diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 5967c1dd3..5656f18e8 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -683,6 +683,8 @@ F: doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst
 F: examples/vhost_scsi/
 F: doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost_scsi.rst
 F: examples/vhost_crypto/
+F: examples/vdpa/
+F: doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vdpa.rst
 
 Vhost PMD
 M: Maxime Coquelin <maxime.coquelin@redhat.com>
diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_11.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_11.rst
index bc9b74ec4..dd53a9ecf 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_11.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_18_11.rst
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@ New Features
   SR-IOV option in Hyper-V and Azure. This is an alternative to the previous
   vdev_netvsc, tap, and failsafe drivers combination.
 
+* **Add a new sample for vDPA**
+
+  The vdpa sample application creates vhost-user sockets by using the
+  vDPA backend. vDPA stands for vhost Data Path Acceleration which utilizes
+  virtio ring compatible devices to serve virtio driver directly to enable
+  datapath acceleration. As vDPA driver can help to set up vhost datapath,
+  this application doesn't need to launch dedicated worker threads for vhost
+  enqueue/dequeue operations.
 
 API Changes
 -----------
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/index.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/index.rst
index 5bedf4f6f..74b12af85 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/index.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/index.rst
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ Sample Applications User Guides
     vhost
     vhost_scsi
     vhost_crypto
+    vdpa
     netmap_compatibility
     ip_pipeline
     test_pipeline
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vdpa.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vdpa.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..745f196ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vdpa.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+    Copyright(c) 2018 Intel Corporation.
+
+Vdpa Sample Application
+=======================
+
+The vdpa sample application creates vhost-user sockets by using the
+vDPA backend. vDPA stands for vhost Data Path Acceleration which utilizes
+virtio ring compatible devices to serve virtio driver directly to enable
+datapath acceleration. As vDPA driver can help to set up vhost datapath,
+this application doesn't need to launch dedicated worker threads for vhost
+enqueue/dequeue operations.
+
+Testing steps
+-------------
+
+This section shows the steps of how to start VMs with vDPA vhost-user
+backend and verify network connection & live migration.
+
+Build
+~~~~~
+
+To compile the sample application see :doc:`compiling`.
+
+The application is located in the ``vdpa`` sub-directory.
+
+Start the vdpa example
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        ./vdpa [EAL options]  -- [--client] [--interactive|-i] or [--iface SOCKET_PATH]
+
+where
+
+* --client means running vdpa app in client mode, in the client mode, QEMU needs
+  to run as the server mode and take charge of socket file creation.
+* --iface specifies the path prefix of the UNIX domain socket file, e.g.
+  /tmp/vhost-user-, then the socket files will be named as /tmp/vhost-user-<n>
+  (n starts from 0).
+* --interactive means run the vdpa sample in interactive mode, currently 4
+  internal cmds are supported:
+
+  1. help: show help message
+  2. list: list all available vdpa devices
+  3. create: create a new vdpa port with socket file and vdpa device address
+  4. quit: unregister vhost driver and exit the application
+
+Take IFCVF driver for example:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        ./vdpa -c 0x2 -n 4 --socket-mem 1024,1024 \
+                -w 0000:06:00.3,vdpa=1 -w 0000:06:00.4,vdpa=1 \
+                -- --interactive
+
+.. note::
+    Here 0000:06:00.3 and 0000:06:00.4 refer to virtio ring compatible devices,
+    and we need to bind vfio-pci to them before running vdpa sample.
+
+    * modprobe vfio-pci
+    * ./usertools/dpdk-devbind.py -b vfio-pci 06:00.3 06:00.4
+
+Then we can create 2 vdpa ports in interactive cmdline.
