diff --git a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/api/ItemNotFoundException.java b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/api/ItemNotFoundException.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe484d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/api/ItemNotFoundException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/*
+ * 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.api;
+
+/**
+ * Represents condition where an item is not found or not available.
+ */
+public class ItemNotFoundException extends RuntimeException {
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new exception with no message.
+     */
+    public ItemNotFoundException() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new exception with the supplied message.
+     * @param message error message
+     */
+    public ItemNotFoundException(String message) {
+        super(message);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new exception with the supplied message and cause.
+     * @param message error message
+     * @param cause cause of the error
+     */
+    public ItemNotFoundException(String message, Throwable cause) {
+        super(message, cause);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/utils/pom.xml b/utils/pom.xml
index 54a5467..f46bc61 100644
--- a/utils/pom.xml
+++ b/utils/pom.xml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
         <module>nio</module>
         <module>osgi</module>
         <module>rest</module>
-	<module>thirdparty</module>
+        <module>thirdparty</module>
     </modules>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/utils/rest/src/main/java/org/onlab/rest/BaseResource.java b/utils/rest/src/main/java/org/onlab/rest/BaseResource.java
index 5886afe..50b4d0f 100644
--- a/utils/rest/src/main/java/org/onlab/rest/BaseResource.java
+++ b/utils/rest/src/main/java/org/onlab/rest/BaseResource.java
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 import org.onlab.osgi.DefaultServiceDirectory;
 import org.onlab.osgi.ServiceDirectory;
 
+import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;
+
 /**
  * Base abstraction of a JAX-RS resource.
  */
@@ -44,8 +46,12 @@
      * @param <T>     type of service
      * @return service implementation
      */
-    protected static <T> T get(Class<T> service) {
+    public <T> T get(Class<T> service) {
         return services.get(service);
     }
 
+    protected static Response.ResponseBuilder ok(Object obj) {
+        return Response.ok(obj);
+    }
+
 }