diff --git a/storage/metric/frontier.go b/storage/metric/frontier.go
index 1cf9bac3b..9c4183902 100644
--- a/storage/metric/frontier.go
+++ b/storage/metric/frontier.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/coding/indexable"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model"
 	dto "github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/generated"
+	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage/raw/leveldb"
 	"time"
 )
 
@@ -42,9 +43,9 @@ func (f *diskFrontier) ContainsFingerprint(fingerprint model.Fingerprint) bool {
 	return !(fingerprint.Less(f.firstFingerprint) || f.lastFingerprint.Less(fingerprint))
 }
 
-func newDiskFrontier(i iterator) (d *diskFrontier, err error) {
-	i.SeekToLast()
-	if !i.Valid() || i.Key() == nil {
+func newDiskFrontier(i leveldb.Iterator) (d *diskFrontier, err error) {
+
+	if !i.SeekToLast() || i.Key() == nil {
 		return
 	}
 	lastKey, err := extractSampleKey(i)
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ func (f seriesFrontier) String() string {
 // newSeriesFrontier furnishes a populated diskFrontier for a given
 // fingerprint.  A nil diskFrontier will be returned if the series cannot
 // be found in the store.
-func newSeriesFrontier(f model.Fingerprint, d diskFrontier, i iterator) (s *seriesFrontier, err error) {
+func newSeriesFrontier(f model.Fingerprint, d diskFrontier, i leveldb.Iterator) (s *seriesFrontier, err error) {
 	var (
 		lowerSeek = firstSupertime
 		upperSeek = lastSupertime
@@ -129,7 +130,7 @@ func newSeriesFrontier(f model.Fingerprint, d diskFrontier, i iterator) (s *seri
 	//
 	//
 	if !retrievedFingerprint.Equal(f) {
-		i.Prev()
+		i.Previous()
 
 		retrievedKey, err = extractSampleKey(i)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/storage/metric/iterator.go b/storage/metric/iterator.go
deleted file mode 100644
index ce386088d..000000000
--- a/storage/metric/iterator.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2013 Prometheus Team
-// Licensed 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.
-
-package metric
-
-type Iterator interface {
-	Seek(key interface{}) (ok bool)
-	Next() (ok bool)
-	Previous() (ok bool)
-	Key() interface{}
-	Value() interface{}
-}
diff --git a/storage/metric/leveldb.go b/storage/metric/leveldb.go
index c7bdbf914..db1ceb9b5 100644
--- a/storage/metric/leveldb.go
+++ b/storage/metric/leveldb.go
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) AppendSamples(samples model.Samples) (err err
 	return
 }
 
-func extractSampleKey(i iterator) (k *dto.SampleKey, err error) {
+func extractSampleKey(i leveldb.Iterator) (k *dto.SampleKey, err error) {
 	if i == nil {
 		panic("nil iterator")
 	}
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ func extractSampleKey(i iterator) (k *dto.SampleKey, err error) {
 	return
 }
 
-func extractSampleValues(i iterator) (v *dto.SampleValueSeries, err error) {
+func extractSampleValues(i leveldb.Iterator) (v *dto.SampleValueSeries, err error) {
 	if i == nil {
 		panic("nil iterator")
 	}
@@ -937,18 +937,6 @@ func interpolate(x1, x2 time.Time, y1, y2 float32, e time.Time) float32 {
 	return y1 + (offset * dDt)
 }
 
-type iterator interface {
-	Close()
-	Key() []byte
-	Next()
-	Prev()
-	Seek([]byte)
-	SeekToFirst()
-	SeekToLast()
-	Valid() bool
-	Value() []byte
-}
-
 func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetValueAtTime(fp model.Fingerprint, t time.Time, s StalenessPolicy) (sample *model.Sample, err error) {
 	begin := time.Now()
 
@@ -975,15 +963,10 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetValueAtTime(fp model.Fingerprint, t time.T
 		return
 	}
 
-	iterator, closer, err := l.metricSamples.GetIterator()
-	if err != nil {
-		return
-	}
+	iterator := l.metricSamples.NewIterator(true)
+	defer iterator.Close()
 
