@Test
  public void testCreateTableWithDefaultFromConf() throws Exception {
    TEST_UTIL.shutdownMiniCluster();
    TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setInt("hbase.column.max.version", 3);
    TEST_UTIL.startMiniCluster(1);

    Admin admin = TEST_UTIL.getAdmin();
    // Create a table with one family
    TableDescriptor tableDescriptor = TableDescriptorBuilder.newBuilder(TABLE_NAME)
      .setColumnFamily(ColumnFamilyDescriptorBuilder.newBuilder(FAMILY)
        .setMaxVersions(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().getInt("hbase.column.max.version", 1)).build())
      .build();
    admin.createTable(tableDescriptor);
    admin.disableTable(TABLE_NAME);
    try {
      // Verify the column descriptor
      verifyHColumnDescriptor(3, TABLE_NAME, FAMILY);
    } finally {
      admin.deleteTable(TABLE_NAME);
    }
  }
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