private void verifyHColumnDescriptor(int expected, final TableName tableName,
    final byte[]... families) throws IOException {
    Admin admin = TEST_UTIL.getAdmin();

    // Verify descriptor from master
    TableDescriptor htd = admin.getDescriptor(tableName);
    ColumnFamilyDescriptor[] hcds = htd.getColumnFamilies();
    verifyColumnFamilyDescriptor(expected, hcds, tableName, families);

    // Verify descriptor from HDFS
    MasterFileSystem mfs = TEST_UTIL.getMiniHBaseCluster().getMaster().getMasterFileSystem();
    Path tableDir = CommonFSUtils.getTableDir(mfs.getRootDir(), tableName);
    TableDescriptor td = FSTableDescriptors.getTableDescriptorFromFs(mfs.getFileSystem(), tableDir);
    hcds = td.getColumnFamilies();
    verifyColumnFamilyDescriptor(expected, hcds, tableName, families);
  }
Start up a mini cluster and put a small table of empty regions into it.
hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestColumnFamilyDescriptorDefaultVersions.java