diff --git a/python/common/utils/dockerhelpers.py b/python/common/utils/dockerhelpers.py
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/python/common/utils/dockerhelpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#
+# Copyright 2017 the original author or authors.
+#
+# 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.
+#
+
+"""
+Some docker related convenience functions
+"""
+from datetime import datetime
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
+
+import os
+import socket
+from structlog import get_logger
+
+from docker import Client, errors
+
+
+docker_socket = os.environ.get('DOCKER_SOCK', 'unix://tmp/docker.sock')
+log = get_logger()
+
+def get_my_containers_name():
+    """
+    Return the docker containers name in which this process is running.
+    To look up the container name, we use the container ID extracted from the
+    $HOSTNAME environment variable (which is set by docker conventions).
+    :return: String with the docker container name (or None if any issue is
+             encountered)
+    """
+    my_container_id = os.environ.get('HOSTNAME', None)
+
+    try:
+        docker_cli = Client(base_url=docker_socket)
+        info = docker_cli.inspect_container(my_container_id)
+
+    except Exception, e:
+        log.exception('failed', my_container_id=my_container_id, e=e)
+        raise
+
+    name = info['Name'].lstrip('/')
+
+    return name
+
+def get_all_running_containers():
+    try:
+        docker_cli = Client(base_url=docker_socket)
+        containers = docker_cli.containers()
+
+    except Exception, e:
+        log.exception('failed', e=e)
+        raise
+
+    return containers
+
+def inspect_container(id):
+    try:
+        docker_cli = Client(base_url=docker_socket)
+        info = docker_cli.inspect_container(id)
+    except Exception, e:
+        log.exception('failed-inspect-container', id=id, e=e)
+        raise
+
+    return info
+