diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnDetails.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnDetails.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 2894c41813d..00000000000
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnDetails.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,110 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
- * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
- * distributed with this work for additional information
- * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
- * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.Set;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-
-/**
- * Contains the Info Column Family details like Column names, types and byte
- * representations for
- * {@link org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity}
- * object that is stored in hbase Also has utility functions for storing each of
- * these to the backend
- */
-@InterfaceAudience.Private
-@InterfaceStability.Unstable
-enum EntityColumnDetails {
-  ID(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "id"),
-  TYPE(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "type"),
-  CREATED_TIME(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "created_time"),
-  MODIFIED_TIME(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "modified_time"),
-  FLOW_VERSION(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "flow_version"),
-  PREFIX_IS_RELATED_TO(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "r"),
-  PREFIX_RELATES_TO(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "s"),
-  PREFIX_EVENTS(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "e");
-
-  private final EntityColumnFamily columnFamily;
-  private final String value;
-  private final byte[] inBytes;
-
-  private EntityColumnDetails(EntityColumnFamily columnFamily, 
-      String value) {
-    this.columnFamily = columnFamily;
-    this.value = value;
-    this.inBytes = Bytes.toBytes(this.value.toLowerCase());
-  }
-
-  public String getValue() {
-    return value;
-  }
-
-  byte[] getInBytes() {
-    return inBytes;
-  }
-
-  void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator entityTable, Object inputValue)
-      throws IOException {
-    TimelineWriterUtils.store(rowKey, entityTable,
-        this.columnFamily.getInBytes(), null, this.getInBytes(), inputValue,
-        null);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * stores events data with column prefix
-   */
-  void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator entityTable, byte[] idBytes,
-      String key, Object inputValue) throws IOException {
-    TimelineWriterUtils.store(rowKey, entityTable,
-        this.columnFamily.getInBytes(),
-        // column prefix
-        TimelineWriterUtils.join(
-            TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES,
-            this.getInBytes(), idBytes),
-        // column qualifier
-        Bytes.toBytes(key),
-        inputValue, null);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * stores relation entities with a column prefix
-   */
-  void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator entityTable, String key,
-      Set<String> inputValue) throws IOException {
-    TimelineWriterUtils.store(rowKey, entityTable,
-        this.columnFamily.getInBytes(),
-        // column prefix
-        this.getInBytes(),
-        // column qualifier
-        Bytes.toBytes(key),
-        // value
-        TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsString(
-            TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR, inputValue),
-        // cell timestamp
-        null);
-  }
-
-  // TODO add a method that accepts a byte array,
-  // iterates over the enum and returns an enum from those bytes
-
-}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnFamily.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnFamily.java
deleted file mode 100644
index e5563517d5f..00000000000
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/EntityColumnFamily.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,95 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
- * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
- * distributed with this work for additional information
- * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
- * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-
-/**
- * Contains the Column family names and byte representations for
- * {@link org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity}
- * object that is stored in hbase
- * Also has utility functions for storing each of these to the backend
- */
-@InterfaceAudience.Private
-@InterfaceStability.Unstable
-enum EntityColumnFamily {
-  INFO("i"),
-  CONFIG("c"),
-  METRICS("m");
-
-  private final String value;
-  private final byte[] inBytes;
-
-  private EntityColumnFamily(String value) {
-    this.value = value;
-    this.inBytes = Bytes.toBytes(this.value.toLowerCase());
-  }
-
-  byte[] getInBytes() {
-    return inBytes;
-  }
-
-  public String getValue() {
-    return value;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * stores the key as column and value as hbase column value in the given
-   * column family in the entity table
-   *
-   * @param rowKey
-   * @param entityTable
-   * @param inputValue
-   * @throws IOException
-   */
-  public void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator entityTable, String key,
-      String inputValue) throws IOException {
-    if (key == null) {
-      return;
-    }
-    TimelineWriterUtils.store(rowKey, entityTable, this.getInBytes(), null,
-        Bytes.toBytes(key), inputValue, null);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * stores the values along with cell timestamp
-   *
-   * @param rowKey
-   * @param entityTable
-   * @param key
-   * @param timestamp
-   * @param inputValue
-   * @throws IOException
-   */
-  public void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator entityTable, String key,
-      Long timestamp, Number inputValue) throws IOException {
-    if (key == null) {
-      return;
-    }
-    TimelineWriterUtils.store(rowKey, entityTable, this.getInBytes(), null,
-        Bytes.toBytes(key), inputValue, timestamp);
-  }
-
-  // TODO add a method that accepts a byte array,
-  // iterates over the enum and returns an enum from those bytes
-}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/HBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/HBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
index aa71c6c6316..e48ca60262a 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/HBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/HBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
@@ -26,19 +26,22 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ConnectionFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.service.AbstractService;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntities;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEvent;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineMetric;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineWriteResponse;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ConnectionFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.TimelineEntitySchemaConstants;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.TypedBufferedMutator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityColumn;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityColumnPrefix;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityRowKey;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityTable;
 
 /**
  * This implements a hbase based backend for storing application timeline entity
@@ -50,7 +53,7 @@ public class HBaseTimelineWriterImpl extends AbstractService implements
     TimelineWriter {
 
   private Connection conn;
-  private BufferedMutator entityTable;
+  private TypedBufferedMutator<EntityTable> entityTable;
 
   private static final Log LOG = LogFactory
       .getLog(HBaseTimelineWriterImpl.class);
@@ -72,10 +75,7 @@ protected void serviceInit(Configuration conf) throws Exception {
     super.serviceInit(conf);
     Configuration hbaseConf = HBaseConfiguration.create(conf);
     conn = ConnectionFactory.createConnection(hbaseConf);
-    TableName entityTableName = TableName.valueOf(hbaseConf.get(
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_NAME,
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME));
-    entityTable = conn.getBufferedMutator(entityTableName);
+    entityTable = new EntityTable().getTableMutator(hbaseConf, conn);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -86,9 +86,6 @@ public TimelineWriteResponse write(String clusterId, String userId,
       String flowName, String flowVersion, long flowRunId, String appId,
       TimelineEntities data) throws IOException {
 
-    byte[] rowKeyPrefix = TimelineWriterUtils.getRowKeyPrefix(clusterId,
-        userId, flowName, flowRunId, appId);
-
     TimelineWriteResponse putStatus = new TimelineWriteResponse();
     for (TimelineEntity te : data.getEntities()) {
 
@@ -96,19 +93,19 @@ public TimelineWriteResponse write(String clusterId, String userId,
       if (te == null) {
         continue;
       }
-      // get row key
-      byte[] row = TimelineWriterUtils.join(
-          TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES, rowKeyPrefix,
-          Bytes.toBytes(te.getType()), Bytes.toBytes(te.getId()));
 
-      storeInfo(row, te, flowVersion);
-      storeEvents(row, te.getEvents());
-      storeConfig(row, te.getConfigs());
-      storeMetrics(row, te.getMetrics());
-      storeRelations(row, te.getIsRelatedToEntities(),
-          EntityColumnDetails.PREFIX_IS_RELATED_TO);
-      storeRelations(row, te.getRelatesToEntities(),
-          EntityColumnDetails.PREFIX_RELATES_TO);
+      byte[] rowKey =
+          EntityRowKey.getRowKey(clusterId, userId, flowName, flowRunId, appId,
+              te);
+
+      storeInfo(rowKey, te, flowVersion);
+      storeEvents(rowKey, te.getEvents());
+      storeConfig(rowKey, te.getConfigs());
+      storeMetrics(rowKey, te.getMetrics());
+      storeRelations(rowKey, te.getIsRelatedToEntities(),
+          EntityColumnPrefix.IS_RELATED_TO);
+      storeRelations(rowKey, te.getRelatesToEntities(),
+          EntityColumnPrefix.RELATES_TO);
     }
 
     return putStatus;
@@ -119,10 +116,15 @@ public TimelineWriteResponse write(String clusterId, String userId,
    */
   private void storeRelations(byte[] rowKey,
       Map<String, Set<String>> connectedEntities,
-      EntityColumnDetails columnNamePrefix) throws IOException {
-    for (Map.Entry<String, Set<String>> entry : connectedEntities.entrySet()) {
-      columnNamePrefix.store(rowKey, entityTable, entry.getKey(),
-          entry.getValue());
+      EntityColumnPrefix entityColumnPrefix) throws IOException {
+    for (Map.Entry<String, Set<String>> connectedEntity : connectedEntities
+        .entrySet()) {
+      // id3?id4?id5
+      String compoundValue =
+          Separator.VALUES.joinEncoded(connectedEntity.getValue());
+
+      entityColumnPrefix.store(rowKey, entityTable, connectedEntity.getKey(),
+          null, compoundValue);
     }
   }
 
@@ -132,13 +134,13 @@ private void storeRelations(byte[] rowKey,
   private void storeInfo(byte[] rowKey, TimelineEntity te, String flowVersion)
       throws IOException {
 
-    EntityColumnDetails.ID.store(rowKey, entityTable, te.getId());
-    EntityColumnDetails.TYPE.store(rowKey, entityTable, te.getType());
-    EntityColumnDetails.CREATED_TIME.store(rowKey, entityTable,
+    EntityColumn.ID.store(rowKey, entityTable, null, te.getId());
+    EntityColumn.TYPE.store(rowKey, entityTable, null, te.getType());
+    EntityColumn.CREATED_TIME.store(rowKey, entityTable, null,
         te.getCreatedTime());
-    EntityColumnDetails.MODIFIED_TIME.store(rowKey, entityTable,
+    EntityColumn.MODIFIED_TIME.store(rowKey, entityTable, null,
         te.getModifiedTime());
-    EntityColumnDetails.FLOW_VERSION.store(rowKey, entityTable, flowVersion);
+    EntityColumn.FLOW_VERSION.store(rowKey, entityTable, null, flowVersion);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -150,8 +152,8 @@ private void storeConfig(byte[] rowKey, Map<String, String> config)
       return;
     }
     for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : config.entrySet()) {
-      EntityColumnFamily.CONFIG.store(rowKey, entityTable,
-          entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
+      EntityColumnPrefix.CONFIG.store(rowKey, entityTable, entry.getKey(),
+          null, entry.getValue());
     }
   }
 
@@ -163,11 +165,12 @@ private void storeMetrics(byte[] rowKey, Set<TimelineMetric> metrics)
       throws IOException {
     if (metrics != null) {
       for (TimelineMetric metric : metrics) {
-        String key = metric.getId();
+        String metricColumnQualifier = metric.getId();
         Map<Long, Number> timeseries = metric.getValues();
-        for (Map.Entry<Long, Number> entry : timeseries.entrySet()) {
-          EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.store(rowKey, entityTable, key,
-              entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
+        for (Map.Entry<Long, Number> timeseriesEntry : timeseries.entrySet()) {
+          Long timestamp = timeseriesEntry.getKey();
+          EntityColumnPrefix.METRIC.store(rowKey, entityTable,
+              metricColumnQualifier, timestamp, timeseriesEntry.getValue());
         }
       }
     }
@@ -181,19 +184,27 @@ private void storeEvents(byte[] rowKey, Set<TimelineEvent> events)
     if (events != null) {
       for (TimelineEvent event : events) {
         if (event != null) {
-          String id = event.getId();
-          if (id != null) {
-            byte[] idBytes = Bytes.toBytes(id);
+          String eventId = event.getId();
+          if (eventId != null) {
             Map<String, Object> eventInfo = event.getInfo();
             if (eventInfo != null) {
               for (Map.Entry<String, Object> info : eventInfo.entrySet()) {
-                EntityColumnDetails.PREFIX_EVENTS.store(rowKey,
-                    entityTable, idBytes, info.getKey(), info.getValue());
-              }
+                // eventId?infoKey
+                byte[] columnQualifierFirst =
+                    Bytes.toBytes(Separator.VALUES.encode(eventId));
+                byte[] compoundColumnQualifierBytes =
+                    Separator.VALUES.join(columnQualifierFirst,
+                        Bytes.toBytes(info.getKey()));
+                // convert back to string to avoid additional API on store.
+                String compoundColumnQualifier =
+                    Bytes.toString(compoundColumnQualifierBytes);
+                EntityColumnPrefix.METRIC.store(rowKey, entityTable,
+                    compoundColumnQualifier, null, info.getValue());
+              } // for info: eventInfo
             }
           }
         }
-      }
+      } // event : events
     }
   }
 
