diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/cluster/impl/DistributedClusterStore.java b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/cluster/impl/DistributedClusterStore.java
index dec2c23..0472cff 100644
--- a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/cluster/impl/DistributedClusterStore.java
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/cluster/impl/DistributedClusterStore.java
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
+import static java.net.NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces;
+import static java.util.Collections.list;
 import static org.onlab.util.Tools.groupedThreads;
 import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
 
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@
         extends AbstractStore<ClusterEvent, ClusterStoreDelegate>
         implements ClusterStore {
 
-    private final Logger log = getLogger(DistributedClusterStore.class);
+    private static final Logger log = getLogger(DistributedClusterStore.class);
 
     // TODO: make these configurable.
     private static final int HEARTBEAT_FD_PORT = 2419;
@@ -81,14 +83,16 @@
     private static final String CLUSTER_DEFINITION_FILE = "cluster.json";
     private static final String HEARTBEAT_MESSAGE = "onos-cluster-heartbeat";
 
+    public static final int DEFAULT_PORT = 9876;
+
     private static final KryoSerializer SERIALIZER = new KryoSerializer() {
         @Override
         protected void setupKryoPool() {
             serializerPool = KryoNamespace.newBuilder()
-                .register(KryoNamespaces.API)
-                .register(HeartbeatMessage.class)
-                .build()
-                .populate(1);
+                    .register(KryoNamespaces.API)
+                    .register(HeartbeatMessage.class)
+                    .build()
+                    .populate(1);
         }
     };
 
@@ -112,18 +116,22 @@
 
     @Activate
     public void activate() {
-        File clusterDefinitionFile = new File(CONFIG_DIR,
-                CLUSTER_DEFINITION_FILE);
+        File clusterDefinitionFile = new File(CONFIG_DIR, CLUSTER_DEFINITION_FILE);
+        ClusterDefinitionStore clusterDefinitionStore =
+                new ClusterDefinitionStore(clusterDefinitionFile.getPath());
+
+        if (!clusterDefinitionFile.exists()) {
+            createDefaultClusterDefinition(clusterDefinitionStore);
+        }
 
         try {
-            clusterDefinition = new ClusterDefinitionStore(
-                    clusterDefinitionFile.getPath()).read();
+            clusterDefinition = clusterDefinitionStore.read();
             seedNodes = ImmutableSet
                     .copyOf(clusterDefinition.getNodes())
                     .stream()
-                    .map(nodeInfo -> new DefaultControllerNode(new NodeId(
-                            nodeInfo.getId()), IpAddress.valueOf(nodeInfo
-                            .getIp()), nodeInfo.getTcpPort()))
+                    .map(nodeInfo -> new DefaultControllerNode(new NodeId(nodeInfo.getId()),
+                                                               IpAddress.valueOf(nodeInfo.getIp()),
+                                                               nodeInfo.getTcpPort()))
                     .collect(Collectors.toSet());
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IllegalStateException(
@@ -148,16 +156,51 @@
                             + " failure detector communication channel.", e);
         }
         messagingService.registerHandler(HEARTBEAT_MESSAGE,
-                new HeartbeatMessageHandler(), heartBeatMessageHandler);
+                                         new HeartbeatMessageHandler(), heartBeatMessageHandler);
 
         failureDetector = new PhiAccrualFailureDetector();
 
         heartBeatSender.scheduleWithFixedDelay(this::heartbeat, 0,
-                HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_MS, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+                                               HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_MS, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         log.info("Started");
     }
 
