diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/BUILD b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/BUILD
index cd9e9358d9d..3859a5fdb02 100644
--- a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/BUILD
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/BUILD
@@ -30,3 +30,11 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor:github.com/spf13/cobra",
     ],
 )
+
+go_test(
+    name = "go_default_test",
+    srcs = ["init_test.go"],
+    library = "go_default_library",
+    tags = ["automanaged"],
+    deps = [],
+)
diff --git a/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..14de4c636de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/federation/pkg/kubefed/init/init_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,413 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+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 init
+
+import (
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"net/url"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+const (
+	testNamespace    = "test-ns"
+	testSvcName      = "test-service"
+	testCertValidity = 1 * time.Hour
+
+	helloMsg = "Hello, certificate test!"
+)
+
+type clientServerTLSConfigs struct {
+	server *tls.Config
+	client *tls.Config
+}
+
+type certParams struct {
+	cAddr     string
+	ips       []string
+	hostnames []string
+}
+
+// TestCertsTLS tests TLS handshake with client authentication for any server
+// name. There is a separate test below to test the certificate generation
+// end-to-end over HTTPS.
+// TODO(madhusudancs): Consider using a deterministic random number generator
+// for generating certificates in tests.
+func TestCertsTLS(t *testing.T) {
+	params := []certParams{
+		{
+			cAddr:     "10.1.2.3",
+			ips:       []string{"10.1.2.3", "10.2.3.4"},
+			hostnames: []string{"federation.test", "federation2.test"},
+		},
+		{
+			cAddr:     "10.10.20.30",
+			ips:       []string{"10.20.30.40", "10.64.128.4"},
+			hostnames: []string{"tls.federation.test"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	tlsCfgs, err := tlsConfigs(params)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("failed to generate tls configs: %v", err)
+		// No point in proceeding further
+		return
+	}
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		serverName string
+		sCfg       *tls.Config
+		cCfg       *tls.Config
+		failType   string
+	}{
+		{
+			serverName: "10.1.2.3",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.2.3.4",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "federation.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "federation2.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.20.30.40",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "tls.federation.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].client,
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.100.200.50",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "noexist.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.64.128.4",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "tls.federation.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.1.2.3",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].client,
+			failType:   "UnknownAuthorityError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "federation2.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].client,
+			failType:   "UnknownAuthorityError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "10.1.2.3",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+		{
+			serverName: "federation2.test",
+			sCfg:       tlsCfgs[1].server,
+			cCfg:       tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			failType:   "HostnameError",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, tc := range testCases {
+		// Make a copy of the client config before modifying it.
+		// We can't do a regular pointer deref shallow copy because
+		// tls.Config contains an unexported sync.Once field which
+		// must not be copied. This was pointed out by go vet.
+		cCfg := copyTLSConfig(tc.cCfg)
+		cCfg.ServerName = tc.serverName
+		cCfg.BuildNameToCertificate()
+
+		err := tlsHandshake(t, tc.sCfg, cCfg)
+		if len(tc.failType) > 0 {
+			switch tc.failType {
+			case "HostnameError":
+				if _, ok := err.(x509.HostnameError); !ok {
+					t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error: want x509.HostnameError, got: %T", i, err)
+				}
+			case "UnknownAuthorityError":
+				if _, ok := err.(x509.UnknownAuthorityError); !ok {
+					t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error: want x509.UnknownAuthorityError, got: %T", i, err)
+				}
+			default:
+				t.Errorf("cannot handle error type: %s", tc.failType)
+
+			}
+		} else if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error: %v", i, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestCertsHTTPS cannot test client authentication for non-localhost server
+// names, but it tests TLS handshake end-to-end over HTTPS.
+func TestCertsHTTPS(t *testing.T) {
+	params := []certParams{
+		{
+			// Unfortunately, due to the limitation in the way Go
+			// net/http/httptest package sets up the test HTTPS/TLS server,
+			// 127.0.0.1 is the only accepted server address. So, we need to
+			// generate certificates for this address.
+			cAddr:     "127.0.0.1",
+			ips:       []string{"127.0.0.1"},
+			hostnames: []string{},
+		},
+		{
+			// Unfortunately, due to the limitation in the way Go
+			// net/http/httptest package sets up the test HTTPS/TLS server,
+			// 127.0.0.1 is the only accepted server address. So, we need to
+			// generate certificates for this address.
+			cAddr:     "localhost",
+			ips:       []string{"127.0.0.1"},
+			hostnames: []string{"localhost"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	tlsCfgs, err := tlsConfigs(params)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("failed to generate tls configs: %v", err)
+		// No point in proceeding further
+		return
+	}
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		sCfg *tls.Config
+		cCfg *tls.Config
+		fail bool
+	}{
+		{
+			sCfg: tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg: tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			fail: false,
+		},
+		{
+			sCfg: tlsCfgs[0].server,
+			cCfg: tlsCfgs[1].client,
+			fail: true,
+		},
+		{
+			sCfg: tlsCfgs[1].server,
+			cCfg: tlsCfgs[0].client,
+			fail: true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, tc := range testCases {
+		// Make a copy of the client config before modifying it.
+		// We can't do a regular pointer deref shallow copy because
+		// tls.Config contains an unexported sync.Once field which
+		// must not be copied. This was pointed out by go vet.
+		cCfg := copyTLSConfig(tc.cCfg)
+		cCfg.BuildNameToCertificate()
+
+		s, err := fakeHTTPSServer(tc.sCfg)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error starting TLS server: %v", i, err)
+			// No point in proceeding
+			continue
+		}
+		defer s.Close()
+
+		tr := &http.Transport{
+			TLSClientConfig: cCfg,
+		}
+		client := &http.Client{Transport: tr}
+		resp, err := client.Get(s.URL)
+		if tc.fail {
+			_, ok := err.(*url.Error)
+			if !ok || !strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), "x509: certificate signed by unknown authority") {
+				t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error: want x509.HostnameError, got: %T", i, err)
+			}
+			// We are done for this test.