@@ -204,8 +215,7 @@ public TimelineWriteResponse aggregate(TimelineEntity data,
   }
 
   /**
-   * close the hbase connections
-   * The close APIs perform flushing and release any
+   * close the hbase connections The close APIs perform flushing and release any
    * resources held
    */
   @Override
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java
deleted file mode 100644
index d95cbb27242..00000000000
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
- * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
- * distributed with this work for additional information
- * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
- * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.YarnConfiguration;
-
-/**
- * contains the constants used in the context of schema accesses for
- * {@link org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity}
- * information
- */
-@InterfaceAudience.Private
-@InterfaceStability.Unstable
-public class TimelineEntitySchemaConstants {
-
-  /** entity prefix */
-  public static final String ENTITY_PREFIX =
-      YarnConfiguration.TIMELINE_SERVICE_PREFIX
-      + ".entity";
-
-  /** config param name that specifies the entity table name */
-  public static final String ENTITY_TABLE_NAME = ENTITY_PREFIX
-      + ".table.name";
-
-  /**
-   * config param name that specifies the TTL for metrics column family in
-   * entity table
-   */
-  public static final String ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_TTL = ENTITY_PREFIX
-      + ".table.metrics.ttl";
-
-  /** default value for entity table name */
-  public static final String DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME = "timelineservice.entity";
-
-  /** in bytes default value for entity table name */
-  static final byte[] DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME_BYTES = Bytes
-      .toBytes(DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME);
-
-  /** separator in row key */
-  public static final String ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR = "!";
-
-  /** byte representation of the separator in row key */
-  static final byte[] ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES = Bytes
-      .toBytes(ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR);
-
-  public static final byte ZERO_BYTES = 0;
-
-  /** default TTL is 30 days for metrics timeseries */
-  public static final int ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_TTL_DEFAULT = 2592000;
-
-  /** default max number of versions */
-  public static final int ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_MAX_VERSIONS_DEFAULT = 1000;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineSchemaCreator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineSchemaCreator.java
index 820a6d1244c..a5cc2ab3120 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineSchemaCreator.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineSchemaCreator.java
@@ -19,21 +19,6 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ConnectionFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.BloomType;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
-import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
-import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLineParser;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.HelpFormatter;
@@ -41,7 +26,18 @@
 import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.ParseException;
 import org.apache.commons.cli.PosixParser;
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ConnectionFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.GenericOptionsParser;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityTable;
 
 /**
  * This creates the schema for a hbase based backend for storing application
@@ -53,18 +49,6 @@ public class TimelineSchemaCreator {
 
   final static String NAME = TimelineSchemaCreator.class.getSimpleName();
   private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(TimelineSchemaCreator.class);
-  final static byte[][] splits = { Bytes.toBytes("a"), Bytes.toBytes("ad"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("an"), Bytes.toBytes("b"), Bytes.toBytes("ca"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("cl"), Bytes.toBytes("d"), Bytes.toBytes("e"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("f"), Bytes.toBytes("g"), Bytes.toBytes("h"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("i"), Bytes.toBytes("j"), Bytes.toBytes("k"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("l"), Bytes.toBytes("m"), Bytes.toBytes("n"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("o"), Bytes.toBytes("q"), Bytes.toBytes("r"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("s"), Bytes.toBytes("se"), Bytes.toBytes("t"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("u"), Bytes.toBytes("v"), Bytes.toBytes("w"),
-      Bytes.toBytes("x"), Bytes.toBytes("y"), Bytes.toBytes("z") };
-
-  public static final String SPLIT_KEY_PREFIX_LENGTH = "4";
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
 
@@ -79,13 +63,12 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     // Grab the entityTableName argument
     String entityTableName = commandLine.getOptionValue("e");
     if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(entityTableName)) {
-      hbaseConf.set(TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_NAME,
-          entityTableName);
+      hbaseConf.set(EntityTable.TABLE_NAME_CONF_NAME, entityTableName);
     }
-    String entityTable_TTL_Metrics = commandLine.getOptionValue("m");
-    if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(entityTable_TTL_Metrics)) {
-      hbaseConf.set(TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_TTL,
-          entityTable_TTL_Metrics);
+    String entityTableTTLMetrics = commandLine.getOptionValue("m");
+    if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(entityTableTTLMetrics)) {
+      int metricsTTL = Integer.parseInt(entityTableTTLMetrics);
+      new EntityTable().setMetricsTTL(metricsTTL, hbaseConf);
     }
     createAllTables(hbaseConf);
   }
@@ -136,7 +119,7 @@ private static void createAllTables(Configuration hbaseConf)
       if (admin == null) {
         throw new IOException("Cannot create table since admin is null");
       }
-      createTimelineEntityTable(admin, hbaseConf);
+      new EntityTable().createTable(admin, hbaseConf);
     } finally {
       if (conn != null) {
         conn.close();
@@ -144,88 +127,5 @@ private static void createAllTables(Configuration hbaseConf)
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Creates a table with column families info, config and metrics
-   * info stores information about a timeline entity object
-   * config stores configuration data of a timeline entity object
-   * metrics stores the metrics of a timeline entity object
-   *
-   * Example entity table record:
-   * <pre>
-   *|------------------------------------------------------------|
-   *|  Row       | Column Family  | Column Family | Column Family|
-   *|  key       | info           | metrics       | config       |
-   *|------------------------------------------------------------|
-   *| userName!  | id:entityId    | metricName1:  | configKey1:  |
-   *| clusterId! |                | metricValue1  | configValue1 |
-   *| flowId!    | type:entityType| @timestamp1   |              |
-   *| flowRunId! |                |               | configKey2:  |
-   *| AppId!     | created_time:  | metricName1:  | configValue2 |
-   *| entityType!| 1392993084018  | metricValue2  |              |
-   *| entityId   |                | @timestamp2   |              |
-   *|            | modified_time: |               |              |
-   *|            | 1392995081012  | metricName2:  |              |
-   *|            |                | metricValue1  |              |
-   *|            | r!relatesToKey:| @timestamp2   |              |
-   *|            | id3!id4!id5    |               |              |
-   *|            |                |               |              |
-   *|            | s!isRelatedToKey|              |              |
-   *|            | id7!id9!id5    |               |              |
-   *|            |                |               |              |
-   *|            | e!eventKey:    |               |              |
-   *|            | eventValue     |               |              |
-   *|            |                |               |              |
-   *|            | flowVersion:   |               |              |
-   *|            | versionValue   |               |              |
-   *|------------------------------------------------------------|
-   *</pre>
-   * @param admin
-   * @param hbaseConf
-   * @throws IOException
-   */
-  public static void createTimelineEntityTable(Admin admin,
-      Configuration hbaseConf) throws IOException {
 
-    TableName table = TableName.valueOf(hbaseConf.get(
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_NAME,
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME));
-    if (admin.tableExists(table)) {
-      // do not disable / delete existing table
-      // similar to the approach taken by map-reduce jobs when
-      // output directory exists
-      throw new IOException("Table " + table.getNameAsString()
-          + " already exists.");
-    }
-
-    HTableDescriptor entityTableDescp = new HTableDescriptor(table);
-    HColumnDescriptor cf1 = new HColumnDescriptor(
-        EntityColumnFamily.INFO.getInBytes());
-    cf1.setBloomFilterType(BloomType.ROWCOL);
-    entityTableDescp.addFamily(cf1);
-
-    HColumnDescriptor cf2 = new HColumnDescriptor(
-        EntityColumnFamily.CONFIG.getInBytes());
-    cf2.setBloomFilterType(BloomType.ROWCOL);
-    cf2.setBlockCacheEnabled(true);
-    entityTableDescp.addFamily(cf2);
-
-    HColumnDescriptor cf3 = new HColumnDescriptor(
-        EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.getInBytes());
-    entityTableDescp.addFamily(cf3);
-    cf3.setBlockCacheEnabled(true);
-    // always keep 1 version (the latest)
-    cf3.setMinVersions(1);
-    cf3.setMaxVersions(TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_MAX_VERSIONS_DEFAULT);
-    cf3.setTimeToLive(hbaseConf.getInt(
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_TTL,
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ENTITY_TABLE_METRICS_TTL_DEFAULT));
-    entityTableDescp
-        .setRegionSplitPolicyClassName("org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.KeyPrefixRegionSplitPolicy");
-    entityTableDescp.setValue("KeyPrefixRegionSplitPolicy.prefix_length",
-        SPLIT_KEY_PREFIX_LENGTH);
-    admin.createTable(entityTableDescp, splits);
-    LOG.info("Status of table creation for " + table.getNameAsString() + "="
-        + admin.tableExists(table));
-
-  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriter.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriter.java
index 467bceca699..494e8ad5f1b 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriter.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriter.java
@@ -15,17 +15,16 @@
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
-
 package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.service.Service;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntities;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineWriteResponse;
-import org.apache.hadoop.service.Service;
 
