diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/data/big-object/big_object_20M.adm.template b/asterixdb/asterix-app/data/big-object/big_object_20M.adm.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c70ca6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/data/big-object/big_object_20M.adm.template
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{ "id": 1, "name": "Person One", "hobbies": {{ "%lorembytes:20971520%" }} }
+{ "id": 2, "name": "Person Two", "hobbies": {{ "%lorembytes:20971520%" }} }
+{ "id": 3, "name": "Person Three", "hobbies": {{ "%lorembytes:20971520%" }} }
+{ "id": 4, "name": "Person Four", "hobbies": {{ "%lorembytes:20971520%" }} }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
index 19c2d5a..8870ce2 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/pom.xml
@@ -133,6 +133,29 @@
           </execution>
         </executions>
       </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.asterix</groupId>
+        <artifactId>asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>0.8.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>replace-template-data</id>
+            <phase>process-test-resources</phase>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>generate-testdata</goal>
+            </goals>
+            <configuration>
+              <inputFiles>
+                <directory>data</directory>
+                <includes>
+                  <include>**/*.template</include>
+                </includes>
+              </inputFiles>
+              <outputDir>target/data</outputDir>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
   <dependencies>
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.ddl.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.ddl.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77c8179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.ddl.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+/*
+ * Test case Name  : big_object_bulkload.aql
+ * Description     : bulkload insert of large objects
+ * Expected Result : Success
+ * Date            : 20th April 2016
+ */
+
+drop dataverse testdv2 if exists;
+create dataverse testdv2;
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+create type testtype as closed {
+  id: int64,
+  name: string,
+  hobbies: {{string}}
+}
+
+create dataset testds(testtype) primary key id;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.2.update.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.2.update.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8895f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.2.update.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+/**
+ *
+ * Big object (20 MB) loading test
+ * Expected result: success
+ *
+ */
+
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+load dataset testds
+using localfs
+(("path"="asterix_nc1://target/data/big-object/big_object_20M.adm"),("format"="adm")) pre-sorted;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.3.query.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.3.query.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23c1bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.3.query.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+for $d in dataset("testds")
+where $d.id = 1
+return $d
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.ddl.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.ddl.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77c8179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.ddl.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+/*
+ * Test case Name  : big_object_bulkload.aql
+ * Description     : bulkload insert of large objects
+ * Expected Result : Success
+ * Date            : 20th April 2016
+ */
+
+drop dataverse testdv2 if exists;
+create dataverse testdv2;
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+create type testtype as closed {
+  id: int64,
+  name: string,
+  hobbies: {{string}}
+}
+
+create dataset testds(testtype) primary key id;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.2.update.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.2.update.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8895f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.2.update.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+/**
+ *
+ * Big object (20 MB) loading test
+ * Expected result: success
+ *
+ */
+
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+load dataset testds
+using localfs
+(("path"="asterix_nc1://target/data/big-object/big_object_20M.adm"),("format"="adm")) pre-sorted;
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.3.query.aql b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.3.query.aql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9979ef6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.3.query.aql
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+use dataverse testdv2;
+
+for $d in dataset("testds")
+order by $d.id
+return $d.id
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.adm.template b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.adm.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af4d6d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_20M/big_object_load_20M.1.adm.template
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{ "id": 1, "name": "Person One", "hobbies": {{ "%lorembytes:20971520%" }} }
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.adm b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.adm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94ebaf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/results/big-object/big_object_load_only_20M/big_object_load_only_20M.1.adm
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+1
+2
+3
+4
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
index f77b38b..27aa7be 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite.xml
@@ -6470,6 +6470,16 @@
         <output-dir compare="Text">big_object_insert</output-dir>
       </compilation-unit>
     </test-case>
+    <test-case FilePath="big-object">
+      <compilation-unit name="big_object_load_20M">
+        <output-dir compare="Text">big_object_load_20M</output-dir>
+      </compilation-unit>
+    </test-case>
+    <test-case FilePath="big-object">
+      <compilation-unit name="big_object_load_only_20M">
+        <output-dir compare="Text">big_object_load_only_20M</output-dir>
+      </compilation-unit>
+    </test-case>
   </test-group>
   <test-group name="temporal">
     <test-case FilePath="temporal">
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/pom.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db211a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+<!--
+ ! Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ ! or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ ! distributed with this work for additional information
+ ! regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ ! to you 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.
