diff --git a/nova/tests/virt_unittest.py b/nova/tests/virt_unittest.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2aab1680
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nova/tests/virt_unittest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+#
+#    Copyright 2010 OpenStack LLC
+#
+#    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 nova import flags
+from nova import test
+from nova.virt import libvirt_conn
+
+FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
+
+
+class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.TrialTestCase):
+    def test_get_uri_and_template(self):
+        class MockDataModel(object):
+            def __init__(self):
+                self.datamodel = { 'name' : 'i-cafebabe',
+                                   'memory_kb' : '1024000',
+                                   'basepath' : '/some/path',
+                                   'bridge_name' : 'br100',
+                                   'mac_address' : '02:12:34:46:56:67',
+                                   'vcpus' : 2 }
+
+        type_uri_map = { 'qemu' : ('qemu:///system',
+                                [lambda s: '<domain type=\'qemu\'>' in s,
+                                 lambda s: 'type>hvm</type' in s,
+                                 lambda s: 'emulator>/usr/bin/kvm' not in s]),
+                         'kvm' : ('qemu:///system',
+                                [lambda s: '<domain type=\'kvm\'>' in s,
+                                 lambda s: 'type>hvm</type' in s,
+                                 lambda s: 'emulator>/usr/bin/qemu<' not in s]),
+                         'uml' : ('uml:///system',
+                                [lambda s: '<domain type=\'uml\'>' in s,
+                                 lambda s: 'type>uml</type' in s]),
+                          }
+
+        for (libvirt_type,(expected_uri, checks)) in type_uri_map.iteritems():
+            FLAGS.libvirt_type = libvirt_type
+            conn = libvirt_conn.LibvirtConnection(True)
+
+            uri, template = conn.get_uri_and_template()
+            self.assertEquals(uri, expected_uri)
+
+            for i, check in enumerate(checks):
+                xml = conn.toXml(MockDataModel())
+                self.assertTrue(check(xml), '%s failed check %d' % (xml, i))
+
+        # Deliberately not just assigning this string to FLAGS.libvirt_uri and
+        # checking against that later on. This way we make sure the
+        # implementation doesn't fiddle around with the FLAGS.
+        testuri = 'something completely different'
+        FLAGS.libvirt_uri = testuri
+        for (libvirt_type,(expected_uri, checks)) in type_uri_map.iteritems():
+            FLAGS.libvirt_type = libvirt_type
+            conn = libvirt_conn.LibvirtConnection(True)
+            uri, template = conn.get_uri_and_template()
+            self.assertEquals(uri, testuri)
+