diff --git a/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/__init__.py b/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b951c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+__all__ = ['fb303_simple_mgmt']
diff --git a/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/fb303_simple_mgmt.py b/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/fb303_simple_mgmt.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f9cc93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/fb303/py/fb303_scripts/fb303_simple_mgmt.py
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2006- Facebook
+# Distributed under the Thrift Software License
+#
+# See accompanying file LICENSE or visit the Thrift site at:
+# http://developers.facebook.com/thrift/
+
+import sys, os
+from optparse import OptionParser
+
+from thrift.Thrift import *
+
+from thrift.transport import TSocket
+from thrift.transport import TTransport
+from thrift.protocol import TBinaryProtocol
+
+from fb303 import *
+from fb303.ttypes import *
+
+def service_ctrl(
+                 command,
+                 port,
+                 trans_factory = None,
+                 prot_factory = None):
+    """
+    service_ctrl is a generic function to execute standard fb303 functions
+
+    @param command: one of stop, start, reload, status, counters, name, alive
+    @param port: service's port
+    @param trans_factory: TTransportFactory to use for obtaining a TTransport. Default is
+                          TBufferedTransportFactory
+    @param prot_factory: TProtocolFactory to use for obtaining a TProtocol. Default is
+                         TBinaryProtocolFactory
+    """
+
+    # Only root should be able to run these scripts, although we could relax this for some of the operations.
+    if os.getuid() != 0:
+        print "requires root."
+        return 4
+
+    if command in ["status"]:
+        try:
+            status = fb303_wrapper('status', port, trans_factory, prot_factory)
+            status_details = fb303_wrapper('get_status_details', port, trans_factory, prot_factory)
+
+            msg = fb_status_string(status)
+            if (len(status_details)):
+                msg += " - %s" % status_details
+            print msg
+
+            if (status == fb_status.ALIVE):
+                return 2
+            else:
+                return 3
+        except:
+            print "Failed to get status"
+            return 3
+
+    # async commands
+    if command in ["stop","reload"]:
+        try:
+            fb303_wrapper(command, port, trans_factory, prot_factory)
+            return 0
+        except:
+            print "failed to tell the service to ", command
+            return 3
+
+    # scalar commands
+    if command in ["version","alive","name"]:
+        try:
+            result = fb303_wrapper(command,  port, trans_factory, prot_factory)
+            print result
+            return 0
+        except:
+            print "failed to get ",command
+            return 3
+
+    # counters
+    if command in ["counters"]:
+        try:
+            counters = fb303_wrapper('counters',  port, trans_factory, prot_factory)
+            for counter in counters:
+                print "%s: %d" % (counter, counters[counter])
+            return 0
+        except:
+            print "failed to get counters"
+            return 3
+
+    return 0;
+
+
+def fb303_wrapper(command, port, trans_factory = None, prot_factory = None):
+    sock = TSocket.TSocket('localhost', port)
+
+    # use input transport factory if provided
+    if (trans_factory is None):
+        trans = TTransport.TBufferedTransport(sock)
+    else:
+        trans = trans_factory.getTransport(sock)
+
+    # use input protocol factory if provided
+    if (prot_factory is None):
+        prot = TBinaryProtocol.TBinaryProtocol(trans)
+    else:
+        prot = prot_factory.getProtocol(trans)
+
+    # initialize client and open transport
+    fb303_client = FacebookService.Client(prot, prot)
+    trans.open()
+
+    if (command == 'reload'):
+        fb303_client.reinitialize()
+
+    elif (command == 'stop'):
+        fb303_client.shutdown()
+
+    elif (command == 'status'):
+        return fb303_client.getStatus()
+
+    elif (command == 'version'):
+        return fb303_client.getVersion()
+
+    elif (command == 'get_status_details'):
+        return fb303_client.getStatusDetails()
+
+    elif (command == 'counters'):
+        return fb303_client.getCounters()
+
+    elif (command == 'name'):
+        return fb303_client.getName()
+
+    elif (command == 'alive'):
+        return fb303_client.aliveSince()
+
+    trans.close()
+
+
+def fb_status_string(status_enum):
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.DEAD):
+        return "DEAD"
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.STARTING):
+        return "STARTING"
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.ALIVE):
+        return "ALIVE"
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.STOPPING):
+        return "STOPPING"
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.STOPPED):
+        return "STOPPED"
+    if (status_enum == fb_status.WARNING):
+        return "WARNING"
+
+
+def main():
+
+    # parse command line options
+    parser = OptionParser()
+    commands=["stop","counters","status","reload","version","name","alive"]
+
+    parser.add_option("-c", "--command", dest="command", help="execute this API",
+                      choices=commands, default="status")
+    parser.add_option("-p","--port",dest="port",help="the service's port",
+                      default=9082)
+
+    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
+    status = service_ctrl(options.command, options.port)
+    sys.exit(status)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/contrib/fb303/py/setup.py b/contrib/fb303/py/setup.py
index 460ee58..68d9845 100644
--- a/contrib/fb303/py/setup.py
+++ b/contrib/fb303/py/setup.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 setup(name='fb303',
       version='1.0',
-      packages=['fb303'],
+      packages=['fb303', 'fb303_scripts'],
       )
 
+