diff --git a/platform/vs/docker-sonic-vs/start.sh b/platform/vs/docker-sonic-vs/start.sh
index 7b246a49de..7ee70efa08 100755
--- a/platform/vs/docker-sonic-vs/start.sh
+++ b/platform/vs/docker-sonic-vs/start.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ if [[ -f /usr/share/sonic/virtual_chassis/default_config.json ]]; then
     CHASS_CFG="-j /usr/share/sonic/virtual_chassis/default_config.json"
 fi
 
+# Note: libswsscommon requires a dabase_config file in /var/run/redis/sonic-db/
+# Prepare this file before any dependent application, such as sonic-cfggen
+mkdir -p /var/run/redis/sonic-db
+cp /etc/default/sonic-db/database_config.json /var/run/redis/sonic-db/
+
 SYSTEM_MAC_ADDRESS=$(ip link show eth0 | grep ether | awk '{print $2}')
 sonic-cfggen -a '{"DEVICE_METADATA":{"localhost": {"mac": "'$SYSTEM_MAC_ADDRESS'", "buffer_model": "traditional"}}}' $CHASS_CFG --print-data > /etc/sonic/init_cfg.json
 
@@ -68,9 +73,6 @@ else
    echo "10.8.1.200 redis_chassis.server" >> /etc/hosts
 fi
 
-mkdir -p /var/run/redis/sonic-db
-cp /etc/default/sonic-db/database_config.json /var/run/redis/sonic-db/
-
 supervisorctl start redis-server
 
 start_chassis_db=`sonic-cfggen -v DEVICE_METADATA.localhost.start_chassis_db -y $chassisdb_cfg_file`
diff --git a/rules/sonic-config.mk b/rules/sonic-config.mk
index 996e311b5f..e8e59fc1b9 100644
--- a/rules/sonic-config.mk
+++ b/rules/sonic-config.mk
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2 = sonic_config_engine-1.0-py2-none-any.whl
 $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)_SRC_PATH = $(SRC_PATH)/sonic-config-engine
-$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)_DEPENDS += $(SWSSSDK_PY2) $(SONIC_PY_COMMON_PY2)
+$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)_DEPENDS += $(SONIC_PY_COMMON_PY2)
+$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)_DEBS_DEPENDS += $(PYTHON_SWSSCOMMON)
 $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)_PYTHON_VERSION = 2
 SONIC_PYTHON_WHEELS += $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)
 
@@ -10,7 +11,8 @@ SONIC_PYTHON_WHEELS += $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)
 
 SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3 = sonic_config_engine-1.0-py3-none-any.whl
 $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3)_SRC_PATH = $(SRC_PATH)/sonic-config-engine
-$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3)_DEPENDS += $(SWSSSDK_PY3) $(SONIC_PY_COMMON_PY3)
+$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3)_DEPENDS += $(SONIC_PY_COMMON_PY3)
+$(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3)_DEBS_DEPENDS += $(PYTHON3_SWSSCOMMON)
 # Synthetic dependency to avoid building the Python 2 and 3 packages
 # simultaneously and any potential conflicts which may arise
 $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY3)_DEPENDS += $(SONIC_CONFIG_ENGINE_PY2)
diff --git a/src/sonic-config-engine/portconfig.py b/src/sonic-config-engine/portconfig.py
index d20212eb55..8a3177f31b 100644
--- a/src/sonic-config-engine/portconfig.py
+++ b/src/sonic-config-engine/portconfig.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ try:
     import re
     import sys
 
-    from swsssdk import ConfigDBConnector
+    from swsscommon.swsscommon import ConfigDBConnector
     from sonic_py_common import device_info
 except ImportError as e:
     raise ImportError("%s - required module not found" % str(e))
diff --git a/src/sonic-config-engine/redis_bcc.py b/src/sonic-config-engine/redis_bcc.py
index 1045e0c5c8..c9d3ebca23 100644
--- a/src/sonic-config-engine/redis_bcc.py
+++ b/src/sonic-config-engine/redis_bcc.py
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@ class RedisBytecodeCache(jinja2.BytecodeCache):
             return
         code = self._client.get(self._client.LOGLEVEL_DB, self.REDIS_HASH, bucket.key)
         if code is not None:
-            bucket.bytecode_from_string(b64decode(code))
+            bucket.bytecode_from_string(b64decode(code.encode()))
 
     def dump_bytecode(self, bucket):
         if self._client is None:
             return
         self._client.set(self._client.LOGLEVEL_DB, self.REDIS_HASH,
-                         bucket.key, b64encode(bucket.bytecode_to_string()))
+                         bucket.key, b64encode(bucket.bytecode_to_string()).decode())
 
diff --git a/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen b/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
index af638c2c28..0f9ffafad6 100755
--- a/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
+++ b/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ from portconfig import get_port_config, get_breakout_mode
 from redis_bcc import RedisBytecodeCache
 from sonic_py_common.multi_asic import get_asic_id_from_name, is_multi_asic
 from sonic_py_common import device_info
-from swsssdk import SonicV2Connector, ConfigDBConnector, SonicDBConfig, ConfigDBPipeConnector
+from swsscommon.swsscommon import SonicV2Connector, ConfigDBConnector, SonicDBConfig, ConfigDBPipeConnector
 
 
 PY3x = sys.version_info >= (3, 0)
diff --git a/src/sonic-swss-common b/src/sonic-swss-common
index 2db7bea996..2f79bb49d1 160000
--- a/src/sonic-swss-common
+++ b/src/sonic-swss-common
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 2db7bea9963a988a575b8075e1f6c5369d057230
+Subproject commit 2f79bb49d13820f2c108e4e27a2a12181713662f