diff --git a/etc/marconi.conf-sample b/etc/marconi.conf-sample
deleted file mode 100644
index 7fc6cecbc..000000000
--- a/etc/marconi.conf-sample
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,126 +0,0 @@
-# By default, this should line in one of:
-# ~/.marconi/marconi.conf
-# /etc/marconi/marconi.conf
-
-[DEFAULT]
-# Show more verbose log output (sets INFO log level output)
-;verbose = False
-
-# Show debugging output in logs (sets DEBUG log level output)
-;debug = False
-
-# Log to this file
-log_file = /var/log/marconi/queues.log
-
-;auth_strategy =
-
-# Set to True to enable sharding across multiple storage backends
-;sharding = False
-
-# Set to True to activate endpoints to manage the shard registry
-;admin_mode = False
-
-# ======================================================================
-# Syslog
-# ======================================================================
-
-# Send logs to syslog (/dev/log) instead of to file specified
-# by `log_file`
-;use_syslog = False
-
-# Facility to use. If unset defaults to LOG_USER.
-;syslog_log_facility = LOG_LOCAL0
-
-
-# ======================================================================
-# Drivers
-# ======================================================================
-
-[drivers]
-# Transport driver module (e.g., wsgi, zmq)
-transport = wsgi
-
-# Storage driver module (e.g., mongodb, sqlalchemy)
-# sqlite has been deprecated, though it still works given the backward
-# compatibility support.
-storage = mongodb
-
-# ======================================================================
-# General storage options
-# ======================================================================
-[storage]
-# Pipeline for operations on queue resources
-;queue_pipeline =
-
-# Pipeline for operations on message resources
-;message_pipeline =
-
-# Pipeline for operations on claim resources
-;claim_pipeline =
-
-# ======================================================================
-# General transport options
-# ======================================================================
-[transport]
-# Maximum number of queue records that may be requested per page,
-# when listing queues.
-;max_queues_per_page = 20
-
-# Maximum number of messages per page when listing messages. Also,
-# determines the max number of messages that can be requested or
-# deleted by ID.
-;max_messages_per_page = 20
-
-# Maximum number of messages that can be claimed at a time.
-;max_messages_per_claim = 20
-
-# Maximum lifetime, in seconds. Minimal values are all 60 seconds.
-;max_message_ttl = 1209600
-;max_claim_ttl = 43200
-;max_claim_grace = 43200
-
-# Maximum size, in bytes, allowed for queue metadata and bulk/single
-# message post bodies. Includes whitespace and envelope fields, if any.
-;max_queue_metadata = 65536
-;max_message_size = 262144
-
-# ======================================================================
-# Driver-specific transport options
-# ======================================================================
-[drivers:transport:wsgi]
-;bind = 0.0.0.0
-;port = 8888
-
-;[drivers:transport:zmq]
-;port = 9999
-
-# ======================================================================
-# Driver-specific storage options
-# ======================================================================
-[drivers:storage:mongodb]
-uri = mongodb://db1.example.net,db2.example.net:2500/?replicaSet=test&ssl=true&w=majority
-database = marconi
-
-[drivers:storage:sqlalchemy]
-;uri = sqlite:///:memory:
-
-# Number of databases across which to partition message data,
-# in order to reduce writer lock %. DO NOT change this setting
-# after initial deployment. It MUST remain static. Also,
-# you should not need a large number of partitions to improve
-# performance, esp. if deploying MongoDB on SSD storage.
-;partitions = 2
-
-# Maximum number of times to retry a failed operation. Currently
-# only used for retrying a message post.
-;max_attempts = 1000
-
-# Maximum sleep interval between retries in seconds (actual sleep time
-# increases linearly according to number of attempts performed).
-;max_retry_sleep = 0.1
-
-# Maximum jitter interval, to be added to the sleep interval, in
-# order to decrease probability that parallel requests will retry
-# at the same instant.
