diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/updating_apps.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/updating_apps.rst
index f513615..f4dd196 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/updating_apps.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/updating_apps.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ DPDK 2.0 to DPDK 2.1
     rte_pktmbuf_pool_private structure and pass it to
     rte_pktmbuf_pool_init().
 
+*   A simpler helper rte_pktmbuf_pool_create() can be used to create a
+    packet mbuf pool. The old way using rte_mempool_create() is still
+    supported though and is still used for more specific cases.
+
 DPDK 1.7 to DPDK 1.8
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.c b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.c
index d1f2a6f..26b6f12 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.c
+++ b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.c
@@ -143,6 +143,27 @@ rte_pktmbuf_init(struct rte_mempool *mp,
 	m->port = 0xff;
 }
 
+/* helper to create a mbuf pool */
+struct rte_mempool *
+rte_pktmbuf_pool_create(const char *name, unsigned n,
+	unsigned cache_size, uint16_t priv_size, uint16_t data_room_size,
+	int socket_id)
+{
+	struct rte_pktmbuf_pool_private mbp_priv;
+	unsigned elt_size;
+
+
+	elt_size = sizeof(struct rte_mbuf) + (unsigned)priv_size +
+		(unsigned)data_room_size;
+	mbp_priv.mbuf_data_room_size = data_room_size;
+	mbp_priv.mbuf_priv_size = priv_size;
+
+	return rte_mempool_create(name, n, elt_size,
+		cache_size, sizeof(struct rte_pktmbuf_pool_private),
+		rte_pktmbuf_pool_init, &mbp_priv, rte_pktmbuf_init, NULL,
+		socket_id, 0);
+}
+
 /* do some sanity checks on a mbuf: panic if it fails */
 void
 rte_mbuf_sanity_check(const struct rte_mbuf *m, int is_header)
diff --git a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
index a4146fa..42db8e3 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
+++ b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
@@ -642,6 +642,46 @@ void rte_pktmbuf_init(struct rte_mempool *mp, void *opaque_arg,
 void rte_pktmbuf_pool_init(struct rte_mempool *mp, void *opaque_arg);
 
 /**
+ * Create a mbuf pool.
+ *
+ * This function creates and initializes a packet mbuf pool. It is
+ * a wrapper to rte_mempool_create() with the proper packet constructor
+ * and mempool constructor.
+ *
+ * @param name
+ *   The name of the mbuf pool.
+ * @param n
+ *   The number of elements in the mbuf pool. The optimum size (in terms
+ *   of memory usage) for a mempool is when n is a power of two minus one:
+ *   n = (2^q - 1).
+ * @param cache_size
+ *   Size of the per-core object cache. See rte_mempool_create() for
+ *   details.
+ * @param priv_size
+ *   Size of application private are between the rte_mbuf structure
+ *   and the data buffer.
+ * @param data_room_size
+ *   Size of data buffer in each mbuf, including RTE_PKTMBUF_HEADROOM.
+ * @param socket_id
+ *   The socket identifier where the memory should be allocated. The
+ *   value can be *SOCKET_ID_ANY* if there is no NUMA constraint for the
+ *   reserved zone.
+ * @return
+ *   The pointer to the new allocated mempool, on success. NULL on error
+ *   with rte_errno set appropriately. Possible rte_errno values include:
+ *    - E_RTE_NO_CONFIG - function could not get pointer to rte_config structure
+ *    - E_RTE_SECONDARY - function was called from a secondary process instance
+ *    - EINVAL - cache size provided is too large
+ *    - ENOSPC - the maximum number of memzones has already been allocated
+ *    - EEXIST - a memzone with the same name already exists
+ *    - ENOMEM - no appropriate memory area found in which to create memzone
+ */
+struct rte_mempool *
+rte_pktmbuf_pool_create(const char *name, unsigned n,
+	unsigned cache_size, uint16_t priv_size, uint16_t data_room_size,
+	int socket_id);
+
+/**
  * Get the data room size of mbufs stored in a pktmbuf_pool
  *
  * The data room size is the amount of data that can be stored in a
diff --git a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf_version.map b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf_version.map
index c4be3df..7ae2244 100644
--- a/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf_version.map
+++ b/lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf_version.map
@@ -11,3 +11,11 @@ DPDK_2.0 {
 
 	local: *;
 };
+
+DPDK_2.1 {
+       global:
+
+       rte_pktmbuf_pool_create;
+
+       local: *;
+} DPDK_2.0;