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        vdpa> list
+        device id       device address  queue num       supported features
+        0               0000:06:00.3    1               0x14c238020
+        1               0000:06:00.4    1               0x14c238020
+        2               0000:06:00.5    1               0x14c238020
+
+        vdpa> create /tmp/vdpa-socket0 0000:06:00.3
+        vdpa> create /tmp/vdpa-socket1 0000:06:00.4
+
+.. _vdpa_app_run_vm:
+
+Start the VMs
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+       qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu host -enable-kvm \
+       <snip>
+       -mem-prealloc \
+       -chardev socket,id=char0,path=<socket_file created in above steps> \
+       -netdev type=vhost-user,id=vdpa,chardev=char0 \
+       -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vdpa,mac=00:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee,page-per-vq=on \
+
+After the VMs launches, we can login the VMs and configure the ip, verify the
+network connection via ping or netperf.
+
+.. note::
+    Suggest to use QEMU 3.0.0 which extends vhost-user for vDPA.
+
+Live Migration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+vDPA supports cross-backend live migration, user can migrate SW vhost backend
+VM to vDPA backend VM and vice versa. Here are the detailed steps. Assume A is
+the source host with SW vhost VM and B is the destination host with vDPA.
+
+1. Start vdpa sample and launch a VM with exact same parameters as the VM on A,
+   in migration-listen mode:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        B: <qemu-command-line> -incoming tcp:0:4444 (or other PORT))
+
+2. Start the migration (on source host):
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        A: (qemu) migrate -d tcp:<B ip>:4444 (or other PORT)
+
+3. Check the status (on source host):
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+        A: (qemu) info migrate
diff --git a/examples/Makefile b/examples/Makefile
index 481720cb6..356fcb1cd 100644
--- a/examples/Makefile
+++ b/examples/Makefile
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_HASH),y)
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST) += tep_termination
 endif
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_TIMER) += timer
-DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST) += vhost vhost_scsi
+DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST) += vhost vhost_scsi vdpa
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_CRYPTODEV),y)
 DIRS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VHOST) += vhost_crypto
 endif
diff --git a/examples/vdpa/Makefile b/examples/vdpa/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42672a2bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/vdpa/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright(c) 2018 Intel Corporation
+
+ifeq ($(RTE_SDK),)
+$(error "Please define RTE_SDK environment variable")
+endif
+
+# Default target, can be overridden by command line or environment
+RTE_TARGET ?= x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc
+
+include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.vars.mk
+
+ifneq ($(CONFIG_RTE_EXEC_ENV),"linuxapp")
+$(info This application can only operate in a linuxapp environment, \
+please change the definition of the RTE_TARGET environment variable)
+all:
+else
+
+# binary name
+APP = vdpa
+
+# all source are stored in SRCS-y
+SRCS-y := main.c
+
+CFLAGS += -O2 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
+CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
+CFLAGS += -D_GNU_SOURCE
+CFLAGS += -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+
+include $(RTE_SDK)/mk/rte.extapp.mk
+
+endif
diff --git a/examples/vdpa/main.c b/examples/vdpa/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b8055287f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/vdpa/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,462 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+ * Copyright(c) 2018 Intel Corporation
