diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_nvdimm.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_nvdimm.c
index ed6fda2c23..8aa6214d6b 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_nvdimm.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_nvdimm.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include "block/thread-pool.h"
 #include "migration/vmstate.h"
 #include "qemu/pmem.h"
+#include "hw/qdev-properties.h"
 
 /* DIMM health bitmap bitmap indicators. Taken from kernel's papr_scm.c */
 /* SCM device is unable to persist memory contents */
@@ -57,6 +58,10 @@ OBJECT_DECLARE_TYPE(SpaprNVDIMMDevice, SPAPRNVDIMMClass, SPAPR_NVDIMM)
 struct SPAPRNVDIMMClass {
     /* private */
     NVDIMMClass parent_class;
+
+    /* public */
+    void (*realize)(NVDIMMDevice *dimm, Error **errp);
+    void (*unrealize)(NVDIMMDevice *dimm, Error **errp);
 };
 
 bool spapr_nvdimm_validate(HotplugHandler *hotplug_dev, NVDIMMDevice *nvdimm,
@@ -64,6 +69,8 @@ bool spapr_nvdimm_validate(HotplugHandler *hotplug_dev, NVDIMMDevice *nvdimm,
 {
     const MachineClass *mc = MACHINE_GET_CLASS(hotplug_dev);
     const MachineState *ms = MACHINE(hotplug_dev);
+    PCDIMMDevice *dimm = PC_DIMM(nvdimm);
+    MemoryRegion *mr = host_memory_backend_get_memory(dimm->hostmem);
     g_autofree char *uuidstr = NULL;
     QemuUUID uuid;
     int ret;
@@ -101,6 +108,14 @@ bool spapr_nvdimm_validate(HotplugHandler *hotplug_dev, NVDIMMDevice *nvdimm,
         return false;
     }
 
+    if (object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(nvdimm), TYPE_SPAPR_NVDIMM) &&
+        (memory_region_get_fd(mr) < 0)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "spapr-nvdimm device requires the "
+                   "memdev %s to be of memory-backend-file type",
+                   object_get_canonical_path_component(OBJECT(dimm->hostmem)));
+        return false;
+    }
+
     return true;
 }
 
@@ -172,6 +187,20 @@ static int spapr_dt_nvdimm(SpaprMachineState *spapr, void *fdt,
                              "operating-system")));
     _FDT(fdt_setprop(fdt, child_offset, "ibm,cache-flush-required", NULL, 0));
 
+    if (object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(nvdimm), TYPE_SPAPR_NVDIMM)) {
+        bool is_pmem = false, pmem_override = false;
+        PCDIMMDevice *dimm = PC_DIMM(nvdimm);
+        HostMemoryBackend *hostmem = dimm->hostmem;
+
+        is_pmem = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(hostmem), "pmem", NULL);
+        pmem_override = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(nvdimm),
+                                                 "pmem-override", NULL);
+        if (!is_pmem || pmem_override) {
+            _FDT(fdt_setprop(fdt, child_offset, "ibm,hcall-flush-required",
+                             NULL, 0));
+        }
+    }
+
     return child_offset;
 }
 
@@ -398,11 +427,21 @@ typedef struct SpaprNVDIMMDeviceFlushState {
 
 typedef struct SpaprNVDIMMDevice SpaprNVDIMMDevice;
 struct SpaprNVDIMMDevice {
+    /* private */
     NVDIMMDevice parent_obj;
 
+    bool hcall_flush_required;
     uint64_t nvdimm_flush_token;
     QLIST_HEAD(, SpaprNVDIMMDeviceFlushState) pending_nvdimm_flush_states;
     QLIST_HEAD(, SpaprNVDIMMDeviceFlushState) completed_nvdimm_flush_states;
+
+    /* public */
+
+    /*
+     * The 'on' value for this property forced the qemu to enable the hcall
+     * flush for the nvdimm device even if the backend is a pmem
+     */
+    bool pmem_override;
 };
 
 static int flush_worker_cb(void *opaque)
@@ -449,6 +488,23 @@ static int spapr_nvdimm_flush_post_load(void *opaque, int version_id)
     SpaprNVDIMMDeviceFlushState *state;
     HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(PC_DIMM(s_nvdimm)->hostmem);
     ThreadPool *pool = aio_get_thread_pool(qemu_get_aio_context());
+    bool is_pmem = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(backend), "pmem", NULL);
+    bool pmem_override = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(s_nvdimm),
+                                                  "pmem-override", NULL);
+    bool dest_hcall_flush_required = pmem_override || !is_pmem;
+
+    if (!s_nvdimm->hcall_flush_required && dest_hcall_flush_required) {
+        error_report("The file backend for the spapr-nvdimm device %s at "
+                     "source is a pmem, use pmem=on and pmem-override=off to "
+                     "continue.", DEVICE(s_nvdimm)->id);
+        return -EINVAL;
+    }
+    if (s_nvdimm->hcall_flush_required && !dest_hcall_flush_required) {
+        error_report("The guest expects hcall-flush support for the "
+                     "spapr-nvdimm device %s, use pmem_override=on to "
+                     "continue.", DEVICE(s_nvdimm)->id);
+        return -EINVAL;
+    }
 
