diff --git a/qapi/block-core.json b/qapi/block-core.json
index 8de39d143a..e4d8a63575 100644
--- a/qapi/block-core.json
+++ b/qapi/block-core.json
@@ -2847,7 +2847,7 @@
 # Since: 2.9
 ##
 { 'struct': 'BlockdevOptionsNbd',
-  'data': { 'server': 'SocketAddress',
+  'data': { 'server': 'SocketAddressFlat',
             '*export': 'str',
             '*tls-creds': 'str' } }
 
diff --git a/block/nbd.c b/block/nbd.c
index 11e3ba75fa..8bb29a90bb 100644
--- a/block/nbd.c
+++ b/block/nbd.c
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ typedef struct BDRVNBDState {
     NBDClientSession client;
 
     /* For nbd_refresh_filename() */
-    SocketAddress *saddr;
+    SocketAddressFlat *saddr;
     char *export, *tlscredsid;
 } BDRVNBDState;
 
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ static int nbd_parse_uri(const char *filename, QDict *options)
             goto out;
         }
         qdict_put(options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("unix"));
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.path",
+        qdict_put(options, "server.path",
                   qstring_from_str(qp->p[0].value));
     } else {
         QString *host;
@@ -116,10 +116,10 @@ static int nbd_parse_uri(const char *filename, QDict *options)
         }
 
         qdict_put(options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("inet"));
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.host", host);
+        qdict_put(options, "server.host", host);
 
         port_str = g_strdup_printf("%d", uri->port ?: NBD_DEFAULT_PORT);
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.port", qstring_from_str(port_str));
+        qdict_put(options, "server.port", qstring_from_str(port_str));
         g_free(port_str);
     }
 
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ static void nbd_parse_filename(const char *filename, QDict *options,
     /* are we a UNIX or TCP socket? */
     if (strstart(host_spec, "unix:", &unixpath)) {
         qdict_put(options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("unix"));
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.path", qstring_from_str(unixpath));
+        qdict_put(options, "server.path", qstring_from_str(unixpath));
     } else {
         InetSocketAddress *addr = NULL;
 
@@ -207,8 +207,8 @@ static void nbd_parse_filename(const char *filename, QDict *options,
         }
 
         qdict_put(options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("inet"));
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.host", qstring_from_str(addr->host));
-        qdict_put(options, "server.data.port", qstring_from_str(addr->port));
+        qdict_put(options, "server.host", qstring_from_str(addr->host));
+        qdict_put(options, "server.port", qstring_from_str(addr->port));
         qapi_free_InetSocketAddress(addr);
     }
 
@@ -248,20 +248,21 @@ static bool nbd_process_legacy_socket_options(QDict *output_options,
         }
 
         qdict_put(output_options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("unix"));
-        qdict_put(output_options, "server.data.path", qstring_from_str(path));
+        qdict_put(output_options, "server.path", qstring_from_str(path));
     } else if (host) {
         qdict_put(output_options, "server.type", qstring_from_str("inet"));
-        qdict_put(output_options, "server.data.host", qstring_from_str(host));
-        qdict_put(output_options, "server.data.port",
+        qdict_put(output_options, "server.host", qstring_from_str(host));
+        qdict_put(output_options, "server.port",
                   qstring_from_str(port ?: stringify(NBD_DEFAULT_PORT)));
     }
 
     return true;
 }
 
-static SocketAddress *nbd_config(BDRVNBDState *s, QDict *options, Error **errp)
+static SocketAddressFlat *nbd_config(BDRVNBDState *s, QDict *options,
+                                     Error **errp)
 {
-    SocketAddress *saddr = NULL;
+    SocketAddressFlat *saddr = NULL;
     QDict *addr = NULL;
     QObject *crumpled_addr = NULL;
     Visitor *iv = NULL;
@@ -287,7 +288,7 @@ static SocketAddress *nbd_config(BDRVNBDState *s, QDict *options, Error **errp)
      * visitor expects the former.
      */
     iv = qobject_input_visitor_new(crumpled_addr);
-    visit_type_SocketAddress(iv, NULL, &saddr, &local_err);
+    visit_type_SocketAddressFlat(iv, NULL, &saddr, &local_err);
     if (local_err) {
         error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         goto done;
@@ -306,9 +307,10 @@ NBDClientSession *nbd_get_client_session(BlockDriverState *bs)
     return &s->client;
 }
 
-static QIOChannelSocket *nbd_establish_connection(SocketAddress *saddr,
+static QIOChannelSocket *nbd_establish_connection(SocketAddressFlat *saddr_flat,
                                                   Error **errp)
 {
+    SocketAddress *saddr = socket_address_crumple(saddr_flat);
     QIOChannelSocket *sioc;
     Error *local_err = NULL;
 
@@ -318,6 +320,7 @@ static QIOChannelSocket *nbd_establish_connection(SocketAddress *saddr,
     qio_channel_socket_connect_sync(sioc,
                                     saddr,
                                     &local_err);
+    qapi_free_SocketAddress(saddr);
     if (local_err) {
         error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         return NULL;
@@ -409,7 +412,7 @@ static int nbd_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
         goto error;
     }
 
-    /* Translate @host, @port, and @path to a SocketAddress */
+    /* Translate @host, @port, and @path to a SocketAddressFlat */
     if (!nbd_process_legacy_socket_options(options, opts, errp)) {
         goto error;
     }
@@ -430,11 +433,11 @@ static int nbd_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
         }
 
