diff --git a/tools/vhd-meta.py b/tools/vhd-meta.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f44447ef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/vhd-meta.py
@@ -0,0 +1,374 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+#
+# Copyright (C) Citrix Systems Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published
+# by the Free Software Foundation; version 2.1 only.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+# 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+#
+# Script for collecting VHD metadata for a given VHD chain (e.g. from a remote
+# site), and for recreating the full VHD files (with zeros written to data
+# blocks) from the metadata (e.g. to reproduce a VHD problem locally)
+
+import sys
+import os
+import re
+import shutil
+import logging
+import subprocess
+import tarfile
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+import re
+
+META_FILE_EXTN = ".meta"
+LOG_FILE = "/var/log/collect_vhd_meta.log"
+BUF_SIZE = 10 * 1024
+
+# TODO Don't assume this, read from the VHD file instead.
+BITMAP_SIZE = 512
+INTER_BLOCK_DISTANCE = 2 * 1024 * 1024 + 4 * 1024 # at least for XenServer VHDs
+
+vhd_header = {}
+
+def runCmd(command, with_stdout = False, with_stderr = False, inputtext = None):
+    cmd = subprocess.Popen(command, bufsize = 1,
+                           stdin = (inputtext and subprocess.PIPE or None),
+                           stdout = subprocess.PIPE,
+                           stderr = subprocess.PIPE,
+                           shell = isinstance(command, str))
+
+    (out, err) = cmd.communicate(inputtext)
+    rv = cmd.returncode
+
+    l = "Ran: %s; rc %d" % (str(command), rv)
+    if inputtext:
+        l += " with input %s" % inputtext
+    if out != "":
+        l += "\nSTANDARD OUT:\n" + out
+    if err != "":
+        l += "\nSTANDARD ERROR:\n" + err
+    logging.debug(l)
+
+    if with_stdout and with_stderr:
+        return rv, out, err
+    elif with_stdout:
+        return rv, out
+    elif with_stderr:
+        return rv, err
+    return rv
+
+def parse_vhd_headers(fn):
+    rv, out = runCmd("vhd-util read -p -n %s" % fn, with_stdout = True)
+    if rv != 0:
+        raise Exception("reading metadata for %s: %s" % (fn, os.strerror(rv)))
+    for line in out.split("\n"):
+        m = re.match("Current disk size\s*:\s(\d+)", line)
+        if m != None:
+            set_disk_size(int(m.group(1)))
+            continue
+        m = re.match("Max BAT size\s*:\s(\d+)", line)
+        if m != None:
+            set_max_bat_size(int(m.group(1)))
+            continue
+        m = re.match("Block size\s*:\s(\d+)", line)
+        if m != None:
+            set_block_size(int(m.group(1)))
+            continue
+
+""" Set the disk size (in MB) into the dict"""
+def set_disk_size(value):
+    global vhd_header
+    vhd_header['disk_size'] = value
+
+""" Return virtual disk size in MB"""
+def get_disk_size():
+    try:
+        return vhd_header['disk_size']
+    except:
+        print "disk_size not in dict"
+        raise
+
+""" Set the block size (in B) into the dict"""
+def set_block_size(value):
+    global vhd_header
+    vhd_header['block_size'] = value
+
+""" Return block size in bytes"""
+def get_block_size():
+    try:
+        return vhd_header['block_size']
+    except:
+        print "block_size not in dict"
+        raise
+
+""" Set into the dict the maximum number of BAT entries
+    physically allowed before the VHD header needs rearrangement.
+"""
+def set_max_bat_size(value):
+    global vhd_header
+    vhd_header['max_BAT_size'] = value
+
+""" Return the max BAT entries.
+    See set_max_bat_size for explanations.
+"""
+def get_max_bat_size():
+    try:
+        return vhd_header['max_BAT_size']
+    except:
+        print "BAT_size not in dict"
+        raise
+
+""" Set into the dict the maximum number of BAT entries compatible
+    with the current virtual VHD size
+"""
+def set_bat_size(value):
+    global vhd_header
+    vhd_header['BAT_size'] = value
+
+""" Return the max BAT entries.
+    See set_bat_size for explanations.