-;max_retry_jitter = 0.005
-
diff --git a/etc/marconi.conf.sample b/etc/marconi.conf.sample
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5913a5c53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/marconi.conf.sample
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.transport.base
+#
+
+#  (string value)
+#auth_strategy=
+
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.bootstrap
+#
+
+# ('Enable sharding across multiple storage backends. ', 'If
+# sharding is enabled, the storage driver ', 'configuration is
+# used to determine where the ', 'catalogue/control plane data
+# is kept.') (boolean value)
+#sharding=false
+
+# Activate endpoints to manage shard registry. (boolean value)
+#admin_mode=false
+
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.openstack.common.lockutils
+#
+
+# Whether to disable inter-process locks (boolean value)
+#disable_process_locking=false
+
+# Directory to use for lock files. (string value)
+#lock_path=<None>
+
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.openstack.common.log
+#
+
+# Print debugging output (set logging level to DEBUG instead
+# of default WARNING level). (boolean value)
+#debug=false
+
+# Print more verbose output (set logging level to INFO instead
+# of default WARNING level). (boolean value)
+#verbose=false
+
+# Log output to standard error (boolean value)
+#use_stderr=true
+
+# Format string to use for log messages with context (string
+# value)
+#logging_context_format_string=%(asctime)s.%(msecs)03d %(process)d %(levelname)s %(name)s [%(request_id)s %(user_identity)s] %(instance)s%(message)s
+
+# Format string to use for log messages without context
+# (string value)
+#logging_default_format_string=%(asctime)s.%(msecs)03d %(process)d %(levelname)s %(name)s [-] %(instance)s%(message)s
+
+# Data to append to log format when level is DEBUG (string
+# value)
+#logging_debug_format_suffix=%(funcName)s %(pathname)s:%(lineno)d
+
+# Prefix each line of exception output with this format
+# (string value)
+#logging_exception_prefix=%(asctime)s.%(msecs)03d %(process)d TRACE %(name)s %(instance)s
+
+# List of logger=LEVEL pairs (list value)
+#default_log_levels=amqp=WARN,amqplib=WARN,boto=WARN,qpid=WARN,sqlalchemy=WARN,suds=INFO,iso8601=WARN,requests.packages.urllib3.connectionpool=WARN
+
+# Publish error events (boolean value)
+#publish_errors=false
+
+# Make deprecations fatal (boolean value)
+#fatal_deprecations=false
+
+# If an instance is passed with the log message, format it
+# like this (string value)
+#instance_format="[instance: %(uuid)s] "
+
+# If an instance UUID is passed with the log message, format
+# it like this (string value)
+#instance_uuid_format="[instance: %(uuid)s] "
+
+# The name of logging configuration file. It does not disable
+# existing loggers, but just appends specified logging
+# configuration to any other existing logging options. Please
+# see the Python logging module documentation for details on
+# logging configuration files. (string value)
+# Deprecated group/name - [DEFAULT]/log_config
+#log_config_append=<None>
+
+# DEPRECATED. A logging.Formatter log message format string
+# which may use any of the available logging.LogRecord
+# attributes. This option is deprecated.  Please use
+# logging_context_format_string and
+# logging_default_format_string instead. (string value)
+#log_format=<None>
+
+# Format string for %%(asctime)s in log records. Default:
+# %(default)s (string value)
+#log_date_format=%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
+
+# (Optional) Name of log file to output to. If no default is
+# set, logging will go to stdout. (string value)
+# Deprecated group/name - [DEFAULT]/logfile
+#log_file=<None>
+
+# (Optional) The base directory used for relative --log-file
+# paths (string value)
+# Deprecated group/name - [DEFAULT]/logdir
+#log_dir=<None>
+
+# Use syslog for logging. Existing syslog format is DEPRECATED
+# during I, and then will be changed in J to honor RFC5424
+# (boolean value)
+#use_syslog=false
+
+# (Optional) Use syslog rfc5424 format for logging. If
+# enabled, will add APP-NAME (RFC5424) before the MSG part of
+# the syslog message.  The old format without APP-NAME is
+# deprecated in I, and will be removed in J. (boolean value)
+#use_syslog_rfc_format=false
+
+# Syslog facility to receive log lines (string value)
+#syslog_log_facility=LOG_USER
+
+
+[drivers]
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.bootstrap
+#
+
+# Transport driver to use. (string value)
+#transport=wsgi
+
+# Storage driver to use. (string value)
+#storage=sqlite
+
+
+[drivers:storage:mongodb]
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.storage.mongodb
+#
+
+# Mongodb Connection URI. (string value)
+#uri=<None>
+
+# Database name. (string value)
+#database=marconi
+
+# Number of databases across which to partition message data,
+# in order to reduce writer lock %. DO NOT change this setting
+# after initial deployment. It MUST remain static. Also, you
+# should not need a large number of partitions to improve
+# performance, esp. if deploying MongoDB on SSD storage.
+# (integer value)
+#partitions=2
+
+# Maximum number of times to retry a failed operation.