         /* TODO SOCKET_ADDRESS_KIND_FD where fd has AF_INET or AF_INET6 */
-        if (s->saddr->type != SOCKET_ADDRESS_KIND_INET) {
+        if (s->saddr->type != SOCKET_ADDRESS_FLAT_TYPE_INET) {
             error_setg(errp, "TLS only supported over IP sockets");
             goto error;
         }
-        hostname = s->saddr->u.inet.data->host;
+        hostname = s->saddr->u.inet.host;
     }
 
     /* establish TCP connection, return error if it fails
@@ -457,7 +460,7 @@ static int nbd_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
         object_unref(OBJECT(tlscreds));
     }
     if (ret < 0) {
-        qapi_free_SocketAddress(s->saddr);
+        qapi_free_SocketAddressFlat(s->saddr);
         g_free(s->export);
         g_free(s->tlscredsid);
     }
@@ -483,7 +486,7 @@ static void nbd_close(BlockDriverState *bs)
 
     nbd_client_close(bs);
 
-    qapi_free_SocketAddress(s->saddr);
+    qapi_free_SocketAddressFlat(s->saddr);
     g_free(s->export);
     g_free(s->tlscredsid);
 }
@@ -514,15 +517,15 @@ static void nbd_refresh_filename(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options)
     Visitor *ov;
     const char *host = NULL, *port = NULL, *path = NULL;
 
-    if (s->saddr->type == SOCKET_ADDRESS_KIND_INET) {
-        const InetSocketAddress *inet = s->saddr->u.inet.data;
+    if (s->saddr->type == SOCKET_ADDRESS_FLAT_TYPE_INET) {
+        const InetSocketAddress *inet = &s->saddr->u.inet;
         if (!inet->has_ipv4 && !inet->has_ipv6 && !inet->has_to) {
             host = inet->host;
             port = inet->port;
         }
-    } else if (s->saddr->type == SOCKET_ADDRESS_KIND_UNIX) {
-        path = s->saddr->u.q_unix.data->path;
-    }
+    } else if (s->saddr->type == SOCKET_ADDRESS_FLAT_TYPE_UNIX) {
+        path = s->saddr->u.q_unix.path;
+    } /* else can't represent as pseudo-filename */
 
     qdict_put(opts, "driver", qstring_from_str("nbd"));
 
@@ -541,7 +544,7 @@ static void nbd_refresh_filename(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options)
     }
 
     ov = qobject_output_visitor_new(&saddr_qdict);
-    visit_type_SocketAddress(ov, NULL, &s->saddr, &error_abort);
+    visit_type_SocketAddressFlat(ov, NULL, &s->saddr, &error_abort);
     visit_complete(ov, &saddr_qdict);
     visit_free(ov);
     qdict_put_obj(opts, "server", saddr_qdict);
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/147 b/tests/qemu-iotests/147
index cca75c562c..32afea63d4 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/147
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/147
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ NBD_PORT = 10811
 test_img = os.path.join(iotests.test_dir, 'test.img')
 unix_socket = os.path.join(iotests.test_dir, 'nbd.socket')
 
+
+def flatten_sock_addr(crumpled_address):
+    result = { 'type': crumpled_address['type'] }
+    result.update(crumpled_address['data'])
+    return result
+
+
 class NBDBlockdevAddBase(iotests.QMPTestCase):
     def blockdev_add_options(self, address, export=None):
         options = { 'node-name': 'nbd-blockdev',
@@ -85,13 +92,15 @@ class QemuNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
                         'host': 'localhost',
                         'port': str(NBD_PORT)
                     } }
-        self.client_test('nbd://localhost:%i' % NBD_PORT, address)
+        self.client_test('nbd://localhost:%i' % NBD_PORT,
+                         flatten_sock_addr(address))
 
     def test_unix(self):
         self._server_up('-k', unix_socket)
         address = { 'type': 'unix',
                     'data': { 'path': unix_socket } }
-        self.client_test('nbd+unix://?socket=' + unix_socket, address)
+        self.client_test('nbd+unix://?socket=' + unix_socket,
+                         flatten_sock_addr(address))
 
 
 class BuiltinNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
@@ -134,7 +143,7 @@ class BuiltinNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
                     } }
         self._server_up(address)
         self.client_test('nbd://localhost:%i/nbd-export' % NBD_PORT,
-                         address, 'nbd-export')
+                         flatten_sock_addr(address), 'nbd-export')
         self._server_down()
 
     def test_inet6(self):
@@ -149,10 +158,10 @@ class BuiltinNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
                      'file': {
                          'driver': 'nbd',
                          'export': 'nbd-export',
-                         'server': address
+                         'server': flatten_sock_addr(address)
                      } }
         self._server_up(address)
-        self.client_test(filename, address, 'nbd-export')
+        self.client_test(filename, flatten_sock_addr(address), 'nbd-export')
         self._server_down()
 
     def test_unix(self):
@@ -160,7 +169,7 @@ class BuiltinNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
                     'data': { 'path': unix_socket } }
         self._server_up(address)
         self.client_test('nbd+unix:///nbd-export?socket=' + unix_socket,
-                         address, 'nbd-export')
+                         flatten_sock_addr(address), 'nbd-export')
         self._server_down()
 
     def test_fd(self):
@@ -182,9 +191,9 @@ class BuiltinNBD(NBDBlockdevAddBase):
                      'file': {
                          'driver': 'nbd',
                          'export': 'nbd-export',
-                         'server': address
+                         'server': flatten_sock_addr(address)
                      } }
-        self.client_test(filename, address, 'nbd-export')
+        self.client_test(filename, flatten_sock_addr(address), 'nbd-export')
 
         self._server_down()
 
