diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ad5663fb8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,262 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+#
+# VM testing base class
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2017 Red Hat Inc.
+#
+# Authors:
+#  Fam Zheng <famz@redhat.com>
+#
+# This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2.  See
+# the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+#
+
+import os
+import sys
+import logging
+import time
+import datetime
+sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "..", "scripts"))
+from qemu import QEMUMachine
+import subprocess
+import hashlib
+import argparse
+import atexit
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+
+SSH_KEY = """\
+-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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+-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
+"""
+SSH_PUB_KEY = """\
+ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCikC46WYtXotUd0UGPz9547Aj0KqC4gk+nt4BBJm86IHgCD9FygSGX9EFutXlhz9KZIPg9Okk7+IzXRHCWI2MNvhrcjyrezKREm71z08j9iwfxY3340fY2Mo+0khwpO7bzsgzkljHIHqcOg7MgttPInVMNH/EfqpgR8EDKJuWCB2Ny+EBFN/3dAiff0X/EvKle9PUrY70EkSycnyURS8HZReEqj8lN9J5kXzA8F6jBo/0Q42Ttv6e4k5YcaDrwmLrBWLra2PCXZLNyHqXEiFkGmdXtA1Eox9gc/p4jIXim6xrPNmpN6WyrrEjaCF5xYvNv8wXkD6uSWwbHYU24lIAn qemu-vm-key
+"""
+
+class BaseVM(object):
+    GUEST_USER = "qemu"
+    GUEST_PASS = "qemupass"
+    ROOT_PASS = "qemupass"
+
+    # The script to run in the guest that builds QEMU
+    BUILD_SCRIPT = ""
+    # The guest name, to be overridden by subclasses
+    name = "#base"
+    def __init__(self, debug=False):
+        self._guest = None
+        self._tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="qemu-vm-")
+        atexit.register(shutil.rmtree, self._tmpdir)
+
+        self._ssh_key_file = os.path.join(self._tmpdir, "id_rsa")
+        open(self._ssh_key_file, "w").write(SSH_KEY)
+        subprocess.check_call(["chmod", "600", self._ssh_key_file])
+
+        self._ssh_pub_key_file = os.path.join(self._tmpdir, "id_rsa.pub")
+        open(self._ssh_pub_key_file, "w").write(SSH_PUB_KEY)
+
+        self.debug = debug
+        self._stderr = sys.stderr
+        self._devnull = open("/dev/null", "w")
+        if self.debug:
+            self._stdout = sys.stdout
+        else:
+            self._stdout = self._devnull
+        self._args = [ \
+            "-nodefaults", "-enable-kvm", "-m", "2G",
+            "-smp", os.environ.get("J", "4"), "-cpu", "host",
+            "-netdev", "user,id=vnet,hostfwd=:0.0.0.0:0-:22",
+            "-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=vnet",
+            "-vnc", ":0,to=20",
+            "-serial", "file:%s" % os.path.join(self._tmpdir, "serial.out")]
+
+        self._data_args = []
+
+    def _download_with_cache(self, url, sha256sum=None):
+        def check_sha256sum(fname):
+            if not sha256sum:
+                return True
+            checksum = subprocess.check_output(["sha256sum", fname]).split()[0]
+            return sha256sum == checksum
+
+        cache_dir = os.path.expanduser("~/.cache/qemu-vm/download")
+        if not os.path.exists(cache_dir):
+            os.makedirs(cache_dir)
+        fname = os.path.join(cache_dir, hashlib.sha1(url).hexdigest())
+        if os.path.exists(fname) and check_sha256sum(fname):
+            return fname
+        logging.debug("Downloading %s to %s...", url, fname)
+        subprocess.check_call(["wget", "-c", url, "-O", fname + ".download"],
+                              stdout=self._stdout, stderr=self._stderr)
+        os.rename(fname + ".download", fname)
+        return fname
+
+    def _ssh_do(self, user, cmd, check, interactive=False):
+        ssh_cmd = ["ssh", "-q",
+                   "-o", "StrictHostKeyChecking=no",
+                   "-o", "UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null",
+                   "-o", "ConnectTimeout=1",
+                   "-p", self.ssh_port, "-i", self._ssh_key_file]
+        if interactive:
+            ssh_cmd += ['-t']
+        assert not isinstance(cmd, str)
+        ssh_cmd += ["%s@127.0.0.1" % user] + list(cmd)
+        logging.debug("ssh_cmd: %s", " ".join(ssh_cmd))
+        r = subprocess.call(ssh_cmd,
+                            stdin=sys.stdin if interactive else self._devnull,
+                            stdout=sys.stdout if interactive else self._stdout,
+                            stderr=sys.stderr if interactive else self._stderr)
+        if check and r != 0:
+            raise Exception("SSH command failed: %s" % cmd)
+        return r
+
+    def ssh(self, *cmd):
+        return self._ssh_do(self.GUEST_USER, cmd, False)
+
+    def ssh_interactive(self, *cmd):
+        return self._ssh_do(self.GUEST_USER, cmd, False, True)
+
+    def ssh_root(self, *cmd):
+        return self._ssh_do("root", cmd, False)
