diff --git a/cmd/e2e/e2e.go b/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
index c5e2edd0cd..5395eec739 100644
--- a/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
+++ b/cmd/e2e/e2e.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func main() {
 	util.InitFlags()
 	goruntime.GOMAXPROCS(goruntime.NumCPU())
 	if *provider == "" {
-		glog.Error("e2e needs the have the --provider flag set")
+		glog.Info("The --provider flag is not set.  Treating as a conformance test.  Some tests may not be run.")
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 	if *times <= 0 {
diff --git a/hack/conformance-test.sh b/hack/conformance-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..19dd370d81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/conformance-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed 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.
+
+# The conformance test is provided to let users run an e2e test
+# against an already-setup cluster for which there is no automated
+# setup, teardown, and other cluster/... scripts.
+#
+# The user must export these environment variables:
+# KUBE_MASTER_IP to the ip address of the master.
+# AUTH_CONFIG to the argument of the "--auth_config=" flag.
+# If certs required, set CERT_DIR.
+# 
+# Example to test against a local vagrant cluster:
+# declare -x AUTH_CONFIG="$HOME/.kubernetes_vagrant_auth"
+# declare -x KUBE_MASTER_IP=10.245.1.2
+# hack/conformance-test.sh
+if [[ -z "KUBE_MASTER_IP" ]]; then
+  echo "Must set KUBE_MASTER_IP before running conformance test."
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ -z "AUTH_CONFIG" ]]; then
+  echo "Must set AUTH_CONFIG before running conformance test."
+  exit 1
+fi
+hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
+exit $?
diff --git a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
index 53e29d6f0e..0f1b98298b 100755
--- a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
@@ -20,18 +20,7 @@ set -o pipefail
 
 KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 
-: ${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT:=${KUBE_ROOT}}
-: ${KUBECTL:="${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT}/cluster/kubectl.sh"}
-: ${KUBE_CONFIG_FILE:="config-test.sh"}
-
-export KUBECTL KUBE_CONFIG_FILE
-
-source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
-source "${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT}/cluster/${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}/util.sh"
-
-prepare-e2e
-
-detect-master >/dev/null
+# --- Find local test binaries.
 
 # Detect the OS name/arch so that we can find our binary
 case "$(uname -s)" in
@@ -77,36 +66,71 @@ locations=(
 )
 e2e=$( (ls -t "${locations[@]}" 2>/dev/null || true) | head -1 )
 
-if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" == "vagrant" ]]; then
-  # When we are using vagrant it has hard coded auth.  We repeat that here so that
-  # we don't clobber auth that might be used for a publicly facing cluster.
-  auth_config=(
-    "--auth_config=$HOME/.kubernetes_vagrant_auth"
-  )
-elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gke" ]]; then
-  # With GKE, our auth and certs are in gcloud's config directory.
-  detect-project &> /dev/null
-  cfg_dir="${GCLOUD_CONFIG_DIR}/${PROJECT}.${ZONE}.${CLUSTER_NAME}"
-  auth_config=(
-    "--auth_config=${cfg_dir}/kubernetes_auth"
-    "--cert_dir=${cfg_dir}"
-  )
-elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gce" ]]; then
-  auth_config=(
-    "--kubeconfig=${HOME}/.kube/.kubeconfig"
-  )
-elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "aws" ]]; then
-  auth_config=(
-    "--auth_config=${HOME}/.kube/${INSTANCE_PREFIX}/kubernetes_auth"
-  )
-else
-  auth_config=()
-fi
+# --- Setup some env vars.
 
-if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" == "libvirt-coreos" ]]; then
-    host="http://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}:8080"
+: ${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT:=${KUBE_ROOT}}
+: ${KUBECTL:="${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT}/cluster/kubectl.sh"}
+: ${KUBE_CONFIG_FILE:="config-test.sh"}
+
+export KUBECTL KUBE_CONFIG_FILE
+
+source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
+
+# ---- Do cloud-provider-specific setup
+if [[ -z "$AUTH_CONFIG" ]];  then
+    echo "Setting up for KUBERNETES_PROVIDER=\"${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}\"."
+
+    source "${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT}/cluster/${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}/util.sh"
+
+    prepare-e2e
+
+    detect-master >/dev/null
+
+
+    if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" == "vagrant" ]]; then
+      # When we are using vagrant it has hard coded auth.  We repeat that here so that
+      # we don't clobber auth that might be used for a publicly facing cluster.
+      auth_config=(
+        "--auth_config=$HOME/.kubernetes_vagrant_auth"
+      )
+    elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gke" ]]; then
+      # With GKE, our auth and certs are in gcloud's config directory.
+      detect-project &> /dev/null
+      cfg_dir="${GCLOUD_CONFIG_DIR}/${PROJECT}.${ZONE}.${CLUSTER_NAME}"
+      auth_config=(
+        "--auth_config=${cfg_dir}/kubernetes_auth"
+        "--cert_dir=${cfg_dir}"
+      )
+    elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "gce" ]]; then
+      auth_config=(
+        "--kubeconfig=${HOME}/.kube/.kubeconfig"
+      )
+    elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "aws" ]]; then
+      auth_config=(
+        "--auth_config=${HOME}/.kube/${INSTANCE_PREFIX}/kubernetes_auth"
+      )
+    elif [[ "${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" == "conformance_test" ]]; then
+      auth_config=(
+        "--auth_config=${KUBERNETES_CONFORMANCE_TEST_AUTH_CONFIG:-}"
+        "--cert_dir=${KUBERNETES_CONFORMANCE_TEST_CERT_DIR:-}"
+      )
+    else
+      auth_config=()
+    fi
+
+    if [[ "$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER" == "libvirt-coreos" ]]; then
+        host="http://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}:8080"
+    else
+        host="https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}"
+    fi
 else
-    host="https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}"
+  echo "Conformance Test.  No cloud-provider-specific preparation."
+  KUBERNETES_PROVIDER=""
+  auth_config=(
+    "--auth_config=${AUTH_CONFIG:-}"
+    "--cert_dir=${CERT_DIR:-}"
+  )
+  host="https://${KUBE_MASTER_IP-}"
 fi
 
 # Use the kubectl binary from the same directory as the e2e binary.