diff --git a/tests/oft b/tests/oft
index 7229920..ce6e4ce 100755
--- a/tests/oft
+++ b/tests/oft
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@
     "allow_user"         : False,
     "fail_skipped"       : False,
     "default_timeout"    : 2,
+    "minsize"            : 0,
 }
 
 # Default test priority
@@ -277,6 +278,10 @@
                       help="Return failure if any test was skipped")
     parser.add_option("--default-timeout", type="int",
                       help="Timeout in seconds for most operations")
+    parser.add_option("--minsize", type="int", 
+                      help="Minimum allowable packet size on the dataplane.", 
+                      default=0)
+
     # Might need this if other parsers want command line
     # parser.allow_interspersed_args = False
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
@@ -581,6 +586,7 @@
     _verb = 2
 
 oftest.ofutils.default_timeout = config["default_timeout"]
+testutils.MINSIZE = config['minsize']
 
 if os.getuid() != 0 and not config["allow_user"]:
     print "ERROR: Super-user privileges required. Please re-run with " \
diff --git a/tests/testutils.py b/tests/testutils.py
index 9b9940e..daa8ce1 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.py
+++ b/tests/testutils.py
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 TCP_PROTOCOL = 0x6
 UDP_PROTOCOL = 0x11
 
+MINSIZE = 0
+
 def clear_switch(parent, port_list, logger):
     """
     Clear the switch configuration
@@ -97,6 +99,10 @@
     shouldn't assume anything about this packet other than that
     it is a valid ethernet/IP/TCP frame.
     """
+
+    if MINSIZE > pktlen:
+        pktlen = MINSIZE
+
     # Note Dot1Q.id is really CFI
     if (dl_vlan_enable):
         pkt = scapy.Ether(dst=dl_dst, src=dl_src)/ \
@@ -144,6 +150,10 @@
     shouldn't assume anything about this packet other than that
     it is a valid ethernet/ICMP frame.
     """
+
+    if MINSIZE > pktlen:
+        pktlen = MINSIZE
+
     if (dl_vlan_enable):
         pkt = scapy.Ether(dst=dl_dst, src=dl_src)/ \
             scapy.Dot1Q(prio=dl_vlan_pcp, id=0, vlan=dl_vlan)/ \
@@ -162,6 +172,10 @@
                       dl_dst='00:01:02:03:04:05',
                       dl_src='01:80:c2:00:00:00',
                       dl_type=0x88cc):
+
+    if MINSIZE > pktlen:
+        pktlen = MINSIZE
+
     pkt = scapy.Ether(dst=dl_dst, src=dl_src, type=dl_type)
 
     pkt = pkt/("0" * (pktlen - len(pkt)))