diff --git a/tempest/api/data_processing/base.py b/tempest/api/data_processing/base.py
index 5992921..7f3474b 100644
--- a/tempest/api/data_processing/base.py
+++ b/tempest/api/data_processing/base.py
@@ -12,14 +12,216 @@
 #    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #    under the License.
 
+from collections import OrderedDict
+
+import six
 from tempest_lib import exceptions as lib_exc
 
 from tempest import config
+from tempest import exceptions
 import tempest.test
 
 
 CONF = config.CONF
 
+"""Default templates.
+There should always be at least a master1 and a worker1 node
+group template."""
+DEFAULT_TEMPLATES = {
+    'vanilla': OrderedDict([
+        ('2.6.0', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['namenode', 'resourcemanager',
+                                       'hiveserver']
+                },
+                'master2': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['oozie', 'historyserver',
+                                       'secondarynamenode']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['datanode', 'nodemanager'],
+                    'node_configs': {
+                        'MapReduce': {
+                            'yarn.app.mapreduce.am.resource.mb': 256,
+                            'yarn.app.mapreduce.am.command-opts': '-Xmx256m'
+                        },
+                        'YARN': {
+                            'yarn.scheduler.minimum-allocation-mb': 256,
+                            'yarn.scheduler.maximum-allocation-mb': 1024,
+                            'yarn.nodemanager.vmem-check-enabled': False
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs.replication': 1
+                }
+            }
+        }),
+        ('1.2.1', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['namenode', 'jobtracker']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['datanode', 'tasktracker'],
+                    'node_configs': {
+                        'HDFS': {
+                            'Data Node Heap Size': 1024
+                        },
+                        'MapReduce': {
+                            'Task Tracker Heap Size': 1024
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs.replication': 1
+                },
+                'MapReduce': {
+                    'mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution': False,
+                    'mapred.child.java.opts': '-Xmx500m'
+                },
+                'general': {
+                    'Enable Swift': False
+                }
+            }
+        })
+    ]),
+    'hdp': OrderedDict([
+        ('2.0.6', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['NAMENODE', 'SECONDARY_NAMENODE',
+                                       'ZOOKEEPER_SERVER', 'AMBARI_SERVER',
+                                       'HISTORYSERVER', 'RESOURCEMANAGER',
+                                       'GANGLIA_SERVER', 'NAGIOS_SERVER',
+                                       'OOZIE_SERVER']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['HDFS_CLIENT', 'DATANODE',
+                                       'YARN_CLIENT', 'ZOOKEEPER_CLIENT',
+                                       'MAPREDUCE2_CLIENT', 'NODEMANAGER',
+                                       'PIG', 'OOZIE_CLIENT']
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs.replication': 1
+                }
+            }
+        })
+    ]),
+    'spark': OrderedDict([
+        ('1.0.0', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['namenode', 'master']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['datanode', 'slave']
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs.replication': 1
+                }
+            }
+        })
+    ]),
+    'cdh': OrderedDict([
+        ('5.3.0', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['CLOUDERA_MANAGER']
+                },
+                'master2': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['HDFS_NAMENODE',
+                                       'YARN_RESOURCEMANAGER']
+                },
+                'master3': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['OOZIE_SERVER', 'YARN_JOBHISTORY',
+                                       'HDFS_SECONDARYNAMENODE',
+                                       'HIVE_METASTORE', 'HIVE_SERVER2']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['YARN_NODEMANAGER', 'HDFS_DATANODE']
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs_replication': 1
+                }
+            }
+        }),
+        ('5', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['CLOUDERA_MANAGER']
+                },
+                'master2': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['HDFS_NAMENODE',
+                                       'YARN_RESOURCEMANAGER']
+                },
+                'master3': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['OOZIE_SERVER', 'YARN_JOBHISTORY',
+                                       'HDFS_SECONDARYNAMENODE',
+                                       'HIVE_METASTORE', 'HIVE_SERVER2']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['YARN_NODEMANAGER', 'HDFS_DATANODE']
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'HDFS': {
+                    'dfs_replication': 1
+                }
+            }
+        })
+    ]),
+    'mapr': OrderedDict([
+        ('4.0.1.mrv2', {
+            'NODES': {
+                'master1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['CLDB', 'FileServer', 'ZooKeeper',
+                                       'NodeManager', 'ResourceManager',
+                                       'HistoryServer', 'Oozie']
+                },
+                'worker1': {
+                    'count': 1,
+                    'node_processes': ['FileServer', 'NodeManager', 'Pig']
+                }
+            },
+            'cluster_configs': {
+                'Hive': {
+                    'Hive Version': '0.13',
+                }
+            }
+        })
+    ]),
+}
+
 
 class BaseDataProcessingTest(tempest.test.BaseTestCase):
 
