diff --git a/drivers/src/main/java/org/onosproject/driver/netconf/NetconfConfigGetter.java b/drivers/src/main/java/org/onosproject/driver/netconf/NetconfConfigGetter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8956060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/src/main/java/org/onosproject/driver/netconf/NetconfConfigGetter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+package org.onosproject.driver.netconf;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
+import org.onosproject.net.DeviceId;
+import org.onosproject.net.behaviour.ConfigGetter;
+import org.onosproject.net.driver.AbstractHandlerBehaviour;
+import org.onosproject.net.driver.DriverHandler;
+import org.onosproject.netconf.NetconfController;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
+
+/**
+ * Gets the configuration of the specified type from the specified device. If a
+ * failure occurs it returns the error string found in UNABLE_TO_READ_CONFIG.
+ *
+ * This is a temporary development tool for use until yang integration is complete.
+ * This is not a properly specified behavior implementation. DO NOT USE AS AN EXAMPLE.
+ */
+//FIXME this should eventually be removed.
+
+public class NetconfConfigGetter extends AbstractHandlerBehaviour
+        implements ConfigGetter {
+
+    private final Logger log = getLogger(NetconfControllerConfig.class);
+
+    //FIXME the error string should be universal for all implementations of
+    // ConfigGetter
+    public static final String UNABLE_TO_READ_CONFIG = "config retrieval error";
+
+    @Override
+    public String getConfiguration(String type) {
+        DriverHandler handler = handler();
+        NetconfController controller = handler.get(NetconfController.class);
+        DeviceId ofDeviceId = handler.data().deviceId();
+        Preconditions.checkNotNull(controller, "Netconf controller is null");
+        try {
+            return controller.getDevicesMap().
+                    get(ofDeviceId).
+                    getSession().
+                    getConfig(type);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.error("Configuration could not be retrieved {}",
+                      e.getStackTrace().toString());
+        }
+        return UNABLE_TO_READ_CONFIG;
+    }
+
+}