diff --git a/lib/utils.py b/lib/utils.py
index 23fd1eb51fcd9255e06f63e5998f1ae290d73ce3..f263637d4adc3dfa4a561ccee53bf789c5cf3484 100644
--- a/lib/utils.py
+++ b/lib/utils.py
@@ -1192,6 +1192,62 @@ def LockFile(fd):
     raise
 
 
+class FileLock(object):
+  """Utility class for file locks.
+
+  """
+  def __init__(self, filename):
+    self.filename = filename
+    self.fd = open(self.filename, "w")
+
+  def __del__(self):
+    self.Close()
+
+  def Close(self):
+    if self.fd:
+      self.fd.close()
+      self.fd = None
+
+  def _flock(self, flag, blocking, errmsg):
+    assert self.fd, "Lock was closed"
+
+    if not blocking:
+      flag |= fcntl.LOCK_NB
+
+    try:
+      fcntl.flock(self.fd, flag)
+    except IOError, err:
+      logging.exception("fcntl.flock failed")
+      if err.errno in (errno.EAGAIN, ):
+        raise errors.LockError(errmsg)
+      raise
+
+  def Exclusive(self, blocking=False):
+    """Locks the file in exclusive mode.
+
+    """
+    self._flock(fcntl.LOCK_EX, blocking,
+                "Failed to lock %s in exclusive mode" % self.filename)
+
+  def Shared(self, blocking=False):
+    """Locks the file in shared mode.
+
+    """
+    self._flock(fcntl.LOCK_SH, blocking,
+                "Failed to lock %s in shared mode" % self.filename)
+
+  def Unlock(self, blocking=True):
+    """Unlocks the file.
+
+    According to "man flock", unlocking can also be a nonblocking operation:
+    "To make a non-blocking request, include LOCK_NB with any of the above
+    operations"
+
+    """
+    self._flock(fcntl.LOCK_UN, blocking,
+                "Failed to unlock %s" % self.filename)
+
+
 class SignalHandler(object):
   """Generic signal handler class.
 
diff --git a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
index 405a24101b94f7c9ae9bc6e636bc49e65384985e..c1e3531e515910de329ff658b0780732fdbdb5c8 100755
--- a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
+++ b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import signal
 import socket
 import shutil
 import re
-import tempfile
 
 import ganeti
 import testutils
@@ -710,6 +709,7 @@ class TestUniqueSequence(unittest.TestCase):
     self._test(["a", "b"], ["a", "b"])
     self._test(["a", "b", "a"], ["a", "b"])
 
+
 class TestFirstFree(unittest.TestCase):
   """Test case for the FirstFree function"""
 
@@ -721,5 +721,62 @@ class TestFirstFree(unittest.TestCase):
     self.failUnlessEqual(FirstFree([3, 4, 6], base=3), 5)
     self.failUnlessRaises(AssertionError, FirstFree, [0, 3, 4, 6], base=3)
 
+
+class TestFileLock(unittest.TestCase):
+  """Test case for the FileLock class"""
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    self.tmpfile = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
+    self.lock = utils.FileLock(self.tmpfile.name)
+
+  def testSharedNonblocking(self):
+    self.lock.Shared(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testExclusiveNonblocking(self):
+    self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testUnlockNonblocking(self):
+    self.lock.Unlock(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testSharedBlocking(self):
+    self.lock.Shared(blocking=True)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testExclusiveBlocking(self):
+    self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=True)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testUnlockBlocking(self):
+    self.lock.Unlock(blocking=True)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testSharedExclusiveUnlock(self):
+    self.lock.Shared(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Unlock(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testExclusiveSharedUnlock(self):
+    self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Shared(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Unlock(blocking=False)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  def testCloseShared(self):
+    self.lock.Close()
+    self.assertRaises(AssertionError, self.lock.Shared, blocking=False)
+
+  def testCloseExclusive(self):
+    self.lock.Close()
+    self.assertRaises(AssertionError, self.lock.Exclusive, blocking=False)
+
+  def testCloseUnlock(self):
+    self.lock.Close()
+    self.assertRaises(AssertionError, self.lock.Unlock, blocking=False)
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   unittest.main()