diff --git a/lib/utils.py b/lib/utils.py
index 5f659200083d0502eb50d6c3e62443f07e7020f4..76adfc5771a4b18e28141c84ad7c8fba0ed550b6 100644
--- a/lib/utils.py
+++ b/lib/utils.py
@@ -285,6 +285,32 @@ def RemoveFile(filename):
       raise
 
 
+def RenameFile(old, new, mkdir=False, mkdir_mode=0750):
+  """Renames a file.
+
+  @type old: string
+  @param old: Original path
+  @type new: string
+  @param new: New path
+  @type mkdir: bool
+  @param mkdir: Whether to create target directory if it doesn't exist
+  @type mkdir_mode: int
+  @param mkdir_mode: Mode for newly created directories
+
+  """
+  try:
+    return os.rename(old, new)
+  except OSError, err:
+    # In at least one use case of this function, the job queue, directory
+    # creation is very rare. Checking for the directory before renaming is not
+    # as efficient.
+    if mkdir and err.errno == errno.ENOENT:
+      # Create directory and try again
+      os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(new), mkdir_mode)
+      return os.rename(old, new)
+    raise
+
+
 def _FingerprintFile(filename):
   """Compute the fingerprint of a file.
 
diff --git a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
index 34b992894f816f10e21696a01d9a31f4636df838..29fddfdd0563d79ef0692128ce8871680ab638fd 100755
--- a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
+++ b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
@@ -277,6 +277,36 @@ class TestRemoveFile(unittest.TestCase):
       self.fail("File '%s' not removed" % symlink)
 
 
+class TestRename(unittest.TestCase):
+  """Test case for RenameFile"""
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    """Create a temporary directory"""
+    self.tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    self.tmpfile = os.path.join(self.tmpdir, "test1")
+
+    # Touch the file
+    open(self.tmpfile, "w").close()
+
+  def tearDown(self):
+    """Remove temporary directory"""
+    shutil.rmtree(self.tmpdir)
+
+  def testSimpleRename1(self):
+    """Simple rename 1"""
+    utils.RenameFile(self.tmpfile, os.path.join(self.tmpdir, "xyz"))
+
+  def testSimpleRename2(self):
+    """Simple rename 2"""
+    utils.RenameFile(self.tmpfile, os.path.join(self.tmpdir, "xyz"),
+                     mkdir=True)
+
+  def testRenameMkdir(self):
+    """Rename with mkdir"""
+    utils.RenameFile(self.tmpfile, os.path.join(self.tmpdir, "test/xyz"),
+                     mkdir=True)
+
+
 class TestCheckdict(unittest.TestCase):
   """Test case for the CheckDict function"""