diff --git a/daemons/ganeti-noded b/daemons/ganeti-noded
index 1736904a29f3fbae1275b83a3e261e88d86ae8e5..f344474aa49bdb6ffce604491f6bc4bfd2cad31c 100755
--- a/daemons/ganeti-noded
+++ b/daemons/ganeti-noded
@@ -476,6 +476,16 @@ class ServerObject(pb.Avatar):
     hr = backend.HooksRunner()
     return hr.RunHooks(hpath, phase, env)
 
+  # test -----------------------
+
+  @staticmethod
+  def perspective_test_delay(params):
+    """Run test delay.
+
+    """
+    duration = params[0]
+    return utils.TestDelay(duration)
+
 
 class MyRealm:
   """Simple realm that forwards all requests to a ServerObject.
diff --git a/lib/cmdlib.py b/lib/cmdlib.py
index 6bddebf5e8ece2370450120d4759a6a8805217ec..4163eff8de4c96a8f22d35c80d75495dc3fe7528 100644
--- a/lib/cmdlib.py
+++ b/lib/cmdlib.py
@@ -4542,3 +4542,39 @@ class LUDelTags(TagsLU):
       raise errors.OpRetryError("There has been a modification to the"
                                 " config file and the operation has been"
                                 " aborted. Please retry.")
+
+class LUTestDelay(NoHooksLU):
+  """Sleep for a specified amount of time.
+
+  This LU sleeps on the master and/or nodes for a specified amoutn of
+  time.
+
+  """
+  _OP_REQP = ["duration", "on_master", "on_nodes"]
+
+  def CheckPrereq(self):
+    """Check prerequisites.
+
+    This checks that we have a good list of nodes and/or the duration
+    is valid.
+
+    """
+
+    if self.op.on_nodes:
+      self.op.on_nodes = _GetWantedNodes(self, self.op.on_nodes)
+
+  def Exec(self, feedback_fn):
+    """Do the actual sleep.
+
+    """
+    if self.op.on_master:
+      if not utils.TestDelay(self.op.duration):
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Error during master delay test")
+    if self.op.on_nodes:
+      result = rpc.call_test_delay(self.op.on_nodes, self.op.duration)
+      if not result:
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Complete failure from rpc call")
+      for node, node_result in result.items():
+        if not node_result:
+          raise errors.OpExecError("Failure during rpc call to node %s,"
+                                   " result: %s" % (node, node_result))
diff --git a/lib/mcpu.py b/lib/mcpu.py
index 4ba5926b9a4c2848c57a5eba42e11313af58f5fe..564d146bb16c616b66bb45bc73541fb3483028f7 100644
--- a/lib/mcpu.py
+++ b/lib/mcpu.py
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ class Processor(object):
     opcodes.OpSearchTags: cmdlib.LUSearchTags,
     opcodes.OpAddTags: cmdlib.LUAddTags,
     opcodes.OpDelTags: cmdlib.LUDelTags,
+    # test lu
+    opcodes.OpTestDelay: cmdlib.LUTestDelay,
     }
 
   def __init__(self, feedback=None):
diff --git a/lib/opcodes.py b/lib/opcodes.py
index 73afaf8c7743b066c0b1ce907a81b7a0682cf573..7203b8aa501c09b766c14d2c181b7e4f934b951d 100644
--- a/lib/opcodes.py
+++ b/lib/opcodes.py
@@ -310,3 +310,29 @@ class OpDelTags(OpCode):
   """Remove a list of tags from a given object."""
   OP_ID = "OP_TAGS_DEL"
   __slots__ = ["kind", "name", "tags"]
+
+
+# Test opcodes
+class OpTestDelay(OpCode):
+  """Sleeps for a configured amount of time.
+
+  This is used just for debugging and testing.
+
+  Parameters:
+    - duration: the time to sleep
+    - on_master: if true, sleep on the master
+    - on_nodes: list of nodes in which to sleep
+
+  If the on_master parameter is true, it will execute a sleep on the
+  master (before any node sleep).
+
+  If the on_nodes list is not empty, it will sleep on those nodes
+  (after the sleep on the master, if that is enabled).
+
+  As an additional feature, the case of duration < 0 will be reported
+  as an execution error, so this opcode can be used as a failure
+  generator. The case of duration == 0 will not be treated specially.
+
+  """
+  OP_ID = "OP_TEST_DELAY"
+  __slots__ = ["duration", "on_master", "on_nodes"]
diff --git a/lib/rpc.py b/lib/rpc.py
index e3e5a73897e344784e27da8a1014f9a0526fe167..7a1210745f604fbe2dccfae495bc35b35ee6359c 100644
--- a/lib/rpc.py
+++ b/lib/rpc.py
@@ -801,3 +801,15 @@ def call_node_volumes(node_list):
   c.connect_list(node_list)
   c.run()
   return c.getresult()
+
+
+def call_test_delay(node_list, duration):
+  """Sleep for a fixed time on given node(s).
+
+  This is a multi-node call.
+
+  """
+  c = Client("test_delay", [duration])
+  c.connect_list(node_list)
+  c.run()
+  return c.getresult()
diff --git a/lib/utils.py b/lib/utils.py
index f854f5aaa9031f92cc807cd86bcad85bc9c5147f..6cbd268c7a24ced08efcd8f37a8cc6e0c0200355 100644
--- a/lib/utils.py
+++ b/lib/utils.py
@@ -1065,3 +1065,13 @@ def IsValidMac(mac):
   """
   mac_check = re.compile("^([0-9a-f]{2}(:|$)){6}$")
   return mac_check.match(mac) is not None
+
+
+def TestDelay(duration):
+  """Sleep for a fixed amount of time.
+
+  """
+  if duration < 0:
+    return False
+  time.sleep(duration)
+  return True