diff --git a/server/core/config.cc b/server/core/config.cc
index 1723ab401..051740a1a 100644
--- a/server/core/config.cc
+++ b/server/core/config.cc
@@ -4666,4 +4666,32 @@ MXS_CONFIG_PARAMETER* ParamList::params()
     return m_ctx.parameters;
 }
 
+
+void dump_if_changed(const MXS_MODULE_PARAM* params, int file,
+                     const std::string& key, const std::string& value)
+{
+    for (int i = 0; params[i].name; i++)
+    {
+        if (params[i].name == key)
+        {
+            /**
+             * This detects only exact matches, not ones that are logically equivalent
+             * but lexicographically different e.g. 1 and true. This might not
+             * be a bad thing: it'll distinct user defined values from defaults.
+             */
+
+            if (!params[i].default_value || value != params[i].default_value)
+            {
+                if (dprintf(file, "%s=%s\n", key.c_str(), value.c_str()) == -1)
+                {
+                    MXS_ERROR("Failed to serialize service value: %d, %s",
+                              errno, mxs_strerror(errno));
+                }
+            }
+
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/server/core/internal/config.hh b/server/core/internal/config.hh
index 9a89bb185..d59961a00 100644
--- a/server/core/internal/config.hh
+++ b/server/core/internal/config.hh
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 #include <maxscale/config.h>
 
+#include <sstream>
+
 #include <maxscale/ssl.h>
 #include <maxscale/jansson.h>
 
@@ -214,3 +216,55 @@ bool is_normal_server_parameter(const char *param);
  *         `dest` are left in an undefined state
  */
 bool get_suffixed_size(const char* value, uint64_t* dest);
+
+namespace maxscale
+{
+
+// Internal function
+void dump_if_changed(const MXS_MODULE_PARAM* params, int file,
+                     const std::string& key, const std::string& value);
+
+
+/**
+ * Dump a parameter into a file descriptor
+ *
+ * The function detects only literal matches to the string format default values.
+ * If the string conversion results in an empty string, the value will not be
+ * dumped. This can only happen if an empty string is passed as the value.
+ *
+ * The function writes a single key-value pair into the file and terminates
+ * the line with a newline. This is intended to be used with configuration
+ * dumping code in the core.
+ *
+ * Note: Does not work with enum type parameters, they'll get converted into
+ * integers. Convert them to string format at the call site.
+ *
+ * @param params Module parameter to use
+ * @param file   File descriptor where the line is written
+ * @param key    Name of the parameter
+ * @param value  The parameter value
+ */
+template <class T>
+inline void dump_param(const MXS_MODULE_PARAM* params, int file, const std::string& key, const T value)
+{
+    std::stringstream ss;
+    ss << value;
+    auto strval = ss.str();
+
+    if (!strval.empty())
+    {
+        // Don't dump empty values
+        dump_if_changed(params, file, key, strval);
+    }
+}
+
+// Specialization required to dump booleans in the same format as they used in
+// the defaults. This requires that all defaults use either "true" or "false"
+// for the values.
+template <>
+inline void dump_param(const MXS_MODULE_PARAM* params, int file, const std::string& key, bool value)
+{
+    dump_if_changed(params, file, key, value ? "true" : "false");
+}
+
+}