diff --git a/magnum/objects/__init__.py b/magnum/objects/__init__.py
index e69de29bb2..1231a7fe85 100644
--- a/magnum/objects/__init__.py
+++ b/magnum/objects/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Copyright 2013 - Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# 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.
+
+"""Common functionality for the application object model
+
+The object model must be initialized at service start via
+
+  magnum.objects.load()
+
+and all objects should be retrieved via
+
+  magnum.objects.registry.<class>
+
+in application code.
+"""
+
+from oslo.config import cfg
+from oslo.db import api
+
+from magnum.objects import registry as registry_mod
+
+db_opts = [
+    cfg.StrOpt('schema_mode',
+               default='new',
+               help="The version of the schema that should be "
+                    "running: 'old', 'transition', 'new'")
+]
+
+CONF = cfg.CONF
+CONF.register_opts(db_opts, "database")
+
+_BACKEND_MAPPING = {'sqlalchemy': 'magnum.objects.sqlalchemy'}
+IMPL = api.DBAPI.from_config(CONF, backend_mapping=_BACKEND_MAPPING)
+
+
+def transition_schema():
+    """Is the new schema in write-only mode."""
+    return cfg.CONF.database.schema_mode == 'transition'
+
+
+def new_schema():
+    """Should objects be writing to the new schema."""
+    return cfg.CONF.database.schema_mode != 'old'
+
+
+def load():
+    """Ensure that the object model is initialized."""
+    global registry
+    registry.clear()
+    IMPL.load()
+
+registry = registry_mod.Registry()
diff --git a/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/__init__.py b/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..704c9a3930
--- /dev/null
+++ b/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Copyright 2013 - Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# 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.
+
+import sys
+
+from oslo.config import cfg
+from oslo.db.sqlalchemy import session
+
+
+_FACADE = None
+
+
+def get_facade():
+    global _FACADE
+
+    if not _FACADE:
+        _FACADE = session.EngineFacade.from_config(cfg.CONF)
+    return _FACADE
+
+get_engine = lambda: get_facade().get_engine()
+get_session = lambda: get_facade().get_session()
+
+
+def get_backend():
+    """The backend is this module itself."""
+    return sys.modules[__name__]
+
+
+def cleanup():
+    global _FACADE
+
+    if _FACADE:
+        _FACADE._session_maker.close_all()
+        _FACADE.get_engine().dispose()
+        _FACADE = None
+
+
+def load():
+    """Activate the sqlalchemy backend."""
+    pass
diff --git a/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/models.py b/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..575e015a90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/magnum/objects/sqlalchemy/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+# Copyright 2013 - Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# 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.
+
+"""
+SQLAlchemy models for application data.
+"""
+
+import json
+
+from oslo.config import cfg
+from oslo.db import exception as db_exc
+from oslo.db.sqlalchemy import models
+import six
+from six import moves
+from sqlalchemy.ext import declarative
+from sqlalchemy.orm import exc
+from sqlalchemy import types
+
+from magnum.common import exception
+from magnum import objects
+from magnum.objects import sqlalchemy as object_sqla
+
+
+def table_args():
+    cfg.CONF.import_opt('connection', 'oslo.db.options',
+                        group='database')
+    if cfg.CONF.database.connection is None:
+        # this is only within some object tests where
+        # the object classes are directly imported.
+        return None
+    engine_name = moves.urllib.parse.urlparse(
+        cfg.CONF.database.connection).scheme
+    if engine_name == 'mysql':
+        return {'mysql_engine': 'InnoDB',
+                'mysql_charset': "utf8"}
+    return None
+
+
+def model_query(context, model, *args, **kwargs):
+    """Query helper.
