diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/vault.py b/lib/ansible/utils/vault.py
index a19b93e5012..9a43fee1b92 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/vault.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/vault.py
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ class VaultLib(object):
         if self.is_encrypted(data):
             raise errors.AnsibleError("data is already encrypted")
 
+        if not self.cipher_name:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("the cipher must be set before encrypting data")
+
         if 'Vault' + self.cipher_name in globals() and self.cipher_name in CIPHER_WHITELIST: 
             cipher = globals()['Vault' + self.cipher_name]
             this_cipher = cipher()
diff --git a/test/units/TestVault.py b/test/units/TestVault.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..019eb8c8418
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/units/TestVault.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import unittest
+from unittest import TestCase
+import getpass
+import os
+import shutil
+import time
+import tempfile
+from binascii import unhexlify
+from binascii import hexlify
+from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
+
+from ansible.utils.vault import VaultLib
+# AES IMPORTS
+try:
+    from Crypto.Cipher import AES as AES
+    HAS_AES = True
+except ImportError:
+    HAS_AES = False
+
+class TestVaultLib(TestCase):
+
+    def test_methods_exist(self):
+        v = VaultLib('ansible')
+        slots = ['is_encrypted',
+                 'encrypt',
+                 'decrypt',
+                 '_add_headers_and_hexify_encrypted_data',
+                 '_split_headers_and_get_unhexified_data',]
+        for slot in slots:         
+            assert hasattr(v, slot), "VaultLib is missing the %s method" % slot
+
+    def test_is_encrypted(self):
+        v = VaultLib(None)
+        assert not v.is_encrypted("foobar"), "encryption check on plaintext failed"
+        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify("ansible")
+        assert v.is_encrypted(data), "encryption check on headered text failed"
+
+    def test_add_header(self):
+        v = VaultLib('ansible')
+        v.cipher_name = "TEST"
+        sensitive_data = "ansible"
+        sensitive_hex = hexlify(sensitive_data)
+        data = v._add_headers_and_hexify_encrypted_data(sensitive_data)
+        open("/tmp/awx.log", "a").write("data: %s\n" % data)
+        lines = data.split('\n')
+        assert len(lines) > 1, "failed to properly add header"
+        header = lines[0]
+        assert header.endswith(';TEST'), "header does end with cipher name"
+        header_parts = header.split(';')
+        assert len(header_parts) == 3, "header has the wrong number of parts"        
+        assert header_parts[0] == '$ANSIBLE_VAULT', "header does not start with $ANSIBLE_VAULT"
+        assert header_parts[1] == v.version, "header version is incorrect"
+        assert header_parts[2] == 'TEST', "header does end with cipher name"
+        assert lines[1] == sensitive_hex
+
+    def test_remove_header(self):
+        v = VaultLib('ansible')
+        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify("ansible")
+        rdata = v._split_headers_and_get_unhexified_data(data)        
+        lines = rdata.split('\n')
+        assert lines[0] == "ansible"
+        assert v.cipher_name == 'TEST', "cipher name was not set"
+        assert v.version == "9.9"
+
+    @unittest.skipIf(not HAS_AES, "aes not installed")
+    def test_encyrpt_decrypt(self):
+        v = VaultLib('ansible')
+        v.cipher_name = 'AES'
+        enc_data = v.encrypt("foobar")
+        dec_data = v.decrypt(enc_data)
+        assert enc_data != "foobar", "encryption failed"
+        assert dec_data == "foobar", "decryption failed"           
+