 /**
  * This interface is for storing application timeline information.
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriterUtils.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriterUtils.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 113935e8cee..00000000000
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TimelineWriterUtils.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,344 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
- * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
- * distributed with this work for additional information
- * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
- * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Set;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
-import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CellUtil;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timeline.GenericObjectMapper;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.Range;
-
-/**
- * bunch of utility functions used across TimelineWriter classes
- */
-@InterfaceAudience.Public
-@InterfaceStability.Unstable
-public class TimelineWriterUtils {
-
-  /** empty bytes */
-  public static final byte[] EMPTY_BYTES = new byte[0];
-  private static final String SPACE = " ";
-  private static final String UNDERSCORE = "_";
-  private static final String EMPTY_STRING = "";
-
-  /**
-   * Returns a single byte array containing all of the individual component
-   * arrays separated by the separator array.
-   *
-   * @param separator
-   * @param components
-   * @return byte array after joining the components
-   */
-  public static byte[] join(byte[] separator, byte[]... components) {
-    if (components == null || components.length == 0) {
-      return EMPTY_BYTES;
-    }
-
-    int finalSize = 0;
-    if (separator != null) {
-      finalSize = separator.length * (components.length - 1);
-    }
-    for (byte[] comp : components) {
-      if (comp != null) {
-        finalSize += comp.length;
-      }
-    }
-
-    byte[] buf = new byte[finalSize];
-    int offset = 0;
-    for (int i = 0; i < components.length; i++) {
-      if (components[i] != null) {
-        System.arraycopy(components[i], 0, buf, offset, components[i].length);
-        offset += components[i].length;
-        if (i < (components.length - 1) && separator != null
-            && separator.length > 0) {
-          System.arraycopy(separator, 0, buf, offset, separator.length);
-          offset += separator.length;
-        }
-      }
-    }
-    return buf;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Splits the source array into multiple array segments using the given
-   * separator, up to a maximum of count items. This will naturally produce
-   * copied byte arrays for each of the split segments. To identify the split
-   * ranges without the array copies, see
-   * {@link TimelineWriterUtils#splitRanges(byte[], byte[])}.
-   *
-   * @param source
-   * @param separator
-   * @return byte[] array after splitting the source
-   */
-  public static byte[][] split(byte[] source, byte[] separator) {
-    return split(source, separator, -1);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Splits the source array into multiple array segments using the given
-   * separator, up to a maximum of count items. This will naturally produce
-   * copied byte arrays for each of the split segments. To identify the split
-   * ranges without the array copies, see
-   * {@link TimelineWriterUtils#splitRanges(byte[], byte[])}.
-   *
-   * @param source
-   * @param separator
-   * @param limit
-   * @return byte[][] after splitting the input source
-   */
-  public static byte[][] split(byte[] source, byte[] separator, int limit) {
-    List<Range> segments = splitRanges(source, separator, limit);
-
-    byte[][] splits = new byte[segments.size()][];
-    for (int i = 0; i < segments.size(); i++) {
-      Range r = segments.get(i);
-      byte[] tmp = new byte[r.length()];
-      if (tmp.length > 0) {
-        System.arraycopy(source, r.start(), tmp, 0, r.length());
-      }
-      splits[i] = tmp;
-    }
-    return splits;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Returns a list of ranges identifying [start, end) -- closed, open --
-   * positions within the source byte array that would be split using the
-   * separator byte array.
-   */
-  public static List<Range> splitRanges(byte[] source, byte[] separator) {
-    return splitRanges(source, separator, -1);
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Returns a list of ranges identifying [start, end) -- closed, open --
-   * positions within the source byte array that would be split using the
-   * separator byte array.
-   * @param source the source data
-   * @param separator the separator pattern to look for
-   * @param limit the maximum number of splits to identify in the source
-   */
-  public static List<Range> splitRanges(byte[] source, byte[] separator, int limit) {
-    List<Range> segments = new ArrayList<Range>();
-    if ((source == null) || (separator == null)) {
-      return segments;
-    }
-    int start = 0;
-    itersource: for (int i = 0; i < source.length; i++) {
-      for (int j = 0; j < separator.length; j++) {
-        if (source[i + j] != separator[j]) {
-          continue itersource;
-        }
-      }
-      // all separator elements matched
-      if (limit > 0 && segments.size() >= (limit-1)) {
-        // everything else goes in one final segment
-        break;
-      }
-
-      segments.add(new Range(start, i));
-      start = i + separator.length;
-      // i will be incremented again in outer for loop
-      i += separator.length-1;
-    }
-    // add in remaining to a final range
-    if (start <= source.length) {
-      segments.add(new Range(start, source.length));
-    }
-    return segments;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * converts run id into it's inverse timestamp
-   * @param flowRunId
-   * @return inverted long
-   */
-  public static long encodeRunId(Long flowRunId) {
-    return Long.MAX_VALUE - flowRunId;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * return a value from the Map as a String
-   * @param key
-   * @param values
-   * @return value as a String or ""
-   * @throws IOException 
-   */
-  public static String getValueAsString(final byte[] key,
-      final Map<byte[], byte[]> values) throws IOException {
-    if( values == null ) {
-      return EMPTY_STRING;
-    }
-    byte[] value = values.get(key);
-    if (value != null) {
-      return GenericObjectMapper.read(value).toString();
-    } else {
-      return EMPTY_STRING;
-    }
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * return a value from the Map as a long
-   * @param key
-   * @param values
-   * @return value as Long or 0L
-   * @throws IOException 
-   */
-  public static long getValueAsLong(final byte[] key,
-      final Map<byte[], byte[]> values) throws IOException {
-    if (values == null) {
-      return 0;
-    }
-    byte[] value = values.get(key);
-    if (value != null) {
-      Number val = (Number) GenericObjectMapper.read(value);
-      return val.longValue();
-    } else {
-      return 0L;
-    }
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * concates the values from a Set<Strings> to return a single delimited string value
-   * @param rowKeySeparator
-   * @param values
-   * @return Value from the set of strings as a string
-   */
-  public static String getValueAsString(String rowKeySeparator,
-      Set<String> values) {
-
-    if (values == null) {
-      return EMPTY_STRING;
-    }
-    StringBuilder concatStrings = new StringBuilder();
-    for (String value : values) {
-      concatStrings.append(value);
-      concatStrings.append(rowKeySeparator);
-    }
-    // remove the last separator
-    if(concatStrings.length() > 1) {
-      concatStrings.deleteCharAt(concatStrings.lastIndexOf(rowKeySeparator));
-    }
-    return concatStrings.toString();
-  }
-  /**
-   * Constructs a row key prefix for the entity table
-   * @param clusterId
-   * @param userId
-   * @param flowId
-   * @param flowRunId
-   * @param appId
-   * @return byte array with the row key prefix
-   */
-  static byte[] getRowKeyPrefix(String clusterId, String userId, String flowId,
-      Long flowRunId, String appId) {
-    return TimelineWriterUtils.join(
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES,
-        Bytes.toBytes(cleanse(userId)), Bytes.toBytes(cleanse(clusterId)),
-        Bytes.toBytes(cleanse(flowId)),
-        Bytes.toBytes(TimelineWriterUtils.encodeRunId(flowRunId)),
-        Bytes.toBytes(cleanse(appId)));
- }
-
-  /**
-   * Takes a string token to be used as a key or qualifier and
-   * cleanses out reserved tokens.
-   * This operation is not symmetrical.
-   * Logic is to replace all spaces and separator chars in input with
-   * underscores.
-   *
-   * @param token token to cleanse.
-   * @return String with no spaces and no separator chars
-   */
-  public static String cleanse(String token) {
-    if (token == null || token.length() == 0) {
-      return token;
-    }
-
-    String cleansed = token.replaceAll(SPACE, UNDERSCORE);
-    cleansed = cleansed.replaceAll(
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR, UNDERSCORE);
-
-    return cleansed;
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * stores the info to the table in hbase
-   * 
-   * @param rowKey
-   * @param table
-   * @param columnFamily
-   * @param columnPrefix
-   * @param columnQualifier
-   * @param inputValue
-   * @param cellTimeStamp
-   * @throws IOException
-   */
-  public static void store(byte[] rowKey, BufferedMutator table, byte[] columnFamily,
-      byte[] columnPrefix, byte[] columnQualifier, Object inputValue,
-      Long cellTimeStamp) throws IOException {
-    if ((rowKey == null) || (table == null) || (columnFamily == null)
-        || (columnQualifier == null) || (inputValue == null)) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    Put p = null;
-    if (cellTimeStamp == null) {
-      if (columnPrefix != null) {
-        // store with prefix
-        p = new Put(rowKey);
-        p.addColumn(
-            columnFamily,
-            join(TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES,
-                columnPrefix, columnQualifier), GenericObjectMapper
-                .write(inputValue));
-      } else {
-        // store without prefix
-        p = new Put(rowKey);
-        p.addColumn(columnFamily, columnQualifier,
-            GenericObjectMapper.write(inputValue));
-      }
-    } else {
-      // store with cell timestamp
-      Cell cell = CellUtil.createCell(rowKey, columnFamily, columnQualifier,
-          // set the cell timestamp
-          cellTimeStamp,
-          // KeyValue Type minimum
-          TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ZERO_BYTES,
-          GenericObjectMapper.write(inputValue));
-      p = new Put(rowKey);
-      p.add(cell);
-    }
-    if (p != null) {
-      table.mutate(p);
-    }
-
-  }
-
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BaseTable.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BaseTable.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e8d8b5c4963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BaseTable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ResultScanner;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Scan;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
+
+/**
+ * Implements behavior common to tables used in the timeline service storage.
+ *
+ * @param <T> reference to the table instance class itself for type safety.
+ */
+public abstract class BaseTable<T> {
+
+  /**
+   * Name of config variable that is used to point to this table
+   */
+  private final String tableNameConfName;
+
+  /**
+   * Unless the configuration overrides, this will be the default name for the
+   * table when it is created.
+   */
+  private final String defaultTableName;
+
+  /**
+   * @param tableNameConfName name of config variable that is used to point to
+   *          this table.
+   */
+  protected BaseTable(String tableNameConfName, String defaultTableName) {
+    this.tableNameConfName = tableNameConfName;
+    this.defaultTableName = defaultTableName;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Used to create a type-safe mutator for this table.
+   *
+   * @param hbaseConf used to read table name
+   * @param conn used to create a table from.
+   * @return a type safe {@link BufferedMutator} for the entity table.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public TypedBufferedMutator<T> getTableMutator(Configuration hbaseConf,
+      Connection conn) throws IOException {
+
+    TableName tableName = this.getTableName(hbaseConf);
+
+    // Plain buffered mutator
+    BufferedMutator bufferedMutator = conn.getBufferedMutator(tableName);
+
+    // Now make this thing type safe.
+    // This is how service initialization should hang on to this variable, with
+    // the proper type
+    TypedBufferedMutator<T> table =
+        new BufferedMutatorDelegator<T>(bufferedMutator);
+
+    return table;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param hbaseConf used to read settings that override defaults
+   * @param conn used to create table from
+   * @param scan that specifies what you want to read from this table.
+   * @return scanner for the table.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public ResultScanner getResultScanner(Configuration hbaseConf,
+      Connection conn, Scan scan) throws IOException {
+    Table table = conn.getTable(getTableName(hbaseConf));
+    return table.getScanner(scan);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Get the table name for this table.
+   *
+   * @param hbaseConf
+   */
+  public TableName getTableName(Configuration hbaseConf) {
+    TableName table =
+        TableName.valueOf(hbaseConf.get(tableNameConfName, defaultTableName));
+    return table;
+
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Used to create the table in HBase. Should be called only once (per HBase
+   * instance).
+   *
+   * @param admin
+   * @param hbaseConf
+   */
+  public abstract void createTable(Admin admin, Configuration hbaseConf)
+      throws IOException;
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BufferedMutatorDelegator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BufferedMutatorDelegator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fe8f9c61d1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/BufferedMutatorDelegator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Mutation;
+
+/**
+ * To be used to wrap an actual {@link BufferedMutator} in a type safe manner
+ *
+ * @param <T> The class referring to the table to be written to.
+ */
+class BufferedMutatorDelegator<T> implements TypedBufferedMutator<T> {
+
+  private final BufferedMutator bufferedMutator;
+
+  /**
+   * @param bufferedMutator the mutator to be wrapped for delegation. Shall not
+   *          be null.
+   */
+  public BufferedMutatorDelegator(BufferedMutator bufferedMutator) {
+    this.bufferedMutator = bufferedMutator;
+  }
+
+  public TableName getName() {
+    return bufferedMutator.getName();
+  }
+
+  public Configuration getConfiguration() {
+    return bufferedMutator.getConfiguration();
+  }
+
+  public void mutate(Mutation mutation) throws IOException {
+    bufferedMutator.mutate(mutation);
+  }
+
+  public void mutate(List<? extends Mutation> mutations) throws IOException {
+    bufferedMutator.mutate(mutations);
+  }
+
+  public void close() throws IOException {
+    bufferedMutator.close();
+  }
+
+  public void flush() throws IOException {
+    bufferedMutator.flush();
+  }
+
+  public long getWriteBufferSize() {
+    return bufferedMutator.getWriteBufferSize();
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Column.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Column.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3397d62a79a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Column.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
+
+/**
+ * A Column represents the way to store a fully qualified column in a specific
+ * table.
+ */
+public interface Column<T> {
+
+  /**
+   * Sends a Mutation to the table. The mutations will be buffered and sent over
+   * the wire as part of a batch.
+   *
+   * @param rowKey identifying the row to write. Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @param tableMutator used to modify the underlying HBase table. Caller is
+   *          responsible to pass a mutator for the table that actually has this
+   *          column.
+   * @param timestamp version timestamp. When null the server timestamp will be
+   *          used.
+   * @param inputValue the value to write to the rowKey and column qualifier.
+   *          Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public void store(byte[] rowKey, TypedBufferedMutator<T> tableMutator,
+      Long timestamp, Object inputValue) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * Get the latest version of this specified column. Note: this call clones the
+   * value content of the hosting {@link Cell}.
+   *
+   * @param result Cannot be null
+   * @return result object (can be cast to whatever object was written to), or
+   *         null when result doesn't contain this column.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public Object readResult(Result result) throws IOException;
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnFamily.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnFamily.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c84c016194b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnFamily.java
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+/**
+ * Type safe column family.
+ *
+ * @param <T> refers to the table for which this column family is used for.
+ */
+public interface ColumnFamily<T> {
+
+  /**
+   * Keep a local copy if you need to avoid overhead of repeated cloning.
+   *
+   * @return a clone of the byte representation of the column family.
+   */
+  public byte[] getBytes();
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnHelper.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnHelper.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6a204dc5e7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnHelper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
+import java.util.NavigableMap;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Put;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timeline.GenericObjectMapper;
+
+/**
+ * This class is meant to be used only by explicit Columns, and not directly to
+ * write by clients.
+ *
+ * @param <T> refers to the table.
+ */
+public class ColumnHelper<T> {
+
+  private final ColumnFamily<T> columnFamily;
+
+  /**
+   * Local copy of bytes representation of columnFamily so that we can avoid
+   * cloning a new copy over and over.
+   */
+  private final byte[] columnFamilyBytes;
+
+  public ColumnHelper(ColumnFamily<T> columnFamily) {
+    this.columnFamily = columnFamily;
+    columnFamilyBytes = columnFamily.getBytes();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Sends a Mutation to the table. The mutations will be buffered and sent over
+   * the wire as part of a batch.
+   *
+   * @param rowKey identifying the row to write. Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @param tableMutator used to modify the underlying HBase table
+   * @param columnQualifier column qualifier. Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @param timestamp version timestamp. When null the server timestamp will be
+   *          used.
+   * @param inputValue the value to write to the rowKey and column qualifier.
+   *          Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public void store(byte[] rowKey, TypedBufferedMutator<?> tableMutator,
+      byte[] columnQualifier, Long timestamp, Object inputValue)
+      throws IOException {
+    if ((rowKey == null) || (columnQualifier == null) || (inputValue == null)) {
+      return;
+    }
+    Put p = new Put(rowKey);
+
+    if (timestamp == null) {
+      p.addColumn(columnFamilyBytes, columnQualifier,
+          GenericObjectMapper.write(inputValue));
+    } else {
+      p.addColumn(columnFamilyBytes, columnQualifier, timestamp,
+          GenericObjectMapper.write(inputValue));
+    }
+    tableMutator.mutate(p);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return the column family for this column implementation.
+   */
+  public ColumnFamily<T> getColumnFamily() {
+    return columnFamily;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Get the latest version of this specified column. Note: this call clones the
+   * value content of the hosting {@link Cell}.
+   *
+   * @param result from which to read the value. Cannot be null
+   * @param columnQualifierBytes referring to the column to be read.
+   * @return latest version of the specified column of whichever object was
+   *         written.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public Object readResult(Result result, byte[] columnQualifierBytes)
+      throws IOException {
+    if (result == null || columnQualifierBytes == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    // Would have preferred to be able to use getValueAsByteBuffer and get a
+    // ByteBuffer to avoid copy, but GenericObjectMapper doesn't seem to like
+    // that.
+    byte[] value = result.getValue(columnFamilyBytes, columnQualifierBytes);
+    return GenericObjectMapper.read(value);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param result from which to reads timeseries data
+   * @param columnPrefixBytes optional prefix to limit columns. If null all
+   *          columns are returned.
+   * @return the cell values at each respective time in for form
+   *         {idA={timestamp1->value1}, idA={timestamp2->value2},
+   *         idB={timestamp3->value3}, idC={timestamp1->value4}}
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public NavigableMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>> readTimeseriesResults(
+      Result result, byte[] columnPrefixBytes) throws IOException {
+
+    NavigableMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>> results =
+        new TreeMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>>();
+
+    if (result != null) {
+      NavigableMap<byte[], NavigableMap<byte[], NavigableMap<Long, byte[]>>> resultMap =
+          result.getMap();
+
+      NavigableMap<byte[], NavigableMap<Long, byte[]>> columnCellMap =
+          resultMap.get(columnFamilyBytes);
+
+      // could be that there is no such column family.
+      if (columnCellMap != null) {
+        for (Entry<byte[], NavigableMap<Long, byte[]>> entry : columnCellMap
+            .entrySet()) {
+          String columnName = null;
+          if (columnPrefixBytes == null) {
+            // Decode the spaces we encoded in the column name.
+            columnName = Separator.decode(entry.getKey(), Separator.SPACE);
+          } else {
+            // A non-null prefix means columns are actually of the form
+            // prefix!columnNameRemainder
+            byte[][] columnNameParts =
+                Separator.QUALIFIERS.split(entry.getKey(), 2);
+            byte[] actualColumnPrefixBytes = columnNameParts[0];
