diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7cefab289d..3b096f1b94 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ meson=""
 meson_args=""
 ninja=""
 skip_meson=no
+vfio_user_server="disabled"
 
 # The following Meson options are handled manually (still they
 # are included in the automatically generated help message)
@@ -1008,6 +1009,11 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --disable-blobs) meson_option_parse --disable-install-blobs ""
   ;;
+  --enable-vfio-user-server) vfio_user_server="enabled"
+                             cmake_required="yes"
+  ;;
+  --disable-vfio-user-server) vfio_user_server="disabled"
+  ;;
   --enable-tcmalloc) meson_option_parse --enable-malloc=tcmalloc tcmalloc
   ;;
   --enable-jemalloc) meson_option_parse --enable-malloc=jemalloc jemalloc
@@ -1226,6 +1232,7 @@ cat << EOF
   vhost-kernel    vhost kernel backend support
   vhost-user      vhost-user backend support
   vhost-vdpa      vhost-vdpa kernel backend support
+  vfio-user-server    vfio-user server support
 
 NOTE: The object files are built at the place where configure is launched
 EOF
@@ -2350,6 +2357,17 @@ case "$slirp" in
     ;;
 esac
 
+##########################################
+# check for vfio_user_server
+
+case "$vfio_user_server" in
+  auto | enabled )
+    if test "$git_submodules_action" != "ignore"; then
+      git_submodules="${git_submodules} subprojects/libvfio-user"
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
 ##########################################
 # End of CC checks
 # After here, no more $cc or $ld runs
@@ -2854,7 +2872,7 @@ if test "$skip_meson" = no; then
         -Db_pie=$(if test "$pie" = yes; then echo true; else echo false; fi) \
         -Db_coverage=$(if test "$gcov" = yes; then echo true; else echo false; fi) \
         -Db_lto=$lto -Dcfi=$cfi -Dtcg=$tcg -Dxen=$xen \
-        -Dcapstone=$capstone -Dfdt=$fdt -Dslirp=$slirp \
+        -Dcapstone=$capstone -Dfdt=$fdt -Dslirp=$slirp -Dvfio_user_server=$vfio_user_server \
         $(test -n "${LIB_FUZZING_ENGINE+xxx}" && echo "-Dfuzzing_engine=$LIB_FUZZING_ENGINE") \
         $(if test "$default_feature" = no; then echo "-Dauto_features=disabled"; fi) \
         "$@" $cross_arg "$PWD" "$source_path"
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 1fe7d257ff..55b872b51e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -298,6 +298,11 @@ have_tpm = get_option('tpm') \
   .require(targetos != 'windows', error_message: 'TPM emulation only available on POSIX systems') \
   .allowed()
 
+if targetos != 'linux' and get_option('vfio_user_server').enabled()
+  error('vfio-user server is supported only on Linux')
+endif
+vfio_user_server_allowed = targetos == 'linux' and not get_option('vfio_user_server').disabled()
+
 # Target-specific libraries and flags
 libm = cc.find_library('m', required: false)
 threads = dependency('threads')
@@ -2204,7 +2209,8 @@ host_kconfig = \
   (have_virtfs ? ['CONFIG_VIRTFS=y'] : []) + \
   ('CONFIG_LINUX' in config_host ? ['CONFIG_LINUX=y'] : []) + \
   (have_pvrdma ? ['CONFIG_PVRDMA=y'] : []) + \
-  (multiprocess_allowed ? ['CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS_ALLOWED=y'] : [])
+  (multiprocess_allowed ? ['CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS_ALLOWED=y'] : []) + \
+  (vfio_user_server_allowed ? ['CONFIG_VFIO_USER_SERVER_ALLOWED=y'] : [])
 
 ignored = [ 'TARGET_XML_FILES', 'TARGET_ABI_DIR', 'TARGET_ARCH' ]
 
@@ -2596,6 +2602,41 @@ if get_option('cfi') and slirp_opt == 'system'
          + ' Please configure with --enable-slirp=git')
 endif
 
+vfiouser = not_found
+if have_system and vfio_user_server_allowed
+  have_internal = fs.exists(meson.current_source_dir() / 'subprojects/libvfio-user/Makefile')
+
+  if not have_internal
+    error('libvfio-user source not found - please pull git submodule')
+  endif
+
+  json_c = dependency('json-c', required: false)
+  if not json_c.found()
+    json_c = dependency('libjson-c', required: false)
+  endif
+  if not json_c.found()
+    json_c = dependency('libjson-c-dev', required: false)
+  endif
+
+  if not json_c.found()
+    error('Unable to find json-c package')
+  endif
+
+  cmake = import('cmake')
+
+  vfiouser_subproj = cmake.subproject('libvfio-user')
+
+  vfiouser_sl = vfiouser_subproj.dependency('vfio-user-static')
+
+  # Although cmake links the json-c library with vfio-user-static
+  # target, that info is not available to meson via cmake.subproject.
+  # As such, we have to separately declare the json-c dependency here.
+  # This appears to be a current limitation of using cmake inside meson.
+  # libvfio-user is planning a switch to meson in the future, which
+  # would address this item automatically.
+  vfiouser = declare_dependency(dependencies: [vfiouser_sl, json_c])
+endif
+
 fdt = not_found
 if have_system
   fdt_opt = get_option('fdt')
@@ -3708,6 +3749,7 @@ summary_info += {'target list':       ' '.join(target_dirs)}
 if have_system
   summary_info += {'default devices':   get_option('default_devices')}
   summary_info += {'out of process emulation': multiprocess_allowed}
+  summary_info += {'vfio-user server': vfio_user_server_allowed}
 endif
 summary(summary_info, bool_yn: true, section: 'Targets and accelerators')
 