+
+    :param context: context to query under
+    :param session: if present, the session to use
+    """
+
+    session = kwargs.get('session') or object_sqla.get_session()
+
+    query = session.query(model, *args)
+    return query
+
+
+class MagnumBase(models.TimestampMixin, models.ModelBase):
+
+    metadata = None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def obj_name(cls):
+        return cls.__name__
+
+    def as_dict(self):
+        d = {}
+        for c in self.__table__.columns:
+            d[c.name] = self[c.name]
+        for k in self._extra_keys:
+            d[k] = self[k]
+        return d
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_session(cls):
+        return object_sqla.get_session()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_by_id(cls, context, item_id):
+        try:
+            session = MagnumBase.get_session()
+            return session.query(cls).filter_by(id=item_id).one()
+        except exc.NoResultFound:
+            cls._raise_not_found(item_id)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_by_uuid(cls, context, item_uuid):
+        try:
+            session = MagnumBase.get_session()
+            return session.query(cls).filter_by(uuid=item_uuid).one()
+        except exc.NoResultFound:
+            cls._raise_not_found(item_uuid)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _raise_duplicate_object(cls):
+        if hasattr(cls, '__resource__'):
+            raise exception.ResourceExists(name=cls.__resource__)
+        else:
+            raise exception.ObjectNotUnique(name=cls.__tablename__)
+
+    def _non_updatable_fields(self):
+        return set(('uuid', 'id'))
+
+    def _lazyhasattr(self, name):
+        return any(name in d for d in (self.__dict__,
+                                       self.__class__.__dict__))
+
+    def update(self, data):
+        for field in set(six.iterkeys(data)) - self._non_updatable_fields():
+            if self._lazyhasattr(field):
+                setattr(self, field, data[field])
+
+    def save(self, context):
+        if objects.transition_schema():
+            self.add_forward_schema_changes()
+
+        session = MagnumBase.get_session()
+        with session.begin():
+            session.merge(self)
+
+    def create(self, context):
+        session = MagnumBase.get_session()
+        try:
+            with session.begin():
+                session.add(self)
+        except (db_exc.DBDuplicateEntry):
+            self.__class__._raise_duplicate_object()
+
+    def destroy(self, context):
+        session = MagnumBase.get_session()
+        with session.begin():
+            session.query(self.__class__).filter_by(
+                id=self.id).delete()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _raise_not_found(cls, item_id):
+        """Raise a not found exception."""
+        if hasattr(cls, '__resource__'):
+            raise exception.ResourceNotFound(name=cls.__resource__, id=item_id)
+        else:
+            raise exception.ObjectNotFound(name=cls.__tablename__, id=item_id)
+
+
+Base = declarative.declarative_base(cls=MagnumBase)
+
+
+class JsonEncodedType(types.TypeDecorator):
+    """Abstract base type serialized as json-encoded string in db."""
+    type = None
+    impl = types.TEXT
+
+    def process_bind_param(self, value, dialect):
+        if value is None:
+            # Save default value according to current type to keep the
+            # interface the consistent.
+            value = self.type()
+        elif not isinstance(value, self.type):
+            raise TypeError("%s supposes to store %s objects, but %s given"
+                            % (self.__class__.__name__,
+                               self.type.__name__,
+                               type(value).__name__))
+        serialized_value = json.dumps(value)
+        return serialized_value
+
+    def process_result_value(self, value, dialect):
+        if value is not None:
+            value = json.loads(value)
+        return value
+
+
+class JSONEncodedDict(JsonEncodedType):
+    """Represents dict serialized as json-encoded string in db."""
+    type = dict
+
+
+class JSONEncodedList(JsonEncodedType):
+    """Represents list serialized as json-encoded string in db."""
+    type = list
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 01c9e05914..3589c1709f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ pbr>=0.6,!=0.7,<1.0
 Babel>=1.3
 
 oslo.config>=1.4.0
+oslo.db>=0.2.0  # Apache-2.0
 oslo.messaging>=1.4.0
 oslo.serialization>=1.0.0
 oslo.utils>=1.0.0
@@ -13,5 +14,6 @@ pecan>=0.8.0
 python-keystoneclient>=0.11.1
 python-zaqarclient>=0.0.3
 six>=1.7.0
+SQLAlchemy>=0.8.4,!=0.9.5,<=0.9.99
 WSME>=0.6
 docker-py>=0.5.1