diff --git a/activemq-tooling/maven-activemq-perf-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/tool/properties/JmsProducerPropertiesTest.java b/activemq-tooling/maven-activemq-perf-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/tool/properties/JmsProducerPropertiesTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..007e7218b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activemq-tooling/maven-activemq-perf-plugin/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/tool/properties/JmsProducerPropertiesTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You 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 org.apache.activemq.tool.properties;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+public class JmsProducerPropertiesTest extends TestCase {
+	
+	/**
+	 * Tests the correct parsing of message headers.
+	 * @See JmsProducerProperties.setHeader(String encodedHeader)
+	 * 
+	 */
+    public void testMessageHeaders() {
+    	
+    	// first test correct header values
+    	String header = "a=b";
+    	JmsProducerProperties props = new JmsProducerProperties();
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(1, props.headerMap.size());
+    	Set<String> keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(1, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a=b:c=d";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(2, props.headerMap.size());
+    	keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(2, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("c"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	assertEquals("d", props.getHeaderValue("c"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a=b:c=d:e=f";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(3, props.headerMap.size());
+    	keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(3, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("c"));
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("e"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	assertEquals("d", props.getHeaderValue("c"));
+    	assertEquals("f", props.getHeaderValue("e"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+
+    	header = "a=b:c=d:e=f:";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(3, props.headerMap.size());
+    	keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(3, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("c"));
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("e"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	assertEquals("d", props.getHeaderValue("c"));
+    	assertEquals("f", props.getHeaderValue("e"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+
+    	
+    	// test incorrect header values
+    	header = "a:=";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(0, props.headerMap.size());
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a:=b";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(0, props.headerMap.size());
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a=:";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(0, props.headerMap.size());
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a=b::";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(1, props.headerMap.size());
+    	keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(1, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = "a=b:\":";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(1, props.headerMap.size());
+    	keys = props.getHeaderKeys();
+    	assertEquals(1, keys.size());
+    	assertTrue(keys.contains("a"));
+    	assertEquals("b", props.getHeaderValue("a"));
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    	
+    	header = " :  ";
+    	props.setHeader(header);
+    	assertEquals(0, props.headerMap.size());
+    	props.clearHeaders();
+    }
+}
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