diff --git a/lib/confd/querylib.py b/lib/confd/querylib.py
index c51bfa2faf99a719047ebe2dd2921fd60df572c0..caa5002bc3c9573e1c6b5235c7d20afaa3d360c8 100644
--- a/lib/confd/querylib.py
+++ b/lib/confd/querylib.py
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
 
 from ganeti import constants
 
+# constants for some common errors to return from a query
+QUERY_UNKNOWN_ENTRY_ERROR = (constants.CONFD_REPL_STATUS_ERROR,
+                             constants.CONFD_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ENTRY)
+QUERY_INTERNAL_ERROR = (constants.CONFD_REPL_STATUS_ERROR,
+                        constants.CONFD_ERROR_INTERNAL)
 
 class ConfdQuery(object):
   """Confd Query base class.
@@ -93,9 +98,7 @@ class NodeRoleQuery(ConfdQuery):
       return status, answer
     flags = self.reader.GetNodeStatusFlags(node)
     if flags is None:
-      status = constants.CONFD_REPL_STATUS_ERROR
-      answer = constants.CONFD_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ENTRY
-      return status, answer
+      return QUERY_UNKNOWN_ENTRY_ERROR
 
     master_candidate, drained, offline = flags
     if master_candidate:
diff --git a/lib/constants.py b/lib/constants.py
index 2ca5f755f1a1d7877f2431b15dffda5dcc55b943..7264954f64b2a025e444e85e2d7a91406c20a115 100644
--- a/lib/constants.py
+++ b/lib/constants.py
@@ -654,6 +654,7 @@ CONFD_REPL_STATUSES = frozenset([
 
 # A few common errors for confd
 CONFD_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ENTRY = 1
+CONFD_ERROR_INTERNAL = 2
 
 # Each request is "salted" by the current timestamp.
 # This constants decides how many seconds of skew to accept.