+    private void createDefaultClusterDefinition(ClusterDefinitionStore store) {
+        // Assumes IPv4 is returned.
+        String ip = DistributedClusterStore.getSiteLocalAddress();
+        String ipPrefix = ip.replaceFirst("\\.[0-9]*$", ".*");
+        NodeInfo node = NodeInfo.from(ip, ip, DEFAULT_PORT);
+        try {
+            store.write(ClusterDefinition.from(ImmutableSet.of(node), ipPrefix));
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.warn("Unable to write default cluster definition", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the site local address if one can be found, loopback otherwise.
+     *
+     * @return site-local address in string form
+     */
+    public static String getSiteLocalAddress() {
+        try {
+            for (NetworkInterface nif : list(getNetworkInterfaces())) {
+                for (InetAddress address : list(nif.getInetAddresses())) {
+                    if (address.getAddress()[0] == (byte) 0xC0) {
+                        return address.toString().substring(1);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            return InetAddress.getLoopbackAddress().toString().substring(1);
+
+        } catch (SocketException e) {
+            log.error("Unable to get network interfaces", e);
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
     @Deactivate
     public void deactivate() {
         try {
@@ -300,7 +343,7 @@
                 NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
         while (interfaces.hasMoreElements()) {
             NetworkInterface iface = interfaces.nextElement();
-            Enumeration<InetAddress> inetAddresses =  iface.getInetAddresses();
+            Enumeration<InetAddress> inetAddresses = iface.getInetAddresses();
             while (inetAddresses.hasMoreElements()) {
                 IpAddress ip = IpAddress.valueOf(inetAddresses.nextElement());
                 if (AddressUtil.matchInterface(ip.toString(), clusterDefinition.getIpPrefix())) {
diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/consistent/impl/DatabaseManager.java b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/consistent/impl/DatabaseManager.java
index eaeecfd..eb5a70f 100644
--- a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/consistent/impl/DatabaseManager.java
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/consistent/impl/DatabaseManager.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 package org.onosproject.store.consistent.impl;
 
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
 
@@ -40,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.ReferenceCardinality;
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Service;
 import org.onosproject.cluster.ClusterService;
+import org.onosproject.store.cluster.impl.DistributedClusterStore;
 import org.onosproject.store.cluster.impl.NodeInfo;
 import org.onosproject.store.cluster.messaging.ClusterCommunicationService;
 import org.onosproject.store.ecmap.EventuallyConsistentMapBuilderImpl;
@@ -102,8 +105,11 @@
 
         Map<String, Set<NodeInfo>> partitionMap;
         try {
-            DatabaseDefinitionStore databaseDef = new DatabaseDefinitionStore(file);
-            partitionMap = databaseDef.read().getPartitions();
+            DatabaseDefinitionStore databaseDefStore = new DatabaseDefinitionStore(file);
+            if (!file.exists()) {
+                createDefaultDatabaseDefinition(databaseDefStore);
+            }
+            partitionMap = databaseDefStore.read().getPartitions();
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Failed to load database config", e);
         }
@@ -180,6 +186,18 @@
         log.info("Started");
     }
 
+    private void createDefaultDatabaseDefinition(DatabaseDefinitionStore store) {
+        // Assumes IPv4 is returned.
+        String ip = DistributedClusterStore.getSiteLocalAddress();
+        NodeInfo node = NodeInfo.from(ip, ip, DistributedClusterStore.DEFAULT_PORT);
+        try {
+            store.write(DatabaseDefinition.from(ImmutableMap.of("p1", ImmutableSet.of(node)),
+                                                ImmutableSet.of(node)));
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.warn("Unable to write default cluster definition", e);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Deactivate
     public void deactivate() {
         CompletableFuture.allOf(inMemoryDatabase.close(), partitionedDatabase.close())
diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/hz/StoreManager.java b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/hz/StoreManager.java
index ef764b4..e8dc461 100644
--- a/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/hz/StoreManager.java
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/java/org/onosproject/store/hz/StoreManager.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package org.onosproject.store.hz;
 
+import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
+import com.google.common.io.Files;
 import com.hazelcast.config.Config;
 import com.hazelcast.config.FileSystemXmlConfig;
 import com.hazelcast.core.Hazelcast;
@@ -24,10 +26,14 @@
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Component;
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Deactivate;
 import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Service;
+import org.onosproject.store.cluster.impl.DistributedClusterStore;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 
 /**
  * Auxiliary bootstrap of distributed store.
@@ -45,6 +51,11 @@
     @Activate
     public void activate() {
         try {
+            File hazelcastFile = new File(HAZELCAST_XML_FILE);
+            if (!hazelcastFile.exists()) {
+                createDefaultHazelcastFile(hazelcastFile);
+            }
+
             Config config = new FileSystemXmlConfig(HAZELCAST_XML_FILE);
 
             instance = Hazelcast.newHazelcastInstance(config);
@@ -54,6 +65,20 @@
         }
     }
 
