diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index dbd23602bd1..e03298afe71 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -967,21 +967,28 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility extends HBaseZKTestingUtility {
     }
 
     // Start the MiniHBaseCluster
-    return startMiniHBaseCluster(numMasters, numSlaves, masterClass,
+    return startMiniHBaseCluster(numMasters, numSlaves, null, masterClass,
       regionserverClass, create, withWALDir);
   }
 
   public MiniHBaseCluster startMiniHBaseCluster(final int numMasters, final int numSlaves)
-      throws IOException, InterruptedException{
-    return startMiniHBaseCluster(numMasters, numSlaves, null, null, false, false);
+      throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+     return startMiniHBaseCluster(numMasters, numSlaves, null);
+  }
+
+  public MiniHBaseCluster startMiniHBaseCluster(final int numMasters, final int numSlaves,
+      List<Integer> rsPorts) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+    return startMiniHBaseCluster(numMasters, numSlaves, rsPorts, null, null, false, false);
   }
 
   /**
    * Starts up mini hbase cluster.  Usually used after call to
    * {@link #startMiniCluster(int, int)} when doing stepped startup of clusters.
    * Usually you won't want this.  You'll usually want {@link #startMiniCluster()}.
-   * @param numMasters
-   * @param numSlaves
+   * @param rsPorts Ports that RegionServer should use; pass ports if you want to test cluster
+   *                restart where for sure the regionservers come up on same address+port (but
+   *                just with different startcode); by default mini hbase clusters choose new
+   *                arbitrary ports on each cluster start.
    * @param create Whether to create a
    * root or data directory path or not; will overwrite if exists already.
    * @return Reference to the hbase mini hbase cluster.
@@ -990,7 +997,7 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility extends HBaseZKTestingUtility {
    * @see {@link #startMiniCluster()}
    */
   public MiniHBaseCluster startMiniHBaseCluster(final int numMasters,
-        final int numSlaves, Class<? extends HMaster> masterClass,
+        final int numSlaves, List<Integer> rsPorts, Class<? extends HMaster> masterClass,
         Class<? extends MiniHBaseCluster.MiniHBaseClusterRegionServer> regionserverClass,
         boolean create, boolean withWALDir)
   throws IOException, InterruptedException {
@@ -1015,7 +1022,7 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility extends HBaseZKTestingUtility {
     Configuration c = new Configuration(this.conf);
     TraceUtil.initTracer(c);
     this.hbaseCluster =
-        new MiniHBaseCluster(c, numMasters, numSlaves, masterClass, regionserverClass);
+        new MiniHBaseCluster(c, numMasters, numSlaves, rsPorts, masterClass, regionserverClass);
     // Don't leave here till we've done a successful scan of the hbase:meta
     Table t = getConnection().getTable(TableName.META_TABLE_NAME);
     ResultScanner s = t.getScanner(new Scan());
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
index e02347d3c3d..3f851813084 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MiniHBaseCluster.java
@@ -77,10 +77,19 @@ public class MiniHBaseCluster extends HBaseCluster {
    */
   public MiniHBaseCluster(Configuration conf, int numMasters, int numRegionServers)
       throws IOException, InterruptedException {
-    this(conf, numMasters, numRegionServers, null, null);
+    this(conf, numMasters, numRegionServers, null, null, null);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @param rsPorts Ports that RegionServer should use; pass ports if you want to test cluster
+   *   restart where for sure the regionservers come up on same address+port (but
+   *   just with different startcode); by default mini hbase clusters choose new
+   *   arbitrary ports on each cluster start.
+   * @throws IOException
+   * @throws InterruptedException
+   */
   public MiniHBaseCluster(Configuration conf, int numMasters, int numRegionServers,
+         List<Integer> rsPorts,
          Class<? extends HMaster> masterClass,
          Class<? extends MiniHBaseCluster.MiniHBaseClusterRegionServer> regionserverClass)
       throws IOException, InterruptedException {
@@ -93,7 +102,7 @@ public class MiniHBaseCluster extends HBaseCluster {
     // Hadoop 2
     CompatibilityFactory.getInstance(MetricsAssertHelper.class).init();
 
-    init(numMasters, numRegionServers, masterClass, regionserverClass);
+    init(numMasters, numRegionServers, rsPorts, masterClass, regionserverClass);
     this.initialClusterStatus = getClusterStatus();
   }
 
@@ -207,7 +216,7 @@ public class MiniHBaseCluster extends HBaseCluster {
     }
   }
 
-  private void init(final int nMasterNodes, final int nRegionNodes,
+  private void init(final int nMasterNodes, final int nRegionNodes, List<Integer> rsPorts,
                  Class<? extends HMaster> masterClass,
                  Class<? extends MiniHBaseCluster.MiniHBaseClusterRegionServer> regionserverClass)
   throws IOException, InterruptedException {
@@ -224,8 +233,11 @@ public class MiniHBaseCluster extends HBaseCluster {
           masterClass, regionserverClass);
 
