diff --git a/distribution/src/main/bin/ycsb b/distribution/src/main/bin/ycsb
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..78ea95c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distribution/src/main/bin/ycsb
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import os
+import sys
+import subprocess
+
+COMMANDS = {
+    "load" : "-load",
+    "run"  : "-t",
+}
+
+DATABASES = {
+    "basic"       : "com.yahoo.ycsb.BasicDB",
+    "cassandra7"  : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.CassandraClient7",
+    "cassandra8"  : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.CassandraClient8",
+    "cassandra10" : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.CassandraClient10",
+    "hbase"       : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.HBaseClient",
+    "infispan"    : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.InfinispanClient",
+    "jbdc"        : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.JdbcDBClient",
+    "mapkeeper"   : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.MapKeeperClient",
+    "mongodb"     : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.MongoDbClient",
+    "redis"       : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.RedisClient", 
+    "voldemort"   : "com.yahoo.ycsb.db.VoldemortClient", 
+}
+
+OPTIONS = {
+    "-p key=value" : "Override workload property",
+    "-s"           : "Print status to stderr",
+    "-target n"    : "Target ops/sec (default: unthrottled)",
+    "-threads n"   : "Number of client threads (default: 1)",
+}
+def usage():
+    usage = "Usage: %s command database workload-file [options]" % sys.argv[0]
+    print usage
+
+    print "Commands:"
+    for command in sorted(COMMANDS.keys()):
+        print "    %s" % command
+
+    print "Databases:"
+    for db in sorted(DATABASES.keys()):
+        print "    %s" % db
+
+    print "Options:"
+    for option in sorted(OPTIONS.keys()):
+        print "    {0:13} {1}".format(option, OPTIONS[option])
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+def find_jars(dir):
+    jars = []
+    for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(dir):
+        for filename in filenames:
+            if filename.endswith(".jar"):
+                jars.append(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))
+    return jars
+
+def get_ycsb_home():
+    bin_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]))
+    ycsb_home = os.path.join(*([bin_dir] + [os.path.pardir] * 4))
+    return os.path.abspath(ycsb_home)
+
+def get_command():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+        usage()
+    if sys.argv[1] not in COMMANDS:
+        print "ERROR: Command '%s' not found" % sys.argv[1]
+        usage()
+    return COMMANDS[sys.argv[1]]
+
+def get_database():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
+        usage()
+    if sys.argv[2] not in DATABASES:
+        print "ERROR: Database '%s' not found" % sys.argv[2]
+        usage()
+    return DATABASES[sys.argv[2]]
+
+def get_workload():
+    if len(sys.argv) < 4:
+        usage()
+    return sys.argv[3]
+
+def get_options():
+    return sys.argv[4:]
+
+ycsb_home = get_ycsb_home()
+command = get_command()
+database = get_database()
+workload = get_workload()
+options = get_options()
+ycsb_command = ["java", "-cp", ":".join(find_jars(ycsb_home)), \
+                "com.yahoo.ycsb.Client", command, "-db", database, \
+                "-P", workload] + options
+subprocess.call(ycsb_command)
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 029ba23e..f1adefda 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1,59 +1,60 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
   <groupId>org.apache.ycsb</groupId>
   <artifactId>root</artifactId>
   <version>0.1.3</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <name>YCSB Root</name>
 
   <description>
     This is the top level project that builds, packages the core and all the DB bindings for YCSB infrastructure.
   </description>
 
   <!-- Properties Management -->
   <properties>
     <maven.assembly.version>2.2.1</maven.assembly.version>
     <hbase.version>0.90.5</hbase.version>
     <cassandra.version>0.7.0</cassandra.version>
     <gemfire.version>1.0.0.M3</gemfire.version>
     <infinispan.version>7.1.0.CR1</infinispan.version>
     <openjpa.jdbc.version>2.1.1</openjpa.jdbc.version>
     <mapkeeper.version>1.0</mapkeeper.version>
     <mongodb.version>2.7.2</mongodb.version>
     <redis.version>2.0.0</redis.version>
     <voldemort.version>0.81</voldemort.version>
+    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
   </properties>
 
   <modules>
     <module>core</module>
     <module>hbase</module>
     <module>cassandra</module>
     <!--module>gemfire</module-->
     <module>infinispan</module>
     <module>jdbc</module>
     <module>mapkeeper</module>
     <module>mongodb</module>
     <module>redis</module>
     <module>voldemort</module>
     <module>distribution</module>
   </modules>
 
   <build>
     <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.2</version>
        <configuration>
          <source>1.6</source>
          <target>1.6</target>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
   </build>
 
 </project>