+"""
+def get_bat_size():
+    if not vhd_header.has_key('BAT_size'):
+        max_bat = get_max_bat_size()
+        disk_size = get_disk_size()
+        block_size = get_block_size() / (1024*1024)
+        bat = int(disk_size / block_size)
+        if bat != max_bat:
+           print "allocated BAT entries (%s) and max (%s) mismatch, "\
+                 "using the latter" %(max_bat, bat)
+        set_bat_size(bat)
+    return vhd_header['BAT_size']
+
+
+def get_data_offset(fn, num_blocks):
+    rv, out = runCmd("vhd-util read -b 0 -c %d -n %s" % (num_blocks, fn),
+            with_stdout = True)
+    if rv != 0:
+        raise Exception("reading blocks for %s: %d" % (fn, rv))
+    first_block = sys.maxint
+    for line in out.split("\n"):
+        if not line:
+            continue
+        m = re.match("block: (\d+): offset: (.*)", line)
+        if m == None:
+            raise Exception("parsing block offset in %s" % line)
+        if m.group(2) != "not allocated":
+            off = int(m.group(2))
+            if off < first_block:
+                first_block = off
+    return first_block
+
+def get_parent_fn(fn):
+    rv, out = runCmd("vhd-util query -p -n %s" % fn, with_stdout = True)
+    if rv != 0:
+        raise Exception("querying parent for %s: %s" % (fn, os.strerror(rv)))
+    parent = out.strip()
+    if parent.find("has no parent") != -1:
+        return None
+    return parent
+
+def get_meta_fn(path):
+    fn = os.path.basename(path)
+    return fn + META_FILE_EXTN
+
+def collect_meta(fn):
+    num_blocks = get_bat_size()
+    outfn = get_meta_fn(fn)
+    first_block_off = get_data_offset(fn, num_blocks)
+    if first_block_off == sys.maxint:
+        shutil.copyfile(fn, outfn)
+        return outfn
+
+    fsize = os.path.getsize(fn)
+    fin = open(fn, 'r')
+    fout = open(outfn, 'w') 
+
+    total = first_block_off
+    while total > 0:
+        chunk = BUF_SIZE
+        if chunk > total:
+            chunk = total
+        fout.write(fin.read(chunk))
+        total -= chunk
+
+    off = first_block_off
+    while off < fsize:
+        fin.seek(off)
+        buf = fin.read(BITMAP_SIZE)
+        fout.write(buf)
+        off += INTER_BLOCK_DISTANCE
+
+    # TODO: get the last 512 bytes (footer) separately for completeness
+
+    fout.close()
+    fin.close()
+    return outfn
+
+def get_tar_name(fn):
+    return "vhd-chain-meta-%s.tgz" % os.path.basename(fn)
+
+def collect_chain_meta(fn):
+
+    # Initialize dictionary
+    parse_vhd_headers(fn)
+
+    leaf = fn
+    files = []
+    while fn:
+        print "Collecting metadata for %s..." % fn
+        outfn = collect_meta(fn)
+        files.append(outfn)
+        fn = get_parent_fn(fn)
+
+    print "Creating a tar archive..."
