diff --git a/hack/e2e-suite/guestbook.sh b/hack/e2e-suite/guestbook.sh
index d25a261cb2b..3226e237f28 100755
--- a/hack/e2e-suite/guestbook.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e-suite/guestbook.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,36 @@ function teardown() {
     local REGION=${ZONE%-*}
     gcloud compute forwarding-rules delete -q --region ${REGION} "${INSTANCE_PREFIX}-default-frontend" || true
     gcloud compute target-pools delete -q --region ${REGION} "${INSTANCE_PREFIX}-default-frontend" || true
+    gcloud compute firewall-rules delete guestbook-e2e-minion-8000 -q || true
+  fi
+}
+
+function wait_for_running() {
+  echo "Waiting for pods to come up."
+  local frontends master slaves pods all_running status i pod
+  frontends=($(${KUBECTL} get pods -l name=frontend -o template '--template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}'))
+  master=($(${KUBECTL} get pods -l name=redis-master -o template '--template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}'))
+  slaves=($(${KUBECTL} get pods -l name=redis-slave -o template '--template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}'))
+  pods=("${frontends[@]}" "${master[@]}" "${slaves[@]}")
+
+  all_running=0
+  for i in {1..30}; do
+    all_running=1
+    for pod in "${pods[@]}"; do
+      status=$(${KUBECTL} get pods "${pod}" -o template '--template={{.currentState.status}}') || true
+      if [[ "$status" != "Running" ]]; then
+        all_running=0
+        break
+      fi
+    done
+    if [[ "${all_running}" == 1 ]]; then
+      break
+    fi
+    sleep 10
+  done
+  if [[ "${all_running}" == 0 ]]; then
+    echo "Pods did not come up in time"
+    return 1
   fi
 }
 
@@ -48,21 +78,40 @@ prepare-e2e
 
 trap "teardown" EXIT
 
-echo "WARNING: this test is a no op that only attempts to launch guestbook resources."
 # Launch the guestbook example
 ${KUBECTL} create -f "${GUESTBOOK}"
 
-sleep 15
+# Verify that all pods are running
+wait_for_running
 
-POD_LIST_1=$(${KUBECTL} get pods -o template '--template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}')
-echo "Pods running: ${POD_LIST_1}"
+if [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gce" ]]; then
+  gcloud compute firewall-rules create --allow=tcp:8000 --network="${NETWORK}" --target-tags="${MINION_TAG}" guestbook-e2e-minion-8000
+fi
 
-# TODO make this an actual test. Open up a firewall and use curl to post and
-# read a message via the frontend
+# Add a new entry to the guestbook and verify that it was remembered
+frontend_addr=$(${KUBECTL} get service frontend -o template '--template={{range .publicIPs}}{{.}}{{end}}:{{.port}}')
+echo "Waiting for frontend to serve content"
+serving=0
+for i in {1..12}; do
+  entry=$(curl "http://${frontend_addr}/index.php?cmd=get&key=messages") || true
+  echo ${entry}
+  if [[ "${entry}" == '{"data": ""}' ]]; then
+    serving=1
+    break
+  fi
+  sleep 10
+done
+if [[ "${serving}" == 0 ]]; then
+  echo "Pods did not start serving content in time"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
-${KUBECTL} stop -f "${GUESTBOOK}"
+curl "http://${frontend_addr}/index.php?cmd=set&key=messages&value=TestEntry"
+entry=$(curl "http://${frontend_addr}/index.php?cmd=get&key=messages")
 
-POD_LIST_2=$(${KUBECTL} get pods -o template '--template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}')
-echo "Pods running after shutdown: ${POD_LIST_2}"
+if [[ "${entry}" != '{"data": "TestEntry"}' ]]; then
+  echo "Wrong entry received: ${entry}"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
 exit 0