+            if (Bytes.equals(columnPrefixBytes, actualColumnPrefixBytes)
+                && columnNameParts.length == 2) {
+              // This is the prefix that we want
+              columnName = Separator.decode(columnNameParts[1]);
+            }
+          }
+
+          // If this column has the prefix we want
+          if (columnName != null) {
+            NavigableMap<Long, Number> cellResults =
+                new TreeMap<Long, Number>();
+            NavigableMap<Long, byte[]> cells = entry.getValue();
+            if (cells != null) {
+              for (Entry<Long, byte[]> cell : cells.entrySet()) {
+                Number value =
+                    (Number) GenericObjectMapper.read(cell.getValue());
+                cellResults.put(cell.getKey(), value);
+              }
+            }
+            results.put(columnName, cellResults);
+          }
+        } // for entry : columnCellMap
+      } // if columnCellMap != null
+    } // if result != null
+    return results;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param result from which to read columns
+   * @param columnPrefixBytes optional prefix to limit columns. If null all
+   *          columns are returned.
+   * @return the latest values of columns in the column family.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public Map<String, Object> readResults(Result result, byte[] columnPrefixBytes)
+      throws IOException {
+    Map<String, Object> results = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+
+    if (result != null) {
+      Map<byte[], byte[]> columns = result.getFamilyMap(columnFamilyBytes);
+      for (Entry<byte[], byte[]> entry : columns.entrySet()) {
+        if (entry.getKey() != null && entry.getKey().length > 0) {
+
+          String columnName = null;
+          if (columnPrefixBytes == null) {
+            // Decode the spaces we encoded in the column name.
+            columnName = Separator.decode(entry.getKey(), Separator.SPACE);
+          } else {
+            // A non-null prefix means columns are actually of the form
+            // prefix!columnNameRemainder
+            byte[][] columnNameParts =
+                Separator.QUALIFIERS.split(entry.getKey(), 2);
+            byte[] actualColumnPrefixBytes = columnNameParts[0];
+            if (Bytes.equals(columnPrefixBytes, actualColumnPrefixBytes)
+                && columnNameParts.length == 2) {
+              // This is the prefix that we want
+              columnName = Separator.decode(columnNameParts[1]);
+            }
+          }
+
+          // If this column has the prefix we want
+          if (columnName != null) {
+            Object value = GenericObjectMapper.read(entry.getValue());
+            results.put(columnName, value);
+          }
+        }
+      } // for entry
+    }
+    return results;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param columnPrefixBytes The byte representation for the column prefix.
+   *          Should not contain {@link Separator#QUALIFIERS}.
+   * @param qualifier for the remainder of the column. Any
+   *          {@link Separator#QUALIFIERS} will be encoded in the qualifier.
+   * @return fully sanitized column qualifier that is a combination of prefix
+   *         and qualifier. If prefix is null, the result is simply the encoded
+   *         qualifier without any separator.
+   */
+  public static byte[] getColumnQualifier(byte[] columnPrefixBytes,
+      String qualifier) {
+
+    // We don't want column names to have spaces
+    byte[] encodedQualifier = Bytes.toBytes(Separator.SPACE.encode(qualifier));
+    if (columnPrefixBytes == null) {
+      return encodedQualifier;
+    }
+
+    // Convert qualifier to lower case, strip of separators and tag on column
+    // prefix.
+    byte[] columnQualifier =
+        Separator.QUALIFIERS.join(columnPrefixBytes, encodedQualifier);
+    return columnQualifier;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnPrefix.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnPrefix.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2eedea073fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/ColumnPrefix.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.NavigableMap;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
+
+/**
+ * Used to represent a partially qualified column, where the actual column name
+ * will be composed of a prefix and the remainder of the column qualifier. The
+ * prefix can be null, in which case the column qualifier will be completely
+ * determined when the values are stored.
+ */
+public interface ColumnPrefix<T> {
+
+  /**
+   * Sends a Mutation to the table. The mutations will be buffered and sent over
+   * the wire as part of a batch.
+   *
+   * @param rowKey identifying the row to write. Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @param tableMutator used to modify the underlying HBase table. Caller is
+   *          responsible to pass a mutator for the table that actually has this
+   *          column.
+   * @param qualifier column qualifier. Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @param timestamp version timestamp. When null the server timestamp will be
+   *          used.
+   * @param inputValue the value to write to the rowKey and column qualifier.
+   *          Nothing gets written when null.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public void store(byte[] rowKey, TypedBufferedMutator<T> tableMutator,
+      String qualifier, Long timestamp, Object inputValue) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * Get the latest version of this specified column. Note: this call clones the
+   * value content of the hosting {@link Cell}.
+   *
+   * @param result Cannot be null
+   * @param qualifier column qualifier. Nothing gets read when null.
+   * @return result object (can be cast to whatever object was written to) or
+   *         null when specified column qualifier for this prefix doesn't exist
+   *         in the result.
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public Object readResult(Result result, String qualifier) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * @param resultfrom which to read columns
+   * @return the latest values of columns in the column family with this prefix
+   *         (or all of them if the prefix value is null).
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public Map<String, Object> readResults(Result result) throws IOException;
+
+  /**
+   * @param result from which to reads timeseries data
+   * @return the cell values at each respective time in for form
+   *         {idA={timestamp1->value1}, idA={timestamp2->value2},
+   *         idB={timestamp3->value3}, idC={timestamp1->value4}}
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public NavigableMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>> readTimeseriesResults(
+      Result result) throws IOException;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/Range.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Range.java
similarity index 96%
rename from hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/Range.java
rename to hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Range.java
index 2a2db816b3e..2cb6c08fceb 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/Range.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Range.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
-package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
+package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Separator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Separator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ee578900ad1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/Separator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,303 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this
+ * work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF
+ * licenses this file to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+
+/**
+ * Used to separate row qualifiers, column qualifiers and compount fields.
+ */
+public enum Separator {
+
+  /**
+   * separator in key or column qualifier fields
+   */
+  QUALIFIERS("!", "%0$"),
+
+  /**
+   * separator in values, and/or compound key/column qualifier fields.
+   */
+  VALUES("?", "%1$"),
+
+  /**
+   * separator in values, often used to avoid having these in qualifiers and
+   * names. Note that if we use HTML form encoding through URLEncoder, we end up
+   * getting a + for a space, which may already occur in strings, so we don't
+   * want that.
+   */
+  SPACE(" ", "%2$");
+
+  /**
+   * The string value of this separator.
+   */
+  private final String value;
+
+  /**
+   * The URLEncoded version of this separator
+   */
+  private final String encodedValue;
+
+  /**
+   * The bye representation of value.
+   */
+  private final byte[] bytes;
+
+  /**
+   * The value quoted so that it can be used as a safe regex
+   */
+  private final String quotedValue;
+
+  private static final byte[] EMPTY_BYTES = new byte[0];
+
+  /**
+   * @param value of the separator to use. Cannot be null or empty string.
+   * @param encodedValue choose something that isn't likely to occur in the data
+   *          itself. Cannot be null or empty string.
+   */
+  private Separator(String value, String encodedValue) {
+    this.value = value;
+    this.encodedValue = encodedValue;
+
+    // validation
+    if (value == null || value.length() == 0 || encodedValue == null
+        || encodedValue.length() == 0) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          "Cannot create separator from null or empty string.");
+    }
+
+    this.bytes = Bytes.toBytes(value);
+    this.quotedValue = Pattern.quote(value);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Used to make token safe to be used with this separator without collisions.
+   *
+   * @param token
+   * @return the token with any occurrences of this separator URLEncoded.
+   */
+  public String encode(String token) {
+    if (token == null || token.length() == 0) {
+      // Nothing to replace
+      return token;
+    }
+    return token.replace(value, encodedValue);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param token
+   * @return the token with any occurrences of the encoded separator replaced by
+   *         the separator itself.
+   */
+  public String decode(String token) {
+    if (token == null || token.length() == 0) {
+      // Nothing to replace
+      return token;
+    }
+    return token.replace(encodedValue, value);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Encode the given separators in the token with their encoding equivalent.
+   * This means that when encoding is already present in the token itself, this
+   * is not a reversible process. See also {@link #decode(String, Separator...)}
+   *
+   * @param token containing possible separators that need to be encoded.
+   * @param separators to be encoded in the token with their URLEncoding
+   *          equivalent.
+   * @return non-null byte representation of the token with occurrences of the
+   *         separators encoded.
+   */
+  public static byte[] encode(String token, Separator... separators) {
+    if (token == null) {
+      return EMPTY_BYTES;
+    }
+    String result = token;
+    for (Separator separator : separators) {
+      if (separator != null) {
+        result = separator.encode(result);
+      }
+    }
+    return Bytes.toBytes(result);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Decode the given separators in the token with their decoding equivalent.
+   * This means that when encoding is already present in the token itself, this
+   * is not a reversible process.
+   *
+   * @param token containing possible separators that need to be encoded.
+   * @param separators to be encoded in the token with their URLEncoding
+   *          equivalent.
+   * @return String representation of the token with occurrences of the URL
+   *         encoded separators decoded.
+   */
+  public static String decode(byte[] token, Separator... separators) {
+    if (token == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    return decode(Bytes.toString(token), separators);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Decode the given separators in the token with their decoding equivalent.
+   * This means that when encoding is already present in the token itself, this
+   * is not a reversible process.
+   *
+   * @param token containing possible separators that need to be encoded.
+   * @param separators to be encoded in the token with their URLEncoding
+   *          equivalent.
+   * @return String representation of the token with occurrences of the URL
+   *         encoded separators decoded.
+   */
+  public static String decode(String token, Separator... separators) {
+    if (token == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    String result = token;
+    for (Separator separator : separators) {
+      if (separator != null) {
+        result = separator.decode(result);
+      }
+    }
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a single byte array containing all of the individual arrays
+   * components separated by this separator.
+   *
+   * @param components
+   * @return byte array after joining the components
+   */
+  public byte[] join(byte[]... components) {
+    if (components == null || components.length == 0) {
+      return EMPTY_BYTES;
+    }
+
+    int finalSize = 0;
+    finalSize = this.value.length() * (components.length - 1);
+    for (byte[] comp : components) {
+      if (comp != null) {
+        finalSize += comp.length;
+      }
+    }
+
+    byte[] buf = new byte[finalSize];
+    int offset = 0;
+    for (int i = 0; i < components.length; i++) {
+      if (components[i] != null) {
+        System.arraycopy(components[i], 0, buf, offset, components[i].length);
+        offset += components[i].length;
+      }
+      if (i < (components.length - 1)) {
+        System.arraycopy(this.bytes, 0, buf, offset, this.value.length());
+        offset += this.value.length();
+      }
+
+    }
+    return buf;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Concatenates items (as String), using this separator.
+   *
+   * @param items Items join, {@code toString()} will be called in each item.
+   *          Any occurrence of the separator in the individual strings will be
+   *          first encoded. Cannot be null.
+   * @return non-null joined result. Note that when separator is {@literal null}
+   *         the result is simply all items concatenated and the process is not
+   *         reversible through {@link #splitEncoded(String)}
+   */
+  public String joinEncoded(String... items) {
+    if (items == null || items.length == 0) {
+      return "";
+    }
+
+    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(encode(items[0].toString()));
+    // Start at 1, we've already grabbed the first value at index 0
+    for (int i = 1; i < items.length; i++) {
+      sb.append(this.value);
+      sb.append(encode(items[i].toString()));
+    }
+
+    return sb.toString();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Concatenates items (as String), using this separator.
+   *
+   * @param items Items join, {@code toString()} will be called in each item.
+   *          Any occurrence of the separator in the individual strings will be
+   *          first encoded. Cannot be null.
+   * @return non-null joined result. Note that when separator is {@literal null}
+   *         the result is simply all items concatenated and the process is not
+   *         reversible through {@link #splitEncoded(String)}
+   */
+  public String joinEncoded(Iterable<?> items) {
+    if (items == null) {
+      return "";
+    }
+    Iterator<?> i = items.iterator();
+    if (!i.hasNext()) {
+      return "";
+    }
+
+    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(encode(i.next().toString()));
+    while (i.hasNext()) {
+      sb.append(this.value);
+      sb.append(encode(i.next().toString()));
+    }
+
+    return sb.toString();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param compoundValue containing individual values separated by this
+   *          separator, which have that separator encoded.
+   * @return non-null set of values from the compoundValue with the separator
+   *         decoded.
+   */
+  public Collection<String> splitEncoded(String compoundValue) {
+    List<String> result = new ArrayList<String>();
+    if (compoundValue != null) {
+      for (String value : compoundValue.split(quotedValue)) {
+        result.add(decode(value));
+      }
+    }
+    return result;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Splits the source array into multiple array segments using this separator,
+   * up to a maximum of count items. This will naturally produce copied byte
+   * arrays for each of the split segments.
+   * @param source to be split
+   * @param limit on how many segments are supposed to be returned. Negative
+   *          value indicates no limit on number of segments.
+   * @return source split by this separator.
+   */
+  public byte[][] split(byte[] source, int limit) {
+    return TimelineWriterUtils.split(source, this.bytes, limit);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5518a279dce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+
+/**
+ * contains the constants used in the context of schema accesses for
+ * {@link org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity}
+ * information
+ */
+@InterfaceAudience.Private
+@InterfaceStability.Unstable
+public class TimelineEntitySchemaConstants {
+
+  /**
+   * Used to create a pre-split for tables starting with a username in the
+   * prefix. TODO: this may have to become a config variable (string with
+   * separators) so that different installations can presplit based on their own
+   * commonly occurring names.
+   */
+  private final static byte[][] USERNAME_SPLITS = { Bytes.toBytes("a"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("ad"), Bytes.toBytes("an"), Bytes.toBytes("b"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("ca"), Bytes.toBytes("cl"), Bytes.toBytes("d"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("e"), Bytes.toBytes("f"), Bytes.toBytes("g"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("h"), Bytes.toBytes("i"), Bytes.toBytes("j"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("k"), Bytes.toBytes("l"), Bytes.toBytes("m"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("n"), Bytes.toBytes("o"), Bytes.toBytes("q"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("r"), Bytes.toBytes("s"), Bytes.toBytes("se"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("t"), Bytes.toBytes("u"), Bytes.toBytes("v"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("w"), Bytes.toBytes("x"), Bytes.toBytes("y"),
+      Bytes.toBytes("z") };
+
+  /**
+   * The length at which keys auto-split
+   */
+  public static final String USERNAME_SPLIT_KEY_PREFIX_LENGTH = "4";
+
+  /**
+   * @return splits for splits where a user is a prefix.
+   */
+  public final static byte[][] getUsernameSplits() {
+    byte[][] kloon = USERNAME_SPLITS.clone();
+    // Deep copy.
+    for (int row = 0; row < USERNAME_SPLITS.length; row++) {
+      kloon[row] = Bytes.copy(USERNAME_SPLITS[row]);
+    }
+    return kloon;
+  }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineWriterUtils.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineWriterUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..28a0b6a0b0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TimelineWriterUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+
+/**
+ * bunch of utility functions used across TimelineWriter classes
+ */
+@InterfaceAudience.Public
+@InterfaceStability.Unstable
+public class TimelineWriterUtils {
+
+  /** empty bytes */
+  public static final byte[] EMPTY_BYTES = new byte[0];
+
+  /**
+   * Splits the source array into multiple array segments using the given
+   * separator, up to a maximum of count items. This will naturally produce
+   * copied byte arrays for each of the split segments. To identify the split
+   * ranges without the array copies, see
+   * {@link TimelineWriterUtils#splitRanges(byte[], byte[])}.
+   *
+   * @param source
+   * @param separator
+   * @return byte[] array after splitting the source
+   */
+  public static byte[][] split(byte[] source, byte[] separator) {
+    return split(source, separator, -1);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Splits the source array into multiple array segments using the given
+   * separator, up to a maximum of count items. This will naturally produce
+   * copied byte arrays for each of the split segments. To identify the split
+   * ranges without the array copies, see
+   * {@link TimelineWriterUtils#splitRanges(byte[], byte[])}.
+   *
+   * @param source
+   * @param separator
+   * @param limit a negative value indicates no limit on number of segments.
+   * @return byte[][] after splitting the input source
+   */
+  public static byte[][] split(byte[] source, byte[] separator, int limit) {
+    List<Range> segments = splitRanges(source, separator, limit);
+
+    byte[][] splits = new byte[segments.size()][];
+    for (int i = 0; i < segments.size(); i++) {
+      Range r = segments.get(i);
+      byte[] tmp = new byte[r.length()];
+      if (tmp.length > 0) {
+        System.arraycopy(source, r.start(), tmp, 0, r.length());
+      }
+      splits[i] = tmp;
+    }
+    return splits;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a list of ranges identifying [start, end) -- closed, open --
+   * positions within the source byte array that would be split using the
+   * separator byte array.
+   */
+  public static List<Range> splitRanges(byte[] source, byte[] separator) {
+    return splitRanges(source, separator, -1);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a list of ranges identifying [start, end) -- closed, open --
+   * positions within the source byte array that would be split using the
+   * separator byte array.
+   *
+   * @param source the source data
+   * @param separator the separator pattern to look for
+   * @param limit the maximum number of splits to identify in the source
+   */
+  public static List<Range> splitRanges(byte[] source, byte[] separator,
+      int limit) {
+    List<Range> segments = new ArrayList<Range>();
+    if ((source == null) || (separator == null)) {
+      return segments;
+    }
+    int start = 0;
+    itersource: for (int i = 0; i < source.length; i++) {
+      for (int j = 0; j < separator.length; j++) {
+        if (source[i + j] != separator[j]) {
+          continue itersource;
+        }
+      }
+      // all separator elements matched
+      if (limit > 0 && segments.size() >= (limit - 1)) {
+        // everything else goes in one final segment
+        break;
+      }
+
+      segments.add(new Range(start, i));
+      start = i + separator.length;
+      // i will be incremented again in outer for loop
+      i += separator.length - 1;
+    }
+    // add in remaining to a final range
+    if (start <= source.length) {
+      segments.add(new Range(start, source.length));
+    }
+    return segments;