+# Currently only used for retrying a message post. (integer
+# value)
+#max_attempts=1000
+
+# Maximum sleep interval between retries (actual sleep time
+# increases linearly according to number of attempts
+# performed). (floating point value)
+#max_retry_sleep=0.1
+
+# Maximum jitter interval, to be added to the sleep interval,
+# in order to decrease probability that parallel requests will
+# retry at the same instant. (floating point value)
+#max_retry_jitter=0.005
+
+# Maximum number of times to retry an operation that failed
+# due to a primary node failover. (integer value)
+#max_reconnect_attempts=10
+
+# Base sleep interval between attempts to reconnect after a
+# primary node failover. The actual sleep time increases
+# exponentially (power of 2) each time the operation is
+# retried. (floating point value)
+#reconnect_sleep=0.02
+
+
+[drivers:storage:sqlalchemy]
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.storage.sqlalchemy
+#
+
+# An sqlalchemy URL (string value)
+#uri=sqlite:///:memory:
+
+
+[sharding:catalog]
+
+#
+# Options defined in marconi.storage.sharding
+#
+
+# Catalog storage driver. (integer value)
diff --git a/tools/config/README b/tools/config/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c6079dab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config/README
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+This generate_sample.sh tool is used to generate sample config files
+from OpenStack project source trees.
+
+Run it by passing the base directory and package name i.e.
+
+  $> generate_sample.sh --base-dir /opt/stack/nova --package-name nova \
+                        --output-dir /opt/stack/nova/etc
+  $> generate_sample.sh -b /opt/stack/neutron -p nova -o /opt/stack/neutron/etc
+
+Optionally, include libraries that register entry points for option
+discovery, such as oslo.messaging:
+
+  $> generate_sample.sh -b /opt/stack/ceilometer -p ceilometer \
+                        -o /opt/stack/ceilometer/etc -l oslo.messaging
+
+Watch out for warnings about modules like libvirt, qpid and zmq not
+being found - these warnings are significant because they result
+in options not appearing in the generated config file.
+
+
+
+This check_uptodate.sh tool is used to ensure that the generated sample
+config file in the OpenStack project source tree is continually kept up
+to date with the code itself.
+
+This can be done by adding a hook to tox.ini. For example, if a project
+already had flake8 enabled in a section like this:
+
+  [testenv.pep8]
+  commands =
+    flake8 {posargs}
+
+This section would be changed to:
+
+  [testenv.pep8]
+  commands =
+    flake8 {posargs}
+    {toxinidir}/tools/config/check_uptodate.sh
diff --git a/tools/config/check_uptodate.sh b/tools/config/check_uptodate.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..6b4a32807
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config/check_uptodate.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+PROJECT_NAME=${PROJECT_NAME:-marconi}
+CFGFILE_NAME=${PROJECT_NAME}.conf.sample
+
+if [ -e etc/${PROJECT_NAME}/${CFGFILE_NAME} ]; then
+    CFGFILE=etc/${PROJECT_NAME}/${CFGFILE_NAME}
+elif [ -e etc/${CFGFILE_NAME} ]; then
+    CFGFILE=etc/${CFGFILE_NAME}
+else
+    echo "${0##*/}: can not find config file"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+TEMPDIR=`mktemp -d /tmp/${PROJECT_NAME}.XXXXXX`
+trap "rm -rf $TEMPDIR" EXIT
+
+tools/config/generate_sample.sh -b ./ -p ${PROJECT_NAME} -o ${TEMPDIR}
+
+if ! diff -u ${TEMPDIR}/${CFGFILE_NAME} ${CFGFILE}
+then
+   echo "${0##*/}: ${PROJECT_NAME}.conf.sample is not up to date."
+   echo "${0##*/}: Please run ${0%%${0##*/}}generate_sample.sh."
