diff --git a/lib/jstore.py b/lib/jstore.py
index 723cda17f052facb0427fd8fa393ba82171b95aa..a4e51fc499ecc17ad18fbc1ea2c1841fa2feccde 100644
--- a/lib/jstore.py
+++ b/lib/jstore.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ def InitAndVerifyQueue(must_lock):
         raise
 
   # Lock queue
-  queue_lock = utils.FileLock(constants.JOB_QUEUE_LOCK_FILE)
+  queue_lock = utils.FileLock.Open(constants.JOB_QUEUE_LOCK_FILE)
   try:
     # The queue needs to be locked in exclusive mode to write to the serial and
     # version files.
diff --git a/lib/ssconf.py b/lib/ssconf.py
index baa7f19065c539a658e4b4f20c35b7c50e402ab7..07a264a06eeed1cd0ffecffc8002eb6284c6b195 100644
--- a/lib/ssconf.py
+++ b/lib/ssconf.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class SimpleStore(object):
     @param values: Dictionary of (name, value)
 
     """
-    ssconf_lock = utils.FileLock(constants.SSCONF_LOCK_FILE)
+    ssconf_lock = utils.FileLock.Open(constants.SSCONF_LOCK_FILE)
 
     # Get lock while writing files
     ssconf_lock.Exclusive(blocking=True, timeout=SSCONF_LOCK_TIMEOUT)
diff --git a/lib/utils.py b/lib/utils.py
index bb8b986135d953f2392ae36933669f007900025d..a6b677c0b98344444647f18f20a231eaa2b4d421 100644
--- a/lib/utils.py
+++ b/lib/utils.py
@@ -2446,17 +2446,31 @@ class FileLock(object):
   """Utility class for file locks.
 
   """
-  def __init__(self, filename):
+  def __init__(self, fd, filename):
     """Constructor for FileLock.
 
-    This will open the file denoted by the I{filename} argument.
-
+    @type fd: file
+    @param fd: File object
     @type filename: str
-    @param filename: path to the file to be locked
+    @param filename: Path of the file opened at I{fd}
 
     """
+    self.fd = fd
     self.filename = filename
-    self.fd = open(self.filename, "w")
+
+  @classmethod
+  def Open(cls, filename):
+    """Creates and opens a file to be used as a file-based lock.
+
+    @type filename: string
+    @param filename: path to the file to be locked
+
+    """
+    # Using "os.open" is necessary to allow both opening existing file
+    # read/write and creating if not existing. Vanilla "open" will truncate an
+    # existing file -or- allow creating if not existing.
+    return cls(os.fdopen(os.open(filename, os.O_RDWR | os.O_CREAT), "w+"),
+               filename)
 
   def __del__(self):
     self.Close()
diff --git a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
index 14954684a71621dda8e0f0b00a684d067bc3c73a..f1c665940220eda3328429c2407a53331935eeaa 100755
--- a/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
+++ b/test/ganeti.utils_unittest.py
@@ -992,13 +992,9 @@ class TestTailFile(testutils.GanetiTestCase):
       self.failUnlessEqual(TailFile(fname, lines=i), data[-i:])
 
 
-class TestFileLock(unittest.TestCase):
+class _BaseFileLockTest:
   """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()
@@ -1035,6 +1031,45 @@ class TestFileLock(unittest.TestCase):
     self.lock.Unlock(blocking=False)
     self.lock.Close()
 
+  def testSimpleTimeout(self):
+    # These will succeed on the first attempt, hence a short timeout
+    self.lock.Shared(blocking=True, timeout=10.0)
+    self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=False, timeout=10.0)
+    self.lock.Unlock(blocking=True, timeout=10.0)
+    self.lock.Close()
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def _TryLockInner(filename, shared, blocking):
+    lock = utils.FileLock.Open(filename)
+
+    if shared:
+      fn = lock.Shared
+    else:
+      fn = lock.Exclusive
+
+    try:
+      # The timeout doesn't really matter as the parent process waits for us to
+      # finish anyway.
+      fn(blocking=blocking, timeout=0.01)
+    except errors.LockError, err:
+      return False
+
+    return True
+
+  def _TryLock(self, *args):
+    return utils.RunInSeparateProcess(self._TryLockInner, self.tmpfile.name,
+                                      *args)
+
+  def testTimeout(self):
+    for blocking in [True, False]:
+      self.lock.Exclusive(blocking=True)
+      self.failIf(self._TryLock(False, blocking))
+      self.failIf(self._TryLock(True, blocking))
+
+      self.lock.Shared(blocking=True)
+      self.assert_(self._TryLock(True, blocking))
+      self.failIf(self._TryLock(False, blocking))
+
   def testCloseShared(self):
     self.lock.Close()
     self.assertRaises(AssertionError, self.lock.Shared, blocking=False)
@@ -1048,6 +1083,31 @@ class TestFileLock(unittest.TestCase):
     self.assertRaises(AssertionError, self.lock.Unlock, blocking=False)
 
 
+class TestFileLockWithFilename(testutils.GanetiTestCase, _BaseFileLockTest):
+  TESTDATA = "Hello World\n" * 10
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    testutils.GanetiTestCase.setUp(self)
+
+    self.tmpfile = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
+    utils.WriteFile(self.tmpfile.name, data=self.TESTDATA)
+    self.lock = utils.FileLock.Open(self.tmpfile.name)
+
+    # Ensure "Open" didn't truncate file
+    self.assertFileContent(self.tmpfile.name, self.TESTDATA)
+
+  def tearDown(self):
+    self.assertFileContent(self.tmpfile.name, self.TESTDATA)
+
+    testutils.GanetiTestCase.tearDown(self)
+
+
+class TestFileLockWithFileObject(unittest.TestCase, _BaseFileLockTest):
+  def setUp(self):
+    self.tmpfile = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
+    self.lock = utils.FileLock(open(self.tmpfile.name, "w"), self.tmpfile.name)
+
+
 class TestTimeFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
   """Test case for time functions"""