+  }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TypedBufferedMutator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TypedBufferedMutator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..64a11f8f24d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TypedBufferedMutator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.BufferedMutator;
+
+/**
+ * Just a typed wrapper around {@link BufferedMutator} used to ensure that
+ * columns can write only to the table mutator for the right table.
+ */
+public interface TypedBufferedMutator<T> extends BufferedMutator {
+  // This class is intentionally left (almost) blank
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/package-info.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..32577fb9e09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+@InterfaceAudience.Private
+@InterfaceStability.Unstable
+package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumn.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumn.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..90da96606c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumn.java
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Column;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnFamily;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnHelper;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.TypedBufferedMutator;
+
+/**
+ * Identifies fully qualified columns for the {@link EntityTable}.
+ */
+public enum EntityColumn implements Column<EntityTable> {
+
+  /**
+   * Identifier for the entity.
+   */
+  ID(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "id"),
+
+  /**
+   * The type of entity
+   */
+  TYPE(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "type"),
+
+  /**
+   * When the entity was created.
+   */
+  CREATED_TIME(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "created_time"),
+
+  /**
+   * When it was modified.
+   */
+  MODIFIED_TIME(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "modified_time"),
+
+  /**
+   * The version of the flow that this entity belongs to.
+   */
+  FLOW_VERSION(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "flow_version");
+
+  private final ColumnHelper<EntityTable> column;
+  private final ColumnFamily<EntityTable> columnFamily;
+  private final String columnQualifier;
+  private final byte[] columnQualifierBytes;
+
+  private EntityColumn(ColumnFamily<EntityTable> columnFamily,
+      String columnQualifier) {
+    this.columnFamily = columnFamily;
+    this.columnQualifier = columnQualifier;
+    // Future-proof by ensuring the right column prefix hygiene.
+    this.columnQualifierBytes =
+        Bytes.toBytes(Separator.SPACE.encode(columnQualifier));
+    this.column = new ColumnHelper<EntityTable>(columnFamily);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return the column name value
+   */
+  private String getColumnQualifier() {
+    return columnQualifier;
+  }
+
+  public void store(byte[] rowKey,
+      TypedBufferedMutator<EntityTable> tableMutator, Long timestamp,
+      Object inputValue) throws IOException {
+    column.store(rowKey, tableMutator, columnQualifierBytes, timestamp,
+        inputValue);
+  }
+
+  public Object readResult(Result result) throws IOException {
+    return column.readResult(result, columnQualifierBytes);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieve an {@link EntityColumn} given a name, or null if there is no
+   * match. The following holds true: {@code columnFor(x) == columnFor(y)} if
+   * and only if {@code x.equals(y)} or {@code (x == y == null)}
+   *
+   * @param columnQualifier Name of the column to retrieve
+   * @return the corresponding {@link EntityColumn} or null
+   */
+  public static final EntityColumn columnFor(String columnQualifier) {
+
+    // Match column based on value, assume column family matches.
+    for (EntityColumn ec : EntityColumn.values()) {
+      // Find a match based only on name.
+      if (ec.getColumnQualifier().equals(columnQualifier)) {
+        return ec;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Default to null
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieve an {@link EntityColumn} given a name, or null if there is no
+   * match. The following holds true: {@code columnFor(a,x) == columnFor(b,y)}
+   * if and only if {@code a.equals(b) & x.equals(y)} or
+   * {@code (x == y == null)}
+   *
+   * @param columnFamily The columnFamily for which to retrieve the column.
+   * @param name Name of the column to retrieve
+   * @return the corresponding {@link EntityColumn} or null if both arguments
+   *         don't match.
+   */
+  public static final EntityColumn columnFor(EntityColumnFamily columnFamily,
+      String name) {
+
+    for (EntityColumn ec : EntityColumn.values()) {
+      // Find a match based column family and on name.
+      if (ec.columnFamily.equals(columnFamily)
+          && ec.getColumnQualifier().equals(name)) {
+        return ec;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Default to null
+    return null;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnFamily.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnFamily.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8a95d12245d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnFamily.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnFamily;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+
+/**
+ * Represents the entity table column families.
+ */
+public enum EntityColumnFamily implements ColumnFamily<EntityTable> {
+
+  /**
+   * Info column family houses known columns, specifically ones included in
+   * columnfamily filters.
+   */
+  INFO("i"),
+
+  /**
+   * Configurations are in a separate column family for two reasons: a) the size
+   * of the config values can be very large and b) we expect that config values
+   * are often separately accessed from other metrics and info columns.
+   */
+  CONFIGS("c"),
+
+  /**
+   * Metrics have a separate column family, because they have a separate TTL.
+   */
+  METRICS("m");
+
+  /**
+   * Byte representation of this column family.
+   */
+  private final byte[] bytes;
+
+  /**
+   * @param value create a column family with this name. Must be lower case and
+   *          without spaces.
+   */
+  private EntityColumnFamily(String value) {
+    // column families should be lower case and not contain any spaces.
+    this.bytes = Bytes.toBytes(Separator.SPACE.encode(value));
+  }
+
+  public byte[] getBytes() {
+    return Bytes.copy(bytes);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnPrefix.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnPrefix.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4459868c767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityColumnPrefix.java
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.NavigableMap;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnFamily;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnHelper;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnPrefix;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.TypedBufferedMutator;
+
+/**
+ * Identifies partially qualified columns for the entity table.
+ */
+public enum EntityColumnPrefix implements ColumnPrefix<EntityTable> {
+
+  /**
+   * To store TimelineEntity getIsRelatedToEntities values.
+   */
+  IS_RELATED_TO(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "s"),
+
+  /**
+   * To store TimelineEntity getRelatesToEntities values.
+   */
+  RELATES_TO(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "r"),
+
+  /**
+   * Lifecycle events for an entity
+   */
+  EVENT(EntityColumnFamily.INFO, "e"),
+
+  /**
+   * Config column stores configuration with config key as the column name.
+   */
+  CONFIG(EntityColumnFamily.CONFIGS, null),
+
+  /**
+   * Metrics are stored with the metric name as the column name.
+   */
+  METRIC(EntityColumnFamily.METRICS, null);
+
+  private final ColumnHelper<EntityTable> column;
+  private final ColumnFamily<EntityTable> columnFamily;
+
+  /**
+   * Can be null for those cases where the provided column qualifier is the
+   * entire column name.
+   */
+  private final String columnPrefix;
+  private final byte[] columnPrefixBytes;
+
+  /**
+   * Private constructor, meant to be used by the enum definition.
+   *
+   * @param columnFamily that this column is stored in.
+   * @param columnPrefix for this column.
+   */
+  private EntityColumnPrefix(ColumnFamily<EntityTable> columnFamily,
+      String columnPrefix) {
+    column = new ColumnHelper<EntityTable>(columnFamily);
+    this.columnFamily = columnFamily;
+    this.columnPrefix = columnPrefix;
+    if (columnPrefix == null) {
+      this.columnPrefixBytes = null;
+    } else {
+      // Future-proof by ensuring the right column prefix hygiene.
+      this.columnPrefixBytes =
+          Bytes.toBytes(Separator.SPACE.encode(columnPrefix));
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @return the column name value
+   */
+  private String getColumnPrefix() {
+    return columnPrefix;
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * (non-Javadoc)
+   *
+   * @see
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnPrefix
+   * #store(byte[],
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.
+   * TypedBufferedMutator, java.lang.String, java.lang.Long, java.lang.Object)
+   */
+  public void store(byte[] rowKey,
+      TypedBufferedMutator<EntityTable> tableMutator, String qualifier,
+      Long timestamp, Object inputValue) throws IOException {
+
+    // Null check
+    if (qualifier == null) {
+      throw new IOException("Cannot store column with null qualifier in "
+          + tableMutator.getName().getNameAsString());
+    }
+
+    byte[] columnQualifier =
+        ColumnHelper.getColumnQualifier(this.columnPrefixBytes, qualifier);
+
+    column.store(rowKey, tableMutator, columnQualifier, timestamp, inputValue);
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * (non-Javadoc)
+   *
+   * @see
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnPrefix
+   * #readResult(org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result, java.lang.String)
+   */
+  public Object readResult(Result result, String qualifier) throws IOException {
+    byte[] columnQualifier =
+        ColumnHelper.getColumnQualifier(this.columnPrefixBytes, qualifier);
+    return column.readResult(result, columnQualifier);
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * (non-Javadoc)
+   *
+   * @see
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnPrefix
+   * #readResults(org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result)
+   */
+  public Map<String, Object> readResults(Result result) throws IOException {
+    return column.readResults(result, columnPrefixBytes);
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * (non-Javadoc)
+   *
+   * @see
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.ColumnPrefix
+   * #readTimeseriesResults(org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result)
+   */
+  public NavigableMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>> readTimeseriesResults(
+      Result result) throws IOException {
+    return column.readTimeseriesResults(result, columnPrefixBytes);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieve an {@link EntityColumnPrefix} given a name, or null if there is no
+   * match. The following holds true: {@code columnFor(x) == columnFor(y)} if
+   * and only if {@code x.equals(y)} or {@code (x == y == null)}
+   *
+   * @param columnPrefix Name of the column to retrieve
+   * @return the corresponding {@link EntityColumnPrefix} or null
+   */
+  public static final EntityColumnPrefix columnFor(String columnPrefix) {
+
+    // Match column based on value, assume column family matches.
+    for (EntityColumnPrefix ecp : EntityColumnPrefix.values()) {
+      // Find a match based only on name.
+      if (ecp.getColumnPrefix().equals(columnPrefix)) {
+        return ecp;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Default to null
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieve an {@link EntityColumnPrefix} given a name, or null if there is no
+   * match. The following holds true: {@code columnFor(a,x) == columnFor(b,y)}
+   * if and only if {@code (x == y == null)} or
+   * {@code a.equals(b) & x.equals(y)}
+   *
+   * @param columnFamily The columnFamily for which to retrieve the column.
+   * @param columnPrefix Name of the column to retrieve
+   * @return the corresponding {@link EntityColumnPrefix} or null if both
+   *         arguments don't match.
+   */
+  public static final EntityColumnPrefix columnFor(
+      EntityColumnFamily columnFamily, String columnPrefix) {
+
+    // TODO: needs unit test to confirm and need to update javadoc to explain
+    // null prefix case.
+
+    for (EntityColumnPrefix ecp : EntityColumnPrefix.values()) {
+      // Find a match based column family and on name.
+      if (ecp.columnFamily.equals(columnFamily)
+          && (((columnPrefix == null) && (ecp.getColumnPrefix() == null)) || (ecp
+              .getColumnPrefix().equals(columnPrefix)))) {
+        return ecp;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Default to null
+    return null;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityRowKey.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityRowKey.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..61958c2b21f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityRowKey.java
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+
+/**
+ * Represents a rowkey for the entity table.
+ */
+public class EntityRowKey {
+  // TODO: more methods are needed for this class.
+
+  // TODO: API needs to be cleaned up.
+
+  /**
+   * Constructs a row key prefix for the entity table as follows:
+   * {@code userName!clusterId!flowId!flowRunId!AppId}
+   *
+   * @param clusterId
+   * @param userId
+   * @param flowId
+   * @param flowRunId
+   * @param appId
+   * @return byte array with the row key prefix
+   */
+  public static byte[] getRowKeyPrefix(String clusterId, String userId,
+      String flowId, Long flowRunId, String appId) {
+    byte[] first =
+        Bytes.toBytes(Separator.QUALIFIERS.joinEncoded(userId, clusterId,
+            flowId));
+    // Note that flowRunId is a long, so we can't encode them all at the same
+    // time.
+    byte[] second = Bytes.toBytes(EntityRowKey.invert(flowRunId));
+    byte[] third = Bytes.toBytes(Separator.QUALIFIERS.joinEncoded(appId));
+    return Separator.QUALIFIERS.join(first, second, third);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Constructs a row key prefix for the entity table as follows:
+   * {@code userName!clusterId!flowId!flowRunId!AppId}
+   *
+   * @param clusterId
+   * @param userId
+   * @param flowId
+   * @param flowRunId
+   * @param appId
+   * @return byte array with the row key prefix
+   */
+  public static byte[] getRowKey(String clusterId, String userId,
+      String flowId, Long flowRunId, String appId, TimelineEntity te) {
+    byte[] first =
+        Bytes.toBytes(Separator.QUALIFIERS.joinEncoded(userId, clusterId,
+            flowId));
+    // Note that flowRunId is a long, so we can't encode them all at the same
+    // time.
+    byte[] second = Bytes.toBytes(EntityRowKey.invert(flowRunId));
+    byte[] third =
+        Bytes.toBytes(Separator.QUALIFIERS.joinEncoded(appId, te.getType(),
+            te.getId()));
+    return Separator.QUALIFIERS.join(first, second, third);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Converts a timestamp into it's inverse timestamp to be used in (row) keys
+   * where we want to have the most recent timestamp in the top of the table
+   * (scans start at the most recent timestamp first).
+   *
+   * @param key value to be inverted so that the latest version will be first in
+   *          a scan.
+   * @return inverted long
+   */
+  public static long invert(Long key) {
+    return Long.MAX_VALUE - key;
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityTable.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityTable.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..61f7c4c118d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/EntityTable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HColumnDescriptor;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HTableDescriptor;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.BloomType;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.YarnConfiguration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.BaseTable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.TimelineEntitySchemaConstants;
+
+/**
+ * The entity table as column families info, config and metrics. Info stores
+ * information about a timeline entity object config stores configuration data
+ * of a timeline entity object metrics stores the metrics of a timeline entity
+ * object
+ *
+ * Example entity table record:
+ *
+ * <pre>
+ * |--------------------------------------------------------------------|
+ * |  Row       | Column Family           | Column Family| Column Family|
+ * |  key       | info                    | metrics      | config       |
+ * |--------------------------------------------------------------------|
+ * | userName!  | id:entityId             | metricId1:   | configKey1:  |
+ * | clusterId! |                         | metricValue1 | configValue1 |
+ * | flowId!    | type:entityType         | @timestamp1  |              |
+ * | flowRunId! |                         |              | configKey2:  |
+ * | AppId!     | created_time:           | metriciD1:   | configValue2 |
+ * | entityType!| 1392993084018           | metricValue2 |              |
+ * | entityId   |                         | @timestamp2  |              |
+ * |            | modified_time:          |              |              |
+ * |            | 1392995081012           | metricId2:   |              |
+ * |            |                         | metricValue1 |              |
+ * |            | r!relatesToKey:         | @timestamp2  |              |
+ * |            | id3?id4?id5             |              |              |
+ * |            |                         |              |              |
+ * |            | s!isRelatedToKey        |              |              |
+ * |            | id7?id9?id6             |              |              |
+ * |            |                         |              |              |
+ * |            | e!eventId?eventInfoKey: |              |              |
+ * |            | eventInfoValue          |              |              |
+ * |            |                         |              |              |
+ * |            | flowVersion:            |              |              |
+ * |            | versionValue            |              |              |
+ * |--------------------------------------------------------------------|
+ * </pre>
+ */
+public class EntityTable extends BaseTable<EntityTable> {
+  /** entity prefix */
+  private static final String PREFIX =
+      YarnConfiguration.TIMELINE_SERVICE_PREFIX + ".entity";
+
+  /** config param name that specifies the entity table name */
+  public static final String TABLE_NAME_CONF_NAME = PREFIX + ".table.name";
+
+  /**
+   * config param name that specifies the TTL for metrics column family in
+   * entity table
+   */
+  private static final String METRICS_TTL_CONF_NAME = PREFIX
+      + ".table.metrics.ttl";
+
+  /** default value for entity table name */
+  private static final String DEFAULT_TABLE_NAME = "timelineservice.entity";
+
+  /** default TTL is 30 days for metrics timeseries */
+  private static final int DEFAULT_METRICS_TTL = 2592000;
+
+  /** default max number of versions */
+  private static final int DEFAULT_METRICS_MAX_VERSIONS = 1000;
+
+  private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(EntityTable.class);
+
+  public EntityTable() {
+    super(TABLE_NAME_CONF_NAME, DEFAULT_TABLE_NAME);
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * (non-Javadoc)
+   *
+   * @see
+   * org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.BaseTable#createTable
+   * (org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Admin,
+   * org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration)
+   */
+  public void createTable(Admin admin, Configuration hbaseConf)
+      throws IOException {
+
+    TableName table = getTableName(hbaseConf);
+    if (admin.tableExists(table)) {
+      // do not disable / delete existing table
+      // similar to the approach taken by map-reduce jobs when
+      // output directory exists
+      throw new IOException("Table " + table.getNameAsString()
+          + " already exists.");
+    }
+
+    HTableDescriptor entityTableDescp = new HTableDescriptor(table);
+    HColumnDescriptor infoCF =
+        new HColumnDescriptor(EntityColumnFamily.INFO.getBytes());
+    infoCF.setBloomFilterType(BloomType.ROWCOL);
+    entityTableDescp.addFamily(infoCF);
+
+    HColumnDescriptor configCF =
+        new HColumnDescriptor(EntityColumnFamily.CONFIGS.getBytes());
+    configCF.setBloomFilterType(BloomType.ROWCOL);
+    configCF.setBlockCacheEnabled(true);
+    entityTableDescp.addFamily(configCF);
+
+    HColumnDescriptor metricsCF =
+        new HColumnDescriptor(EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.getBytes());
+    entityTableDescp.addFamily(metricsCF);
+    metricsCF.setBlockCacheEnabled(true);
+    // always keep 1 version (the latest)
+    metricsCF.setMinVersions(1);
+    metricsCF.setMaxVersions(DEFAULT_METRICS_MAX_VERSIONS);
+    metricsCF.setTimeToLive(hbaseConf.getInt(METRICS_TTL_CONF_NAME,
+        DEFAULT_METRICS_TTL));
+    entityTableDescp
+        .setRegionSplitPolicyClassName("org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.KeyPrefixRegionSplitPolicy");
+    entityTableDescp.setValue("KeyPrefixRegionSplitPolicy.prefix_length",
+        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.USERNAME_SPLIT_KEY_PREFIX_LENGTH);
+    admin.createTable(entityTableDescp,
+        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.getUsernameSplits());
+    LOG.info("Status of table creation for " + table.getNameAsString() + "="
+        + admin.tableExists(table));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * @param metricsTTL time to live parameter for the metricss in this table.
+   * @param hbaseConf configururation in which to set the metrics TTL config
+   *          variable.
+   */
+  public void setMetricsTTL(int metricsTTL, Configuration hbaseConf) {
+    hbaseConf.setInt(METRICS_TTL_CONF_NAME, metricsTTL);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/package-info.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..26f1cc5e219
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/entity/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+@InterfaceAudience.Private
+@InterfaceStability.Unstable
+package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
+import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
+
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TestHBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TestHBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
index f999b4d9abf..6abf2405a78 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TestHBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/TestHBaseTimelineWriterImpl.java
@@ -18,43 +18,41 @@
 