@@ -28,6 +230,7 @@
         super(BaseDataProcessingTest, cls).skip_checks()
         if not CONF.service_available.sahara:
             raise cls.skipException('Sahara support is required')
+        cls.default_plugin = cls._get_default_plugin()
 
     @classmethod
     def setup_credentials(cls):
@@ -43,6 +246,10 @@
     def resource_setup(cls):
         super(BaseDataProcessingTest, cls).resource_setup()
 
+        cls.default_version = cls._get_default_version()
+        if cls.default_plugin is not None and cls.default_version is None:
+            raise exceptions.InvalidConfiguration(
+                message="No known Sahara plugin version was found")
         cls.flavor_ref = CONF.compute.flavor_ref
 
         # add lists for watched resources
@@ -173,3 +380,100 @@
         cls._jobs.append(resp_body['id'])
 
         return resp_body
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _get_default_plugin(cls):
+        """Returns the default plugin used for testing."""
+        if len(CONF.data_processing_feature_enabled.plugins) == 0:
+            return None
+
+        for plugin in CONF.data_processing_feature_enabled.plugins:
+            if plugin in DEFAULT_TEMPLATES.keys():
+                break
+        else:
+            plugin = ''
+        return plugin
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _get_default_version(cls):
+        """Returns the default plugin version used for testing.
+        This is gathered separately from the plugin to allow
+        the usage of plugin name in skip_checks. This method is
+        rather invoked into resource_setup, which allows API calls
+        and exceptions.
+        """
+        if not cls.default_plugin:
+            return None
+        plugin = cls.client.get_plugin(cls.default_plugin)
+
+        for version in DEFAULT_TEMPLATES[cls.default_plugin].keys():
+            if version in plugin['versions']:
+                break
+        else:
+            version = None
+
+        return version
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_node_group_template(cls, nodegroup='worker1'):
+        """Returns a node group template for the default plugin."""
+        try:
+            plugin_data = (
+                DEFAULT_TEMPLATES[cls.default_plugin][cls.default_version]
+            )
+            nodegroup_data = plugin_data['NODES'][nodegroup]
+            node_group_template = {
+                'description': 'Test node group template',
+                'plugin_name': cls.default_plugin,
+                'hadoop_version': cls.default_version,
+                'node_processes': nodegroup_data['node_processes'],
+                'flavor_id': cls.flavor_ref,
+                'node_configs': nodegroup_data.get('node_configs', {}),
+            }
+            return node_group_template
+        except (IndexError, KeyError):
+            return None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_cluster_template(cls, node_group_template_ids=None):
+        """Returns a cluster template for the default plugin.
+        node_group_template_defined contains the type and ID of pre-defined
+        node group templates that have to be used in the cluster template
+        (instead of dynamically defining them with 'node_processes').
+        """
+        if node_group_template_ids is None:
+            node_group_template_ids = {}
+        try:
+            plugin_data = (
+                DEFAULT_TEMPLATES[cls.default_plugin][cls.default_version]
+            )
+
+            all_node_groups = []
+            for ng_name, ng_data in six.iteritems(plugin_data['NODES']):
+                node_group = {
+                    'name': '%s-node' % (ng_name),
+                    'flavor_id': cls.flavor_ref,
+                    'count': ng_data['count']
+                }
+                if ng_name in node_group_template_ids.keys():
+                    # node group already defined, use it
+                    node_group['node_group_template_id'] = (
+                        node_group_template_ids[ng_name]
+                    )
+                else:
+                    # node_processes list defined on-the-fly
+                    node_group['node_processes'] = ng_data['node_processes']
+                if 'node_configs' in ng_data:
+                    node_group['node_configs'] = ng_data['node_configs']
+                all_node_groups.append(node_group)
+
+            cluster_template = {
+                'description': 'Test cluster template',
+                'plugin_name': cls.default_plugin,
+                'hadoop_version': cls.default_version,
+                'cluster_configs': plugin_data.get('cluster_configs', {}),
+                'node_groups': all_node_groups,
+            }
+            return cluster_template
+        except (IndexError, KeyError):
+            return None
diff --git a/tempest/api/data_processing/test_cluster_templates.py b/tempest/api/data_processing/test_cluster_templates.py
index 8a63c3f..cebf493 100644
--- a/tempest/api/data_processing/test_cluster_templates.py
+++ b/tempest/api/data_processing/test_cluster_templates.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from tempest_lib.common.utils import data_utils
 
 from tempest.api.data_processing import base as dp_base
+from tempest import exceptions
 from tempest import test
 
