diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixClusterProperties.java b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixClusterProperties.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8468473
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixClusterProperties.java
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2013 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config;
+
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+import javax.xml.bind.JAXBContext;
+import javax.xml.bind.JAXBException;
+import javax.xml.bind.Unmarshaller;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.api.AsterixAppContextInfo;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.event.schema.cluster.Cluster;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.event.schema.cluster.Node;
+
+public class AsterixClusterProperties {
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(AsterixClusterProperties.class.getName());
+
+    private static final String IO_DEVICES = "iodevices";
+
+    public static final AsterixClusterProperties INSTANCE = new AsterixClusterProperties();
+
+    private Map<String, Map<String, String>> ncConfiguration = new HashMap<String, Map<String, String>>();
+
+    private static final String CLUSTER_CONFIGURATION_XML = "cluster.xml";
+
+    private Cluster cluster;
+
+    private AsterixClusterProperties() {
+        InputStream is = this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(CLUSTER_CONFIGURATION_XML);
+        try {
+            JAXBContext ctx = JAXBContext.newInstance(Cluster.class);
+            Unmarshaller unmarshaller = ctx.createUnmarshaller();
+            cluster = (Cluster) unmarshaller.unmarshal(is);
+        } catch (JAXBException e) {
+            LOGGER.warning("Failed to read cluster configuration file " + CLUSTER_CONFIGURATION_XML);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public enum State {
+        ACTIVE,
+        UNUSABLE
+    }
+
+    private State state = State.UNUSABLE;
+
+    public void removeNCConfiguration(String nodeId) {
+        state = State.UNUSABLE;
+        ncConfiguration.remove(nodeId);
+    }
+
+    public void addNCConfiguration(String nodeId, Map<String, String> configuration) {
+        ncConfiguration.put(nodeId, configuration);
+        if (ncConfiguration.keySet().size() == AsterixAppContextInfo.getInstance().getMetadataProperties()
+                .getNodeNames().size()) {
+            state = State.ACTIVE;
+        }
+        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) {
+            LOGGER.info(" Registering configuration parameters for node id" + nodeId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the number of IO devices configured for a Node Controller
+     * 
+     * @param nodeId
+     *            unique identifier of the Node Controller
+     * @return number of IO devices. -1 if the node id is not valid. A node id is not valid
+     *         if it does not correspond to the set of registered Node Controllers.
+     */
+    public int getNumberOfIODevices(String nodeId) {
+        Map<String, String> ncConfig = ncConfiguration.get(nodeId);
+        if (ncConfig == null) {
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.WARNING)) {
+                LOGGER.warning("Configuration parameters for nodeId" + nodeId
+                        + " not found. The node has not joined yet or has left.");
+            }
+            return -1;
+        }
+        return ncConfig.get(IO_DEVICES).split(",").length;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return
+     */
+    public synchronized Node getAvailableSubstitutionNode() {
+        Node substitutionNode = null;
+        List<Node> availableNodesForSubstitution = cluster.getSubstituteNodes().getNode();
+        if (!availableNodesForSubstitution.isEmpty()) {
+            substitutionNode = availableNodesForSubstitution.remove(0);
+        }
+        return substitutionNode;
+    }
+
+    public synchronized int getNumberOfAvailableSubstitutionNodes() {
+        return cluster.getSubstituteNodes().getNode() == null ? 0 : cluster.getSubstituteNodes().getNode().size();
+    }
+
+    public State getState() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+    public Cluster getCluster() {
+        return cluster;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/resources/schema/cluster.xsd b/asterix-common/src/main/resources/schema/cluster.xsd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be7d863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterix-common/src/main/resources/schema/cluster.xsd
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
+<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
+	xmlns:cl="cluster" targetNamespace="cluster" elementFormDefault="qualified">
+
+	<!-- definition of simple types -->
+	<xs:element name="name" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="log_dir" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="txn_log_dir" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="id" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="client_ip" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="cluster_ip" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="key" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="value" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="dir" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="NFS" type="xs:boolean" />
+	<xs:element name="store" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="iodevices" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="java_home" type="xs:string" />
+	<xs:element name="username" type="xs:string" />
+
+	<!-- definition of complex elements -->
+	<xs:element name="working_dir">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:dir" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:NFS" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="master_node">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:id" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:client_ip" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:cluster_ip" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:java_home" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:log_dir" minOccurs="0" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="property">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:key" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:value" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="env">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="node">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:id" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:cluster_ip" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:java_home" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:log_dir" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:txn_log_dir" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:store" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:iodevices" minOccurs="0" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="substitute_nodes">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:node" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+	<xs:element name="cluster">
+		<xs:complexType>
+			<xs:sequence>
+				<xs:element ref="cl:name" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:username" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:env" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:java_home" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:log_dir" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:txn_log_dir" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:store" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:iodevices" minOccurs="0" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:working_dir" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:master_node" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:node" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
+				<xs:element ref="cl:substitute_nodes"/>
+			</xs:sequence>
+		</xs:complexType>
+	</xs:element>
+
+</xs:schema>