diff --git a/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils.go b/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a445c878cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils.go
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+// Package ipamutils provides utililty functions for ipam management
+package ipamutils
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+
+	"github.com/docker/libnetwork/netutils"
+	"github.com/docker/libnetwork/resolvconf"
+	"github.com/vishvananda/netlink"
+)
+
+var (
+	// PredefinedBroadNetworks contains a list of 31 IPv4 private networks with host size 16 and 12
+	// (172.17-31.x.x/16, 192.168.x.x/20) which do not overlap with the networks in `PredefinedGranularNetworks`
+	PredefinedBroadNetworks []*net.IPNet
+	// PredefinedGranularNetworks contains a list of 64K IPv4 private networks with host size 8
+	// (10.x.x.x/24) which do not overlap with the networks in `PredefinedBroadNetworks`
+	PredefinedGranularNetworks []*net.IPNet
+)
+
+func init() {
+	PredefinedBroadNetworks = initBroadPredefinedNetworks()
+	PredefinedGranularNetworks = initGranularPredefinedNetworks()
+}
+
+// ElectInterfaceAddresses looks for an interface on the OS with the specified name
+// and returns its IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in CIDR form. If the interface does not exist,
+// it chooses from a predifined list the first IPv4 address which does not conflict
+// with other interfaces on the system.
+func ElectInterfaceAddresses(name string) ([]*net.IPNet, []*net.IPNet, error) {
+	var v4Nets, v6Nets []*net.IPNet
+
+	link, _ := netlink.LinkByName(name)
+	if link != nil {
+		v4addr, err := netlink.AddrList(link, netlink.FAMILY_V4)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+		v6addr, err := netlink.AddrList(link, netlink.FAMILY_V6)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+		for _, nlAddr := range v4addr {
+			v4Nets = append(v4Nets, nlAddr.IPNet)
+		}
+		for _, nlAddr := range v6addr {
+			v6Nets = append(v6Nets, nlAddr.IPNet)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if link == nil || len(v4Nets) == 0 {
+		// Choose from predifined broad networks
+		v4Net, err := FindAvailableNetwork(PredefinedBroadNetworks)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, err
+		}
+		v4Nets = append(v4Nets, v4Net)
+	}
+
+	return v4Nets, v6Nets, nil
+}
+
+// FindAvailableNetwork returns a network from the passed list which does not
+// overlap with existing interfaces in the system
+func FindAvailableNetwork(list []*net.IPNet) (*net.IPNet, error) {
+	// We don't check for an error here, because we don't really care if we
+	// can't read /etc/resolv.conf. So instead we skip the append if resolvConf
+	// is nil. It either doesn't exist, or we can't read it for some reason.
+	var nameservers []string
+	if rc, err := resolvconf.Get(); err == nil {
+		nameservers = resolvconf.GetNameserversAsCIDR(rc.Content)
+	}
+	for _, nw := range list {
+		if err := netutils.CheckNameserverOverlaps(nameservers, nw); err == nil {
+			if err := netutils.CheckRouteOverlaps(nw); err == nil {
+				return nw, nil
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("no available network")
+}
+
+func initBroadPredefinedNetworks() []*net.IPNet {
+	pl := make([]*net.IPNet, 0, 31)
+	mask := []byte{255, 255, 0, 0}
+	for i := 17; i < 32; i++ {
+		pl = append(pl, &net.IPNet{IP: []byte{172, byte(i), 0, 0}, Mask: mask})
+	}
+	mask20 := []byte{255, 255, 240, 0}
+	for i := 0; i < 16; i++ {
+		pl = append(pl, &net.IPNet{IP: []byte{192, 168, byte(i << 4), 0}, Mask: mask20})
+	}
+	return pl
+}
+
+func initGranularPredefinedNetworks() []*net.IPNet {
+	pl := make([]*net.IPNet, 0, 256*256)
+	mask := []byte{255, 255, 255, 0}
+	for i := 0; i < 256; i++ {
+		for j := 0; j < 256; j++ {
+			pl = append(pl, &net.IPNet{IP: []byte{10, byte(i), byte(j), 0}, Mask: mask})
+		}
+	}
+	return pl
+}
diff --git a/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils_test.go b/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..afe33e5ef9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libnetwork/ipamutils/utils_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package ipamutils
+
+import (
+	"net"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/docker/libnetwork/testutils"
+	"github.com/docker/libnetwork/types"
+	"github.com/vishvananda/netlink"
+)
+
+func TestGranularPredefined(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, nw := range PredefinedGranularNetworks {
+		if ones, bits := nw.Mask.Size(); bits != 32 || ones != 24 {
+			t.Fatalf("Unexpected size for network in granular list: %v", nw)
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, nw := range PredefinedBroadNetworks {
+		if ones, bits := nw.Mask.Size(); bits != 32 || (ones != 20 && ones != 16) {
+			t.Fatalf("Unexpected size for network in broad list: %v", nw)
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
+func TestNetworkRequest(t *testing.T) {
+	defer testutils.SetupTestOSContext(t)()
+	_, exp, err := net.ParseCIDR("172.17.0.0/16")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	nw, err := FindAvailableNetwork(PredefinedBroadNetworks)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !types.CompareIPNet(exp, nw) {
+		t.Fatalf("exected %s. got %s", exp, nw)
+	}
+
+	_, exp, err = net.ParseCIDR("10.0.0.0/24")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	nw, err = FindAvailableNetwork(PredefinedGranularNetworks)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !types.CompareIPNet(exp, nw) {
+		t.Fatalf("exected %s. got %s", exp, nw)
+	}
+
+	// Add iface and ssert returned address on request
+	createInterface(t, "test", "172.17.42.1/16")
+
+	_, exp, err = net.ParseCIDR("172.18.0.0/16")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	nw, err = FindAvailableNetwork(PredefinedBroadNetworks)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !types.CompareIPNet(exp, nw) {
+		t.Fatalf("exected %s. got %s", exp, nw)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestElectInterfaceAddress(t *testing.T) {
+	defer testutils.SetupTestOSContext(t)()
+	nws := "172.101.202.254/16"
+	createInterface(t, "test", nws)
+
+	ipv4Nw, ipv6Nw, err := ElectInterfaceAddresses("test")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if len(ipv4Nw) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected empty ipv4 network addresses")
+	}
+
+	if len(ipv6Nw) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected empty ipv4 network addresses")
+	}
+
+	if nws != ipv4Nw[0].String() {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %s. got %s", nws, ipv4Nw[0])
+	}
+}
+
+func createInterface(t *testing.T, name, nw string) {
+	// Add interface
+	link := &netlink.Bridge{
+		LinkAttrs: netlink.LinkAttrs{
+			Name: "test",
+		},
+	}
+	bip, err := types.ParseCIDR(nw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err = netlink.LinkAdd(link); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create interface via netlink: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := netlink.AddrAdd(link, &netlink.Addr{IPNet: bip}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err = netlink.LinkSetUp(link); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}