diff --git a/maxctrl/test/states.js b/maxctrl/test/states.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bcd2a5e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maxctrl/test/states.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+require('../test_utils.js')()
+
+describe("Server states", function() {
+    before(function() {
+        return startMaxScale()
+            .then(function() {
+                return request.put(host + 'monitors/MySQL-Monitor/stop')
+            })
+    })
+
+    var ctrl = require('../core.js')
+    var opts = {
+        extra_args: [ '--quiet']
+    }
+
+    it('set correct state', function() {
+        return ctrl.execute('set server server2 master'.split(' '), opts)
+            .then(function() {
+                return request.get(host + 'servers/server2', {json: true})
+            })
+            .then(function(res) {
+                res.data.attributes.state.should.match(/Master/)
+            })
+    })
+
+    it('clear correct state', function() {
+        return ctrl.execute('clear server server2 master'.split(' '), opts)
+            .then(function() {
+                return request.get(host + 'servers/server2', {json: true})
+            })
+            .then(function(res) {
+                res.data.attributes.state.should.not.match(/Master/)
+            })
+    })
+
+    it('set incorrect state', function() {
+        return ctrl.execute('set server server2 something'.split(' '), opts)
+            .should.be.rejected
+    })
+
+    it('clear incorrect state', function() {
+        return ctrl.execute('clear server server2 something'.split(' '), opts)
+            .should.be.rejected
+    })
+
+    after(stopMaxScale)
+});
diff --git a/maxctrl/test_utils.js b/maxctrl/test_utils.js
index aca8ee661..3fa90727b 100644
--- a/maxctrl/test_utils.js
+++ b/maxctrl/test_utils.js
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 var child_process = require("child_process")
 
 module.exports = function() {
+
+    if (process.env.MAXSCALE_DIR == null) {
+        throw new Error("MAXSCALE_DIR is not set");
+    }
+
     this.request = require("request-promise-native")
     this.chai = require("chai")
     this.assert = require("assert")
@@ -8,19 +13,28 @@ module.exports = function() {
     chai.use(chaiAsPromised)
     this.should = chai.should()
     this.expect = chai.expect
+    this.host = 'http://localhost:8989/v1/'
 
-    this.startMaxScale = function(done) {
-        child_process.execFile("./start_maxscale.sh", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-            if (process.env.MAXSCALE_DIR == null) {
-                throw new Error("MAXSCALE_DIR is not set");
-            }
-
-            done()
+    this.startMaxScale = function() {
+        return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
+            child_process.execFile("./start_maxscale.sh", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
+                if (err) {
+                    reject()
+                } else {
+                    resolve()
+                }
+            })
         })
     };
-    this.stopMaxScale = function(done) {
-        child_process.execFile("./stop_maxscale.sh", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-            done()
+    this.stopMaxScale = function() {
+        return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
+            child_process.execFile("./stop_maxscale.sh", function(err, stdout, stderr) {
+                if (err) {
+                    reject()
+                } else {
+                    resolve()
+                }
+            })
         })
     };
 }