diff --git a/Documentation/intro/install/general.rst b/Documentation/intro/install/general.rst
index 99d8fec04..1d5323f76 100644
--- a/Documentation/intro/install/general.rst
+++ b/Documentation/intro/install/general.rst
@@ -380,6 +380,60 @@ domain socket::
 
     $ ovn-northd --pidfile --detach --log-file
 
+
+Starting OVN Central services in containers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For OVN central node, we dont need to load ovs kernel modules on host.
+Hence, OVN central containers OS need not depend on host OS.
+
+Also we can leverage deploying entire OVN control plane in a pod spec for use
+cases like OVN-kubernetes
+
+Export following variables in .env  and place it under
+project root::
+
+    $ OVN_BRANCH=<BRANCH>
+    $ OVN_VERSION=<VERSION>
+    $ DISTRO=<LINUX_DISTRO>
+    $ KERNEL_VERSION=<LINUX_KERNEL_VERSION>
+    $ GITHUB_SRC=<GITHUB_URL>
+    $ DOCKER_REPO=<REPO_TO_PUSH_IMAGE>
+
+To build ovn modules::
+
+    $ cd utilities/docker
+    $ make build
+
+Compiled Modules will be tagged with docker image
+
+To Push ovn modules::
+
+    $ make push
+
+OVN docker image will be pushed to specified docker repo.
+
+Start OVN containers using below command::
+
+    $ docker run -itd --net=host --name=ovn-nb \
+      <docker_repo>:<tag> ovn-nb-tcp
+
+    $ docker run -itd --net=host --name=ovn-sb \
+      <docker_repo>:<tag> ovn-sb-tcp
+
+    $ docker run -itd --net=host --name=ovn-northd \
+      <docker_repo>:<tag> ovn-northd-tcp
+
+.. note::
+    Current ovn central components comes up in docker image in a standalone
+    mode with protocol tcp.
+
+    The debian docker file use ubuntu 16.04 as a base image for reference.
+
+    User can use any other base image for debian, e.g. u14.04, etc.
+
+    RHEL based docker build support needs to be added.
+
 Starting OVN host service
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -406,6 +460,32 @@ domain socket::
 
     $ ovn-controller --pidfile --detach --log-file
 
+Starting OVN host service in containers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For OVN host too, we dont need to load ovs kernel modules on host.
+Hence, OVN host container OS need not depend on host OS.
+
+Also we can leverage deploying OVN host in a pod spec for use cases like
+OVN-kubernetes to manage OVS which can be running as a service on host or in
+container.
+
+Start ovsdb-server and ovs-vswitchd components as per
+http://docs.openvswitch.org/en/latest/intro/install/general/
+
+start local ovn-controller with below command if ovs is also running in
+container::
+
+    $ docker run -itd --net=host --name=ovn-controller \
+      --volumes-from=ovsdb-server \
+      <docker_repo>:<tag> ovn-controller
+
+start local ovn-controller with below command if ovs is running as a service::
+
+    $ docker run -itd --net=host --name=ovn-controller \
+      -v /var/run/openvswitch/:/var/run/openvswitch/ \
+      <docker_repo>:<tag> ovn-controller
+
 Validating
 ----------
 
@@ -419,6 +499,9 @@ logical switch ``sw0`` and add logical port ``sw0-p1`` ::
 
 Refer to ovn-nbctl(8) and ovn-sbctl (8) for more details.
 
+When using ovn in container, exec to container to run above commands::
+
+    $ docker exec -it <ovn-nb/ovn-sb/ovn-northd/ovn-controller> /bin/bash
 
 Reporting Bugs
 --------------
diff --git a/utilities/automake.mk b/utilities/automake.mk
index b2b026f57..9b46940ae 100644
--- a/utilities/automake.mk
+++ b/utilities/automake.mk
@@ -28,7 +28,15 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
     utilities/ovn-trace.8.xml \
     utilities/ovn-detrace.in \
     utilities/ovndb-servers.ocf \
-    utilities/checkpatch.py
+    utilities/checkpatch.py \
+    utilities/docker/Makefile \
+    utilities/docker/start-ovn \
+    utilities/docker/create_ovn_dbs.sh \
+    utilities/docker/ovn_default_nb_port \
+    utilities/docker/ovn_default_sb_port \
+    utilities/docker/ovn_default_northd_host \
+    utilities/docker/debian/Dockerfile \
+    utilities/docker/debian/build.sh
 