+   exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/tools/config/generate_sample.sh b/tools/config/generate_sample.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..47a58e1ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config/generate_sample.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+print_hint() {
+    echo "Try \`${0##*/} --help' for more information." >&2
+}
+
+PARSED_OPTIONS=$(getopt -n "${0##*/}" -o hb:p:m:l:o: \
+                 --long help,base-dir:,package-name:,output-dir:,module:,library: -- "$@")
+
+if [ $? != 0 ] ; then print_hint ; exit 1 ; fi
+
+eval set -- "$PARSED_OPTIONS"
+
+while true; do
+    case "$1" in
+        -h|--help)
+            echo "${0##*/} [options]"
+            echo ""
+            echo "options:"
+            echo "-h, --help                show brief help"
+            echo "-b, --base-dir=DIR        project base directory"
+            echo "-p, --package-name=NAME   project package name"
+            echo "-o, --output-dir=DIR      file output directory"
+            echo "-m, --module=MOD          extra python module to interrogate for options"
+            echo "-l, --library=LIB         extra library that registers options for discovery"
+            exit 0
+            ;;
+        -b|--base-dir)
+            shift
+            BASEDIR=`echo $1 | sed -e 's/\/*$//g'`
+            shift
+            ;;
+        -p|--package-name)
+            shift
+            PACKAGENAME=`echo $1`
+            shift
+            ;;
+        -o|--output-dir)
+            shift
+            OUTPUTDIR=`echo $1 | sed -e 's/\/*$//g'`
+            shift
+            ;;
+        -m|--module)
+            shift
+            MODULES="$MODULES -m $1"
+            shift
+            ;;
+        -l|--library)
+            shift
+            LIBRARIES="$LIBRARIES -l $1"
+            shift
+            ;;
+        --)
+            break
+            ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+BASEDIR=${BASEDIR:-`pwd`}
+if ! [ -d $BASEDIR ]
+then
+    echo "${0##*/}: missing project base directory" >&2 ; print_hint ; exit 1
+elif [[ $BASEDIR != /* ]]
+then
+    BASEDIR=$(cd "$BASEDIR" && pwd)
+fi
+
+PACKAGENAME=${PACKAGENAME:-${BASEDIR##*/}}
+TARGETDIR=$BASEDIR/$PACKAGENAME
+if ! [ -d $TARGETDIR ]
+then
+    echo "${0##*/}: invalid project package name" >&2 ; print_hint ; exit 1
+fi
+
+OUTPUTDIR=${OUTPUTDIR:-$BASEDIR/etc}
+# NOTE(bnemec): Some projects put their sample config in etc/,
+#               some in etc/$PACKAGENAME/
+if [ -d $OUTPUTDIR/$PACKAGENAME ]
+then
+    OUTPUTDIR=$OUTPUTDIR/$PACKAGENAME
+elif ! [ -d $OUTPUTDIR ]
+then
+    echo "${0##*/}: cannot access \`$OUTPUTDIR': No such file or directory" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+BASEDIRESC=`echo $BASEDIR | sed -e 's/\//\\\\\//g'`
+find $TARGETDIR -type f -name "*.pyc" -delete
+FILES=$(find $TARGETDIR -type f -name "*.py" ! -path "*/tests/*" \
+        -exec grep -l "Opt(" {} + | sed -e "s/^$BASEDIRESC\///g" | sort -u)
+
+RC_FILE="`dirname $0`/oslo.config.generator.rc"
+if test -r "$RC_FILE"
+then
+    source "$RC_FILE"
+fi
+
+for mod in ${OSLO_CONFIG_GENERATOR_EXTRA_MODULES}; do
+    MODULES="$MODULES -m $mod"
+done
+
+for lib in ${OSLO_CONFIG_GENERATOR_EXTRA_LIBRARIES}; do
+    LIBRARIES="$LIBRARIES -l $lib"
+done
+
+export EVENTLET_NO_GREENDNS=yes
+
+OS_VARS=$(set | sed -n '/^OS_/s/=[^=]*$//gp' | xargs)
+[ "$OS_VARS" ] && eval "unset \$OS_VARS"
+DEFAULT_MODULEPATH=marconi.openstack.common.config.generator
+MODULEPATH=${MODULEPATH:-$DEFAULT_MODULEPATH}
+OUTPUTFILE=$OUTPUTDIR/$PACKAGENAME.conf.sample
+python -m $MODULEPATH $MODULES $LIBRARIES $FILES > $OUTPUTFILE
+
+# Hook to allow projects to append custom config file snippets
+CONCAT_FILES=$(ls $BASEDIR/tools/config/*.conf.sample 2>/dev/null)
+for CONCAT_FILE in $CONCAT_FILES; do
+    cat $CONCAT_FILE >> $OUTPUTFILE
+done
diff --git a/tools/config/oslo.config.generator.rc b/tools/config/oslo.config.generator.rc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7122c73c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config/oslo.config.generator.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+export OSLO_CONFIG_GENERATOR_EXTRA_MODULES=""
+export OSLO_CONFIG_GENERATOR_EXTRA_LIBRARIES="marconi.bootstrap
+                                              marconi.storage.base
+                                              marconi.storage.pipeline
+                                              marconi.storage.sharding
+                                              marconi.storage.mongodb
+                                              marconi.storage.sqlalchemy
+                                              marconi.transport.wsgi
+                                              marconi.transport.base
+                                              marconi.transport.validation"
+