diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index 183a9194d7..e6868b55fd 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -2113,6 +2113,7 @@ virNetDevGetMTU;
 virNetDevGetName;
 virNetDevGetOnline;
 virNetDevGetPhysicalFunction;
+virNetDevGetPhysPortID;
 virNetDevGetPromiscuous;
 virNetDevGetRcvAllMulti;
 virNetDevGetRcvMulti;
diff --git a/src/util/virnetdev.c b/src/util/virnetdev.c
index 90b7bee34a..e72d0dc248 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdev.c
+++ b/src/util/virnetdev.c
@@ -1169,6 +1169,46 @@ virNetDevGetPCIDevice(const char *devName)
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * virNetDevGetPhysPortID:
+ *
+ * @ifname: name of a netdev
+ *
+ * @physPortID: pointer to char* that will receive @ifname's
+ *              phys_port_id from sysfs (null terminated
+ *              string). Could be NULL if @ifname's net driver doesn't
+ *              support phys_port_id (most netdev drivers
+ *              don't). Caller is responsible for freeing the string
+ *              when finished.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success or -1 on failure.
+ */
+int
+virNetDevGetPhysPortID(const char *ifname,
+                       char **physPortID)
+{
+    int ret = -1;
+    char *physPortIDFile = NULL;
+
+    *physPortID = NULL;
+
+    if (virNetDevSysfsFile(&physPortIDFile, ifname, "phys_port_id") < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
+    /* a failure to read just means the driver doesn't support
+     * phys_port_id, so set success now and ignore the return from
+     * virFileReadAllQuiet().
+     */
+    ret = 0;
+
+    ignore_value(virFileReadAllQuiet(physPortIDFile, 1024, physPortID));
+
+ cleanup:
+    VIR_FREE(physPortIDFile);
+    return ret;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * virNetDevGetVirtualFunctions:
  *
@@ -1432,6 +1472,17 @@ virNetDevGetVirtualFunctionInfo(const char *vfname, char **pfname,
 }
 
 #else /* !__linux__ */
+int
+virNetDevGetPhysPortID(const char *ifname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
+                       char **physPortID)
+{
+    /* this actually should never be called, and is just here to
+     * satisfy the linker.
+     */
+    *physPortID = NULL;
+    return 0;
+}
+
 int
 virNetDevGetVirtualFunctions(const char *pfname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                              char ***vfname ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
diff --git a/src/util/virnetdev.h b/src/util/virnetdev.h
index 51fcae544e..9205c0e86c 100644
--- a/src/util/virnetdev.h
+++ b/src/util/virnetdev.h
@@ -226,6 +226,11 @@ int virNetDevGetPhysicalFunction(const char *ifname, char **pfname)
 int virNetDevPFGetVF(const char *pfname, int vf, char **vfname)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
+int virNetDevGetPhysPortID(const char *ifname,
+                           char **physPortID)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2)
+    ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+
 int virNetDevGetVirtualFunctions(const char *pfname,
                                  char ***vfname,
                                  virPCIDeviceAddressPtr **virt_fns,