+ */
+
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <rte_ethdev.h>
+#include <rte_malloc.h>
+#include <rte_vhost.h>
+#include <rte_vdpa.h>
+#include <rte_pci.h>
+
+#include <cmdline_parse.h>
+#include <cmdline_socket.h>
+#include <cmdline_parse_string.h>
+#include <cmdline.h>
+
+#define MAX_PATH_LEN 128
+#define MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS 1024
+#define RTE_LOGTYPE_VDPA RTE_LOGTYPE_USER1
+
+struct vdpa_port {
+	char ifname[MAX_PATH_LEN];
+	int did;
+	int vid;
+	uint64_t flags;
+};
+
+static struct vdpa_port vports[MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS];
+
+static char iface[MAX_PATH_LEN];
+static int dev_total;
+static int devcnt;
+static int interactive;
+static int client_mode;
+
+/* display usage */
+static void
+vdpa_usage(const char *prgname)
+{
+	printf("Usage: %s [EAL options] -- "
+				 "	--interactive|-i: run in interactive mode.\n"
+				 "	--iface <path>: specify the path prefix of the socket files, e.g. /tmp/vhost-user-.\n"
+				 "	--client: register a vhost-user socket as client mode.\n",
+				 prgname);
+}
+
+static int
+parse_args(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	static const char *short_option = "i";
+	static struct option long_option[] = {
+		{"iface", required_argument, NULL, 0},
+		{"interactive", no_argument, &interactive, 1},
+		{"client", no_argument, &client_mode, 1},
+		{NULL, 0, 0, 0},
+	};
+	int opt, idx;
+	char *prgname = argv[0];
+
+	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, short_option, long_option, &idx))
+			!= EOF) {
+		switch (opt) {
+		case 'i':
+			printf("Interactive-mode selected\n");
+			interactive = 1;
+			break;
+		/* long options */
+		case 0:
+			if (strncmp(long_option[idx].name, "iface",
+						MAX_PATH_LEN) == 0) {
+				strncpy(iface, optarg, MAX_PATH_LEN);
+				printf("iface %s\n", iface);
+			}
+			if (!strcmp(long_option[idx].name, "interactive")) {
+				printf("Interactive-mode selected\n");
+				interactive = 1;
+			}
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			vdpa_usage(prgname);
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (iface[0] == '\0' && interactive == 0) {
+		vdpa_usage(prgname);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+data_init(void)
+{
+	dev_total = rte_vdpa_get_device_num();
+	if (dev_total <= 0) {
+		printf("No available vdpa device found\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+new_device(int vid)
+{
+	char ifname[MAX_PATH_LEN];
+	int i;
+
+	rte_vhost_get_ifname(vid, ifname, sizeof(ifname));
+	for (i = 0; i < MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS; i++) {
+		if (strncmp(ifname, vports[i].ifname, MAX_PATH_LEN) == 0) {
+			printf("\nnew port %s, did: %d\n",
+					ifname, vports[i].did);
+			vports[i].vid = vid;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (i >= MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS)
+		return -1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void
+destroy_device(int vid)
+{
+	char ifname[MAX_PATH_LEN];
+	int i;
+
+	rte_vhost_get_ifname(vid, ifname, sizeof(ifname));
+	for (i = 0; i < MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS; i++) {
+		if (strcmp(ifname, vports[i].ifname) == 0) {
+			printf("\ndestroy port %s, did: %d\n",
+					ifname, vports[i].did);
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+static const struct vhost_device_ops vdpa_sample_devops = {
+	.new_device = new_device,
+	.destroy_device = destroy_device,
+};
+
+static int
+start_vdpa(struct vdpa_port *vport)
+{
+	int ret;
+	char *socket_path = vport->ifname;
+	int did = vport->did;
+
+	if (client_mode)
+		vport->flags |= RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT;
+
+	if (access(socket_path, F_OK) != -1 && !client_mode) {
+		RTE_LOG(ERR, VDPA,
+			"%s exists, please remove it or specify another file and try again.\n",
+			socket_path);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	ret = rte_vhost_driver_register(socket_path, vport->flags);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE,
+			"register driver failed: %s\n",
+			socket_path);