+
+    def ssh_check(self, *cmd):
+        self._ssh_do(self.GUEST_USER, cmd, True)
+
+    def ssh_root_check(self, *cmd):
+        self._ssh_do("root", cmd, True)
+
+    def build_image(self, img):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def add_source_dir(self, data_dir):
+        name = "data-" + hashlib.sha1(data_dir).hexdigest()[:5]
+        tarfile = os.path.join(self._tmpdir, name + ".tar")
+        logging.debug("Creating archive %s for data dir: %s", tarfile, data_dir)
+        subprocess.check_call(["tar", "--exclude-vcs",
+                               "--exclude=tests/vm/*.img",
+                               "--exclude=tests/vm/*.img.*",
+                               "--exclude=*.d",
+                               "--exclude=*.o",
+                               "--exclude=docker-src.*",
+                               "-cf", tarfile, '.'], cwd=data_dir,
+                              stdin=self._devnull, stdout=self._stdout)
+        self._data_args += ["-drive",
+                            "file=%s,if=none,id=%s,cache=writeback,format=raw" % \
+                                    (tarfile, name),
+                            "-device",
+                            "virtio-blk,drive=%s,serial=%s,bootindex=1" % (name, name)]
+
+    def boot(self, img, extra_args=[]):
+        args = self._args + [
+            "-drive", "file=%s,if=none,id=drive0,cache=writeback" % img,
+            "-device", "virtio-blk,drive=drive0,bootindex=0"]
+        args += self._data_args + extra_args
+        logging.debug("QEMU args: %s", " ".join(args))
+        guest = QEMUMachine(binary=os.environ.get("QEMU", "qemu-system-x86_64"),
+                            args=args)
+        guest._vga = "std"
+        guest.launch()
+        atexit.register(self.shutdown)
+        self._guest = guest
+        usernet_info = guest.qmp("human-monitor-command",
+                                 command_line="info usernet")
+        self.ssh_port = None
+        for l in usernet_info["return"].splitlines():
+            fields = l.split()
+            if "TCP[HOST_FORWARD]" in fields and "22" in fields:
+                self.ssh_port = l.split()[3]
+        if not self.ssh_port:
+            raise Exception("Cannot find ssh port from 'info usernet':\n%s" % \
+                            usernet_info)
+
+    def wait_ssh(self, seconds=120):
+        guest_remote = self.GUEST_USER + "@127.0.0.1"
+        starttime = datetime.datetime.now()
+        guest_up = False
+        while (datetime.datetime.now() - starttime).total_seconds() < seconds:
+            if self.ssh("exit 0") == 0:
+                guest_up = True
+                break
+            time.sleep(1)
+        if not guest_up:
+            logging.error("Timeout while waiting for guest to boot up")
+            return 2
+
+    def shutdown(self):
+        self._guest.shutdown()
+
+    def wait(self):
+        self._guest.wait()
+
+    def qmp(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self._guest.qmp(*args, **kwargs)
+
+def parse_args(vm_name):
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument("--debug", "-D", action="store_true",
+                        help="enable debug output")
+    parser.add_argument("--image", "-i", default="%s.img" % vm_name,
+                        help="image file name")
+    parser.add_argument("--force", "-f", action="store_true",
+                        help="force build image even if image exists")
+    parser.add_argument("--build-image", "-b", action="store_true",
+                        help="build image")
+    parser.add_argument("--build-qemu",
+                        help="build QEMU from source in guest")
+    parser.add_argument("--interactive", "-I", action="store_true",
+                        help="Interactively run command")
+    return parser.parse_known_args()
+
+def main(vmcls):
+    args, argv = parse_args(vmcls.name)
+    if not argv and not args.build_qemu:
+        print "Nothing to do?"
+        return 1
+    if args.debug:
+        logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+    vm = vmcls(debug=args.debug)
+    if args.build_image:
+        if os.path.exists(args.image) and not args.force:
+            sys.stderr.writelines(["Image file exists: %s\n" % img,
+                                  "Use --force option to overwrite\n"])
+            return 1
+        return vm.build_image(args.image)
+    if args.build_qemu:
+        vm.add_source_dir(args.build_qemu)
+        cmd = [vm.BUILD_SCRIPT.format(
+               configure_opts = " ".join(argv),
+               jobs=os.environ.get("J", "4"))]
+    else:
+        cmd = argv
+    vm.boot(args.image + ",snapshot=on")
+    vm.wait_ssh()
+    if args.interactive:
+        if vm.ssh_interactive(*cmd) == 0:
+            return 0
+        vm.ssh_interactive()
+    else:
+        return vm.ssh(*cmd)
