diff --git a/apps/routing/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/Netlink.java b/apps/routing/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/Netlink.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee07349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/routing/src/main/java/org/onosproject/routing/fpm/protocol/Netlink.java
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016 Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.onosproject.routing.fpm.protocol;
+
+import com.google.common.base.MoreObjects;
+import org.onlab.packet.DeserializationException;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+
+import static org.onlab.packet.PacketUtils.checkInput;
+
+/**
+ * Netlink header.
+ * <p>
+ * Taken from struct nlmsghdr in linux/netlink.h
+ * </p>
+ */
+public final class Netlink {
+
+    public static final int NETLINK_HEADER_LENGTH = 16;
+
+    private final long length;
+    private final NetlinkMessageType type;
+    private final int flags;
+    private final long sequence;
+    private final long processPortId;
+
+    private final RtNetlink rtNetlink;
+
+    /**
+     * Class constructor.
+     *
+     * @param length message length
+     * @param type type
+     * @param flags flags
+     * @param sequence sequence number
+     * @param processPortId port ID
+     * @param rtNetlink netlink routing message
+     */
+    private Netlink(long length, NetlinkMessageType type, int flags, long sequence,
+                    long processPortId, RtNetlink rtNetlink) {
+        this.length = length;
+        this.type = type;
+        this.flags = flags;
+        this.sequence = sequence;
+        this.processPortId = processPortId;
+        this.rtNetlink = rtNetlink;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the message length.
+     *
+     * @return length
+     */
+    public long length() {
+        return length;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the message type.
+     *
+     * @return message type
+     */
+    public NetlinkMessageType type() {
+        return type;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the flags.
+     *
+     * @return flags
+     */
+    public int flags() {
+        return flags;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the sequence number.
+     *
+     * @return sequence number
+     */
+    public long sequence() {
+        return sequence;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the port ID.
+     *
+     * @return port ID
+     */
+    public long processPortId() {
+        return processPortId;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the netlink routing message.
+     *
+     * @return netlink routing message
+     */
+    public RtNetlink rtNetlink() {
+        return rtNetlink;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return MoreObjects.toStringHelper(getClass())
+                .add("length", length)
+                .add("type", type)
+                .add("flags", flags)
+                .add("sequence", sequence)
+                .add("processPortId", processPortId)
+                .add("rtNetlink", rtNetlink)
+                .toString();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Decodes a netlink header from an input buffer.
+     *
+     * @param buffer input buffer
+     * @param start starting position the netlink header
+     * @param length length of the message
+     * @return netlink header
+     * @throws DeserializationException if a netlink header could not be
+     * decoded from the input buffer
+     */
+    public static Netlink decode(byte[] buffer, int start, int length) throws
+            DeserializationException {
+        checkInput(buffer, start, length, NETLINK_HEADER_LENGTH);
+
+        ByteBuffer bb = ByteBuffer.wrap(buffer, start, length);
+
+        long messageLength = Integer.reverseBytes(bb.getInt());
+        int type = Short.reverseBytes(bb.getShort());
+        int flags = Short.reverseBytes(bb.getShort());
+        long sequence = Integer.reverseBytes(bb.getInt());
+        long processPortId = Integer.reverseBytes(bb.getInt());
+
+        NetlinkMessageType messageType = NetlinkMessageType.get(type);
+        if (messageType == null) {
+            throw new DeserializationException(
+                    "Unsupported Netlink message type: " + type);
+        }
+
+        // Netlink messages from Quagga's FPM protocol are always in the
+        // netlink route family (family 0).
+        RtNetlink rtNetlink = RtNetlink.decode(buffer, bb.position(),
+                bb.limit() - bb.position());
+
+        return new Netlink(messageLength,
+                messageType,
+                flags,
+                sequence,
+                processPortId,
+                rtNetlink);
+    }
+
+}