diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
index 17e5528e1fc..6c0dd69e3b7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFile.java
@@ -1094,6 +1094,11 @@ public class StoreFile {
     public void appendFileInfo(byte[] key, byte[] value) throws IOException {
       writer.appendFileInfo(key, value);
     }
+
+    /** For use in testing, e.g. {@link CreateRandomStoreFile} */
+    HFile.Writer getHFileWriter() {
+      return writer;
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/CreateRandomStoreFile.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/CreateRandomStoreFile.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..42ea29b1f7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/CreateRandomStoreFile.java
@@ -0,0 +1,301 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2011 The Apache Software Foundation
+ *
+ * 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.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Random;
+
+import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLineParser;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.HelpFormatter;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.Options;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.ParseException;
+import org.apache.commons.cli.PosixParser;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.KeyValue;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.CacheConfig;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.Compression;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.io.hfile.HFileBlockIndex;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.StoreFile;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.BloomFilterFactory;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.BytesWritable;
+
+/**
+ * Creates an HFile with random key/value pairs.
+ */
+public class CreateRandomStoreFile {
+
+  /**
+   * As much as this number of bytes can be added or subtracted from key/value
+   * lengths.
+   */
+  private static final int LEN_VARIATION = 5;
+
+  private static final Log LOG =
+      LogFactory.getLog(CreateRandomStoreFile.class);
+  private static final String OUTPUT_DIR_OPTION = "o";
+  private static final String NUM_KV_OPTION = "n";
+  private static final String HFILE_VERSION_OPTION = "h";
+  private static final String KEY_SIZE_OPTION = "k";
+  private static final String VALUE_SIZE_OPTION = "v";
+  private static final String COMPRESSION_OPTION = "c";
+  private static final String BLOOM_FILTER_OPTION = "bf";
+  private static final String BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION = "bs";
+  private static final String BLOOM_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION = "bfbs";
+  private static final String INDEX_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION = "ibs";
+
+  /** The exit code this command-line tool returns on failure */
+  private static final int EXIT_FAILURE = 1;
+
+  /** The number of valid key types in a store file */
+  private static final int NUM_VALID_KEY_TYPES =
+      KeyValue.Type.values().length - 2;
+
+  private Options options = new Options();
+
+  private int keyPrefixLen, keyLen, rowLen, cfLen, valueLen;
+  private Random rand;
+
+  /**
+   * Runs the tools.
+   *
+   * @param args command-line arguments
+   * @return true in case of success
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public boolean run(String[] args) throws IOException {
+    options.addOption(OUTPUT_DIR_OPTION, "output_dir", true,
+        "Output directory");
+    options.addOption(NUM_KV_OPTION, "num_kv", true,
+        "Number of key/value pairs");
+    options.addOption(KEY_SIZE_OPTION, "key_size", true, "Average key size");
+    options.addOption(VALUE_SIZE_OPTION, "value_size", true,
+        "Average value size");
+    options.addOption(HFILE_VERSION_OPTION, "hfile_version", true,
+        "HFile version to create");
+    options.addOption(COMPRESSION_OPTION, "compression", true,
+        " Compression type, one of "
+            + Arrays.toString(Compression.Algorithm.values()));
+    options.addOption(BLOOM_FILTER_OPTION, "bloom_filter", true,
+        "Bloom filter type, one of "
+            + Arrays.toString(StoreFile.BloomType.values()));
+    options.addOption(BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION, "block_size", true,
+        "HFile block size");
+    options.addOption(BLOOM_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION, "bloom_block_size", true,
+        "Compound Bloom filters block size");
+    options.addOption(INDEX_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION, "index_block_size", true,
+        "Index block size");
+
+    if (args.length == 0) {
+      HelpFormatter formatter = new HelpFormatter();
+      formatter.printHelp(CreateRandomStoreFile.class.getSimpleName(), options,
+          true);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    CommandLineParser parser = new PosixParser();
+    CommandLine cmdLine;
+    try {
+      cmdLine = parser.parse(options, args);
+    } catch (ParseException ex) {
+      LOG.error(ex);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (!cmdLine.hasOption(OUTPUT_DIR_OPTION)) {
+      LOG.error("Output directory is not specified");
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (!cmdLine.hasOption(NUM_KV_OPTION)) {
+      LOG.error("The number of keys/values not specified");
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (!cmdLine.hasOption(KEY_SIZE_OPTION)) {