+    private void createDefaultHazelcastFile(File hazelcastFile) {
+        String ip = DistributedClusterStore.getSiteLocalAddress();
+        String ipPrefix = ip.replaceFirst("\\.[0-9]*$", ".*");
+        InputStream his = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/hazelcast.xml");
+        try {
+            String hzCfg = new String(ByteStreams.toByteArray(his), "UTF-8");
+            hzCfg = hzCfg.replaceFirst("@NAME", ip);
+            hzCfg = hzCfg.replaceFirst("@PREFIX", ipPrefix);
+            Files.write(hzCfg.getBytes("UTF-8"), hazelcastFile);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.error("Unable to write default hazelcast file", e);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Deactivate
     public void deactivate() {
         instance.shutdown();
diff --git a/core/store/dist/src/main/resources/hazelcast.xml b/core/store/dist/src/main/resources/hazelcast.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2354bb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/store/dist/src/main/resources/hazelcast.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,228 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<!--
+  ~ Copyright 2015 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.
+  -->
+
+<!--
+    The default Hazelcast configuration. This is used when:
+
+    - no hazelcast.xml if present
+
+-->
+<hazelcast xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.hazelcast.com/schema/config hazelcast-config-3.3.xsd"
+           xmlns="http://www.hazelcast.com/schema/config"
+           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
+    <group>
+        <name>@NAME</name>
+        <password>rocks</password>
+    </group>
+    <management-center enabled="false">http://localhost:8080/mancenter</management-center>
+    <properties>
+        <property name="hazelcast.max.no.heartbeat.seconds">30</property>
+        <property name="hazelcast.merge.first.run.delay.seconds">30</property>
+        <property name="hazelcast.merge.next.run.delay.seconds">30</property>
+    </properties> 
+    <network>
+        <port auto-increment="true" port-count="100">5701</port>
+        <outbound-ports>
+            <!--
+            Allowed port range when connecting to other nodes.
+            0 or * means use system provided port.
+            -->
+            <ports>0</ports>
+        </outbound-ports>
+        <join>
+            <multicast enabled="true">
+                <multicast-group>224.2.2.3</multicast-group>
+                <multicast-port>54327</multicast-port>
+            </multicast>
+            <tcp-ip enabled="false">
+                <interface>127.0.0.1</interface>
+            </tcp-ip>
+        </join>
+        <interfaces enabled="true">
+            <interface>@PREFIX</interface>
+        </interfaces>
+        <ssl enabled="false"/>
+        <socket-interceptor enabled="false"/>
+        <symmetric-encryption enabled="false">
+            <!--
+               encryption algorithm such as
+               DES/ECB/PKCS5Padding,
+               PBEWithMD5AndDES,
+               AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding,
+               Blowfish,
+               DESede
+            -->
+            <algorithm>PBEWithMD5AndDES</algorithm>
+            <!-- salt value to use when generating the secret key -->
+            <salt>thesalt</salt>
+            <!-- pass phrase to use when generating the secret key -->
+            <password>thepass</password>
+            <!-- iteration count to use when generating the secret key -->
+            <iteration-count>19</iteration-count>
+        </symmetric-encryption>
+    </network>
+    <partition-group enabled="false"/>
+    <executor-service name="default">
+        <pool-size>16</pool-size>
+        <!--Queue capacity. 0 means Integer.MAX_VALUE.-->
+        <queue-capacity>0</queue-capacity>
+    </executor-service>
+    <queue name="default">
+        <!--
+            Maximum size of the queue. When a JVM's local queue size reaches the maximum,
+            all put/offer operations will get blocked until the queue size
+            of the JVM goes down below the maximum.
+            Any integer between 0 and Integer.MAX_VALUE. 0 means
+            Integer.MAX_VALUE. Default is 0.
+        -->
+        <max-size>0</max-size>
+        <!--
+            Number of backups. If 1 is set as the backup-count for example,
+            then all entries of the map will be copied to another JVM for
+            fail-safety. 0 means no backup.
+        -->
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+
+        <!--
+            Number of async backups. 0 means no backup.
+        -->
+        <async-backup-count>0</async-backup-count>
+
+        <empty-queue-ttl>-1</empty-queue-ttl>
+    </queue>
+    <map name="default">
+        <!--
+           Data type that will be used for storing recordMap.
+           Possible values:
+           BINARY (default): keys and values will be stored as binary data
