diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/store/service/impl/TabletDefinitionStore.java b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/store/service/impl/TabletDefinitionStore.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d3d45e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/store/service/impl/TabletDefinitionStore.java
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014 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.onlab.onos.store.service.impl;
+
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
+import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import org.onlab.onos.cluster.DefaultControllerNode;
+import org.onlab.onos.cluster.NodeId;
+import org.onlab.packet.IpAddress;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonEncoding;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonFactory;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
+
+/**
+ * Allows for reading and writing tablet definition as a JSON file.
+ */
+public class TabletDefinitionStore {
+
+    private final Logger log = getLogger(getClass());
+
+    private final File file;
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a reader/writer of the tablet definition file.
+     *
+     * @param filePath location of the definition file
+     */
+    public TabletDefinitionStore(String filePath) {
+        file = new File(filePath);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a reader/writer of the tablet definition file.
+     *
+     * @param filePath location of the definition file
+     */
+    public TabletDefinitionStore(File filePath) {
+        file = checkNotNull(filePath);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the Map from tablet name to set of initial member nodes.
+     *
+     * @return Map from tablet name to set of initial member nodes
+     * @throws IOException when I/O exception of some sort has occurred.
+     */
+    public Map<String, Set<DefaultControllerNode>> read() throws IOException {
+
+        final Map<String, Set<DefaultControllerNode>> tablets = new HashMap<>();
+
+        final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+        final ObjectNode tabletNodes = (ObjectNode) mapper.readTree(file);
+        final Iterator<Entry<String, JsonNode>> fields = tabletNodes.fields();
+        while (fields.hasNext()) {
+            final Entry<String, JsonNode> next = fields.next();
+            final Set<DefaultControllerNode> nodes = new HashSet<>();
+            final Iterator<JsonNode> elements = next.getValue().elements();
+            while (elements.hasNext()) {
+                ObjectNode nodeDef = (ObjectNode) elements.next();
+                nodes.add(new DefaultControllerNode(new NodeId(nodeDef.get("id").asText()),
+                                                    IpAddress.valueOf(nodeDef.get("ip").asText()),
+                                                    nodeDef.get("tcpPort").asInt(9876)));
+            }
+
+            tablets.put(next.getKey(), nodes);
+        }
+        return tablets;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Updates the Map from tablet name to set of member nodes.
+     *
+     * @param tabletName name of the tablet to update
+     * @param nodes set of initial member nodes
+     * @throws IOException when I/O exception of some sort has occurred.
+     */
+    public void write(String tabletName, Set<DefaultControllerNode> nodes) throws IOException {
+        checkNotNull(tabletName);
+        checkArgument(tabletName.isEmpty(), "Tablet name cannot be empty");
+        // TODO should validate if tabletName is allowed in JSON
+
+        // load current
+        Map<String, Set<DefaultControllerNode>> config;
+        try {
+            config = read();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.info("Reading tablet config failed, assuming empty definition.");
+            config = new HashMap<>();
+        }
+        // update with specified
+        config.put(tabletName, nodes);
+
+        // write back to file
+        final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+        final ObjectNode tabletNodes = mapper.createObjectNode();
+        for (Entry<String, Set<DefaultControllerNode>> tablet : config.entrySet()) {
+            ArrayNode nodeDefs = mapper.createArrayNode();
+            tabletNodes.set(tablet.getKey(), nodeDefs);
+
+            for (DefaultControllerNode node : tablet.getValue()) {
+                ObjectNode nodeDef = mapper.createObjectNode();
+                nodeDef.put("id", node.id().toString())
+                       .put("ip", node.ip().toString())
+                       .put("tcpPort", node.tcpPort());
+                nodeDefs.add(nodeDef);
+            }
+        }
+        mapper.writeTree(new JsonFactory().createGenerator(file, JsonEncoding.UTF8),
+                         tabletNodes);
+    }
+
+}