diff --git a/pkg/registry/controller/strategy_test.go b/pkg/registry/controller/strategy_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..afea95019d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/registry/controller/strategy_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+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.
+*/
+
+package controller
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+)
+
+func TestControllerStrategy(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := api.NewDefaultContext()
+	if !Strategy.NamespaceScoped() {
+		t.Errorf("ReplicationController must be namespace scoped")
+	}
+	if Strategy.AllowCreateOnUpdate() {
+		t.Errorf("ReplicationController should not allow create on update")
+	}
+
+	validSelector := map[string]string{"a": "b"}
+	validPodTemplate := api.PodTemplate{
+		Template: api.PodTemplateSpec{
+			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+				Labels: validSelector,
+			},
+			Spec: api.PodSpec{
+				RestartPolicy: api.RestartPolicyAlways,
+				DNSPolicy:     api.DNSClusterFirst,
+				Containers:    []api.Container{{Name: "abc", Image: "image", ImagePullPolicy: "IfNotPresent"}},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	rc := &api.ReplicationController{
+		ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "abc", Namespace: api.NamespaceDefault},
+		Spec: api.ReplicationControllerSpec{
+			Selector: validSelector,
+			Template: &validPodTemplate.Template,
+		},
+		Status: api.ReplicationControllerStatus{
+			Replicas:           1,
+			ObservedGeneration: int64(10),
+		},
+	}
+
+	Strategy.PrepareForCreate(rc)
+	if rc.Status.Replicas != 0 {
+		t.Error("ReplicationController should not allow setting status.replicas on create")
+	}
+	if rc.Status.ObservedGeneration != int64(0) {
+		t.Error("ReplicationController should not allow setting status.observedGeneration on create")
+	}
+	errs := Strategy.Validate(ctx, rc)
+	if len(errs) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Unexpected error validating %v", errs)
+	}
+
+	invalidRc := &api.ReplicationController{
+		ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "bar", ResourceVersion: "4"},
+	}
+	Strategy.PrepareForUpdate(invalidRc, rc)
+	errs = Strategy.ValidateUpdate(ctx, invalidRc, rc)
+	if len(errs) == 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Expected a validation error")
+	}
+	if invalidRc.ResourceVersion != "4" {
+		t.Errorf("Incoming resource version on update should not be mutated")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestControllerStatusStrategy(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := api.NewDefaultContext()
+	if !StatusStrategy.NamespaceScoped() {
+		t.Errorf("ReplicationController must be namespace scoped")
+	}
+	if StatusStrategy.AllowCreateOnUpdate() {
+		t.Errorf("ReplicationController should not allow create on update")
+	}
+	validSelector := map[string]string{"a": "b"}
+	validPodTemplate := api.PodTemplate{
+		Template: api.PodTemplateSpec{
+			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+				Labels: validSelector,
+			},
+			Spec: api.PodSpec{
+				RestartPolicy: api.RestartPolicyAlways,
+				DNSPolicy:     api.DNSClusterFirst,
+				Containers:    []api.Container{{Name: "abc", Image: "image", ImagePullPolicy: "IfNotPresent"}},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	oldController := &api.ReplicationController{
+		ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "abc", Namespace: api.NamespaceDefault, ResourceVersion: "10"},
+		Spec: api.ReplicationControllerSpec{
+			Replicas: 3,
+			Selector: validSelector,
+			Template: &validPodTemplate.Template,
+		},
+		Status: api.ReplicationControllerStatus{
+			Replicas:           1,
+			ObservedGeneration: int64(10),
+		},
+	}
+	newController := &api.ReplicationController{
+		ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "abc", Namespace: api.NamespaceDefault, ResourceVersion: "9"},
+		Spec: api.ReplicationControllerSpec{
+			Replicas: 1,
+			Selector: validSelector,
+			Template: &validPodTemplate.Template,
+		},
+		Status: api.ReplicationControllerStatus{
+			Replicas:           3,
+			ObservedGeneration: int64(11),
+		},
+	}
+	StatusStrategy.PrepareForUpdate(newController, oldController)
+	if newController.Status.Replicas != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("Replication controller status updates should allow change of replicas: %v", newController.Status.Replicas)
+	}
+	if newController.Spec.Replicas != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("PrepareForUpdate should have preferred spec")
+	}
+	errs := StatusStrategy.ValidateUpdate(ctx, newController, oldController)
+	if len(errs) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Unexpected error %v", errs)
+	}
+}