diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 46224039ed87d234d9a17a397367d7312a4468b4..e9b126a3e9a4335f9aff62d6807089e28f79ed1b 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -411,6 +411,7 @@ HS_LIB_SRCS = \
 	htools/Ganeti/Objects.hs \
 	htools/Ganeti/OpCodes.hs \
 	htools/Ganeti/Runtime.hs \
+	htools/Ganeti/Ssconf.hs \
 	htools/Ganeti/THH.hs
 
 HS_BUILT_SRCS = htools/Ganeti/HTools/Version.hs htools/Ganeti/Constants.hs
diff --git a/htools/Ganeti/Ssconf.hs b/htools/Ganeti/Ssconf.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d3944dde299036ac9b2d9cb5c7bea49a141681fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/htools/Ganeti/Ssconf.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+
+{-| Implementation of the Ganeti Ssconf interface.
+
+-}
+
+{-
+
+Copyright (C) 2012 Google Inc.
+
+This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+General Public License for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+02110-1301, USA.
+
+-}
+
+module Ganeti.Ssconf
+  ( SSKey(..)
+  , sSKeyToRaw
+  , sSKeyFromRaw
+  , getPrimaryIPFamily
+  ) where
+
+import Ganeti.THH
+
+import Control.Monad (liftM)
+import Data.Char (isSpace)
+import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
+import qualified Network.Socket as Socket
+import System.FilePath ((</>))
+import System.IO.Error
+
+import qualified Ganeti.Constants as C
+import Ganeti.BasicTypes
+import Ganeti.HTools.Utils
+
+-- | Maximum ssconf file size we support.
+maxFileSize :: Int
+maxFileSize = 131072
+
+$(declareSADT "SSKey"
+  [ ("SSClusterName",          'C.ssClusterName)
+  , ("SSClusterTags",          'C.ssClusterTags)
+  , ("SSFileStorageDir",       'C.ssFileStorageDir)
+  , ("SSSharedFileStorageDir", 'C.ssSharedFileStorageDir)
+  , ("SSMasterCandidates",     'C.ssMasterCandidates)
+  , ("SSMasterCandidatesIps",  'C.ssMasterCandidatesIps)
+  , ("SSMasterIp",             'C.ssMasterIp)
+  , ("SSMasterNetdev",         'C.ssMasterNetdev)
+  , ("SSMasterNetmask",        'C.ssMasterNetmask)
+  , ("SSMasterNode",           'C.ssMasterNode)
+  , ("SSNodeList",             'C.ssNodeList)
+  , ("SSNodePrimaryIps",       'C.ssNodePrimaryIps)
+  , ("SSNodeSecondaryIps",     'C.ssNodeSecondaryIps)
+  , ("SSOfflineNodes",         'C.ssOfflineNodes)
+  , ("SSOnlineNodes",          'C.ssOnlineNodes)
+  , ("SSPrimaryIpFamily",      'C.ssPrimaryIpFamily)
+  , ("SSInstanceList",         'C.ssInstanceList)
+  , ("SSReleaseVersion",       'C.ssReleaseVersion)
+  , ("SSHypervisorList",       'C.ssHypervisorList)
+  , ("SSMaintainNodeHealth",   'C.ssMaintainNodeHealth)
+  , ("SSUidPool",              'C.ssUidPool)
+  , ("SSNodegroups",           'C.ssNodegroups)
+  ])
+
+-- | Convert a ssconf key into a (full) file path.
+keyToFilename :: Maybe FilePath     -- ^ Optional config path override
+              -> SSKey              -- ^ ssconf key
+              -> FilePath
+keyToFilename optpath key = fromMaybe C.dataDir optpath </> sSKeyToRaw key
+
+-- | Runs an IO action while transforming any error into 'Bad'
+-- values. It also accepts an optional value to use in case the error
+-- is just does not exist.
+catchIOErrors :: Maybe a         -- ^ Optional default
+              -> IO a            -- ^ Action to run
+              -> IO (Result a)
+catchIOErrors def action =
+  catch (do
+          result <- action
+          return (Ok result)
+        ) (\err -> let bad_result = Bad (show err)
+                   in return $ if isDoesNotExistError err
+                                 then maybe bad_result Ok def
+                                 else bad_result)
+
+-- | Read an ssconf file.
+readSSConfFile :: Maybe FilePath            -- ^ Optional config path override
+               -> Maybe String              -- ^ Optional default value
+               -> SSKey                     -- ^ Desired ssconf key
+               -> IO (Result String)
+readSSConfFile optpath def key = do
+  result <- catchIOErrors def . readFile . keyToFilename optpath $ key
+  return (liftM (take maxFileSize) result)
+
+-- | Strip space characthers (including newline). As this is
+-- expensive, should only be run on small strings.
+rstripSpace :: String -> String
+rstripSpace = reverse . dropWhile isSpace . reverse
+
+-- | Parses a string containing an IP family
+parseIPFamily :: Int -> Result Socket.Family
+parseIPFamily fam | fam == C.ip4Family = Ok Socket.AF_INET
+                  | fam == C.ip6Family = Ok Socket.AF_INET6
+                  | otherwise = Bad $ "Unknown af_family value: " ++ show fam
+
+-- | Read the primary IP family.
+getPrimaryIPFamily :: Maybe FilePath -> IO (Result Socket.Family)
+getPrimaryIPFamily optpath = do
+  result <- readSSConfFile optpath (Just (show C.ip4Family)) SSPrimaryIpFamily
+  return (result >>= return . rstripSpace >>=
+          tryRead "Parsing af_family" >>= parseIPFamily)