diff --git a/server/src/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImpl.java b/server/src/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImpl.java
index 948a84dc537..85a561f544f 100644
--- a/server/src/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImpl.java
@@ -750,7 +750,7 @@ public class ManagementServerImpl extends ManagerBase implements ManagementServe
     @Inject
     private InstanceGroupDao _vmGroupDao;
     @Inject
-    private SSHKeyPairDao _sshKeyPairDao;
+    protected SSHKeyPairDao _sshKeyPairDao;
     @Inject
     private LoadBalancerDao _loadbalancerDao;
     @Inject
@@ -3650,7 +3650,7 @@ public class ManagementServerImpl extends ManagerBase implements ManagementServe
      * @param owner
      * @throws InvalidParameterValueException
      */
-    private void checkForKeyByName(RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd cmd, Account owner) throws InvalidParameterValueException {
+    protected void checkForKeyByName(RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd cmd, Account owner) throws InvalidParameterValueException {
         SSHKeyPairVO existingPair = _sshKeyPairDao.findByName(owner.getAccountId(), owner.getDomainId(), cmd.getName());
         if (existingPair != null) {
             throw new InvalidParameterValueException("A key pair with name '" + cmd.getName() + "' already exists for this account.");
@@ -3684,7 +3684,7 @@ public class ManagementServerImpl extends ManagerBase implements ManagementServe
      * @param cmd
      * @return
      */
-    private Account getOwner(RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd cmd) {
+    protected Account getOwner(RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd cmd) {
         Account caller = getCaller();
 
         Account owner = _accountMgr.finalizeOwner(caller, cmd.getAccountName(), cmd.getDomainId(), cmd.getProjectId());
@@ -3694,7 +3694,7 @@ public class ManagementServerImpl extends ManagerBase implements ManagementServe
     /**
      * @return
      */
-    private Account getCaller() {
+    protected Account getCaller() {
         Account caller = CallContext.current().getCallingAccount();
         return caller;
     }
diff --git a/server/test/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImplTest.java b/server/test/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImplTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1e530e63725
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/test/com/cloud/server/ManagementServerImplTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// 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.server;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+import org.mockito.Spy;
+import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+
+import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.ssh.RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd;
+
+import com.cloud.exception.InvalidParameterValueException;
+import com.cloud.user.Account;
+import com.cloud.user.SSHKeyPairVO;
+import com.cloud.user.dao.SSHKeyPairDao;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
+public class ManagementServerImplTest {
+
+    @Mock
+    RegisterSSHKeyPairCmd regCmd;
+    @Mock
+    SSHKeyPairVO existingPair;
+    @Mock
+    Account account;
+    @Mock
+    SSHKeyPairDao sshKeyPairDao;
+    ManagementServerImpl ms = new ManagementServerImpl();
+    @Spy
+    ManagementServerImpl spy;
+
+    @Test(expected = InvalidParameterValueException.class)
+    public void testExistingPairRegistration() {
+        String accountName = "account";
+        String publicKeyString = "very public";
+        // setup owner with domainid
+        Mockito.doReturn(account).when(spy).getCaller();
+        Mockito.doReturn(account).when(spy).getOwner(regCmd);
+        // mock _sshKeyPairDao.findByName to return null
+        Mockito.doNothing().when(spy).checkForKeyByName(regCmd, account);
+        // mock _sshKeyPairDao.findByPublicKey to return a known object
+        Mockito.doReturn(accountName).when(regCmd).getAccountName();
+        Mockito.doReturn(publicKeyString).when(regCmd).getPublicKey();
+        Mockito.doReturn("name").when(regCmd).getName();
+        spy._sshKeyPairDao = sshKeyPairDao;
+        Mockito.doReturn(1L).when(account).getAccountId();
+        Mockito.doReturn(1L).when(account).getDomainId();
+        Mockito.doReturn(existingPair).when(sshKeyPairDao).findByPublicKey(1L, 1L, publicKeyString);
+        spy.registerSSHKeyPair(regCmd);
+    }
+}