1
+# java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.XMLFormatter
+
+# Limit the message that are printed on the console to FINE and above.
+
+java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level = FINE
+java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter
+
+
+############################################################
+# Facility specific properties.
+# Provides extra control for each logger.
+############################################################
+
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-test-support/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/support/TestNCApplicationContext.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-test-support/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/support/TestNCApplicationContext.java
index f619be0..c6a4430 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-test-support/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/support/TestNCApplicationContext.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-test-support/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/test/support/TestNCApplicationContext.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 
+import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IApplicationConfig;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.INCApplicationContext;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.application.IStateDumpHandler;
 import org.apache.hyracks.api.context.IHyracksRootContext;
@@ -122,6 +123,11 @@
     }
 
     @Override
+    public IApplicationConfig getAppConfig() {
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    @Override
     public ILifeCycleComponentManager getLifeCycleComponentManager() {
         return lccm;
     }