 package org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.NavigableMap;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
-
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Cell;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CellUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtility;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableName;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Connection;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ConnectionFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.ResultScanner;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Scan;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntities;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEntity;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineEvent;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineMetric;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.timelineservice.TimelineMetric.Type;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timeline.GenericObjectMapper;
-import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common.Separator;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityColumn;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityColumnPrefix;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityRowKey;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.entity.EntityTable;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 /**
- * Unit test HBaseTimelineWriterImpl
- * YARN 3411
- *
  * @throws Exception
  */
 public class TestHBaseTimelineWriterImpl {
@@ -69,12 +67,8 @@ public static void setupBeforeClass() throws Exception {
   }
 
   private static void createSchema() throws IOException {
-    byte[][] families = new byte[3][];
-    families[0] = EntityColumnFamily.INFO.getInBytes();
-    families[1] = EntityColumnFamily.CONFIG.getInBytes();
-    families[2] = EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.getInBytes();
-    TimelineSchemaCreator.createTimelineEntityTable(util.getHBaseAdmin(),
-        util.getConfiguration());
+    new EntityTable()
+        .createTable(util.getHBaseAdmin(), util.getConfiguration());
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -151,18 +145,15 @@ public void testWriteEntityToHBase() throws Exception {
 
