diff --git a/upup/pkg/kutil/node_utils.go b/upup/pkg/kutil/node_utils.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea7e010406
--- /dev/null
+++ b/upup/pkg/kutil/node_utils.go
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+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 kutil
+
+import (
+	client "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned"
+	"time"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/golang/glog"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/wait"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/fields"
+)
+
+const (
+	// How often to Poll pods, nodes and claims.
+	Poll = 2 * time.Second
+
+	// How long to try single API calls (like 'get' or 'list'). Used to prevent
+	// transient failures from failing tests.
+	// TODO: client should not apply this timeout to Watch calls. Increased from 30s until that is fixed.
+	SingleCallTimeout = 5 * time.Minute
+)
+
+
+// GetReadySchedulableNodesOrDie addresses the common use case of getting nodes you can do work on.
+// 1) Needs to be schedulable.
+// 2) Needs to be ready.
+// If EITHER 1 or 2 is not true, most tests will want to ignore the node entirely.
+func GetReadySchedulableNodesOrDie(c *client.Client) (nodes *api.NodeList) {
+	nodes = waitListSchedulableNodesOrDie(c)
+	// previous tests may have cause failures of some nodes. Let's skip
+	// 'Not Ready' nodes, just in case (there is no need to fail the test).
+	FilterNodes(nodes, func(node api.Node) bool {
+		return isNodeSchedulable(&node)
+	})
+	return nodes
+}
+
+// waitListSchedulableNodesOrDie is a wrapper around listing nodes supporting retries.
+func waitListSchedulableNodesOrDie(c *client.Client) *api.NodeList {
+	var nodes *api.NodeList
+	var err error
+	if wait.PollImmediate(Poll, SingleCallTimeout, func() (bool, error) {
+		nodes, err = c.Nodes().List(api.ListOptions{FieldSelector: fields.Set{
+			"spec.unschedulable": "false",
+		}.AsSelector()})
+		return err == nil, nil
+	}) != nil {
+		ExpectNoError(err, "Timed out while listing nodes for e2e cluster.")
+	}
+	return nodes
+}
+
+// Node is schedulable if:
+// 1) doesn't have "unschedulable" field set
+// 2) it's Ready condition is set to true
+// 3) doesn't have NetworkUnavailable condition set to true
+func isNodeSchedulable(node *api.Node) bool {
+	nodeReady := IsNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node, api.NodeReady, true)
+	networkReady := IsNodeConditionUnset(node, api.NodeNetworkUnavailable) ||
+		IsNodeConditionSetAsExpectedSilent(node, api.NodeNetworkUnavailable, false)
+	return !node.Spec.Unschedulable && nodeReady && networkReady
+}
+
+func IsNodeConditionSetAsExpectedSilent(node *api.Node, conditionType api.NodeConditionType, wantTrue bool) bool {
+	return isNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node, conditionType, wantTrue, true)
+}
+
+func IsNodeConditionUnset(node *api.Node, conditionType api.NodeConditionType) bool {
+	for _, cond := range node.Status.Conditions {
+		if cond.Type == conditionType {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+func FilterNodes(nodeList *api.NodeList, fn func(node api.Node) bool) {
+	var l []api.Node
+
+	for _, node := range nodeList.Items {
+		if fn(node) {
+			l = append(l, node)
+		}
+	}
+	nodeList.Items = l
+}
+
+// waitListSchedulableNodesOrDie is a wrapper around listing nodes supporting retries.
+func waitListSchedulableNodesOrDie(c *client.Client) (*api.NodeList, error) {
+	var nodes *api.NodeList
+	var err error
+	if wait.PollImmediate(Poll, SingleCallTimeout, func() (bool, error) {
+		nodes, err = c.Nodes().List(api.ListOptions{FieldSelector: fields.Set{
+			"spec.unschedulable": "false",
+		}.AsSelector()})
+		return nodes, err
+	}) != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return nodes, nil
+}
+
+// WaitForNodeToBeReady returns whether node name is ready within timeout.
+func WaitForNodeToBeReady(c *client.Client, name string, timeout time.Duration) bool {
+	return WaitForNodeToBe(c, name, api.NodeReady, true, timeout)
+}
+
+// WaitForNodeToBeNotReady returns whether node name is not ready (i.e. the
+// readiness condition is anything but ready, e.g false or unknown) within
+// timeout.
+func WaitForNodeToBeNotReady(c *client.Client, name string, timeout time.Duration) bool {
+	return WaitForNodeToBe(c, name, api.NodeReady, false, timeout)
+}
+
+// WaitForNodeToBe returns whether node "name's" condition state matches wantTrue
+// within timeout. If wantTrue is true, it will ensure the node condition status
+// is ConditionTrue; if it's false, it ensures the node condition is in any state
+// other than ConditionTrue (e.g. not true or unknown).
+func WaitForNodeToBe(c *client.Client, name string, conditionType api.NodeConditionType, wantTrue bool, timeout time.Duration) bool {
+	glog.V(4).Infof("Waiting up to %v for node %s condition %s to be %t", timeout, name, conditionType, wantTrue)
+	for start := time.Now(); time.Since(start) < timeout; time.Sleep(Poll) {
+		node, err := c.Nodes().Get(name)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.V(4).Infof("Couldn't get node %s", name)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if IsNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node, conditionType, wantTrue) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	glog.V(4).Infof("Node %s didn't reach desired %s condition status (%t) within %v", name, conditionType, wantTrue, timeout)
+	return false
+}
+
+func IsNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node *api.Node, conditionType api.NodeConditionType, wantTrue bool) bool {
+	return isNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node, conditionType, wantTrue, false)
+}
+
+func isNodeConditionSetAsExpected(node *api.Node, conditionType api.NodeConditionType, wantTrue, silent bool) bool {
+	// Check the node readiness condition (logging all).
+	for _, cond := range node.Status.Conditions {
+		// Ensure that the condition type and the status matches as desired.
+		if cond.Type == conditionType {
+			if (cond.Status == api.ConditionTrue) == wantTrue {
+				return true
+			} else {
+				if !silent {
+					glog.V(4).Infof(
+						"Condition %s of node %s is %v instead of %t. Reason: %v, message: %v",
+						conditionType, node.Name, cond.Status == api.ConditionTrue, wantTrue, cond.Reason, cond.Message)
+				}
+				return false
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if !silent {
+		glog.V(4).Infof("Couldn't find condition %v on node %v", conditionType, node.Name)
+	}
+	return false
+}