 CLEANFILES += \
     utilities/ovn-ctl.8 \
diff --git a/utilities/docker/Makefile b/utilities/docker/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e2b2c2a17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#export OVN_BRANCH=master
+#export OVN_VERSION=2.12
+#export KERNEL_VERSION=4.15.0-54-generic
+#export DISTRO=debian
+#export GITHUB_SRC=https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn.git
+#export DOCKER_REPO=ovn-org/ovn
+
+# Example:
+#   make build
+#   make push
+
+REPO = ${DOCKER_REPO}
+tag = ${OVN_VERSION}_${KERNEL_VERSION}
+
+build: ;docker build -t ${REPO}:${tag} --build-arg DISTRO=${DISTRO} \
+--build-arg OVN_BRANCH=${OVN_BRANCH} \
+--build-arg KERNEL_VERSION=${KERNEL_VERSION} \
+--build-arg GITHUB_SRC=${GITHUB_SRC} -f ${DISTRO}/Dockerfile .
+
+.PHONY: build
+
+push: ;docker push ${REPO}:${tag}
diff --git a/utilities/docker/create_ovn_dbs.sh b/utilities/docker/create_ovn_dbs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..43ab367d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/create_ovn_dbs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+ovsdb-tool create /etc/openvswitch/ovnnb_db.db \
+/usr/share/openvswitch/ovn-nb.ovsschema
+ovsdb-tool create /etc/openvswitch/ovnsb_db.db \
+/usr/share/openvswitch/ovn-sb.ovsschema
diff --git a/utilities/docker/debian/Dockerfile b/utilities/docker/debian/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe72c3a33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/debian/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+FROM ubuntu:16.04
+MAINTAINER "Aliasgar Ginwala" <aginwala@ebay.com>
+
+ARG OVN_BRANCH
+ARG KERNEL_VERSION
+ARG GITHUB_SRC
+ARG DISTRO
+
+copy $DISTRO/build.sh /build.sh
+RUN /build.sh $KERNEL_VERSION $OVN_BRANCH $GITHUB_SRC
+
+COPY create_ovn_dbs.sh /etc/openvswitch/create_ovn_dbs.sh
+RUN /etc/openvswitch/create_ovn_dbs.sh
+
+COPY ovn_default_nb_port /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_nb_port
+COPY ovn_default_sb_port /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_sb_port
+COPY ovn_default_northd_host /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_northd_host
+
+COPY start-ovn /bin/start-ovn
+VOLUME ["/var/log/openvswitch", \
+"/var/lib/openvswitch", "/var/run/openvswitch", "/etc/openvswitch"]
+ENTRYPOINT ["start-ovn"]
diff --git a/utilities/docker/debian/build.sh b/utilities/docker/debian/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..fd26a8aa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/debian/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+KERNEL_VERSION=$1
+OVN_BRANCH=$2
+GITHUB_SRC=$3
+
+# Install deps
+linux="linux-image-$KERNEL_VERSION linux-headers-$KERNEL_VERSION"
+build_deps="apt-utils libelf-dev build-essential libssl-dev python \
+python-six wget gdb autoconf libtool git automake bzip2 debhelper \
+dh-autoreconf openssl"
+
+apt-get update
+apt-get install -y ${linux} ${build_deps}
+
+# get the source
+mkdir /build; cd /build
+git clone --depth 1 -b $OVN_BRANCH $GITHUB_SRC
+cd ovn
+
+# build and install
+./boot.sh
+./configure --localstatedir="/var" --sysconfdir="/etc" --prefix="/usr" \
+--with-linux=/lib/modules/$KERNEL_VERSION/build --enable-ssl
+make -j8; make install
+
+# remove deps to make the container light weight.
+apt-get remove --purge -y ${build_deps}
+apt-get autoremove -y --purge
+cd ..; rm -rf ovn
+basic_utils="vim kmod net-tools uuid-runtime iproute2"
+apt-get install -y ${basic_utils}
diff --git a/utilities/docker/ovn_default_nb_port b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_nb_port
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d83211678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_nb_port
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+nb_db_port=6641
diff --git a/utilities/docker/ovn_default_northd_host b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_northd_host
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..55d4ab7aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_northd_host
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+northd_host=127.0.0.1
diff --git a/utilities/docker/ovn_default_sb_port b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_sb_port
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c9e3f585
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/ovn_default_sb_port
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sb_db_port=6642
diff --git a/utilities/docker/start-ovn b/utilities/docker/start-ovn
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7f87e65a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/docker/start-ovn
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+case $1 in
+        "ovn-nb-tcp") source /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_nb_port
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl start_ovsdb
+                      ovn-nbctl set-connection ptcp:$nb_db_port
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl stop_ovsdb
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl run_nb_ovsdb
+        ;;
+        "ovn-sb-tcp") source /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_sb_port
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl start_ovsdb
+                      ovn-sbctl set-connection ptcp:$sb_db_port
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl stop_ovsdb
+                      /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovn-ctl run_sb_ovsdb
+        ;;
+        "ovn-northd-tcp") source /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_northd_host
+                          source /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_nb_port
+                          source /etc/openvswitch/ovn_default_sb_port
+                          ovn-northd --pidfile \
+                          --ovnnb-db="tcp:$northd_host:$nb_db_port" \
+                          --ovnsb-db="tcp:$northd_host:$sb_db_port" \
+                          --log-file=/var/log/openvswitch/ovn-northd.log
+        ;;
+        "ovn-controller") ovn-controller --pidfile \
+                          --log-file=/var/log/openvswitch/ovn-controller.log
+        ;;
+        *) echo "$0 [ovn-nb-tcp|ovn-sb-tcp|ovn-northd-tcp|ovn-controller]"
+esac