       // scan the table and see that entity exists
       Scan s = new Scan();
-      byte[] startRow = TimelineWriterUtils.getRowKeyPrefix(cluster, user, flow,
-          runid, appName);
+      byte[] startRow =
+          EntityRowKey.getRowKeyPrefix(cluster, user, flow, runid, appName);
       s.setStartRow(startRow);
       s.setMaxVersions(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
-      ResultScanner scanner = null;
-      TableName entityTableName = TableName
-          .valueOf(TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.DEFAULT_ENTITY_TABLE_NAME);
       Connection conn = ConnectionFactory.createConnection(c1);
-      Table entityTable = conn.getTable(entityTableName);
+      ResultScanner scanner = new EntityTable().getResultScanner(c1, conn, s);
+
       int rowCount = 0;
       int colCount = 0;
-      scanner = entityTable.getScanner(s);
       for (Result result : scanner) {
         if (result != null && !result.isEmpty()) {
           rowCount++;
@@ -172,37 +163,77 @@ public void testWriteEntityToHBase() throws Exception {
               entity));
 
           // check info column family
-          NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> infoValues = result
-              .getFamilyMap(EntityColumnFamily.INFO.getInBytes());
-          String id1 = TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsString(
-              EntityColumnDetails.ID.getInBytes(), infoValues);
+          String id1 = EntityColumn.ID.readResult(result).toString();
           assertEquals(id, id1);
-          String type1 = TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsString(
-              EntityColumnDetails.TYPE.getInBytes(), infoValues);
+
+          String type1 = EntityColumn.TYPE.readResult(result).toString();
           assertEquals(type, type1);
-          Long cTime1 = TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsLong(
-              EntityColumnDetails.CREATED_TIME.getInBytes(), infoValues);
+
+          Number val = (Number) EntityColumn.CREATED_TIME.readResult(result);
+          Long cTime1 = val.longValue();
           assertEquals(cTime1, cTime);
-          Long mTime1 = TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsLong(
-              EntityColumnDetails.MODIFIED_TIME.getInBytes(), infoValues);
+
+          val = (Number) EntityColumn.MODIFIED_TIME.readResult(result);
+          Long mTime1 = val.longValue();
           assertEquals(mTime1, mTime);
-          checkRelatedEntities(isRelatedTo, infoValues,
-              EntityColumnDetails.PREFIX_IS_RELATED_TO.getInBytes());
-          checkRelatedEntities(relatesTo, infoValues,
-              EntityColumnDetails.PREFIX_RELATES_TO.getInBytes());
 
