diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index a9c32bec1..718149386 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ testrepository>=0.0.13
 testscenarios<0.5
 testtools>=0.9.29
 
+# for test_rabbit
+kombu>=2.4.8
+
 # when we can require tox>= 1.4, this can go into tox.ini:
 #  [testenv:cover]
 #  deps = {[testenv]deps} coverage
diff --git a/tests/test_rabbit.py b/tests/test_rabbit.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..04b90a6ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_rabbit.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+
+# Copyright 2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+#    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.
+
+from oslo import messaging
+from oslo.messaging._drivers import impl_rabbit as rabbit_driver
+from oslo.messaging import transport as msg_transport
+from tests import utils as test_utils
+
+
+class TestRabbitDriver(test_utils.BaseTestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(TestRabbitDriver, self).setUp()
+        self.conf.register_opts(msg_transport._transport_opts)
+        self.conf.register_opts(rabbit_driver.rabbit_opts)
+        self.config(rpc_backend='rabbit')
+        self.config(fake_rabbit=True)
+
+        # FIXME(markmc): this should be a cleanup method on the driver itself
+        self.addCleanup(rabbit_driver.cleanup)
+
+    def test_driver_load(self):
+        transport = messaging.get_transport(self.conf)
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(transport._driver,
+                                   rabbit_driver.RabbitDriver))
+
+    def test_send_receive(self):
+        transport = messaging.get_transport(self.conf)
+        driver = transport._driver
+
+        target = messaging.Target(topic='testtopic')
+
+        listener = driver.listen(target)
+
+        ctxt = {}
+        message = {'foo': 'bar'}
+
+        driver.send(target, ctxt, message)
+
+        received = listener.poll()
+        self.assertTrue(received is not None)
+        self.assertEquals(received.ctxt, {})
+
+        # FIXME(markmc): this should be done by the driver
+        received.message.pop('_unique_id')
+        self.assertEquals(received.message, {'foo': 'bar'})