diff --git a/cmd/e2e/e2e.go b/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
index 24f1688ad96..258718b0eb6 100644
--- a/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
+++ b/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+Copyright 2015 Google Inc. 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.
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/test/e2e"
+	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	flag "github.com/spf13/pflag"
 )
 
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ var (
 	certDir    = flag.String("cert_dir", "", "Path to the directory containing the certs. Default is empty, which doesn't use certs.")
 	host       = flag.String("host", "", "The host to connect to")
 	repoRoot   = flag.String("repo_root", "./", "Root directory of kubernetes repository, for finding test files. Default assumes working directory is repository root")
+	provider   = flag.String("provider", "", "The name of the Kubernetes provider")
 	testList   util.StringList
 )
 
@@ -40,5 +42,9 @@ func init() {
 func main() {
 	util.InitFlags()
 	goruntime.GOMAXPROCS(goruntime.NumCPU())
-	e2e.RunE2ETests(*authConfig, *certDir, *host, *repoRoot, testList)
+	if *provider == "" {
+		glog.Error("e2e needs the have the --provider flag set")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	e2e.RunE2ETests(*authConfig, *certDir, *host, *repoRoot, *provider, testList)
 }
diff --git a/hack/e2e-suite/basic.sh b/hack/e2e-suite/basic.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index c09cf15e194..00000000000
--- a/hack/e2e-suite/basic.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,97 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. 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.
-
-# Launches a container and verifies it can be reached. Assumes that
-# we're being called by hack/e2e-test.sh (we use some env vars it sets up).
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/../..
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER/util.sh"
-
-function teardown() {
-  echo "Cleaning up test artifacts"
-  $KUBECFG stop my-hostname
-  $KUBECFG rm my-hostname
-}
-
-trap "teardown" EXIT
-
-# Determine which pod image to launch (e.g. private.sh launches a different one).
-pod_img_srv="${POD_IMG_SRV:-kubernetes/serve_hostname}"
-
-# Launch some pods.
-num_pods=2
-$KUBECFG -p 8080:9376 run "${pod_img_srv}" ${num_pods} my-hostname
-
-# List the pods.
-pod_id_list=$($KUBECFG '-template={{range.items}}{{.id}} {{end}}' -l name=my-hostname list pods)
-echo "pod_id_list: ${pod_id_list}"
-if [[ -z "${pod_id_list:-}" ]]; then
-  echo "Pod ID list is empty. It should have a set of pods to verify."
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# Pod turn up on a clean cluster can take a while for the docker image pull.
-all_running=0
-for i in $(seq 1 24); do
-  echo "Waiting for pods to come up."
-  sleep 5
-  all_running=1
-  for id in $pod_id_list; do
-    current_status=$($KUBECFG '-template={{.currentState.status}}' get pods/$id) || true
-    if [[ "$current_status" != "Running" ]]; then
-      all_running=0
-      break
-    fi
-  done
-  if [[ "${all_running}" == 1 ]]; then
-    break
-  fi
-done
-if [[ "${all_running}" == 0 ]]; then
-  echo "Pods did not come up in time"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# let images stabilize
-echo "Letting images stabilize"
-sleep 5
-
-# Verify that something is listening.
-for id in ${pod_id_list}; do
-  ip=$($KUBECFG '-template={{.currentState.hostIP}}' get pods/$id)
-  echo "Trying to reach server that should be running at ${ip}:8080..."
-  server_running=0
-  for i in $(seq 1 5); do
-    echo "--- trial ${i}"
-    output=$(curl -s -connect-timeout 1 "http://${ip}:8080" || true)
-    if echo $output | grep "${id}" &> /dev/null; then
-      server_running=1
-      break
-    fi
-    sleep 2
-  done
-  if [[ "${server_running}" -ne 1 ]]; then
-    echo "Server never running at ${ip}:8080..."
-    exit 1
-  fi
-done
-
-exit 0
diff --git a/hack/e2e-suite/goe2e.sh b/hack/e2e-suite/goe2e.sh
index 4856357be5f..b9dae0c4e5a 100755
--- a/hack/e2e-suite/goe2e.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e-suite/goe2e.sh
@@ -82,4 +82,4 @@ else
   auth_config=()
 fi
 
-"${e2e}" "${auth_config[@]:+${auth_config[@]}}" --host="https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}"
+"${e2e}" "${auth_config[@]:+${auth_config[@]}}" --host="https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}" --provider="${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}"
diff --git a/hack/e2e-suite/private.sh b/hack/e2e-suite/private.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index b1f68ff88f7..00000000000
--- a/hack/e2e-suite/private.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-# Launches a container and verifies it can be reached. Assumes that
-# we're being called by hack/e2e-test.sh (we use some env vars it sets up).
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/../..
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER/util.sh"
-
-# Private image works only on GCE and GKE.
-if [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" != "gce" ]] && [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" != "gke" ]]; then
-  echo "WARNING: Skipping private.sh for cloud provider: ${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}."
-  exit 0
-fi
-
-# Run the basic.sh test, but using this image.
-export POD_IMG_SRV="container.cloud.google.com/_b_k8s_test/serve_hostname"
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/e2e-suite/basic.sh"
diff --git a/test/e2e/basic.go b/test/e2e/basic.go
index 9d6fe36be64..221cac86aaa 100644
--- a/test/e2e/basic.go
+++ b/test/e2e/basic.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+Copyright 2015 Google Inc. 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.
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
-func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
+// A basic test to check the deployment of an image using
+// a replication controller. The image serves its hostname
+// which is checked for each replica.
+func TestBasicImage(c *client.Client, image string) bool {
 	ns := api.NamespaceDefault
+	// TODO(satnam6502): Generate a unique name to allow
+	//                   parallel executions of this test.
 	name := "my-hostname"
 	replicas := 2
 