-          // check config column family
-          NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> configValuesResult = result
-              .getFamilyMap(EntityColumnFamily.CONFIG.getInBytes());
-          checkConfigs(configValuesResult, conf);
+          // Remember isRelatedTo is of type Map<String, Set<String>>
+          for (String isRelatedToKey : isRelatedTo.keySet()) {
+            Object isRelatedToValue =
+                EntityColumnPrefix.IS_RELATED_TO.readResult(result,
+                    isRelatedToKey);
+            String compoundValue = isRelatedToValue.toString();
+            // id7?id9?id6
+            Set<String> isRelatedToValues =
+                new HashSet<String>(
+                    Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(compoundValue));
+            assertEquals(isRelatedTo.get(isRelatedToKey).size(),
+                isRelatedToValues.size());
+            for (String v : isRelatedTo.get(isRelatedToKey)) {
+              assertTrue(isRelatedToValues.contains(v));
+            }
+          }
 
-          NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> metricsResult = result
-              .getFamilyMap(EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.getInBytes());
-          checkMetricsSizeAndKey(metricsResult, metrics);
-          List<Cell> metricCells = result.getColumnCells(
-              EntityColumnFamily.METRICS.getInBytes(),
-              Bytes.toBytes(m1.getId()));
-          checkMetricsTimeseries(metricCells, m1);
+          // RelatesTo
+          for (String relatesToKey : relatesTo.keySet()) {
+            String compoundValue =
+                EntityColumnPrefix.RELATES_TO.readResult(result, relatesToKey)
+                    .toString();
+            // id3?id4?id5
+            Set<String> relatesToValues =
+                new HashSet<String>(
+                    Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(compoundValue));
+            assertEquals(relatesTo.get(relatesToKey).size(),
+                relatesToValues.size());
+            for (String v : relatesTo.get(relatesToKey)) {
+              assertTrue(relatesToValues.contains(v));
+            }
+          }
+
+          // Configuration
+          Map<String, Object> configColumns =
+              EntityColumnPrefix.CONFIG.readResults(result);
+          assertEquals(conf.size(), configColumns.size());
+          for (String configItem : conf.keySet()) {
+            assertEquals(conf.get(configItem), configColumns.get(configItem));
+          }
+
+          NavigableMap<String, NavigableMap<Long, Number>> metricsResult =
+              EntityColumnPrefix.METRIC.readTimeseriesResults(result);
+
+          NavigableMap<Long, Number> metricMap = metricsResult.get(m1.getId());
+          // We got metrics back
+          assertNotNull(metricMap);
+          // Same number of metrics as we wrote
+          assertEquals(metricValues.entrySet().size(), metricMap.entrySet()
+              .size());
+
+          // Iterate over original metrics and confirm that they are present
+          // here.
+          for (Entry<Long, Number> metricEntry : metricValues.entrySet()) {
+            assertEquals(metricEntry.getValue(),
+                metricMap.get(metricEntry.getKey()));
+          }
         }
       }
       assertEquals(1, rowCount);
@@ -212,80 +243,77 @@ public void testWriteEntityToHBase() throws Exception {
       hbi.stop();
       hbi.close();
     }
-  }
 
-  private void checkMetricsTimeseries(List<Cell> metricCells,
-      TimelineMetric m1) throws IOException {
-    Map<Long, Number> timeseries = m1.getValues();
-    assertEquals(timeseries.size(), metricCells.size());
-    for (Cell c1 : metricCells) {
-      assertTrue(timeseries.containsKey(c1.getTimestamp()));
-      assertEquals(GenericObjectMapper.read(CellUtil.cloneValue(c1)),
-          timeseries.get(c1.getTimestamp()));
-    }
-  }
-
-  private void checkMetricsSizeAndKey(
-      NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> metricsResult, Set<TimelineMetric> metrics) {
-    assertEquals(metrics.size(), metricsResult.size());
-    for (TimelineMetric m1 : metrics) {
-      byte[] key = Bytes.toBytes(m1.getId());
-      assertTrue(metricsResult.containsKey(key));
-    }
-  }
-
-  private void checkConfigs(NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> configValuesResult,
-      Map<String, String> conf) throws IOException {
-
-    assertEquals(conf.size(), configValuesResult.size());
-    byte[] columnName;
-    for (String key : conf.keySet()) {
-      columnName = Bytes.toBytes(key);
-      assertTrue(configValuesResult.containsKey(columnName));
-      byte[] value = configValuesResult.get(columnName);
-      assertNotNull(value);
-      assertEquals(conf.get(key), GenericObjectMapper.read(value));
-    }
-  }
-
-  private void checkRelatedEntities(Map<String, Set<String>> isRelatedTo,
-      NavigableMap<byte[], byte[]> infoValues, byte[] columnPrefix)
-      throws IOException {
-
-    for (String key : isRelatedTo.keySet()) {
-      byte[] columnName = TimelineWriterUtils.join(
-          TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES, columnPrefix,
-          Bytes.toBytes(key));
-
-      byte[] value = infoValues.get(columnName);
-      assertNotNull(value);
-      String isRelatedToEntities = GenericObjectMapper.read(value).toString();
-      assertNotNull(isRelatedToEntities);
-      assertEquals(
-          TimelineWriterUtils.getValueAsString(
-              TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR,
-              isRelatedTo.get(key)), isRelatedToEntities);
-    }
+    // Somewhat of a hack, not a separate test in order not to have to deal with
+    // test case order exectution.
+    testAdditionalEntity();
   }
 
   private boolean isRowKeyCorrect(byte[] rowKey, String cluster, String user,
       String flow, Long runid, String appName, TimelineEntity te) {
 
-    byte[][] rowKeyComponents = TimelineWriterUtils.split(rowKey,
-        TimelineEntitySchemaConstants.ROW_KEY_SEPARATOR_BYTES);
+    byte[][] rowKeyComponents = Separator.QUALIFIERS.split(rowKey, -1);
 
     assertTrue(rowKeyComponents.length == 7);
     assertEquals(user, Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[0]));
     assertEquals(cluster, Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[1]));
     assertEquals(flow, Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[2]));
-    assertEquals(TimelineWriterUtils.encodeRunId(runid),
-        Bytes.toLong(rowKeyComponents[3]));
-    assertEquals(TimelineWriterUtils.cleanse(appName), Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[4]));
+    assertEquals(EntityRowKey.invert(runid), Bytes.toLong(rowKeyComponents[3]));
+    assertEquals(appName, Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[4]));
     assertEquals(te.getType(), Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[5]));
     assertEquals(te.getId(), Bytes.toString(rowKeyComponents[6]));
     return true;
   }
 
+  private void testAdditionalEntity() throws IOException {
+    TimelineEvent event = new TimelineEvent();
+    event.setId("foo_event_id");
+    event.setTimestamp(System.currentTimeMillis());
+    event.addInfo("foo_event", "test");
+
+    final TimelineEntity entity = new TimelineEntity();
+    entity.setId("attempt_1329348432655_0001_m_000008_18");
+    entity.setType("FOO_ATTEMPT");
+
+    TimelineEntities entities = new TimelineEntities();
+    entities.addEntity(entity);
+
+    HBaseTimelineWriterImpl hbi = null;
+    try {
+      Configuration c1 = util.getConfiguration();
+      hbi = new HBaseTimelineWriterImpl(c1);
+      hbi.init(c1);
+      String cluster = "cluster2";
+      String user = "user2";
+      String flow = "other_flow_name";
+      String flowVersion = "1111F01C2287BA";
+      long runid = 1009876543218L;
+      String appName = "some app name";
+      hbi.write(cluster, user, flow, flowVersion, runid, appName, entities);
+      hbi.stop();
+      // scan the table and see that entity exists
+      Scan s = new Scan();
+      byte[] startRow =
+          EntityRowKey.getRowKeyPrefix(cluster, user, flow, runid, appName);
+      s.setStartRow(startRow);
+      s.setMaxVersions(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+      Connection conn = ConnectionFactory.createConnection(c1);
+      ResultScanner scanner = new EntityTable().getResultScanner(c1, conn, s);
+
+      int rowCount = 0;
+      for (Result result : scanner) {
+        if (result != null && !result.isEmpty()) {
+          rowCount++;
+        }
+      }
+      assertEquals(1, rowCount);
+
+    } finally {
+      hbi.stop();
+      hbi.close();
+    }
+  }
+
   @AfterClass
   public static void tearDownAfterClass() throws Exception {
     util.shutdownMiniCluster();
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestSeparator.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestSeparator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8b25a83031a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestSeparator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this
+ * work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF
+ * licenses this file to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+
+public class TestSeparator {
+
+  private static String villain = "Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz";
+  private static String special =
+      ".   *   |   ?   +   (   )   [   ]   {   }   ^   $  \\ \"";
+
+  /**
+   *
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testEncodeDecodeString() {
+
+    for (Separator separator : Separator.values()) {
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, " ");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "!");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "?");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "&");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "+");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "Dr.");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "Heinz");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, "Doofenshmirtz");
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, villain);
+      testEncodeDecode(separator, special);
+
+      assertNull(separator.encode(null));
+
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void testEncodeDecode(Separator separator, String token) {
+    String encoded = separator.encode(token);
+    String decoded = separator.decode(encoded);
+    String msg = "token:" + token + " separator:" + separator + ".";
+    assertEquals(msg, token, decoded);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEncodeDecode() {
+    testEncodeDecode("Dr.", Separator.QUALIFIERS);
+    testEncodeDecode("Heinz", Separator.QUALIFIERS, Separator.QUALIFIERS);
+    testEncodeDecode("Doofenshmirtz", Separator.QUALIFIERS, null,
+        Separator.QUALIFIERS);
+    testEncodeDecode("&Perry", Separator.QUALIFIERS, Separator.VALUES, null);
+    testEncodeDecode("the ", Separator.QUALIFIERS, Separator.SPACE);
+    testEncodeDecode("Platypus...", (Separator) null);
+    testEncodeDecode("The what now ?!?", Separator.QUALIFIERS,
+        Separator.VALUES, Separator.SPACE);
+
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Simple test to encode and decode using the same separators and confirm that
+   * we end up with the same as what we started with.
+   *
+   * @param token
+   * @param separators
+   */
+  private static void testEncodeDecode(String token, Separator... separators) {
+    byte[] encoded = Separator.encode(token, separators);
+    String decoded = Separator.decode(encoded, separators);
+    assertEquals(token, decoded);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testJoinStripped() {
+    List<String> stringList = new ArrayList<String>(0);
+    stringList.add("nothing");
+
+    String joined = Separator.VALUES.joinEncoded(stringList);
+    Iterable<String> split = Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(joined);
+    assertTrue(Iterables.elementsEqual(stringList, split));
+
+    stringList = new ArrayList<String>(3);
+    stringList.add("a");
+    stringList.add("b?");
+    stringList.add("c");
+
+    joined = Separator.VALUES.joinEncoded(stringList);
+    split = Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(joined);
+    assertTrue(Iterables.elementsEqual(stringList, split));
+
+    String[] stringArray1 = { "else" };
+    joined = Separator.VALUES.joinEncoded(stringArray1);
+    split = Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(joined);
+    assertTrue(Iterables.elementsEqual(Arrays.asList(stringArray1), split));
+
+    String[] stringArray2 = { "d", "e?", "f" };
+    joined = Separator.VALUES.joinEncoded(stringArray2);
+    split = Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(joined);
+    assertTrue(Iterables.elementsEqual(Arrays.asList(stringArray2), split));
+
+    List<String> empty = new ArrayList<String>(0);
+    split = Separator.VALUES.splitEncoded(null);
+    assertTrue(Iterables.elementsEqual(empty, split));
+
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestTimelineWriterUtils.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestTimelineWriterUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4f96f8758a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-timelineservice/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/timelineservice/storage/common/TestTimelineWriterUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.timelineservice.storage.common;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TestTimelineWriterUtils {
+
+  @Test
+  public void test() {
+    // TODO: implement a test for the remaining method in TimelineWriterUtils.
+  }
+
+}