diff --git a/R-package/tests/testthat/test_dmatrix.R b/R-package/tests/testthat/test_dmatrix.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..baead5099
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R-package/tests/testthat/test_dmatrix.R
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+require(xgboost)
+
+context("testing xgb.DMatrix functionality")
+
+data(agaricus.test, package='xgboost')
+test_data <- agaricus.test$data[1:100,]
+test_label <- agaricus.test$label[1:100]
+
+test_that("xgb.DMatrix: basic construction, saving, loading", {
+  # from sparse matrix
+  dtest1 <- xgb.DMatrix(test_data, label=test_label)
+  # from dense matrix 
+  dtest2 <- xgb.DMatrix(as.matrix(test_data), label=test_label)
+  expect_equal(getinfo(dtest1, 'label'), getinfo(dtest2, 'label'))
+  
+  # save to a local file
+  tmp_file <- tempfile('xgb.DMatrix_')
+  expect_true(xgb.DMatrix.save(dtest1, tmp_file))
+  # read from a local file
+  dtest3 <- xgb.DMatrix(tmp_file)
+  unlink(tmp_file)
+  expect_equal(getinfo(dtest1, 'label'), getinfo(dtest3, 'label'))
+})
+
+test_that("xgb.DMatrix: getinfo & setinfo", {
+  dtest <- xgb.DMatrix(test_data)
+  expect_true(setinfo(dtest, 'label', test_label))
+  labels <- getinfo(dtest, 'label')
+  expect_equal(test_label, getinfo(dtest, 'label'))
+  
+  expect_true(length(getinfo(dtest, 'weight')) == 0)
+  expect_true(length(getinfo(dtest, 'base_margin')) == 0)
+
+  expect_true(setinfo(dtest, 'weight', test_label))
+  expect_true(setinfo(dtest, 'base_margin', test_label))
+  expect_true(setinfo(dtest, 'group', c(50,50)))
+  expect_error(setinfo(dtest, 'group', test_label))
+  
+  # providing character values will give a warning
+  expect_warning( setinfo(dtest, 'weight', rep('a', nrow(test_data))) )
+  
+  # any other label should error
+  expect_error(setinfo(dtest, 'asdf', test_label))
+})
+
+test_that("xgb.DMatrix: slice, dim", {
+  dtest <- xgb.DMatrix(test_data, label=test_label)
+  expect_equal(dim(dtest), dim(test_data))
+  dsub1 <- slice(dtest, 1:42)
+  expect_equal(nrow(dsub1), 42)
+  expect_equal(ncol(dsub1), ncol(test_data))
+  
+  dsub2 <- dtest[1:42,]
+  expect_equal(dim(dtest), dim(test_data))
+  expect_equal(getinfo(dsub1, 'label'), getinfo(dsub2, 'label'))
+})
+
+test_that("xgb.DMatrix: colnames", {
+  dtest <- xgb.DMatrix(test_data, label=test_label)
+  expect_equal(colnames(dtest), colnames(test_data))
+  expect_error( colnames(dtest) <- 'asdf')
+  new_names <- make.names(1:ncol(test_data))
+  expect_silent( colnames(dtest) <- new_names)
+  expect_equal(colnames(dtest), new_names)
+  expect_silent(colnames(dtest) <- NULL)
+  expect_null(colnames(dtest))
+})