diff --git a/plinth/modules/backups/tests/test_ssh_remotes.py b/plinth/modules/backups/tests/test_ssh_remotes.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1ab962877
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plinth/modules/backups/tests/test_ssh_remotes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+#
+# This file is part of FreedomBox.
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+# License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+"""
+Tests for SSH remotes for backups.
+"""
+
+import datetime
+import os
+import pwd
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+
+import pytest
+
+from plinth.utils import generate_password, random_string
+
+from .. import forms
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.usefixtures('needs_root', 'needs_sudo')
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(name='temp_home', scope='module', autouse=True)
+def fixture_temp_home_directory():
+    """Create a new temporary directory to act as a home directory.
+    """
+    # TODO Try to get this working with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
+    tempfile.TemporaryDirectory()
+    dir_name = f'/tmp/{random_string()}'
+    os.mkdir(dir_name)
+    yield dir_name
+    subprocess.check_call(['sudo', 'rm', '-rf', dir_name])
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(name='password', scope='module', autouse=True)
+def fixture_password():
+    return generate_password()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(name='temp_user', scope='module', autouse=True)
+def fixture_create_temp_user(temp_home, password):
+    """Create a temporary user.
+    """
+    username = random_string()
+    # User account expires tomorrow
+    tomorrow = datetime.date.today() + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
+    subprocess.check_call([
+        'sudo', 'useradd', '-d', temp_home, '-m', '-p', password, username,
+        '-e',
+        tomorrow.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
+    ])
+    subprocess.check_call(['sudo', 'chown', username, temp_home])
+    yield username
+    subprocess.check_call(['sudo', 'userdel', username])
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(name='has_ssh_key', scope='module', autouse=True)
+def fixture_ssh_key(temp_home, temp_user, password):
+    subprocess.check_call([
+        'sudo', '-u', temp_user, 'ssh-keygen', '-t', 'rsa', '-b', '1024', '-N',
+        '', '-f', f'{temp_home}/.ssh/id_rsa', '-q'
+    ])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures('has_ssh_key')
+def test_user_setup(temp_home, temp_user):
+    assert os.path.isdir(temp_home)
+    assert pwd.getpwnam(temp_user)
+
+
+# Tests
+# forms.AddRepositoryForm
+#  *  Create empty directory if not exists
+#     * Check if the directory is empty
+#       - if not empty, check if it's an existing backup repository
+#       - else throw an error
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures('has_ssh_key')
+def test_add_repository_when_directory_is_missing(temp_home, temp_user,
+                                                  password):
+    repo_path = os.path.join(temp_home, 'backups')
+    data = {
+        'repository': f'{temp_user}@localhost:{repo_path}',
+        'ssh_password': password,
+        'encryption': 'none'
+    }
+    form = forms.AddRepositoryForm(data=data)
+    form.is_valid()
+    form.clean()
+    assert os.path.isdir(repo_path)
diff --git a/plinth/utils.py b/plinth/utils.py
index 5c5562500..78fbb9ca3 100644
--- a/plinth/utils.py
+++ b/plinth/utils.py
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ class YAMLFile(object):
         return os.stat(self.yaml_file).st_size == 0
 
 
+def random_string(size=8):
+    """Generate a random alphanumeric string."""
+    chars = (random.SystemRandom().choice(string.ascii_letters)
+             for _ in range(size))
+    return ''.join(chars)
+
+
 def generate_password(size=32):
     """Generate a random password using ascii alphabet and digits."""
     chars = (random.SystemRandom().choice(string.ascii_letters + string.digits)