diff --git a/internal/pkg/afrouterd/misc.go b/internal/pkg/afrouterd/misc.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09f3a8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/pkg/afrouterd/misc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018-present Open Networking Foundation
+
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+package afrouterd
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/opencord/voltha-go/common/log"
+	pb "github.com/opencord/voltha-protos/go/afrouter"
+	"golang.org/x/net/context"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/connectivity"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/keepalive"
+	"math"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
+)
+
+type volthaPod struct {
+	name    string
+	ipAddr  string
+	node    string
+	devIds  map[string]struct{}
+	backend string
+}
+
+// TODO: These variables should be passed in from main() rather than
+// declared here.
+
+var (
+	// if k8s variables are undefined, will attempt to use in-cluster config
+	k8sApiServer      = GetStrEnv("K8S_API_SERVER", "")
+	k8sKubeConfigPath = GetStrEnv("K8S_KUBE_CONFIG_PATH", "")
+
+	podNamespace          = GetStrEnv("POD_NAMESPACE", "voltha")
+	podLabelSelector      = GetStrEnv("POD_LABEL_SELECTOR", "app=rw-core")
+	podAffinityGroupLabel = GetStrEnv("POD_AFFINITY_GROUP_LABEL", "affinity-group")
+
+	podGrpcPort = uint64(GetIntEnv("POD_GRPC_PORT", 0, math.MaxUint16, 50057))
+
+	afrouterRouterName    = GetStrEnv("AFROUTER_ROUTER_NAME", "vcore")
+	afrouterRouteName     = GetStrEnv("AFROUTER_ROUTE_NAME", "dev_manager")
+	afrouterRWClusterName = GetStrEnv("AFROUTER_RW_CLUSTER_NAME", "vcore")
+
+	kafkaTopic      = GetStrEnv("KAFKA_TOPIC", "AffinityRouter")
+	kafkaClientType = GetStrEnv("KAFKA_CLIENT_TYPE", "sarama")
+	kafkaHost       = GetStrEnv("KAFKA_HOST", "kafka")
+	kafkaPort       = GetIntEnv("KAFKA_PORT", 0, math.MaxUint16, 9092)
+	kafkaInstanceID = GetStrEnv("KAFKA_INSTANCE_ID", "arouterd")
+)
+
+func GetIntEnv(key string, min, max, defaultValue int) int {
+	if val, have := os.LookupEnv(key); have {
+		num, err := strconv.Atoi(val)
+		if err != nil || !(min <= num && num <= max) {
+			panic(fmt.Errorf("%s must be a number in the range [%d, %d]; default: %d", key, min, max, defaultValue))
+		}
+		return num
+	}
+	return defaultValue
+}
+
+func GetStrEnv(key, defaultValue string) string {
+	if val, have := os.LookupEnv(key); have {
+		return val
+	}
+	return defaultValue
+}
+
+func Connect(ctx context.Context, addr string) (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
+	log.Debugf("Trying to connect to %s", addr)
+	conn, err := grpc.DialContext(ctx, addr,
+		grpc.WithInsecure(),
+		grpc.WithBlock(),
+		grpc.WithBackoffMaxDelay(time.Second*5),
+		grpc.WithKeepaliveParams(keepalive.ClientParameters{Time: time.Second * 10, Timeout: time.Second * 5}))
+	if err == nil {
+		log.Debugf("Connection succeeded")
+	}
+	return conn, err
+}
+
+func setAffinity(ctx context.Context, client pb.ConfigurationClient, deviceId string, backend string) {
+	log.Debugf("Configuring backend %s with device id %s \n", backend, deviceId)
+	if res, err := client.SetAffinity(ctx, &pb.Affinity{
+		Router:  afrouterRouterName,
+		Route:   afrouterRouteName,
+		Cluster: afrouterRWClusterName,
+		Backend: backend,
+		Id:      deviceId,
+	}); err != nil {
+		log.Debugf("failed affinity RPC call: %s\n", err)
+	} else {
+		log.Debugf("Result: %v\n", res)
+	}
+}
+
+// endOnClose cancels the context when the connection closes
+func ConnectionActiveContext(conn *grpc.ClientConn) context.Context {
+	ctx, disconnected := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	go func() {
+		for state := conn.GetState(); state != connectivity.TransientFailure && state != connectivity.Shutdown; state = conn.GetState() {
+			if !conn.WaitForStateChange(context.Background(), state) {
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		log.Infof("Connection to afrouter lost")
+		disconnected()
+	}()
+	return ctx
+}