diff --git a/src/main/java/it/inaf/oats/vospacebackend/implementation/NodeUtils.java b/src/main/java/it/inaf/oats/vospacebackend/implementation/NodeUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7e005da3bc1f86cbfb30076b93bbe844b02a7649
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/it/inaf/oats/vospacebackend/implementation/NodeUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * To change this license header, choose License Headers in Project Properties.
+ * To change this template file, choose Tools | Templates
+ * and open the template in the editor.
+ */
+package it.inaf.oats.vospacebackend.implementation;
+
+import ca.nrc.cadc.net.TransientException;
+import ca.nrc.cadc.vos.Node;
+import ca.nrc.cadc.vos.NodeNotFoundException;
+import ca.nrc.cadc.vos.VOSURI;
+import ca.nrc.cadc.vos.server.NodeID;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
+/**
+ *
+ * @author bertocco
+ */
+public class NodeUtils {
+    
+    public DatabaseNodePersistenceImpl dbNodePers;
+    private static final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(NodeUtils.class);
+    
+    
+    public NodeUtils() {
+        
+        dbNodePers = new DatabaseNodePersistenceImpl();
+        
+    }
+
+    public Long getNodeIdLongfromVosuriStr(String vosuri) {
+        
+        Node myNode = null;
+        NodeID nodeID;
+        
+        myNode = getNodeFromVosuriStr(vosuri);
+        if (myNode != null) {
+            nodeID = (NodeID)myNode.appData;        
+            return nodeID.getID();
+        } else {
+            return null;
+        }
+        
+    }
+    
+    /* Returns the node or null if something went wrong */
+    public Node getNodeFromVosuriStr(String vosuri) {
+        
+        Node myNode = null;
+        
+        try {
+            myNode = dbNodePers.get(new VOSURI(vosuri));
+        } catch (NodeNotFoundException e) {
+            log.debug("NodeNotFoundException getting node from persistence.");
+            log.debug(e.getMessage());
+        } catch (TransientException e) {
+            log.debug("TransientException getting node from persistence.");
+            log.debug(e.getMessage());
+        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+            log.debug("URISyntaxException getting node from persistence.");
+            log.debug(e.getMessage());
+        }
+        
+        return myNode;
+    }
+    
+}