diff --git a/apps/mappingmanagement/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/mapping/Mapping.java b/apps/mappingmanagement/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/mapping/Mapping.java
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+++ b/apps/mappingmanagement/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/mapping/Mapping.java
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017-present 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.mapping;
+
+import org.onosproject.core.ApplicationId;
+import org.onosproject.net.DeviceId;
+
+/**
+ * Abstraction of mapping.
+ */
+public interface Mapping {
+
+    /**
+     * Obtains the identifier of this mapping.
+     *
+     * @return mapping identifier
+     */
+    MappingId id();
+
+    /**
+     * Obtains the application identifier of this mapping.
+     *
+     * @return an application identifier
+     */
+    short appId();
+
+    /**
+     * Obtains the identity of the device where this mapping applies.
+     *
+     * @return device identifier
+     */
+    DeviceId deviceId();
+
+    /**
+     * {@inheritDoc}
+     *
+     * Equality for mappings only considers 'match equality'. This means that
+     * two mappings with the same match conditions will be equal.
+     *
+     * @param   obj   the reference object with which to compare.
+     * @return  {@code true} if this object is the same as the obj
+     *          argument; {@code false} otherwise.
+     */
+    boolean equals(Object obj);
+
+    /**
+     * A mapping builder.
+     */
+    interface Builder {
+
+        /**
+         * Assigns the application that built this mapping to this object.
+         * The short value of the appId will be used as a basis for the
+         * cookie value computation. It is expected that application use this
+         * call to set their application id.
+         *
+         * @param appId an application identifier
+         * @return this builder object
+         */
+        Builder fromApp(ApplicationId appId);
+
+        /**
+         * Sets the deviceId for this mapping.
+         *
+         * @param deviceId a device identifier
+         * @return this builder object
+         */
+        Builder forDevice(DeviceId deviceId);
+
+        /**
+         * Builds a mapping object.
+         *
+         * @return a mapping object
+         */
+        Mapping build();
+    }
+}