 
@@ -23,55 +24,30 @@
     sahara/restapi/rest_api_v1.0.html#cluster-templates
     """
     @classmethod
+    def skip_checks(cls):
+        super(ClusterTemplateTest, cls).skip_checks()
+        if cls.default_plugin is None:
+            raise cls.skipException("No Sahara plugins configured")
+
+    @classmethod
     def resource_setup(cls):
         super(ClusterTemplateTest, cls).resource_setup()
-        # create node group template
-        node_group_template = {
-            'name': data_utils.rand_name('sahara-ng-template'),
-            'description': 'Test node group template',
-            'plugin_name': 'vanilla',
-            'hadoop_version': '1.2.1',
-            'node_processes': ['datanode'],
-            'flavor_id': cls.flavor_ref,
-            'node_configs': {
-                'HDFS': {
-                    'Data Node Heap Size': 1024
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        resp_body = cls.create_node_group_template(**node_group_template)
-        node_group_template_id = resp_body['id']
 
-        cls.full_cluster_template = {
-            'description': 'Test cluster template',
-            'plugin_name': 'vanilla',
-            'hadoop_version': '1.2.1',
-            'cluster_configs': {
-                'HDFS': {
-                    'dfs.replication': 2
-                },
-                'MapReduce': {
-                    'mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution': False,
-                    'mapred.child.java.opts': '-Xmx500m'
-                },
-                'general': {
-                    'Enable Swift': False
-                }
-            },
-            'node_groups': [
-                {
-                    'name': 'master-node',
-                    'flavor_id': cls.flavor_ref,
-                    'node_processes': ['namenode'],
-                    'count': 1
-                },
-                {
-                    'name': 'worker-node',
-                    'node_group_template_id': node_group_template_id,
-                    'count': 3
-                }
-            ]
-        }
+        # pre-define a node group templates
+        node_group_template_w = cls.get_node_group_template('worker1')
+        if node_group_template_w is None:
+            raise exceptions.InvalidConfiguration(
+                message="No known Sahara plugin was found")
+
+        node_group_template_w['name'] = data_utils.rand_name(
+            'sahara-ng-template')
+        resp_body = cls.create_node_group_template(**node_group_template_w)
+        node_group_template_id = resp_body['id']
+        configured_node_group_templates = {'worker1': node_group_template_id}
+
+        cls.full_cluster_template = cls.get_cluster_template(
+            configured_node_group_templates)
+
         # create cls.cluster_template variable to use for comparison to cluster
         # template response body. The 'node_groups' field in the response body
         # has some extra info that post body does not have. The 'node_groups'
diff --git a/tempest/api/data_processing/test_node_group_templates.py b/tempest/api/data_processing/test_node_group_templates.py
index d7381f4..4068027 100644
--- a/tempest/api/data_processing/test_node_group_templates.py
+++ b/tempest/api/data_processing/test_node_group_templates.py
@@ -19,27 +19,16 @@
 
 
 class NodeGroupTemplateTest(dp_base.BaseDataProcessingTest):
+
+    @classmethod
+    def skip_checks(cls):
+        super(NodeGroupTemplateTest, cls).skip_checks()
+        if cls.default_plugin is None:
+            raise cls.skipException("No Sahara plugins configured")
+
     @classmethod
     def resource_setup(cls):
         super(NodeGroupTemplateTest, cls).resource_setup()
-        cls.node_group_template = {
-            'description': 'Test node group template',
-            'plugin_name': 'vanilla',
-            'hadoop_version': '1.2.1',
-            'node_processes': [
-                'datanode',
-                'tasktracker'
-            ],
-            'flavor_id': cls.flavor_ref,
-            'node_configs': {
-                'HDFS': {
-                    'Data Node Heap Size': 1024
-                },
-                'MapReduce': {
-                    'Task Tracker Heap Size': 1024
-                }
-            }
-        }
 
     def _create_node_group_template(self, template_name=None):
         """Creates Node Group Template with optional name specified.
@@ -47,6 +36,10 @@
         It creates template, ensures template name and response body.
         Returns id and name of created template.
         """
+        self.node_group_template = self.get_node_group_template()
+        self.assertIsNotNone(self.node_group_template,
+                             "No known Sahara plugin was found")
+
         if not template_name:
             # generate random name if it's not specified
             template_name = data_utils.rand_name('sahara-ng-template')