-	defer closer.Close()
-
-	iterator.Seek(e)
-	if !iterator.Valid() {
+	if !iterator.Seek(e) {
 		/*
 		 * Two cases for this:
 		 * 1.) Corruption in LevelDB.
@@ -994,13 +977,10 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetValueAtTime(fp model.Fingerprint, t time.T
 		 * database is sufficient for our purposes.  This is, in all reality, a
 		 * corner case but one that could bring down the system.
 		 */
-		iterator, closer, err = l.metricSamples.GetIterator()
-		if err != nil {
-			return
-		}
-		defer closer.Close()
-		iterator.SeekToLast()
-		if !iterator.Valid() {
+		iterator = l.metricSamples.NewIterator(true)
+		defer iterator.Close()
+
+		if !iterator.SeekToLast() {
 			/*
 			 * For whatever reason, the LevelDB cannot be recovered.
 			 */
@@ -1048,8 +1028,7 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetValueAtTime(fp model.Fingerprint, t time.T
 
 	firstTime := indexable.DecodeTime(firstKey.Timestamp)
 	if t.Before(firstTime) || peekAhead {
-		iterator.Prev()
-		if !iterator.Valid() {
+		if !iterator.Previous() {
 			/*
 			 * Two cases for this:
 			 * 1.) Corruption in LevelDB.
@@ -1106,8 +1085,7 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetValueAtTime(fp model.Fingerprint, t time.T
 		return
 	}
 
-	iterator.Next()
-	if !iterator.Valid() {
+	if !iterator.Next() {
 		/*
 		 * Two cases for this:
 		 * 1.) Corruption in LevelDB.
@@ -1188,17 +1166,12 @@ func (l *LevelDBMetricPersistence) GetRangeValues(fp model.Fingerprint, i model.
 		return
 	}
 
-	iterator, closer, err := l.metricSamples.GetIterator()
-	if err != nil {
-		return
-	}
-	defer closer.Close()
-
-	iterator.Seek(e)
+	iterator := l.metricSamples.NewIterator(true)
+	defer iterator.Close()
 
 	predicate := keyIsOlderThan(i.NewestInclusive)
 
-	for ; iterator.Valid(); iterator.Next() {
+	for valid := iterator.Seek(e); valid; valid = iterator.Next() {
 		retrievedKey := &dto.SampleKey{}
 
 		retrievedKey, err = extractSampleKey(iterator)
diff --git a/storage/metric/tiered.go b/storage/metric/tiered.go
index 33acf4435..98e0fa263 100644
--- a/storage/metric/tiered.go
+++ b/storage/metric/tiered.go
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ package metric
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/jmhodges/levigo"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/coding"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/coding/indexable"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model"
 	dto "github.com/prometheus/prometheus/model/generated"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage"
+	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage/raw/leveldb"
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -139,13 +139,10 @@ func (t *tieredStorage) rebuildDiskFrontier() (err error) {
 
 		recordOutcome(duration, err, map[string]string{operation: appendSample, result: success}, map[string]string{operation: rebuildDiskFrontier, result: failure})
 	}()
-	i, closer, err := t.diskStorage.metricSamples.GetIterator()
-	if closer != nil {
-		defer closer.Close()
-	}
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
+
+	i := t.diskStorage.metricSamples.NewIterator(true)
+	defer i.Close()
+
 	t.diskFrontier, err = newDiskFrontier(i)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
@@ -365,13 +362,8 @@ func (t *tieredStorage) renderView(viewJob viewJob) {
 	}
 
 	// Get a single iterator that will be used for all data extraction below.
-	iterator, closer, err := t.diskStorage.metricSamples.GetIterator()
-	if closer != nil {
-		defer closer.Close()
-	}
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
+	iterator := t.diskStorage.metricSamples.NewIterator(true)
+	defer iterator.Close()
 
 	for _, scanJob := range scans {
 		seriesFrontier, err := newSeriesFrontier(scanJob.fingerprint, *t.diskFrontier, iterator)
@@ -442,7 +434,7 @@ func (t *tieredStorage) renderView(viewJob viewJob) {
 	return
 }
 