+      LOG.error("Key size is not specified");
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    if (!cmdLine.hasOption(VALUE_SIZE_OPTION)) {
+      LOG.error("Value size not specified");
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    Configuration conf = HBaseConfiguration.create();
+
+    Path outputDir = new Path(cmdLine.getOptionValue(OUTPUT_DIR_OPTION));
+
+    long numKV = Long.parseLong(cmdLine.getOptionValue(NUM_KV_OPTION));
+    configureKeyValue(numKV,
+        Integer.parseInt(cmdLine.getOptionValue(KEY_SIZE_OPTION)),
+        Integer.parseInt(cmdLine.getOptionValue(VALUE_SIZE_OPTION)));
+
+    FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(conf);
+
+    Compression.Algorithm compr = Compression.Algorithm.NONE;
+    if (cmdLine.hasOption(COMPRESSION_OPTION)) {
+      compr = Compression.Algorithm.valueOf(
+          cmdLine.getOptionValue(COMPRESSION_OPTION));
+    }
+
+    StoreFile.BloomType bloomType = StoreFile.BloomType.NONE;
+    if (cmdLine.hasOption(BLOOM_FILTER_OPTION)) {
+      bloomType = StoreFile.BloomType.valueOf(cmdLine.getOptionValue(
+          BLOOM_FILTER_OPTION));
+    }
+
+    int blockSize = conf.getInt("hfile.min.blocksize.size", 65536);
+    if (cmdLine.hasOption(BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION))
+      blockSize = Integer.valueOf(cmdLine.getOptionValue(BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION));
+    
+    if (cmdLine.hasOption(BLOOM_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION)) {
+      conf.setInt(BloomFilterFactory.IO_STOREFILE_BLOOM_BLOCK_SIZE,
+          Integer.valueOf(cmdLine.getOptionValue(BLOOM_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION)));
+    }
+    
+    if (cmdLine.hasOption(INDEX_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION)) {
+      conf.setInt(HFileBlockIndex.MAX_CHUNK_SIZE_KEY,
+          Integer.valueOf(cmdLine.getOptionValue(INDEX_BLOCK_SIZE_OPTION)));
+    }
+
+    StoreFile.Writer sfw = StoreFile.createWriter(fs, outputDir, blockSize,
+        compr, KeyValue.COMPARATOR, conf, new CacheConfig(conf), bloomType, 
+        numKV);
+
+    rand = new Random();
+    LOG.info("Writing " + numKV + " key/value pairs");
+    for (long i = 0; i < numKV; ++i) {
+      sfw.append(generateKeyValue(i));
+    }
+
+    int numMetaBlocks = rand.nextInt(10) + 1;
+    LOG.info("Writing " + numMetaBlocks + " meta blocks");
+    for (int metaI = 0; metaI < numMetaBlocks; ++metaI) {
+      sfw.getHFileWriter().appendMetaBlock(generateString(),
+          new BytesWritable(generateValue()));
+    }
+    sfw.close();
+
+    Path storeFilePath = sfw.getPath();
+    long fileSize = fs.getFileStatus(storeFilePath).getLen();
+    LOG.info("Created " + storeFilePath + ", " + fileSize + " bytes");
+
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  private void configureKeyValue(long numKV, int keyLen, int valueLen) {
+    numKV = Math.abs(numKV);
+    keyLen = Math.abs(keyLen);
+    keyPrefixLen = 0;
+    while (numKV != 0) {
+      numKV >>>= 8;
+      ++keyPrefixLen;
+    }
+
+    this.keyLen = Math.max(keyPrefixLen, keyLen);
+    this.valueLen = valueLen;
+
+    // Arbitrarily split the key into row, column family, and qualifier.
+    rowLen = keyPrefixLen / 3;
+    cfLen = keyPrefixLen / 4;
+  }
+
+  private int nextInRange(int range) {
+    return rand.nextInt(2 * range + 1) - range;
+  }
+
+  public KeyValue generateKeyValue(long i) {
+    byte[] k = generateKey(i);
+    byte[] v = generateValue();
+
+    return new KeyValue(
+        k, 0, rowLen,
+        k, rowLen, cfLen,
+        k, rowLen + cfLen, k.length - rowLen - cfLen,
+        rand.nextLong(),
+        generateKeyType(rand),
+        v, 0, v.length);
+  }
+
+  public static KeyValue.Type generateKeyType(Random rand) {
+    if (rand.nextBoolean()) {
+      // Let's make half of KVs puts.
+      return KeyValue.Type.Put;
+    } else {
+      KeyValue.Type keyType =
+          KeyValue.Type.values()[1 + rand.nextInt(NUM_VALID_KEY_TYPES)];
+      if (keyType == KeyValue.Type.Minimum || keyType == KeyValue.Type.Maximum)
+      {
+        throw new RuntimeException("Generated an invalid key type: " + keyType
+            + ". " + "Probably the layout of KeyValue.Type has changed.");
+      }
+      return keyType;
+    }
+  }
+
+  private String generateString() {
+    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    for (int i = 0; i < rand.nextInt(10); ++i) {
+      sb.append((char) ('A' + rand.nextInt(26)));
+    }
+    return sb.toString();
+  }
+
+  private byte[] generateKey(long i) {
+    byte[] k = new byte[Math.max(keyPrefixLen, keyLen
+        + nextInRange(LEN_VARIATION))];
+    for (int pos = keyPrefixLen - 1; pos >= 0; --pos) {
+      k[pos] = (byte) (i & 0xFF);
+      i >>>= 8;
+    }
+    for (int pos = keyPrefixLen; pos < k.length; ++pos) {
+      k[pos] = (byte) rand.nextInt(256);
+    }
+    return k;
+  }
+
+  private byte[] generateValue() {
+    byte[] v = new byte[Math.max(1, valueLen + nextInRange(LEN_VARIATION))];
+    for (int i = 0; i < v.length; ++i) {
+      v[i] = (byte) rand.nextInt(256);
+    }
+    return v;
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String[] args) {
+    CreateRandomStoreFile app = new CreateRandomStoreFile();
+    try {
+      if (!app.run(args))
+        System.exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    } catch (IOException ex) {
+      LOG.error(ex);
+      System.exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
+  }
+
+}