diff --git a/test/systemvm/README.md b/test/systemvm/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7473fb8863f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/systemvm/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+Requirements
+============
+To run these tests, first get the vagrant setup for the systemvm working,
+see ../../tools/vagrant/systemvm.
+
+Then, install dependencies
+
+    pip install nose paramiko python-vagrant envassert cuisine
+
+Running tests
+=============
+Then run the tests using your favorite python unittest runner
+
+    nosetests-2.7
+
+If you have already started the systemvm with 'vagrant up', that VM will get
+used for all the tests.
+
+If you have not started the systemvm yet, it will be started and stopped for
+every test case. That's nice for test isolation, but it's very slow, so it is
+not recommended.
+
+You can also run these tests out of the box with PyDev or PyCharm or whatever.
+
+Adding tests
+============
+Simply create new test_xxx.py files with test cases that extend from
+SystemVMTestCase.
+
+Use [envassert](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/envassert) checks to define
+your test assertions.
+
+Use [cuisine](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cuisine),
+[fab](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Fabric), or
+[paramiko](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/paramiko) to otherwise interact with
+the systemvm. When you do, please consider creating your own little wrappers
+around fab run. I.e. the pattern is
+
+```
+from __future__ import with_statement
+from fabric.api import run, hide
+
+def something_to_do(argument):
+    with hide("everything"):
+        result = run("do something %s" % argument).wrangle()
+        return "expected" in result
+```
+
+for a new kind of check and then in your test
+
+```
+class HelloSystemVMTestCase(SystemVMTestCase):
+    @attr(tags=["systemvm"], required_hardware="true")
+    def test_something(self):
+        assert something_to_do('foo')
+```
diff --git a/test/systemvm/__init__.py b/test/systemvm/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3c4dd4b956d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/systemvm/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+# 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.
+
+from vagrant import Vagrant
+from unittest import TestCase
+from paramiko.config import SSHConfig
+from paramiko.client import SSHClient, AutoAddPolicy
+from fabric.api import env
+from envassert import file, detect
+
+from StringIO import StringIO
+
+from nose.plugins.attrib import attr
+
+import os.path
+
+
+_defaultVagrantDir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(
+    os.path.basename(__file__), '..', '..', '..', 'tools', 'vagrant', 'systemvm'))
+
+
+class SystemVM(object):
+    def __init__(self,
+                 host='default',
+                 vagrantDir=None,
+                 controlVagrant=True):
+        global _defaultVagrantDir
+        self.host = host
+        self._controlVagrant = controlVagrant
+        if vagrantDir is None:
+            vagrantDir = _defaultVagrantDir
+        self._vagrant = Vagrant(root=vagrantDir)
+        self._startedVagrant = False
+        self._sshClient = None
+        self._sshConfigStr = None
+        self._sshConfig = None
+        self._sshHostConfig = None
+
+    def maybeUp(self):
+        if not self._controlVagrant:
+            return
+        state = self._vagrant.status(vm_name=self.host)[0].state
+        if state == Vagrant.NOT_CREATED:
+            self._vagrant.up(vm_name=self.host)
+            self._startedVagrant = True
+        elif state in [Vagrant.POWEROFF, Vagrant.SAVED, Vagrant.ABORTED]:
+            raise Exception(
+                "SystemVM testing does not support resume(), do not use vagrant suspend/halt")
+        elif state == Vagrant.RUNNING:
+            self._startedVagrant = False
+        else:
+            raise Exception("Unrecognized vagrant state %s" % state)
+
+    def maybeDestroy(self):
+        if not self._controlVagrant or not self._startedVagrant:
+            return
+        self._vagrant.destroy(vm_name=self.host)
+        if self._sshClient is not None:
+            self._sshClient.close()
+
+    def loadSshConfig(self):
+        if self._sshConfig is None:
+            self._sshConfigStr = self._vagrant.ssh_config(vm_name=self.host)
+            configObj = StringIO(self._sshConfigStr)
+            self._sshConfig = SSHConfig()
+            # noinspection PyTypeChecker
+            self._sshConfig.parse(configObj)
+            self._sshHostConfig = self._sshConfig.lookup(self.host)
+
+    @property
+    def sshConfig(self):
+        if self._sshConfig is None:
+            self.loadSshConfig()
+        return self._sshConfig
+
+    @property
+    def sshConfigStr(self):
+        if self._sshConfigStr is None:
+            self.loadSshConfig()
+        return self._sshConfigStr
+
+    @property
+    def sshClient(self):
+        if self._sshClient is None:
+            self.loadSshConfig()
+            self._sshClient = SSHClient()
+            self._sshClient.set_missing_host_key_policy(AutoAddPolicy())
+            self._sshClient.connect(self.hostname, self.sshPort, self.sshUser,
+                                    key_filename=self.sshKey, timeout=10)
+        return self._sshClient
+
+    @property
+    def hostname(self):
+        return self._sshHostConfig.get('hostname', self.host)
+
+    @property
+    def sshPort(self):
+        return int(self._sshHostConfig.get('port', 22))
+
+    @property
+    def sshUser(self):
+        return self._sshHostConfig.get('user', 'root')
+
+    @property
+    def sshKey(self):
+        return self._sshHostConfig.get('identityfile', '~/.ssh/id_rsa')
+
+
+class SystemVMTestCase(TestCase):
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        cls.systemvm = SystemVM()
+        cls.systemvm.maybeUp()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def tearDownClass(cls):
+        # noinspection PyUnresolvedReferences
+        cls.systemvm.maybeDestroy()
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.sshClient = self.systemvm.sshClient
+        # self._env_host_string_orig = env.host_string
+        env.host_string = "%s:%s" % (self.systemvm.hostname, self.systemvm.sshPort)
+        env.user = self.systemvm.sshUser
+        env.port = self.systemvm.sshPort
+        env.key_filename = self.systemvm.sshKey
+        env.use_ssh_config = True
+        env.abort_on_prompts = True
+        env.command_timeout = 10
+        env.timeout = 5
+        env.platform_family = detect.detect()
+
+        # this could break down when executing multiple test cases in parallel in the same python process
+        # def tearDown(self):
+        #     env.host_string = self._env_host_string_orig
diff --git a/test/systemvm/test_hello_systemvm.py b/test/systemvm/test_hello_systemvm.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ce33c3be960
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/systemvm/test_hello_systemvm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# 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.
+
+"""Example of using paramiko and envassert for systemvm tests."""
+
+from nose.plugins.attrib import attr
+from envassert import file, package, user
+from cuisine import file_write
+try:
+    from . import SystemVMTestCase
+except (ImportError, ValueError):
+    from systemvm import SystemVMTestCase
+
+
+class HelloSystemVMTestCase(SystemVMTestCase):
+    @attr(tags=["systemvm"], required_hardware="true")
+    def test_hello_systemvm_paramiko(self):
+        """Test we can connect to the systemvm over ssh, low-level with paramiko"""
+        stdin, stdout, stderr = self.sshClient.exec_command('echo hello')
+        result = stdout.read().strip()
+        self.assertEqual('hello', result)
+
+    @attr(tags=["systemvm"], required_hardware="true")
+    def test_hello_systemvm_envassert(self):
+        """Test we can run envassert assertions on the systemvm"""
+        assert file.exists('/etc/hosts')
+
+        for packageName in ['dnsmasq', 'haproxy', 'keepalived', 'curl']:
+            assert package.installed(packageName)
+
+        assert user.exists('cloud')
+
+    @attr(tags=["systemvm"], required_hardware="true")
+    def test_hello_systemvm_cuisine(self):
+        """Test we can run cuisine on the systemvm"""
+        file_write('/tmp/run_cuisine', 'success!\n')
+        assert file.has_line('/tmp/run_cuisine', 'success!')
diff --git a/tools/vagrant/systemvm/Vagrantfile b/tools/vagrant/systemvm/Vagrantfile
index 78c9bb47490..56f3e0b3aa5 100644
--- a/tools/vagrant/systemvm/Vagrantfile
+++ b/tools/vagrant/systemvm/Vagrantfile
@@ -22,13 +22,12 @@ include RbConfig
 
 VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = '2'
 
-unless ENV['VPC_IP']
-  puts 'Please specify the VPC IP by settings the VPC_IP environment variable'
-  puts 'Example: export VPC_IP=192.168.56.30'
-  puts ''
-  exit 1
+if ENV['VPC_IP']
+  puts 'You did not specify the VPC IP by settings the VPC_IP environment variable'
+  puts 'Using the default VPC_IP=192.168.56.30'
 end
-VPC_NAME='r-' + ENV['VPC_IP'].split('.').last + '-VM'
+VPC_IP = ENV['VPC_IP'] || '192.168.56.30'
+VPC_NAME='r-' + VPC_IP.split('.').last + '-VM'
 
 if ARGV[0] == 'up'
   iso_util=''
@@ -69,12 +68,12 @@ end
 
 Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
   config.vm.box = 'cloudstack/systemvm'
-  config.vm.network 'private_network', ip: ENV['VPC_IP'], auto_config: false
+  config.vm.network 'private_network', ip: VPC_IP, auto_config: false
   config.vm.synced_folder 'vagrant', '/vagrant', disabled: true
 
   config.ssh.forward_agent = true
   config.ssh.username = 'root'
-  config.ssh.host = ENV['VPC_IP']
+  config.ssh.host = VPC_IP
   config.ssh.port = 3922
   config.ssh.guest_port = 3922
 
@@ -87,7 +86,7 @@ Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
                   '--medium', './systemvm.iso']
     vb.customize('pre-boot', ['modifyvm', :id, '--nic1', 'none'])
     extra_data='cmdline:console=hvc0 vpccidr=172.16.0.0/16 domain=devcloud.local dns1=8.8.8.8 dns2=8.8.8.4' +
-        " template=domP name=#{VPC_NAME} eth0ip=#{ENV['VPC_IP']}" +
+        " template=domP name=#{VPC_NAME} eth0ip=#{VPC_IP}" +
         ' eth0mask=255.255.255.0 type=vpcrouter disable_rp_filter=true'
     vb.customize('pre-boot', ['setextradata', :id, 'VBoxInternal/Devices/pcbios/0/Config/DmiOEMVBoxRev', extra_data])
   end