@@ -45,9 +50,13 @@ func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
 			glog.Infof("Found a straggler %s controller", name)
 			// Delete any pods controlled by this replicaiton controller.
 			cnt.Spec.Replicas = 0
-			c.ReplicationControllers(ns).Update(&cnt)
+			if _, err := c.ReplicationControllers(ns).Update(&cnt); err != nil {
+				glog.Warningf("Failed to resize straggler controller to zero: %v", err)
+			}
 			// Delete the controller
-			c.ReplicationControllers(ns).Delete(name)
+			if err = c.ReplicationControllers(ns).Delete(name); err != nil {
+				glog.Warningf("Failed to delete straggler replicatior controller: %v", err)
+			}
 			break
 		}
 	}
@@ -56,6 +65,7 @@ func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
 	// that serves its hostname on port 8080.
 	// The source for the Docker containter kubernetes/serve_hostname is
 	// in contrib/for-demos/serve_hostname
+	glog.Infof("Creating replication controller %s", name)
 	controller, err := c.ReplicationControllers(ns).Create(&api.ReplicationController{
 		ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
 			Name: name,
@@ -73,7 +83,7 @@ func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
 					Containers: []api.Container{
 						{
 							Name:  name,
-							Image: "kubernetes/serve_hostname",
+							Image: image,
 							Ports: []api.Port{{ContainerPort: 9376, HostPort: 8080}},
 						},
 					},
@@ -152,3 +162,9 @@ func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
 
 	return true
 }
+
+// TestBasic performs the TestBasicImage check with the
+// image kubernetes/serve_hostname
+func TestBasic(c *client.Client) bool {
+	return TestBasicImage(c, "kubernetes/serve_hostname")
+}
diff --git a/test/e2e/driver.go b/test/e2e/driver.go
index 365726c8ef5..0d5cae0429b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/driver.go
+++ b/test/e2e/driver.go
@@ -51,21 +51,23 @@ func outputTAPSummary(infoList []testInfo) {
 	}
 }
 
-func RunE2ETests(authConfig, certDir, host, repoRoot string, testList []string) {
-	testContext = testContextType{authConfig, certDir, host, repoRoot}
+// Run each Go end-to-end-test. This function assumes the
+// creation of a test cluster.
+func RunE2ETests(authConfig, certDir, host, repoRoot, provider string, testList []string) {
+	testContext = testContextType{authConfig, certDir, host, repoRoot, provider}
 	util.ReallyCrash = true
 	util.InitLogs()
 	defer util.FlushLogs()
 
+	// TODO: Associate a timeout with each test individually.
 	go func() {
 		defer util.FlushLogs()
-		time.Sleep(5 * time.Minute)
+		time.Sleep(10 * time.Minute)
 		glog.Fatalf("This test has timed out. Cleanup not guaranteed.")
 	}()
 
 	c := loadClientOrDie()
 
-	// Define the tests.  Important: for a clean test grid, please keep ids for a test constant.
 	tests := []testSpec{
 		{TestKubernetesROService, "TestKubernetesROService", 1},
 		{TestKubeletSendsEvent, "TestKubeletSendsEvent", 2},
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ func RunE2ETests(authConfig, certDir, host, repoRoot string, testList []string)
 		{TestClusterDNS, "TestClusterDNS", 6},
 		{TestPodHasServiceEnvVars, "TestPodHasServiceEnvVars", 7},
 		{TestBasic, "TestBasic", 8},
+		{TestPrivate, "TestPrivate", 9},
 	}
 
 	validTestNames := util.NewStringSet()
diff --git a/test/e2e/private.go b/test/e2e/private.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..03d97c6ca05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/e2e/private.go
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2015 Google Inc. 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 e2e
+
+import (
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/client"
+	"github.com/golang/glog"
+)
+
+// A basic test to check the deployment of the
+// container.cloud.google.com/_b_k8s_test/serve_hostname image
+// with the TestBasicImage test. This test is only supported
+// for the providers GCE and GKE.
+func TestPrivate(c *client.Client) bool {
+	if testContext.provider != "gce" && testContext.provider != "gke" {
+		glog.Infof("Skipping test private which is only supported for proivders gce and gke (not %s)", testContext.provider)
+		return true
+	}
+	glog.Info("Calling out to TestBasic")
+	return TestBasicImage(c, "container.cloud.google.com/_b_k8s_test/serve_hostname")
+}
diff --git a/test/e2e/util.go b/test/e2e/util.go
index fdb7d056ad2..8e8eacb6f0a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e/util.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ type testContextType struct {
 	certDir    string
 	host       string
 	repoRoot   string
+	provider   string
 }
 
 var testContext testContextType