       // manually add the regionservers as other users
-      for (int i=0; i<nRegionNodes; i++) {
+      for (int i = 0; i < nRegionNodes; i++) {
         Configuration rsConf = HBaseConfiguration.create(conf);
+        if (rsPorts != null) {
+          rsConf.setInt(HConstants.REGIONSERVER_PORT, rsPorts.get(i));
+        }
         User user = HBaseTestingUtility.getDifferentUser(rsConf,
             ".hfs."+index++);
         hbaseCluster.addRegionServer(rsConf, i, user);
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas.java
index c4e9a0a7c87..dd0fada0f14 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas.java
@@ -19,9 +19,13 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -50,9 +54,11 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.RegionInfo;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.RegionReplicaUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Result;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.Table;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.HRegionServer;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MasterTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.JVMClusterUtil;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
@@ -174,12 +180,18 @@ public class TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas {
       }
       validateFromSnapshotFromMeta(TEST_UTIL, tableName, numRegions, numReplica,
         ADMIN.getConnection());
-      /* DISABLED!!!!! FOR NOW!!!!
       // Now shut the whole cluster down, and verify the assignments are kept so that the
-      // availability constraints are met.
-      TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean("hbase.master.startup.retainassign", true);
+      // availability constraints are met. MiniHBaseCluster chooses arbitrary ports on each
+      // restart. This messes with our being able to test that we retain locality. Therefore,
+      // figure current cluster ports and pass them in on next cluster start so new cluster comes
+      // up at same coordinates -- and the assignment retention logic has a chance to cut in.
+      List<Integer> rsports = new ArrayList<>();
+      for (JVMClusterUtil.RegionServerThread rst:
+          TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster().getLiveRegionServerThreads()) {
+        rsports.add(rst.getRegionServer().getRpcServer().getListenerAddress().getPort());
+      }
       TEST_UTIL.shutdownMiniHBaseCluster();
-      TEST_UTIL.startMiniHBaseCluster(1, numSlaves);
+      TEST_UTIL.startMiniHBaseCluster(1, numSlaves, rsports);
       TEST_UTIL.waitTableEnabled(tableName);
       validateFromSnapshotFromMeta(TEST_UTIL, tableName, numRegions, numReplica,
         ADMIN.getConnection());
@@ -203,10 +215,10 @@ public class TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas {
       ADMIN.enableTable(tableName);
       LOG.info(ADMIN.getTableDescriptor(tableName).toString());
       assert(ADMIN.isTableEnabled(tableName));
-      List<RegionInfo> regions = TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().getMaster()
-          .getAssignmentManager().getRegionStates().getRegionsOfTable(tableName);
-      assertTrue("regions.size=" + regions.size() + ", numRegions=" + numRegions + ", numReplica=" + numReplica,
-          regions.size() == numRegions * (numReplica + 1));
+      List<RegionInfo> regions = TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().getMaster().
+          getAssignmentManager().getRegionStates().getRegionsOfTable(tableName);
+      assertTrue("regions.size=" + regions.size() + ", numRegions=" + numRegions +
+          ", numReplica=" + numReplica, regions.size() == numRegions * (numReplica + 1));
 
       //decrease the replica(earlier, table was modified to have a replica count of numReplica + 1)
       ADMIN.disableTable(tableName);
@@ -233,7 +245,6 @@ public class TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas {
       assert(defaultReplicas.size() == numRegions);
       Collection<Integer> counts = new HashSet<>(defaultReplicas.values());
       assert(counts.size() == 1 && counts.contains(new Integer(numReplica)));
-      */
     } finally {
       ADMIN.disableTable(tableName);
       ADMIN.deleteTable(tableName);
@@ -342,14 +353,14 @@ public class TestMasterOperationsForRegionReplicas {
       connection);
     snapshot.initialize();
     Map<RegionInfo, ServerName>  regionToServerMap = snapshot.getRegionToRegionServerMap();
-    assertEquals(regionToServerMap.size(), numRegions * numReplica + 1); //'1' for the namespace
+    assertEquals(regionToServerMap.size(), numRegions * numReplica + 1);
     Map<ServerName, List<RegionInfo>> serverToRegionMap = snapshot.getRegionServerToRegionMap();
-    assertEquals(serverToRegionMap.keySet().size(), 2); // 1 rs + 1 master
+    assertEquals("One Region Only", 1, serverToRegionMap.keySet().size());
     for (Map.Entry<ServerName, List<RegionInfo>> entry : serverToRegionMap.entrySet()) {
       if (entry.getKey().equals(TEST_UTIL.getHBaseCluster().getMaster().getServerName())) {
         continue;
       }
-      assertEquals(entry.getValue().size(), numRegions * numReplica);
+      assertEquals(entry.getValue().size(), numRegions * numReplica + 1);
     }
   }
 }