diff --git a/awsapi/pom.xml b/awsapi/pom.xml
index 55a16326934..3c2bbe16399 100644
--- a/awsapi/pom.xml
+++ b/awsapi/pom.xml
@@ -317,6 +317,16 @@
       </resource>
     </resources>
     <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>${cs.checkstyle.version}</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <phase>none</phase>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
diff --git a/deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml b/deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
index cdc1e302f6d..5c885b49808 100644
--- a/deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
+++ b/deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
@@ -35,4 +35,26 @@
       <version>${cs.xmlrpc.version}</version>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>${cs.checkstyle.version}</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <phase>none</phase>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+        <dependencies>
+          <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.cloudstack</groupId>
+            <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
+            <!-- this project.version differs -->
+            <version>${project.parent.version}</version>
+          </dependency>
+        </dependencies>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/plugins/network-elements/opendaylight/pom.xml b/plugins/network-elements/opendaylight/pom.xml
index 8c69b6ebe17..47d66f60b13 100644
--- a/plugins/network-elements/opendaylight/pom.xml
+++ b/plugins/network-elements/opendaylight/pom.xml
@@ -47,34 +47,6 @@
       </testResource>
     </testResources>
     <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-        <dependencies>
-          <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.apache.cloudstack</groupId>
-            <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-          </dependency>
-        </dependencies>
-        <executions>
-          <execution>
-            <phase>process-classes</phase>
-            <goals>
-              <goal>check</goal>
-            </goals>
-          </execution>
-        </executions>
-        <configuration>
-          <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
-          <configLocation>tooling/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
-          <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
-          <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
-          <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}</sourceDirectory>
-          <includes>**\/*.java,**\/*.xml,**\/*.ini,**\/*.sh,**\/*.bat</includes>
-          <excludes>**\/target\/,**\/bin\/</excludes>
-        </configuration>
-      </plugin>
       <plugin>
         <groupId>com.mycila.maven-license-plugin</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-license-plugin</artifactId>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4a4719e4e75..3f65bdd05ad 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@
   </organization>
 
   <modules>
+    <module>tools/checkstyle</module>
     <module>api</module>
     <module>agent</module>
     <module>core</module>
@@ -447,7 +448,22 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-        <inherited>false</inherited>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+    <pluginManagement>
+      <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>${cs.checkstyle.version}</version>
+        <dependencies>
+          <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.cloudstack</groupId>
+            <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
+            <version>${project.version}</version>
+          </dependency>
+        </dependencies>
+
         <executions>
           <execution>
             <phase>validate</phase>
@@ -458,7 +474,7 @@
         </executions>
         <configuration>
           <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
-          <configLocation>${project.basedir}/tools/checkstyle/cloud-style.xml</configLocation>
+          <configLocation>cloud-style.xml</configLocation>
           <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
           <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
           <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}</sourceDirectory>
@@ -466,14 +482,6 @@
           <excludes>**\/deps\/,**\/test\/,**\/target\/,**\/bin\/,**\/*.xml,**\/*.ini,**\/*.sh,**\/*.bat,**\/awsapi\/,**\/XenServerJava\/,**\/apidoc\/</excludes>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-    <pluginManagement>
-      <plugins>
-        <plugin>
-          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-          <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-          <version>${cs.checkstyle.version}</version>
-        </plugin>
         <plugin>
           <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
           <configuration>
diff --git a/server/test/com/cloud/vpc/MockNetworkManagerImpl.java b/server/test/com/cloud/vpc/MockNetworkManagerImpl.java
index b62bf4758a6..be305dee0f4 100644
--- a/server/test/com/cloud/vpc/MockNetworkManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/test/com/cloud/vpc/MockNetworkManagerImpl.java
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ import javax.ejb.Local;
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 import javax.naming.ConfigurationException;
 
-import org.apache.cloudstack.acl.ControlledEntity;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+
 import org.apache.cloudstack.acl.ControlledEntity.ACLType;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.admin.network.DedicateGuestVlanRangeCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.admin.network.ListDedicatedGuestVlanRangesCmd;
diff --git a/tools/checkstyle/pom.xml b/tools/checkstyle/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..25eb5284d30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/checkstyle/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+  ~ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+  ~ distributed with this work for additional information
+  ~ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+  ~ to you 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.
+  -->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <name>Apache CloudStack Developer Tools - Checkstyle Configuration</name>
+    <groupId>org.apache.cloudstack</groupId>
+    <artifactId>checkstyle</artifactId>
+    <version>4.4.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <build>
+      <plugins>
+        <plugin>
+          <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+          <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+          <version>2.11</version>
+          <executions>
+            <execution>
+              <phase>none</phase>
+            </execution>
+          </executions>
+        </plugin>
+      </plugins>
+    </build>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/tools/checkstyle/cloud-style.xml b/tools/checkstyle/src/main/resources/cloud-style.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from tools/checkstyle/cloud-style.xml
rename to tools/checkstyle/src/main/resources/cloud-style.xml