diff --git a/configure b/configure
index e69537c756..39f30c0283 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ meson_args=""
 ninja=""
 bindir="bin"
 skip_meson=no
+vfio_user_server="disabled"
 
 # The following Meson options are handled manually (still they
 # are included in the automatically generated help message)
@@ -909,6 +910,10 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --disable-blobs) meson_option_parse --disable-install-blobs ""
   ;;
+  --enable-vfio-user-server) vfio_user_server="enabled"
+  ;;
+  --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
@@ -2133,6 +2138,17 @@ write_container_target_makefile() {
 
 
 
+##########################################
+# check for vfio_user_server
+
+case "$vfio_user_server" in
+  enabled )
+    if test "$git_submodules_action" != "ignore"; then
+      git_submodules="${git_submodules} subprojects/libvfio-user"
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
 ##########################################
 # End of CC checks
 # After here, no more $cc or $ld runs
@@ -2669,6 +2685,7 @@ if test "$skip_meson" = no; then
   test "$slirp" != auto && meson_option_add "-Dslirp=$slirp"
   test "$smbd" != '' && meson_option_add "-Dsmbd=$smbd"
   test "$tcg" != enabled && meson_option_add "-Dtcg=$tcg"
+  test "$vfio_user_server" != auto && meson_option_add "-Dvfio_user_server=$vfio_user_server"
   run_meson() {
     NINJA=$ninja $meson setup --prefix "$prefix" "$@" $cross_arg "$PWD" "$source_path"
   }
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 21cd949082..fac9853254 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -308,6 +308,10 @@ multiprocess_allowed = get_option('multiprocess') \
   .require(targetos == 'linux', error_message: 'Multiprocess QEMU is supported only on Linux') \
   .allowed()
 
+vfio_user_server_allowed = get_option('vfio_user_server') \
+  .require(targetos == 'linux', error_message: 'vfio-user server is supported only on Linux') \
+  .allowed()
+
 have_tpm = get_option('tpm') \
   .require(targetos != 'windows', error_message: 'TPM emulation only available on POSIX systems') \
   .allowed()
@@ -2373,7 +2377,8 @@ 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' ]
 
@@ -2665,6 +2670,21 @@ if have_system
   endif
 endif
 
+libvfio_user_dep = not_found
+if have_system and vfio_user_server_allowed
+  have_internal = fs.exists(meson.current_source_dir() / 'subprojects/libvfio-user/meson.build')
+
+  if not have_internal
+    error('libvfio-user source not found - please pull git submodule')
+  endif
+
+  libvfio_user_proj = subproject('libvfio-user')
+
+  libvfio_user_lib = libvfio_user_proj.get_variable('libvfio_user_dep')
+
+  libvfio_user_dep = declare_dependency(dependencies: [libvfio_user_lib])
+endif
+
 fdt = not_found
 if have_system
   fdt_opt = get_option('fdt')
@@ -3783,6 +3803,7 @@ 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 544385f5be..fe8d34b022 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest.yml
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ 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 b8bff47df8..c4e66ddb6f 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -64,3 +64,6 @@
 [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 1165c4eacd..d763d89269 100644
--- a/Kconfig.host
+++ b/Kconfig.host
@@ -42,3 +42,7 @@ 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 b3af081c51..ef8f227fbb 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -3631,6 +3631,7 @@ 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..7da83350c8 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: libvfio_user_dep)
+
 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 2de94af037..2bf2d20b42 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ option('cfi_debug', type: 'boolean', value: 'false',
        description: 'Verbose errors in case of CFI violation')
 option('multiprocess', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: 'Out of process device emulation support')
+option('vfio_user_server', type: 'feature', value: 'disabled',
+       description: 'vfio-user server support')
 option('dbus_display', type: 'feature', value: 'auto',
        description: '-display dbus support')
 option('tpm', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
diff --git a/subprojects/libvfio-user b/subprojects/libvfio-user
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..0b28d20557
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libvfio-user
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 0b28d205572c80b568a1003db2c8f37ca333e4d7
diff --git a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
index 4b20925bbf..10618bfa83 100644
--- a/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
+++ b/tests/docker/dockerfiles/centos8.docker
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ RUN dnf update -y && \
         libbpf-devel \
         libcacard-devel \
         libcap-ng-devel \
+        libcmocka-devel \
         libcurl-devel \
         libdrm-devel \
         libepoxy-devel \
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ RUN dnf update -y && \
         libgcrypt-devel \
         libiscsi-devel \
         libjpeg-devel \
+        json-c-devel \
         libnfs-devel \
         libpmem-devel \
         libpng-devel \