     QLIST_FOREACH(state, &s_nvdimm->pending_nvdimm_flush_states, node) {
         state->backend_fd = memory_region_get_fd(&backend->mr);
@@ -478,6 +534,7 @@ const VMStateDescription vmstate_spapr_nvdimm_states = {
     .minimum_version_id = 1,
     .post_load = spapr_nvdimm_flush_post_load,
     .fields = (VMStateField[]) {
+        VMSTATE_BOOL(hcall_flush_required, SpaprNVDIMMDevice),
         VMSTATE_UINT64(nvdimm_flush_token, SpaprNVDIMMDevice),
         VMSTATE_QLIST_V(completed_nvdimm_flush_states, SpaprNVDIMMDevice, 1,
                         vmstate_spapr_nvdimm_flush_state,
@@ -607,7 +664,11 @@ static target_ulong h_scm_flush(PowerPCCPU *cpu, SpaprMachineState *spapr,
     }
 
     dimm = PC_DIMM(drc->dev);
+    if (!object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(dimm), TYPE_SPAPR_NVDIMM)) {
+        return H_PARAMETER;
+    }
     if (continue_token == 0) {
+        bool is_pmem = false, pmem_override = false;
         backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(dimm->hostmem);
         fd = memory_region_get_fd(&backend->mr);
 
@@ -615,6 +676,13 @@ static target_ulong h_scm_flush(PowerPCCPU *cpu, SpaprMachineState *spapr,
             return H_UNSUPPORTED;
         }
 
+        is_pmem = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(backend), "pmem", NULL);
+        pmem_override = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(dimm),
+                                                "pmem-override", NULL);
+        if (is_pmem && !pmem_override) {
+            return H_UNSUPPORTED;
+        }
+
         state = spapr_nvdimm_init_new_flush_state(SPAPR_NVDIMM(dimm));
         if (!state) {
             return H_HARDWARE;
@@ -789,3 +857,66 @@ static void spapr_scm_register_types(void)
 }
 
 type_init(spapr_scm_register_types)
+
+static void spapr_nvdimm_realize(NVDIMMDevice *dimm, Error **errp)
+{
+    SpaprNVDIMMDevice *s_nvdimm = SPAPR_NVDIMM(dimm);
+    HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(PC_DIMM(dimm)->hostmem);
+    bool is_pmem = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(backend),  "pmem", NULL);
+    bool pmem_override = object_property_get_bool(OBJECT(dimm), "pmem-override",
+                                             NULL);
+    if (!is_pmem || pmem_override) {
+        s_nvdimm->hcall_flush_required = true;
+    }
+
+    vmstate_register(NULL, VMSTATE_INSTANCE_ID_ANY,
+                     &vmstate_spapr_nvdimm_states, dimm);
+}
+
+static void spapr_nvdimm_unrealize(NVDIMMDevice *dimm)
+{
+    vmstate_unregister(NULL, &vmstate_spapr_nvdimm_states, dimm);
+}
+
+static Property spapr_nvdimm_properties[] = {
+#ifdef CONFIG_LIBPMEM
+    DEFINE_PROP_BOOL("pmem-override", SpaprNVDIMMDevice, pmem_override, false),
+#endif
+    DEFINE_PROP_END_OF_LIST(),
+};
+
+static void spapr_nvdimm_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
+{
+    DeviceClass *dc = DEVICE_CLASS(oc);
+    NVDIMMClass *nvc = NVDIMM_CLASS(oc);
+
+    nvc->realize = spapr_nvdimm_realize;
+    nvc->unrealize = spapr_nvdimm_unrealize;
+
+    device_class_set_props(dc, spapr_nvdimm_properties);
+}
+
+static void spapr_nvdimm_init(Object *obj)
+{
+    SpaprNVDIMMDevice *s_nvdimm = SPAPR_NVDIMM(obj);
+
+    s_nvdimm->hcall_flush_required = false;
+    QLIST_INIT(&s_nvdimm->pending_nvdimm_flush_states);
+    QLIST_INIT(&s_nvdimm->completed_nvdimm_flush_states);
+}
+
+static TypeInfo spapr_nvdimm_info = {
+    .name          = TYPE_SPAPR_NVDIMM,
+    .parent        = TYPE_NVDIMM,
+    .class_init    = spapr_nvdimm_class_init,
+    .class_size    = sizeof(SPAPRNVDIMMClass),
+    .instance_size = sizeof(SpaprNVDIMMDevice),
+    .instance_init = spapr_nvdimm_init,
+};
+
+static void spapr_nvdimm_register_types(void)
+{
+    type_register_static(&spapr_nvdimm_info);
+}
+
+type_init(spapr_nvdimm_register_types)
