diff --git a/include/spdk/nvmf.h b/include/spdk/nvmf.h
index 5540f1b7a5..02dfddf9cb 100644
--- a/include/spdk/nvmf.h
+++ b/include/spdk/nvmf.h
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ struct spdk_nvmf_subsystem_allowed_listener {
  * access to all the NVMe device/namespaces maintained by the subsystem.
  */
 struct spdk_nvmf_subsystem {
+	uint32_t id;
 	uint32_t lcore;
 	char subnqn[SPDK_NVMF_NQN_MAX_LEN];
 	enum spdk_nvmf_subsystem_mode mode;
diff --git a/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c b/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
index db3bb68de2..2bd4c0ae17 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ spdk_nvmf_tgt_init(uint16_t max_queue_depth, uint16_t max_queues_per_sess,
 	g_nvmf_tgt.discovery_genctr = 0;
 	g_nvmf_tgt.discovery_log_page = NULL;
 	g_nvmf_tgt.discovery_log_page_size = 0;
+	g_nvmf_tgt.current_subsystem_id = 0;
 	TAILQ_INIT(&g_nvmf_tgt.subsystems);
 	TAILQ_INIT(&g_nvmf_tgt.listen_addrs);
 
diff --git a/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h b/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
index e87f2c8c7d..214fe4be93 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
+++ b/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ struct spdk_nvmf_tgt {
 	struct spdk_nvmf_discovery_log_page	*discovery_log_page;
 	size_t					discovery_log_page_size;
 	TAILQ_HEAD(, spdk_nvmf_listen_addr)	listen_addrs;
+	uint32_t				current_subsystem_id;
 };
 
 extern struct spdk_nvmf_tgt g_nvmf_tgt;
diff --git a/lib/nvmf/subsystem.c b/lib/nvmf/subsystem.c
index 6176ede479..17e85ec2f9 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/subsystem.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/subsystem.c
@@ -193,6 +193,9 @@ spdk_nvmf_create_subsystem(const char *nqn,
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
+	g_nvmf_tgt.current_subsystem_id++;
+
+	subsystem->id = g_nvmf_tgt.current_subsystem_id;
 	subsystem->subtype = type;
 	subsystem->mode = mode;
 	subsystem->cb_ctx = cb_ctx;