+    tarfn = get_tar_name(leaf)
+    tar = tarfile.open(tarfn, "w|gz")
+    for name in files:
+        tar.add(name)
+    tar.close()
+    for name in files:
+        os.unlink(name)
+    print "Created %s" % tarfn
+
+def get_vhd_fn(fn):
+    assert fn.endswith(META_FILE_EXTN)
+    return fn[0:len(fn) - len(META_FILE_EXTN)]
+
+def do_inflate(src, dst):
+    fsize = os.path.getsize(src)
+    fin = open(src, 'r')
+    try:
+        fout = open(dst, 'w')
+        try:
+            # copy the VHD metadata
+            num_blocks = get_bat_size()
+            first_block_off = get_data_offset(src, num_blocks)
+            total = first_block_off
+            while total > 0:
+                chunk = BUF_SIZE
+                if chunk > total:
+                    chunk = total
+                fout.write(fin.read(chunk))
+                total -= chunk
+
+            # inflate the data
+            if first_block_off != sys.maxint:
+                in_off = first_block_off
+                out_off = first_block_off
+                while in_off < fsize:
+                    fout.write(fin.read(BITMAP_SIZE))
+                    in_off += BITMAP_SIZE
+                    out_off += INTER_BLOCK_DISTANCE
+                    fout.seek(out_off)
+        finally:
+            fout.close()
+    finally:
+        fin.close()
+    rv = runCmd("vhd-util repair -n %s" % dst)
+    if rv != 0:
+        print "WARNING: vhd-util repair on %s failed: %s" \
+                % (dst, os.strerror(rv))
+    return dst
+
+def inflate_lvm(fn, dest):
+    vg = dest.replace('/dev/', '')
+    lv = os.path.basename(os.path.basename(get_vhd_fn(fn)))
+    mo = re.match('(VG_XenStorage--[0-9a-f]{8}(--[0-9a-f]{4}){3}--[0-9a-f]{12}-)(VHD--[0-9a-f]{8}(--[0-9a-f]{4}){3}--[0-9a-f]{12})', lv)
+    if mo:
+        lv = mo.group(3).replace('--', '-')
+    cmd = 'lvcreate -n %s -L %sM %s' % (lv, get_disk_size(), vg)
+    rv, stderr = runCmd(cmd, with_stderr=True)
+    if rv != 0:
+        raise Exception('failed to create %s/%s: %s (%s: %s)' % \
+                (vg, lv, os.strerror(rv), cmd, stderr))
+    try:
+        rv, stderr = runCmd('lvchange -ay %s/%s' % (vg, lv), with_stderr=True)
+        if rv != 0:
+            raise Exception('failed to activate %s/%s: %s' % (vg, lv, e))
+        try:
+            return do_inflate(fn, os.path.join(dest, lv))
+        except Exception, e:
+            rv, stderr = runCmd('lvchange -an %s/%s' % (vg, lv),
+                    with_stderr=True)
+            if rv != 0:
+                print 'failed to clean up: failed to deactivate %s/%s: ' \
+                        '%s' % (vg, lv, stderr)
+                raise e
+    except Exception, e:
+        rv, stderr = runCmd('lvremove %s/%s' % (vg, lv), with_stderr=True)
+        if rv != 0:
+            print 'failed to clean up: failed to remove %s/%s: %s' % \
+                    (vg, lv, stderr)
+        raise e
+
+def inflate(fn, dest):
+    if dest.startswith('/dev/'):
+        return inflate_lvm(fn, dest)
+    else:
+        outfn = os.path.join(dest, os.path.basename(get_vhd_fn(fn)))
+        return do_inflate(fn, outfn)
+
+def inflate_chain(tarfn, dest):
+    xtract_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    try:
+        print "Extracting %s..." % tarfn
+        tar = tarfile.open(tarfn, "r|gz")
+        tar.extractall(path = xtract_dir)
+        files = tar.getnames()
+        for fn in files:
+            path = os.path.join(xtract_dir, fn)
+            parse_vhd_headers(path)
+            print "Inflating %s to %s..." % (fn, dest)
+            inflate(path, dest)
+        print "Done"
+    finally:
+        shutil.rmtree(xtract_dir)
+
+def usage():
+    print "Usage:"
+    print "   collect /path/to/vhd"
+    print "   inflate <collected VHD metadata> <destination dir or " \
+            "Volume Group>"
+    print "\nThe 'collect' command will collect the VHD metadata for the " + \
+            "entire chain and create a tar file containing all of the " + \
+            "metadata together (the name of the resulting tar file is " + \
+            "printed to standard out.\n"
+
+    print "The 'inflate' command will extract the metadata information " \
+            "from the tar archive and add zeros in place of real data to " \
+            "recreate the full VHD files.\n"
+
+def main():
+    cmd = None
+    if len(sys.argv) == 3 and sys.argv[1] == "collect":
+        cmd = "collect"
+        fn = sys.argv[2]
+    elif len(sys.argv) == 4 and sys.argv[1] == "inflate":
+        cmd = "inflate"
+        fn = sys.argv[2]
+        dest = sys.argv[3]
+    else:
+        usage()
+        return
+
+    logging.basicConfig(filename=LOG_FILE, level = logging.DEBUG,
+            format="%(asctime)s " + cmd + ": %(message)s")
+
+    if cmd == "collect":
+        collect_chain_meta(fn)
+    elif cmd == "inflate":
+        inflate_chain(fn, dest)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()