-func (t *tieredStorage) loadChunkAroundTime(iterator *levigo.Iterator, frontier *seriesFrontier, fingerprint model.Fingerprint, ts time.Time) (chunk []model.SamplePair) {
+func (t *tieredStorage) loadChunkAroundTime(iterator leveldb.Iterator, frontier *seriesFrontier, fingerprint model.Fingerprint, ts time.Time) (chunk []model.SamplePair) {
 	var (
 		targetKey = &dto.SampleKey{
 			Fingerprint: fingerprint.ToDTO(),
@@ -481,7 +473,7 @@ func (t *tieredStorage) loadChunkAroundTime(iterator *levigo.Iterator, frontier
 	rewound := false
 	firstTime := indexable.DecodeTime(foundKey.Timestamp)
 	if ts.Before(firstTime) && !frontier.firstSupertime.After(ts) {
-		iterator.Prev()
+		iterator.Previous()
 		rewound = true
 	}
 
diff --git a/storage/raw/leveldb/iterator.go b/storage/raw/leveldb/iterator.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f47198b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/storage/raw/leveldb/iterator.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// Copyright 2013 Prometheus Team
+// Licensed 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.
+
+package leveldb
+
+// TODO: Evaluate whether to use coding.Encoder for the key and values instead
+//       raw bytes for consistency reasons.
+
+// Iterator wraps Levigo and LevelDB's iterator behaviors in a manner that is
+// conducive to IO-free testing.
+//
+// It borrows some of the operational assumptions from goskiplist, which
+// functions very similarly, in that it uses no separate Valid method to
+// determine health.  All methods that have a return signature of (ok bool)
+// assume in the real LevelDB case that if ok == false that the iterator
+// must be disposed of at this given instance and recreated if future
+// work is desired.  This is a quirk of LevelDB itself!
+type Iterator interface {
+	// GetError reports low-level errors, if available.  This should not indicate
+	// that the iterator is necessarily unhealthy but maybe that the underlying
+	// table is corrupted itself.  See the notes above for (ok bool) return
+	// signatures to determine iterator health.
+	GetError() error
+	Key() []byte
+	Next() (ok bool)
+	Previous() (ok bool)
+	Seek(key []byte) (ok bool)
+	SeekToFirst() (ok bool)
+	SeekToLast() (ok bool)
+	Value() []byte
+}
diff --git a/storage/raw/leveldb/leveldb.go b/storage/raw/leveldb/leveldb.go
index ad280f556..712d0a99f 100644
--- a/storage/raw/leveldb/leveldb.go
+++ b/storage/raw/leveldb/leveldb.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/coding"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/storage/raw"
-	"io"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -38,13 +37,94 @@ type LevelDBPersistence struct {
 	writeOptions *levigo.WriteOptions
 }
 
-// LevelDB iterators have a number of resources that need to be closed.
-// iteratorCloser encapsulates the various ones.
-type iteratorCloser struct {
-	iterator    *levigo.Iterator
+// levigoIterator wraps the LevelDB resources in a convenient manner for uniform
+// resource access and closing through the raw.Iterator protocol.
+type levigoIterator struct {
+	// iterator is the receiver of most proxied operation calls.
+	iterator *levigo.Iterator
+	// readOptions is only set if the iterator is a snapshot of an underlying
+	// database.  This signals that it needs to be explicitly reaped upon the
+	// end of this iterator's life.
 	readOptions *levigo.ReadOptions
-	snapshot    *levigo.Snapshot
-	storage     *levigo.DB
+	// snapshot is only set if the iterator is a snapshot of an underlying
+	// database.  This signals that it needs to be explicitly reaped upon the
+	// end of this this iterator's life.
+	snapshot *levigo.Snapshot
+	// storage is only set if the iterator is a snapshot of an underlying
+	// database.  This signals that it needs to be explicitly reaped upon the
+	// end of this this iterator's life.  The snapshot must be freed in the
+	// context of an actual database.
+	storage *levigo.DB
+	// closed indicates whether the iterator has been closed before.
+	closed bool
+}
+
+func (i *levigoIterator) Close() (err error) {
+	if i.closed {
+		return
+	}
+
+	if i.iterator != nil {
+		i.iterator.Close()
+	}
+	if i.readOptions != nil {
+		i.readOptions.Close()
+	}
+	if i.snapshot != nil {
+		i.storage.ReleaseSnapshot(i.snapshot)
+	}
+
+	// Explicitly dereference the pointers to prevent cycles, however unlikely.
+	i.iterator = nil
+	i.readOptions = nil
+	i.snapshot = nil
+	i.storage = nil
+
+	i.closed = true
+
+	return
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) Seek(key []byte) (ok bool) {
+	i.iterator.Seek(key)
+
+	return i.iterator.Valid()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) SeekToFirst() (ok bool) {
+	i.iterator.SeekToFirst()
+
+	return i.iterator.Valid()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) SeekToLast() (ok bool) {
+	i.iterator.SeekToLast()
+
+	return i.iterator.Valid()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) Next() (ok bool) {
+	i.iterator.Next()
+
+	return i.iterator.Valid()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) Previous() (ok bool) {
+	i.iterator.Prev()
+
+	return i.iterator.Valid()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) Key() (key []byte) {
+	return i.iterator.Key()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) Value() (value []byte) {
+	return i.iterator.Value()
+}
+
+func (i levigoIterator) GetError() (err error) {
+	return i.iterator.GetError()
 }
 
