diff --git a/bin/tests/system/configloading/README b/bin/tests/system/configloading/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4721751eec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/configloading/README
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+
+SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+
+This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+
+See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+information regarding copyright ownership.
+
+This test is a "guard/warning" to make sure the named.conf loading (parsing) is
+done outside of the exclusive mode (so, named is still able to answer queries
+and operating normally in case of configuration reload). It is currently based
+on logging, so it's quite brittle.
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/example.db b/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/example.db
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abad6ab748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/example.db
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+; Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+;
+; SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+;
+; This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+; License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+; file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+;
+; See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+; information regarding copyright ownership.
+
+example.		IN SOA	mname1. . (
+				2          ; serial
+				20         ; refresh (20 seconds)
+				20         ; retry (20 seconds)
+				1814400    ; expire (3 weeks)
+				3600       ; minimum (1 hour)
+				)
+			IN NS	ns.example.
+ns			IN A 	10.0.0.1
+a			IN A	10.0.0.2
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/named.conf.in b/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/named.conf.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c85c1df5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/configloading/ns1/named.conf.in
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+ *
+ * This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+ * License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+ * file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+ *
+ * See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+ * information regarding copyright ownership.
+ */
+
+// NS2
+
+options {
+	port @PORT@;
+	pid-file "named.pid";
+	listen-on { 10.53.0.1; };
+	listen-on-v6 { none; };
+	recursion no;
+};
+
+key rndc_key {
+	secret "1234abcd8765";
+	algorithm @DEFAULT_HMAC@;
+};
+
+controls {
+	inet 10.53.0.1 port @CONTROLPORT@ allow { any; } keys { rndc_key; };
+};
+
+
+zone "example." {
+	type primary;
+	file "example.db";
+};
+
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/configloading/setup.sh b/bin/tests/system/configloading/setup.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c9de7a6e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/configloading/setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+
+# Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+#
+# This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+# License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+# file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+#
+# See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+# information regarding copyright ownership.
+
+# shellcheck source=conf.sh
+. ../conf.sh
+
+set -e
+
+copy_setports ns1/named.conf.in ns1/named.conf
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/configloading/tests_sh_configloading.py b/bin/tests/system/configloading/tests_sh_configloading.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2aeb17a0fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/configloading/tests_sh_configloading.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+#
+# This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+# License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+# file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+#
+# See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+# information regarding copyright ownership.
+
+import pytest
+
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.extra_artifacts(
+    [
+        "ns1/managed-keys.bind.jnl",
+    ]
+)
+
+
+def assert_log_sequence(server, fnname, scopefn):
+    triggers = {
+        "load_configuration": 0,
+        "parsing user configuration from ": 1,
+        "apply_configuration": 2,
+        "loop exclusive mode: starting": 3,
+    }
+    fn = getattr(server, fnname)
+    for i in range(len(triggers.items())):
+        with fn() as watcher:
+            scopefn()
+            assert watcher.wait_for_lines(dict(list(triggers.items())[i:])) == i
+
+
+def test_configloading_loading(servers):
+    server = servers["ns1"]
+    assert_log_sequence(server, "watch_log_from_start", lambda: ())
+
+
+def test_configloading_reconfig(servers):
+    server = servers["ns1"]
+    assert_log_sequence(server, "watch_log_from_here", lambda: server.rndc("reconfig"))
+
+
+def test_configloading_reload(servers):
+    server = servers["ns1"]
+    assert_log_sequence(server, "watch_log_from_here", lambda: server.rndc("reload"))