+           OBJECT : values will be stored in their object forms
+           OFFHEAP : values will be stored in non-heap region of JVM
+        -->
+        <in-memory-format>BINARY</in-memory-format>
+
+        <!--
+            Number of backups. If 1 is set as the backup-count for example,
+            then all entries of the map will be copied to another JVM for
+            fail-safety. 0 means no backup.
+        -->
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+        <!--
+            Number of async backups. 0 means no backup.
+        -->
+        <async-backup-count>0</async-backup-count>
+        <!--
+            Maximum number of seconds for each entry to stay in the map. Entries that are
+            older than <time-to-live-seconds> and not updated for <time-to-live-seconds>
+            will get automatically evicted from the map.
+            Any integer between 0 and Integer.MAX_VALUE. 0 means infinite. Default is 0.
+        -->
+        <time-to-live-seconds>0</time-to-live-seconds>
+        <!--
+            Maximum number of seconds for each entry to stay idle in the map. Entries that are
+            idle(not touched) for more than <max-idle-seconds> will get
+            automatically evicted from the map. Entry is touched if get, put or containsKey is called.
+            Any integer between 0 and Integer.MAX_VALUE. 0 means infinite. Default is 0.
+        -->
+        <max-idle-seconds>0</max-idle-seconds>
+        <!--
+            Valid values are:
+            NONE (no eviction),
+            LRU (Least Recently Used),
+            LFU (Least Frequently Used).
+            NONE is the default.
+        -->
+        <eviction-policy>NONE</eviction-policy>
+        <!--
+            Maximum size of the map. When max size is reached,
+            map is evicted based on the policy defined.
+            Any integer between 0 and Integer.MAX_VALUE. 0 means
+            Integer.MAX_VALUE. Default is 0.
+        -->
+        <max-size policy="PER_NODE">0</max-size>
+        <!--
+            When max. size is reached, specified percentage of
+            the map will be evicted. Any integer between 0 and 100.
+            If 25 is set for example, 25% of the entries will
+            get evicted.
+        -->
+        <eviction-percentage>25</eviction-percentage>
+        <!--
+            Minimum time in milliseconds which should pass before checking
+            if a partition of this map is evictable or not.
+            Default value is 100 millis.
+        -->
+        <min-eviction-check-millis>100</min-eviction-check-millis>
+        <!--
+            While recovering from split-brain (network partitioning),
+            map entries in the small cluster will merge into the bigger cluster
+            based on the policy set here. When an entry merge into the
+            cluster, there might an existing entry with the same key already.
+            Values of these entries might be different for that same key.
+            Which value should be set for the key? Conflict is resolved by
+            the policy set here. Default policy is PutIfAbsentMapMergePolicy
+
+            There are built-in merge policies such as
+            com.hazelcast.map.merge.PassThroughMergePolicy; entry will be added if there is no existing entry for the key.
+            com.hazelcast.map.merge.PutIfAbsentMapMergePolicy ; entry will be added if the merging entry doesn't exist in the cluster.
+            com.hazelcast.map.merge.HigherHitsMapMergePolicy ; entry with the higher hits wins.
+            com.hazelcast.map.merge.LatestUpdateMapMergePolicy ; entry with the latest update wins.
+        -->
+        <merge-policy>com.hazelcast.map.merge.PutIfAbsentMapMergePolicy</merge-policy>
+    </map>
+
+    <multimap name="default">
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+        <value-collection-type>SET</value-collection-type>
+    </multimap>
+
+    <multimap name="default">
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+        <value-collection-type>SET</value-collection-type>
+    </multimap>
+
+    <list name="default">
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+    </list>
+
+    <set name="default">
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+    </set>
+
+    <jobtracker name="default">
+        <max-thread-size>0</max-thread-size>
+        <!-- Queue size 0 means number of partitions * 2 -->
+        <queue-size>0</queue-size>
+        <retry-count>0</retry-count>
+        <chunk-size>1000</chunk-size>
+        <communicate-stats>true</communicate-stats>
+        <topology-changed-strategy>CANCEL_RUNNING_OPERATION</topology-changed-strategy>
+    </jobtracker>
+
+    <semaphore name="default">
+        <initial-permits>0</initial-permits>
+        <backup-count>1</backup-count>
+        <async-backup-count>0</async-backup-count>
+    </semaphore>
+
+    <serialization>
+        <portable-version>0</portable-version>
+    </serialization>
+
+    <services enable-defaults="true"/>
+
+</hazelcast>