 func NewLevelDBPersistence(storageRoot string, cacheCapacity, bitsPerBloomFilterEncoded int) (p *LevelDBPersistence, err error) {
@@ -68,8 +148,11 @@ func NewLevelDBPersistence(storageRoot string, cacheCapacity, bitsPerBloomFilter
 		return
 	}
 
-	readOptions := levigo.NewReadOptions()
-	writeOptions := levigo.NewWriteOptions()
+	var (
+		readOptions  = levigo.NewReadOptions()
+		writeOptions = levigo.NewWriteOptions()
+	)
+
 	writeOptions.SetSync(*leveldbFlushOnMutate)
 	p = &LevelDBPersistence{
 		cache:        cache,
@@ -185,56 +268,53 @@ func (l *LevelDBPersistence) Commit(b raw.Batch) (err error) {
 	return l.storage.Write(l.writeOptions, batch.batch)
 }
 
-func (i *iteratorCloser) Close() (err error) {
-	defer func() {
-		if i.storage != nil {
-			if i.snapshot != nil {
-				i.storage.ReleaseSnapshot(i.snapshot)
-			}
-		}
-	}()
+// NewIterator creates a new levigoIterator, which follows the Iterator
+// interface.
+//
+// Important notes:
+//
+// For each of the iterator methods that have a return signature of (ok bool),
+// if ok == false, the iterator may not be used any further and must be closed.
+// Further work with the database requires the creation of a new iterator.  This
+// is due to LevelDB and Levigo design.  Please refer to Jeff and Sanjay's notes
+// in the LevelDB documentation for this behavior's rationale.
+//
+// The returned iterator must explicitly be closed; otherwise non-managed memory
+// will be leaked.
+//
+// The iterator is optionally snapshotable.
+func (l *LevelDBPersistence) NewIterator(snapshotted bool) levigoIterator {
+	var (
+		snapshot    *levigo.Snapshot
+		readOptions *levigo.ReadOptions
+		iterator    *levigo.Iterator
+	)
 
-	defer func() {
-		if i.iterator != nil {
-			i.iterator.Close()
-		}
-	}()
+	if snapshotted {
+		snapshot = l.storage.NewSnapshot()
+		readOptions = levigo.NewReadOptions()
+		readOptions.SetSnapshot(snapshot)
+		iterator = l.storage.NewIterator(readOptions)
+	} else {
+		iterator = l.storage.NewIterator(l.readOptions)
+	}
 
-	defer func() {
-		if i.readOptions != nil {
-			i.readOptions.Close()
-		}
-	}()
-
-	return
-}
-
-func (l *LevelDBPersistence) GetIterator() (i *levigo.Iterator, c io.Closer, err error) {
-	snapshot := l.storage.NewSnapshot()
-	readOptions := levigo.NewReadOptions()
-	readOptions.SetSnapshot(snapshot)
-	i = l.storage.NewIterator(readOptions)
-
-	// TODO: Kill the return of an additional io.Closer and just use a decorated
-	// iterator interface.
-	c = &iteratorCloser{
-		iterator:    i,
+	return levigoIterator{
+		iterator:    iterator,
 		readOptions: readOptions,
 		snapshot:    snapshot,
 		storage:     l.storage,
 	}
-
-	return
 }
 
 func (l *LevelDBPersistence) ForEach(decoder storage.RecordDecoder, filter storage.RecordFilter, operator storage.RecordOperator) (scannedEntireCorpus bool, err error) {
-	iterator, closer, err := l.GetIterator()
-	if err != nil {
-		return
-	}
-	defer closer.Close()
+	var (
+		iterator = l.NewIterator(true)
+		valid    bool
+	)
+	defer iterator.Close()
 
-	for iterator.SeekToFirst(); iterator.Valid(); iterator.Next() {
+	for valid = iterator.SeekToFirst(); valid; valid = iterator.Next() {
 		err = iterator.GetError()
 		if err != nil {
 			return