diff --git a/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug b/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
index ddc4bbfd1d..42e325d4fb 100644
--- a/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
+++ b/src/qemu/libvirtd_qemu.aug
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ module Libvirtd_qemu =
                  | bool_entry "relaxed_acs_check"
                  | bool_entry "allow_disk_format_probing"
                  | str_entry "lock_manager"
+                 | str_entry "metadata_lock_manager"
 
    let rpc_entry = int_entry "max_queued"
                  | int_entry "keepalive_interval"
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu.conf b/src/qemu/qemu.conf
index cd57b3cc69..84492719c4 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu.conf
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu.conf
@@ -659,6 +659,14 @@
 #lock_manager = "lockd"
 
 
+# To serialize two or more daemons trying to change metadata on a
+# file (e.g. a file on NFS share), libvirt offers a locking
+# mechanism. Currently, only "lockd" is supported (or no locking
+# at all if unset). Note that this is independent of lock_manager
+# described above.
+#
+#metadata_lock_manager = "lockd"
+
 
 # Set limit of maximum APIs queued on one domain. All other APIs
 # over this threshold will fail on acquiring job lock. Specially,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
index 4d69b599fe..8c5f9021f9 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.c
@@ -430,6 +430,7 @@ static void virQEMUDriverConfigDispose(void *obj)
     virStringListFree(cfg->securityDriverNames);
 
     VIR_FREE(cfg->lockManagerName);
+    VIR_FREE(cfg->metadataLockManagerName);
 
     virFirmwareFreeList(cfg->firmwares, cfg->nfirmwares);
 
@@ -840,6 +841,18 @@ int virQEMUDriverConfigLoadFile(virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg,
 
     if (virConfGetValueString(conf, "lock_manager", &cfg->lockManagerName) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
+
+    if (virConfGetValueString(conf, "metadata_lock_manager",
+                              &cfg->metadataLockManagerName) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+    if (cfg->metadataLockManagerName &&
+        STRNEQ(cfg->metadataLockManagerName, "lockd")) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                       _("unknown metadata lock manager name %s"),
+                       cfg->metadataLockManagerName);
+        goto cleanup;
+    }
+
     if (virConfGetValueString(conf, "stdio_handler", &stdioHandler) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
     if (stdioHandler) {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
index a8d84efea2..c227ac72cc 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_conf.h
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ struct _virQEMUDriverConfig {
     bool autoStartBypassCache;
 
     char *lockManagerName;
+    char *metadataLockManagerName;
 
     int keepAliveInterval;
     unsigned int keepAliveCount;
diff --git a/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in b/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
index f1e8806ad2..451e73126e 100644
--- a/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
+++ b/src/qemu/test_libvirtd_qemu.aug.in
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ module Test_libvirtd_qemu =
 { "mac_filter" = "1" }
 { "relaxed_acs_check" = "1" }
 { "lock_manager" = "lockd" }
+{ "metadata_lock_manager" = "lockd" }
 { "max_queued" = "0" }
 { "keepalive_interval" = "5" }
 { "keepalive_count" = "5" }