diff --git a/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/__init__.py b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/__init__.py
diff --git a/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0db4cfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tempest/tests/common/utils/linux/test_remote_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+# Copyright 2014 IBM Corp.
+#
+#    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.
+
+import time
+
+from oslo.config import cfg
+
+from tempest.common.utils.linux import remote_client
+from tempest import config
+from tempest.openstack.common.fixture import mockpatch
+from tempest.tests import base
+from tempest.tests import fake_config
+
+
+class TestRemoteClient(base.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(TestRemoteClient, self).setUp()
+        self.useFixture(fake_config.ConfigFixture())
+        self.stubs.Set(config, 'TempestConfigPrivate', fake_config.FakePrivate)
+        cfg.CONF.set_default('ip_version_for_ssh', 4, group='compute')
+        cfg.CONF.set_default('network_for_ssh', 'public', group='compute')
+        cfg.CONF.set_default('ssh_channel_timeout', 1, group='compute')
+
+        self.conn = remote_client.RemoteClient('127.0.0.1', 'user', 'pass')
+        self.ssh_mock = self.useFixture(mockpatch.PatchObject(self.conn,
+                                                              'ssh_client'))
+
+    def test_hostname_equals_servername_for_expected_names(self):
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = 'fake_hostname'
+        self.assertTrue(self.conn.hostname_equals_servername('fake_hostname'))
+
+    def test_hostname_equals_servername_for_unexpected_names(self):
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = 'fake_hostname'
+        self.assertFalse(
+            self.conn.hostname_equals_servername('unexpected_hostname'))
+
+    def test_get_ram_size(self):
+        free_output = "Mem:         48294      45738       2555          0" \
+                      "402      40346"
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = free_output
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_ram_size_in_mb(), '48294')
+
+    def test_write_to_console_regular_str(self):
+        self.conn.write_to_console('test')
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(
+            'sudo sh -c "echo \\"test\\" >/dev/console"')
+
+    def _test_write_to_console_helper(self, message, expected_call):
+        self.conn.write_to_console(message)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(expected_call)
+
+    def test_write_to_console_special_chars(self):
+        self._test_write_to_console_helper(
+            '\`',
+            'sudo sh -c "echo \\"\\\\\\`\\" >/dev/console"')
+        self.conn.write_to_console('$')
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(
+            'sudo sh -c "echo \\"\\\\$\\" >/dev/console"')
+
+    # NOTE(maurosr): The tests below end up closer to an output format
+    # assurance than a test since it's basically using comand_exec to format
+    # the information using gnu/linux tools.
+
+    def _assert_exec_called_with(self, cmd):
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.assert_called_with(cmd)
+
+    def test_get_number_of_vcpus(self):
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = '16'
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_number_of_vcpus(), 16)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(
+            'cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l')
+
+    def test_get_partitions(self):
+        proc_partitions = """major minor  #blocks  name
+
+8        0  1048576 vda"""
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = proc_partitions
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_partitions(), proc_partitions)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('cat /proc/partitions')
+
+    def test_get_boot_time(self):
+        booted_at = 10000
+        uptime_sec = 5000.02
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = uptime_sec
+        self.useFixture(mockpatch.PatchObject(
+            time, 'time', return_value=booted_at + uptime_sec))
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_boot_time(),
+                         time.localtime(booted_at))
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('cut -f1 -d. /proc/uptime')
+
+    def test_ping_host(self):
+        ping_response = """PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
+64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
+
+--- localhost ping statistics ---
+1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
+rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.048/0.048/0.048/0.000 ms"""
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = ping_response
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.ping_host('127.0.0.1'), ping_response)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('ping -c1 -w1 127.0.0.1')
+
+    def test_get_mac_address(self):
+        macs = """0a:0b:0c:0d:0e:0f
+a0:b0:c0:d0:e0:f0"""
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = macs
+
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_mac_address(), macs)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(
+            "/sbin/ifconfig | awk '/HWaddr/ {print $5}'")
+
+    def test_get_ip_list(self):
+        ips = """1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue
+    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
+    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
+    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
+       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
+2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast qlen 1000
+    link/ether fa:16:3e:6e:26:3b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
+    inet 10.0.0.4/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global eth0
+    inet6 fd55:faaf:e1ab:3d9:f816:3eff:fe6e:263b/64 scope global dynamic
+       valid_lft 2591936sec preferred_lft 604736sec
+    inet6 fe80::f816:3eff:fe6e:263b/64 scope link
+       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever"""
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = ips
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.get_ip_list(), ips)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('/bin/ip address')
+
+    def test_assign_static_ip(self):
+        self.ssh_mock.mock.exec_command.return_value = ''
+        ip = '10.0.0.2'
+        nic = 'eth0'
+        self.assertEqual(self.conn.assign_static_ip(nic, ip), '')
+        self._assert_exec_called_with(
+            "sudo /bin/ip addr add %s/%s dev %s" % (ip, '28', nic))
+
+    def test_turn_nic_on(self):
+        nic = 'eth0'
+        self.conn.turn_nic_on(nic)
+        self._assert_exec_called_with('sudo /bin/ip link set %s up' % nic)