diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.c b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.c
index 474b6e4939..2d30f14c4c 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.c
@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ vhost_new_device(void)
 
 	vhost_devices[i] = dev;
 	dev->vid = i;
+	dev->slave_req_fd = -1;
 
 	return i;
 }
diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.h b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.h
index 74df747170..8405f879b5 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.h
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost.h
@@ -209,6 +209,8 @@ struct virtio_net {
 	uint32_t		nr_guest_pages;
 	uint32_t		max_guest_pages;
 	struct guest_page       *guest_pages;
+
+	int			slave_req_fd;
 } __rte_cache_aligned;
 
 
diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
index a068d8651a..0ba66e1934 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.c
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ static const char *vhost_message_str[VHOST_USER_MAX] = {
 	[VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE]  = "VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE",
 	[VHOST_USER_SEND_RARP]  = "VHOST_USER_SEND_RARP",
 	[VHOST_USER_NET_SET_MTU]  = "VHOST_USER_NET_SET_MTU",
+	[VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD]  = "VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD",
 };
 
 static uint64_t
@@ -122,6 +123,11 @@ vhost_backend_cleanup(struct virtio_net *dev)
 		munmap((void *)(uintptr_t)dev->log_addr, dev->log_size);
 		dev->log_addr = 0;
 	}
+
+	if (dev->slave_req_fd >= 0) {
+		close(dev->slave_req_fd);
+		dev->slave_req_fd = -1;
+	}
 }
 
 /*
@@ -886,6 +892,23 @@ vhost_user_net_set_mtu(struct virtio_net *dev, struct VhostUserMsg *msg)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int
+vhost_user_set_req_fd(struct virtio_net *dev, struct VhostUserMsg *msg)
+{
+	int fd = msg->fds[0];
+
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		RTE_LOG(ERR, VHOST_CONFIG,
+				"Invalid file descriptor for slave channel (%d)\n",
+				fd);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	dev->slave_req_fd = fd;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /* return bytes# of read on success or negative val on failure. */
 static int
 read_vhost_message(int sockfd, struct VhostUserMsg *msg)
@@ -1113,6 +1136,10 @@ vhost_user_msg_handler(int vid, int fd)
 		ret = vhost_user_net_set_mtu(dev, &msg);
 		break;
 
+	case VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD:
+		ret = vhost_user_set_req_fd(dev, &msg);
+		break;
+
 	default:
 		ret = -1;
 		break;
diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.h b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.h
index 2ba22dbb09..98f6e6f37d 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.h
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vhost_user.h
@@ -48,12 +48,14 @@
 #define VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RARP	2
 #define VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_REPLY_ACK	3
 #define VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU 4
+#define VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ 5
 
 #define VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_FEATURES	((1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_MQ) | \
 					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_LOG_SHMFD) |\
 					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RARP) | \
 					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_REPLY_ACK) | \
-					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU))
+					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU) | \
+					 (1ULL << VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ))
 
 typedef enum VhostUserRequest {
 	VHOST_USER_NONE = 0,
@@ -77,9 +79,15 @@ typedef enum VhostUserRequest {
 	VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE = 18,
 	VHOST_USER_SEND_RARP = 19,
 	VHOST_USER_NET_SET_MTU = 20,
+	VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD = 21,
 	VHOST_USER_MAX
 } VhostUserRequest;
 
+typedef enum VhostUserSlaveRequest {
+	VHOST_USER_SLAVE_NONE = 0,
+	VHOST_USER_SLAVE_MAX
+} VhostUserSlaveRequest;
+
 typedef struct VhostUserMemoryRegion {
 	uint64_t guest_phys_addr;
 	uint64_t memory_size;