diff --git a/src/node/drop-tail-queue.cc b/src/node/drop-tail-queue.cc
index cccf58cfc..7cf2d2134 100644
--- a/src/node/drop-tail-queue.cc
+++ b/src/node/drop-tail-queue.cc
@@ -151,31 +151,26 @@ DropTailQueue::DoPeek (void) const
 
 } // namespace ns3
 
-
-#ifdef RUN_SELF_TESTS
-
 #include "ns3/test.h"
 
 namespace ns3 {
 
-class DropTailQueueTest: public Test {
+class DropTailQueueTestCase : public TestCase
+{
 public:
-  virtual bool RunTests (void);
-  DropTailQueueTest ();
+  DropTailQueueTestCase ();
+  virtual bool DoRun (void);
 };
 
-
-DropTailQueueTest::DropTailQueueTest ()
-  : Test ("DropTailQueue") {}
-
-
-bool
-DropTailQueueTest::RunTests (void)
+DropTailQueueTestCase::DropTailQueueTestCase ()
+  : TestCase ("Sanity check on the drop tail queue implementation")
+{}
+bool 
+DropTailQueueTestCase::DoRun (void)
 {
-  bool result = true;
-
   Ptr<DropTailQueue> queue = CreateObject<DropTailQueue> ();
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT (queue->SetAttributeFailSafe ("MaxPackets", UintegerValue (3)));
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->SetAttributeFailSafe ("MaxPackets", UintegerValue (3)), true, 
+                         "Verify that we can actually set the attribute");
   
   Ptr<Packet> p1, p2, p3, p4;
   p1 = Create<Packet> ();
@@ -183,43 +178,47 @@ DropTailQueueTest::RunTests (void)
   p3 = Create<Packet> ();
   p4 = Create<Packet> ();
 
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 0);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 0, "There should be no packets in there");
   queue->Enqueue (p1);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 1);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 1, "There should be one packet in there");
   queue->Enqueue (p2);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 2);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 2, "There should be two packets in there");
   queue->Enqueue (p3);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 3);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 3, "There should be three packets in there");
   queue->Enqueue (p4); // will be dropped
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 3);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 3, "There should be still three packets in there");
 
   Ptr<Packet> p;
 
   p = queue->Dequeue ();
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT (p != 0);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 2);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (p->GetUid (), p1->GetUid ());
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ ((p != 0), true, "I want to remove the first packet");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 2, "There should be two packets in there");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (p->GetUid (), p1->GetUid (), "was this the first packet ?");
 
   p = queue->Dequeue ();
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT (p != 0);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 1);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (p->GetUid (), p2->GetUid ());
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ ((p != 0), true, "I want to remove the second packet");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 1, "There should be one packet in there");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (p->GetUid (), p2->GetUid (), "Was this the second packet ?");
 
   p = queue->Dequeue ();
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT (p != 0);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (queue->GetNPackets (), 0);
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT_EQUAL (p->GetUid (), p3->GetUid ());
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ ((p != 0), true, "I want to remove the third packet");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (queue->GetNPackets (), 0, "There should be no packets in there");
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ (p->GetUid (), p3->GetUid (), "Was this the third packet ?");
 
   p = queue->Dequeue ();
-  NS_TEST_ASSERT (p == 0);
+  NS_TEST_EXPECT_MSG_EQ ((p == 0), true, "There are really no packets in there");
 
-  return result;
+  return false;
 }
 
+static class DropTailQueueTestSuite : public TestSuite
+{
+public:
+  DropTailQueueTestSuite ()
+    : TestSuite ("drop-tail-queue", UNIT)
+  {
+    AddTestCase (new DropTailQueueTestCase ());
+  }
+} g_dropTailQueueTestSuite;
 
-static DropTailQueueTest gDropTailQueueTest;
-
-}; // namespace ns3
-
-#endif /* RUN_SELF_TESTS */
-
+} // namespace ns3