+
+	ret = rte_vhost_driver_callback_register(socket_path,
+			&vdpa_sample_devops);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE,
+			"register driver ops failed: %s\n",
+			socket_path);
+
+	ret = rte_vhost_driver_attach_vdpa_device(socket_path, did);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE,
+			"attach vdpa device failed: %s\n",
+			socket_path);
+
+	if (rte_vhost_driver_start(socket_path) < 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE,
+			"start vhost driver failed: %s\n",
+			socket_path);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void
+close_vdpa(struct vdpa_port *vport)
+{
+	int ret;
+	char *socket_path = vport->ifname;
+
+	ret = rte_vhost_driver_detach_vdpa_device(socket_path);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		RTE_LOG(ERR, VDPA,
+				"detach vdpa device failed: %s\n",
+				socket_path);
+
+	ret = rte_vhost_driver_unregister(socket_path);
+	if (ret != 0)
+		RTE_LOG(ERR, VDPA,
+				"Fail to unregister vhost driver for %s.\n",
+				socket_path);
+}
+
+static void
+vdpa_sample_quit(void)
+{
+	int i;
+	for (i = 0; i < RTE_MIN(MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS, dev_total); i++) {
+		if (vports[i].ifname[0] != '\0')
+			close_vdpa(&vports[i]);
+	}
+}
+
+static void
+signal_handler(int signum)
+{
+	if (signum == SIGINT || signum == SIGTERM) {
+		printf("\nSignal %d received, preparing to exit...\n", signum);
+		vdpa_sample_quit();
+		exit(0);
+	}
+}
+
+/* interactive cmds */
+
+/* *** Help command with introduction. *** */
+struct cmd_help_result {
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t help;
+};
+
+static void cmd_help_parsed(__attribute__((unused)) void *parsed_result,
+		struct cmdline *cl,
+		__attribute__((unused)) void *data)
+{
+	cmdline_printf(
+		cl,
+		"\n"
+		"The following commands are currently available:\n\n"
+		"Control:\n"
+		"    help                                      : Show interactive instructions.\n"
+		"    list                                      : list all available vdpa devices.\n"
+		"    create <socket file> <vdev addr>          : create a new vdpa port.\n"
+		"    quit                                      : exit vdpa sample app.\n"
+	);
+}
+
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_help_help =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_help_result, help, "help");
+
+cmdline_parse_inst_t cmd_help = {
+	.f = cmd_help_parsed,
+	.data = NULL,
+	.help_str = "show help",
+	.tokens = {
+		(void *)&cmd_help_help,
+		NULL,
+	},
+};
+
+/* *** List all available vdpa devices *** */
+struct cmd_list_result {
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t action;
+};
+
+static void cmd_list_vdpa_devices_parsed(
+		__attribute__((unused)) void *parsed_result,
+		struct cmdline *cl,
+		__attribute__((unused)) void *data)
+{
+	int did;
+	uint32_t queue_num;
+	uint64_t features;
+	struct rte_vdpa_device *vdev;
+	struct rte_pci_addr addr;
+
+	cmdline_printf(cl, "device id\tdevice address\tqueue num\tsupported features\n");
+	for (did = 0; did < dev_total; did++) {
+		vdev = rte_vdpa_get_device(did);
+		if (!vdev)
+			continue;
+		if (vdev->ops->get_queue_num(did, &queue_num) < 0) {
+			RTE_LOG(ERR, VDPA,
+				"failed to get vdpa queue number "
+				"for device id %d.\n", did);
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (vdev->ops->get_features(did, &features) < 0) {
+			RTE_LOG(ERR, VDPA,
+				"failed to get vdpa features "
+				"for device id %d.\n", did);
+			continue;
+		}
+		addr = vdev->addr.pci_addr;
+		cmdline_printf(cl,
+			"%d\t\t" PCI_PRI_FMT "\t%" PRIu32 "\t\t0x%" PRIx64 "\n",
+			did, addr.domain, addr.bus, addr.devid,
+			addr.function, queue_num, features);
+	}
+}
+
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_action_list =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_list_result, action, "list");
+
+cmdline_parse_inst_t cmd_list_vdpa_devices = {
+	.f = cmd_list_vdpa_devices_parsed,
+	.data = NULL,
+	.help_str = "list all available vdpa devices",
+	.tokens = {
+		(void *)&cmd_action_list,
+		NULL,
+	},
+};