+ !-->
+
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <artifactId>asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+  <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
+  <name>asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin</name>
+
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>asterix-maven-plugins</artifactId>
+    <groupId>org.apache.asterix</groupId>
+    <version>0.8.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  </parent>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-project</artifactId>
+      <version>2.2.1</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>
+      <artifactId>file-management</artifactId>
+      <version>3.0.0</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>ant</groupId>
+      <artifactId>ant</artifactId>
+      <version>1.6.5</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.asterix</groupId>
+      <artifactId>asterix-test-framework</artifactId>
+      <version>0.8.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</project>
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/maven/plugin/TestDataGeneratorMojo.java b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/maven/plugin/TestDataGeneratorMojo.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1afb43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/maven/plugin/TestDataGeneratorMojo.java
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.apache.hyracks.maven.plugin;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.asterix.testframework.template.TemplateHelper;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
+import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
+import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
+import org.apache.maven.shared.model.fileset.FileSet;
+import org.apache.maven.shared.model.fileset.util.FileSetManager;
+
+/**
+ * @goal generate-testdata
+ *
+ * @phase process-test-resources
+ */
+public class TestDataGeneratorMojo extends AbstractMojo {
+
+    /**
+     * @parameter default-value="${project}"
+     * @required
+     * @readonly
+     */
+    MavenProject project;
+
+    /**
+     * @parameter
+     * @required
+     */
+    FileSet inputFiles;
+
+    /**
+     * @parameter
+     * @required
+     */
+    File outputDir;
+
+    @Override
+    public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
+        FileSetManager mgr = new FileSetManager();
+        // this seems pretty hacky, but necessary to get the correct result.
+        File inputFilesDirectory = new File(inputFiles.getDirectory());
+        if (!inputFilesDirectory.isAbsolute()) {
+            inputFiles.setDirectory(new File(project.getBasedir(), inputFiles.getDirectory()).getAbsolutePath());
+        }
+
+        final String[] includedFiles = mgr.getIncludedFiles(inputFiles);
+        getLog().info("Processing " + includedFiles.length + " files...");
+        for (String file : includedFiles) {
+            getLog().info("      -" + file);
+            try {
+                TemplateHelper.INSTANCE.processFile(new File(inputFiles.getDirectory(), file),
+                        new File(outputDir, file.replace(".template", "")));
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                e.printStackTrace();
+                throw new MojoExecutionException("failure", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/pom.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/pom.xml
index d3b37fa..2623c64 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/pom.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-maven-plugins/pom.xml
@@ -55,5 +55,6 @@
     <module>lexer-generator-maven-plugin</module>
     <module>record-manager-generator-maven-plugin</module>
     <module>asterix-evaluator-generator-maven-plugin</module>
+    <module>asterix-test-datagenerator-maven-plugin</module>
   </modules>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/context/TestCaseContext.java b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/context/TestCaseContext.java
index 8592286..0c25f69 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/context/TestCaseContext.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/context/TestCaseContext.java
@@ -19,11 +19,13 @@
 package org.apache.asterix.testframework.context;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
+import org.apache.asterix.testframework.template.TemplateHelper;
 import org.apache.asterix.testframework.xml.CategoryEnum;
 import org.apache.asterix.testframework.xml.TestCase;
 import org.apache.asterix.testframework.xml.TestCase.CompilationUnit;
@@ -140,6 +142,14 @@
                 }
 
                 File testFile = new File(path, fName);
+                if (fName.endsWith(".template")) {
+                    try {
+                        testFile = TemplateHelper.INSTANCE.resolveTemplateFile(testFile);
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
+                    }
+                    fName = testFile.getName();
+                }
                 TestFileContext tfsc = new TestFileContext(testFile);
                 String[] nameSplits = fName.split("\\.");
                 if (nameSplits.length < 3) {
