diff --git a/core/src/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmd.java b/core/src/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmd.java
index b9bdef56469..098d82c8347 100644
--- a/core/src/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmd.java
+++ b/core/src/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmd.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import com.cloud.agent.api.LogLevel.Log4jLevel;
 import com.cloud.utils.net.NetUtils;
 
 public class SecurityGroupRulesCmd extends Command {
+    static final String EGRESS_RULE = "E:";
+    static final String INGRESS_RULE = "I:";
     private static Logger s_logger = Logger.getLogger(SecurityGroupRulesCmd.class);
 
     public static class IpPortAndProto {
diff --git a/core/test/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmdTest.java b/core/test/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmdTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2b094c5a404
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/com/cloud/agent/api/SecurityGroupRulesCmdTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+//
+// 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.
+//
+
+package com.cloud.agent.api;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Vector;
+
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+import com.cloud.agent.api.SecurityGroupRulesCmd.IpPortAndProto;
+
+/**
+ * @author daan
+ *
+ */
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class SecurityGroupRulesCmdTest {
+    private SecurityGroupRulesCmd securityGroupRulesCmd;
+
+    /**
+     * @throws java.lang.Exception
+     */
+    @BeforeClass
+    public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws Exception {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @throws java.lang.Exception
+     */
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        String guestIp = "10.10.10.10";
+        String guestMac = "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa";
+        String vmName = "vm";
+        Long vmId = 1L;
+        String signature = "sig";
+        Long seqNum = 0L;
+        String proto = "abc";
+        int startPort = 1;
+        int endPort = 2;
+        String[] allowedCidrs = new String[] {"1.2.3.4/5","6.7.8.9/0"};
+        IpPortAndProto[] ingressRuleSet = new IpPortAndProto[]{new IpPortAndProto(proto, startPort, endPort, allowedCidrs)};
+        IpPortAndProto[] egressRuleSet = new IpPortAndProto[]{new IpPortAndProto(proto, startPort, endPort, allowedCidrs)};
+        List<String> secIps = new Vector<String>();
+        securityGroupRulesCmd = new SecurityGroupRulesCmd(guestIp, guestMac, vmName, vmId, signature, seqNum, ingressRuleSet, egressRuleSet, secIps);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test method for {@link com.cloud.agent.api.SecurityGroupRulesCmd#stringifyRules()}.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testStringifyRules() throws Exception {
+        String a = securityGroupRulesCmd.stringifyRules();
+// do verification on a
+        assertTrue(a.contains(SecurityGroupRulesCmd.EGRESS_RULE));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test method for {@link com.cloud.agent.api.SecurityGroupRulesCmd#stringifyCompressedRules()}.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testStringifyCompressedRules() throws Exception {
+        String a = securityGroupRulesCmd.stringifyCompressedRules();
+// do verification on a
+        assertTrue(a.contains(SecurityGroupRulesCmd.EGRESS_RULE));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test method for {@link com.cloud.agent.api.SecurityGroupRulesCmd#compressStringifiedRules()}.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testCompressStringifiedRules() throws Exception {
+        String compressed = "eJzztEpMSrYytDKyMtQz0jPWM9E31THTM9ez0LPUN9Dxc40IUXAlrAQAPdoP3Q==";
+        String a = securityGroupRulesCmd.compressStringifiedRules();
+        assertTrue(compressed.equals(a));
+    }
+
+}