+			continue
+		} else if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error while sending GET request to the server: %T", i, err)
+			// No point in proceeding
+			continue
+		}
+		defer resp.Body.Close()
+
+		got, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("[%d] unexpected error reading server response: %v", i, err)
+		} else if string(got) != helloMsg {
+			t.Errorf("[%d] want %q, got %q", i, helloMsg, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func tlsHandshake(t *testing.T, sCfg, cCfg *tls.Config) error {
+	// Tried to use net.Pipe() instead of TCP. But the connections returned by
+	// net.Pipe() do a fully-synchronous reads and writes on both the ends.
+	// So if a TLS handshake fails, they can't return the error until the
+	// other side reads the message which it did not expect. Since the other
+	// side does not read the message it did not expect, the server and
+	// clients hang. Since TCP is non-blocking we use that as transport
+	// instead. One could have as well used a Unix Domain Socket, but TCP is
+	// more portable.
+	s, err := tls.Listen("tcp", "", sCfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create a test TLS server: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer s.Close()
+
+	errCh := make(chan error)
+	go func() {
+		for {
+			conn, err := s.Accept()
+			if err != nil {
+				errCh <- fmt.Errorf("failed to accept a TLS connection: %v", err)
+				return
+			}
+			gotByte := make([]byte, len(helloMsg))
+			_, err = conn.Read(gotByte)
+			if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
+				errCh <- fmt.Errorf("failed to read input: %v", err)
+			} else if got := string(gotByte); got != helloMsg {
+				errCh <- fmt.Errorf("got %q, want %q", got, helloMsg)
+			}
+			errCh <- nil
+			return
+		}
+	}()
+
+	c, err := tls.Dial("tcp", s.Addr().String(), cCfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Intentionally not serializing the error received because we want to
+		// test for the failure case in the caller test function.
+		return err
+	}
+	defer c.Close()
+	if _, err := c.Write([]byte(helloMsg)); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write to server: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	return <-errCh
+}
+
+func fakeHTTPSServer(sCfg *tls.Config) (*httptest.Server, error) {
+	s := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		fmt.Fprint(w, helloMsg)
+	}))
+
+	s.TLS.Certificates = sCfg.Certificates
+	s.TLS.RootCAs = sCfg.RootCAs
+	s.TLS.ClientAuth = sCfg.ClientAuth
+	s.TLS.ClientCAs = sCfg.ClientCAs
+	s.TLS.InsecureSkipVerify = sCfg.InsecureSkipVerify
+	return s, nil
+}
+
+func tlsConfigs(params []certParams) ([]clientServerTLSConfigs, error) {
+	tlsCfgs := []clientServerTLSConfigs{}
+	for i, p := range params {
+		sCfg, cCfg, err := genServerClientTLSConfigs(testNamespace, p.cAddr, testSvcName, HostClusterLocalDNSZoneName, p.ips, p.hostnames)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("[%d] failed to generate tls configs: %v", i, err)
+		}
+		tlsCfgs = append(tlsCfgs, clientServerTLSConfigs{sCfg, cCfg})
+	}
+	return tlsCfgs, nil
+}
+
+func genServerClientTLSConfigs(namespace, name, svcName, localDNSZoneName string, ips, hostnames []string) (*tls.Config, *tls.Config, error) {
+	entKeyPairs, err := genCerts(namespace, name, svcName, localDNSZoneName, ips, hostnames)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected error generating certs: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	roots := x509.NewCertPool()
+	roots.AddCert(entKeyPairs.ca.Cert)
+
+	serverCert := tls.Certificate{
+		Certificate: [][]byte{
+			entKeyPairs.server.Cert.Raw,
+		},
+		PrivateKey: entKeyPairs.server.Key,
+	}
+
+	cmCert := tls.Certificate{
+		Certificate: [][]byte{
+			entKeyPairs.controllerManager.Cert.Raw,
+		},
+		PrivateKey: entKeyPairs.controllerManager.Key,
+	}
+
+	sCfg := &tls.Config{
+		Certificates:       []tls.Certificate{serverCert},
+		RootCAs:            roots,
+		ClientAuth:         tls.RequireAndVerifyClientCert,
+		ClientCAs:          roots,
+		InsecureSkipVerify: false,
+	}
+
+	cCfg := &tls.Config{
+		Certificates: []tls.Certificate{cmCert},
+		RootCAs:      roots,
+	}
+
+	return sCfg, cCfg, nil
+}
+
+func copyTLSConfig(cfg *tls.Config) *tls.Config {
+	// We are copying only the required fields.
+	return &tls.Config{
+		Certificates:       cfg.Certificates,
+		RootCAs:            cfg.RootCAs,
+		ClientAuth:         cfg.ClientAuth,
+		ClientCAs:          cfg.ClientCAs,
+		InsecureSkipVerify: cfg.InsecureSkipVerify,
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/test_owners.csv b/test/test_owners.csv
index e2a11f2619c..1a6c9ad34ca 100644
--- a/test/test_owners.csv
+++ b/test/test_owners.csv
@@ -486,6 +486,7 @@ k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/federation-controller/util/eventsink,luxas,1
 k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/federation-controller/util/planner,Q-Lee,1
 k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/federation-controller/util/podanalyzer,caesarxuchao,1
 k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/kubefed,madhusudancs,0
+k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/kubefed/init,madhusudancs,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/registry/cluster,nikhiljindal,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/registry/cluster/etcd,nikhiljindal,0
 k8s.io/kubernetes/hack/cmd/teststale,thockin,1