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/LoremIpsumReplacement.java b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/LoremIpsumReplacement.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1145ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/LoremIpsumReplacement.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.apache.asterix.testframework.datagen;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+public class LoremIpsumReplacement implements TemplateReplacement {
+
+    public static final LoremIpsumReplacement INSTANCE = new LoremIpsumReplacement();
+
+    private static final String LOREM = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod "
+            + "tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation "
+            + "ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in "
+            + "voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non "
+            + "proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ";
+
+    private static final Pattern p = Pattern.compile("%lorembytes:([0-9]*)%");
+
+    private LoremIpsumReplacement() {
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String tag() {
+        return "lorembytes";
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean appendReplacement(String expression, Appendable output) throws IOException {
+        Matcher m = p.matcher(expression);
+        if (m.find()) {
+            int loremBytes = Integer.parseInt(m.group(1)) - 1;
+            while (loremBytes > LOREM.length()) {
+                output.append(LOREM);
+                loremBytes -= LOREM.length();
+            }
+            output.append(LOREM, 0, loremBytes);
+            return true;
+        } else {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/TemplateReplacement.java b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/TemplateReplacement.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6648ce4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/datagen/TemplateReplacement.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.apache.asterix.testframework.datagen;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public interface TemplateReplacement {
+    String tag();
+
+    boolean appendReplacement(String expression, Appendable output) throws IOException;
+}
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/template/TemplateHelper.java b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/template/TemplateHelper.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3f26fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-test-framework/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/testframework/template/TemplateHelper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.apache.asterix.testframework.template;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.BufferedWriter;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.FileWriter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import org.apache.asterix.testframework.datagen.LoremIpsumReplacement;
+import org.apache.asterix.testframework.datagen.TemplateReplacement;
+
+public class TemplateHelper {
+
+    private final Map<String, TemplateReplacement> replacements = new HashMap<>();
+    private final Pattern replacementPattern;
+
+    public static final TemplateHelper INSTANCE = new TemplateHelper();
+
+    private TemplateHelper() {
+        registerReplacement(LoremIpsumReplacement.INSTANCE);
+        StringBuffer pattern = null;
+        for (Map.Entry<String, TemplateReplacement> entry : replacements.entrySet()) {
+            if (pattern == null) {
+                pattern = new StringBuffer("%(");
+            } else {
+                pattern.append("|");
+            }
+            pattern.append(entry.getKey());
+        }
+        pattern.append(")[^%]*%");
+        replacementPattern = Pattern.compile(pattern.toString());
+    }
+
+    private void registerReplacement(TemplateReplacement replacement) {
+        replacements.put(replacement.tag(), replacement);
+    }
+
+    public File resolveTemplateFile(File inputFile) throws IOException {
+        File outputFile = File.createTempFile("template.", "." +
+                inputFile.getName().substring(0, inputFile.getName().lastIndexOf(".template")));
+        outputFile.deleteOnExit();
+        processFile(inputFile, outputFile);
+        return outputFile;
+    }
+
+    public void processFile(File inputFile, File outputFile) throws IOException {
+        synchronized (this) {
+            outputFile.getParentFile().mkdirs();
+        }
+        try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
+             BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(outputFile))) {
+            String line;
+            while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+                Matcher m = replacementPattern.matcher(line);
+                if (m.find()) {
+                    writer.write(line, 0, m.start());
+                    replacements.get(m.group(1)).appendReplacement(m.group(0), writer);
+                    writer.write(line, m.end(), line.length() - m.end());
+                    writer.newLine();
+                } else {
+                    writer.write(line + "\n");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}