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
index 0aea7ab84c..671a5d8fa4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ build-system-ubuntu:
   variables:
     IMAGE: ubuntu2004
     CONFIGURE_ARGS: --enable-docs --enable-fdt=system --enable-slirp=system
+                    --enable-vfio-user-server
     TARGETS: aarch64-softmmu alpha-softmmu cris-softmmu hppa-softmmu
       microblazeel-softmmu mips64el-softmmu
     MAKE_CHECK_ARGS: check-build
@@ -165,6 +166,7 @@ build-system-centos:
     IMAGE: centos8
     CONFIGURE_ARGS: --disable-nettle --enable-gcrypt --enable-fdt=system
       --enable-modules --enable-trace-backends=dtrace --enable-docs
+      --enable-vfio-user-server
     TARGETS: ppc64-softmmu or1k-softmmu s390x-softmmu
       x86_64-softmmu rx-softmmu sh4-softmmu nios2-softmmu
     MAKE_CHECK_ARGS: check-build
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index f4b6a9b401..d66af96dc9 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -67,3 +67,6 @@
 [submodule "tests/lcitool/libvirt-ci"]
 	path = tests/lcitool/libvirt-ci
 	url = https://gitlab.com/libvirt/libvirt-ci.git
+[submodule "subprojects/libvfio-user"]
+	path = subprojects/libvfio-user
+	url = https://github.com/nutanix/libvfio-user.git
diff --git a/Kconfig.host b/Kconfig.host
index 60b9c07b5e..f2da8bcf8a 100644
--- a/Kconfig.host
+++ b/Kconfig.host
@@ -45,3 +45,7 @@ config MULTIPROCESS_ALLOWED
 config FUZZ
     bool
     select SPARSE_MEM
+
+config VFIO_USER_SERVER_ALLOWED
+    bool
+    imply VFIO_USER_SERVER
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 294c88ace9..84b0e019e8 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -3598,6 +3598,7 @@ F: hw/remote/proxy-memory-listener.c
 F: include/hw/remote/proxy-memory-listener.h
 F: hw/remote/iohub.c
 F: include/hw/remote/iohub.h
+F: subprojects/libvfio-user
 
 EBPF:
 M: Jason Wang <jasowang@redhat.com>
diff --git a/hw/remote/Kconfig b/hw/remote/Kconfig
index 08c16e235f..2d6b4f4cf4 100644
--- a/hw/remote/Kconfig
+++ b/hw/remote/Kconfig
@@ -2,3 +2,7 @@ config MULTIPROCESS
     bool
     depends on PCI && PCI_EXPRESS && KVM
     select REMOTE_PCIHOST
+
+config VFIO_USER_SERVER
+    bool
+    depends on MULTIPROCESS
diff --git a/hw/remote/meson.build b/hw/remote/meson.build
index e6a5574242..dfea6b533b 100644
--- a/hw/remote/meson.build
+++ b/hw/remote/meson.build
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ remote_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS', if_true: files('remote-obj.c'))
 remote_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS', if_true: files('proxy.c'))
 remote_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS', if_true: files('iohub.c'))
 
+remote_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_VFIO_USER_SERVER', if_true: vfiouser)
+
 specific_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS', if_true: files('memory.c'))
 specific_ss.add(when: 'CONFIG_MULTIPROCESS', if_true: files('proxy-memory-listener.c'))
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index af432a4ee6..e1315f9a07 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ option('avx512f', type: 'feature', value: 'disabled',
 option('keyring', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'Linux keyring support')
 
+option('vfio_user_server', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
+       description: 'vfio-user server support')
+
 option('attr', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
        description: 'attr/xattr support')
 option('auth_pam', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
diff --git a/subprojects/libvfio-user b/subprojects/libvfio-user
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..030d2f6e79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libvfio-user
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 030d2f6e7978b8ca7577b81d4f48e2771bcd8f47
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
index 4b20925bbf..300833d8e0 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ RUN dnf update -y && \
         capstone-devel \
         ccache \
         clang \
+        cmake \
         ctags \
         cyrus-sasl-devel \
         daxctl-devel \
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ RUN dnf update -y && \
         gtk3-devel \
         hostname \
         jemalloc-devel \
+        json-c-devel \
         libaio-devel \
         libasan \
         libattr-devel \
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
index a3b38884e3..7c6131686a 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/ubuntu2004.docker
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ RUN export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && \
             ca-certificates \
             ccache \
             clang \
+            cmake \
             dbus \
             debianutils \
             diffutils \
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ RUN export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive && \
             libiscsi-dev \
             libjemalloc-dev \
             libjpeg-turbo8-dev \
+            libjson-c-dev \
             liblttng-ust-dev \
             liblzo2-dev \
             libncursesw5-dev \
