diff --git a/planetstack/ec2_observer/syncstep.py b/planetstack/ec2_observer/syncstep.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..187b318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/planetstack/ec2_observer/syncstep.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import os
+import base64
+from datetime import datetime
+from planetstack.config import Config
+from util.logger import Logger, logging
+from observer.steps import *
+
+logger = Logger(level=logging.INFO)
+
+class FailedDependency(Exception):
+    pass
+
+class SyncStep:
+    """ A PlanetStack Sync step. 
+
+    Attributes:
+        psmodel        Model name the step synchronizes 
+        dependencies    list of names of models that must be synchronized first if the current model depends on them
+    """ 
+    slow=False
+    def get_prop(prop):
+        try:
+            sync_config_dir = Config().sync_config_dir
+        except:
+            sync_config_dir = '/etc/planetstack/sync'
+        prop_config_path = '/'.join(sync_config_dir,self.name,prop)
+        return open(prop_config_path).read().rstrip()
+
+    def __init__(self, **args):
+        """Initialize a sync step
+           Keyword arguments:
+                   name -- Name of the step
+                provides -- PlanetStack models sync'd by this step
+        """
+        dependencies = []
+        self.driver = args.get('driver')
+        self.error_map = args.get('error_map')
+
+        try:
+            self.soft_deadline = int(self.get_prop('soft_deadline_seconds'))
+        except:
+            self.soft_deadline = 5 # 5 seconds
+
+        return
+
+    def fetch_pending(self, deletion=False):
+        return []
+        #return Sliver.objects.filter(ip=None)
+    
+    def check_dependencies(self, obj, failed):
+        for dep in self.dependencies:
+            peer_object = getattr(obj, dep.lower())
+            if (peer_object.pk==failed.pk):
+                raise FailedDependency
+
+    def call(self, failed=[], deletion=False):
+        pending = self.fetch_pending(deletion)
+        for o in pending:
+            try:
+                for f in failed:
+                    self.check_dependencies(o,f) # Raises exception if failed
+                if (deletion):
+                    self.delete_record(o)
+                    o.delete(purge=True)
+                else:
+                    self.sync_record(o)
+                    o.enacted = datetime.now() # Is this the same timezone? XXX
+                    o.backend_status = "OK"
+                    o.save(update_fields=['enacted'])
+            except Exception,e:
+                try:
+                    o.backend_status = self.error_map.map(str(e))
+                except:
+                    o.backend_status = str(e)
+
+                o.save(update_fields=['backend_status'])
+
+                logger.log_exc("sync step failed!")
+                failed.append(o)
+
+        return failed
+
+    def __call__(self, **args):
+        return self.call(**args)