+
+/* *** Create new vdpa port *** */
+struct cmd_create_result {
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t action;
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t socket_path;
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t bdf;
+};
+
+static void cmd_create_vdpa_port_parsed(void *parsed_result,
+		struct cmdline *cl,
+		__attribute__((unused)) void *data)
+{
+	int did;
+	struct cmd_create_result *res = parsed_result;
+	struct rte_vdpa_dev_addr addr;
+
+	strncpy(vports[devcnt].ifname, res->socket_path, MAX_PATH_LEN);
+	if (rte_pci_addr_parse(res->bdf, &addr.pci_addr) != 0) {
+		cmdline_printf(cl, "Unable to parse the given bdf.\n");
+		return;
+	}
+	addr.type = PCI_ADDR;
+	did = rte_vdpa_find_device_id(&addr);
+	if (did < 0) {
+		cmdline_printf(cl, "Unable to find vdpa devide id.\n");
+		return;
+	}
+
+	vports[devcnt].did = did;
+
+	if (start_vdpa(&vports[devcnt]) == 0)
+		devcnt++;
+}
+
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_action_create =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_create_result, action, "create");
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_socket_path =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_create_result, socket_path, NULL);
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_bdf =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_create_result, bdf, NULL);
+
+cmdline_parse_inst_t cmd_create_vdpa_port = {
+	.f = cmd_create_vdpa_port_parsed,
+	.data = NULL,
+	.help_str = "create a new vdpa port",
+	.tokens = {
+		(void *)&cmd_action_create,
+		(void *)&cmd_socket_path,
+		(void *)&cmd_bdf,
+		NULL,
+	},
+};
+
+/* *** QUIT *** */
+struct cmd_quit_result {
+	cmdline_fixed_string_t quit;
+};
+
+static void cmd_quit_parsed(__attribute__((unused)) void *parsed_result,
+		struct cmdline *cl,
+		__attribute__((unused)) void *data)
+{
+	vdpa_sample_quit();
+	cmdline_quit(cl);
+}
+
+cmdline_parse_token_string_t cmd_quit_quit =
+	TOKEN_STRING_INITIALIZER(struct cmd_quit_result, quit, "quit");
+
+cmdline_parse_inst_t cmd_quit = {
+	.f = cmd_quit_parsed,
+	.data = NULL,
+	.help_str = "quit: exit application",
+	.tokens = {
+		(void *)&cmd_quit_quit,
+		NULL,
+	},
+};
+cmdline_parse_ctx_t main_ctx[] = {
+	(cmdline_parse_inst_t *)&cmd_help,
+	(cmdline_parse_inst_t *)&cmd_list_vdpa_devices,
+	(cmdline_parse_inst_t *)&cmd_create_vdpa_port,
+	(cmdline_parse_inst_t *)&cmd_quit,
+	NULL,
+};
+
+int
+main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+	char ch;
+	int i;
+	int ret;
+	struct cmdline *cl;
+
+	ret = rte_eal_init(argc, argv);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "eal init failed\n");
+	argc -= ret;
+	argv += ret;
+
+	data_init();
+
+	signal(SIGINT, signal_handler);
+	signal(SIGTERM, signal_handler);
+
+	ret = parse_args(argc, argv);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "invalid argument\n");
+
+	if (interactive == 1) {
+		cl = cmdline_stdin_new(main_ctx, "vdpa> ");
+		if (cl == NULL)
+			rte_panic("Cannot create cmdline instance\n");
+		cmdline_interact(cl);
+		cmdline_stdin_exit(cl);
+	} else {
+		for (i = 0; i < RTE_MIN(MAX_VDPA_SAMPLE_PORTS, dev_total);
+				i++) {
+			vports[i].did = i;
+			snprintf(vports[i].ifname, MAX_PATH_LEN, "%s%d",
+					iface, i);
+
+			start_vdpa(&vports[i]);
+		}
+
+		printf("enter \'q\' to quit\n");
+		while (scanf("%c", &ch)) {
+			if (ch == 'q')
+				break;
+			while (ch != '\n') {
+				if (scanf("%c", &ch))
+					printf("%c", ch);
+			}
+			printf("enter \'q\' to quit\n");
+		}
+		vdpa_sample_quit();
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/examples/vdpa/meson.build b/examples/vdpa/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e38a069f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/vdpa/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+# Copyright(c) 2018 Intel Corporation
+
+# meson file, for building this example as part of a main DPDK build.
+#
+# To build this example as a standalone application with an already-installed
+# DPDK instance, use 'make'
+
+if host_machine.system() != 'linux'
+	build = false
+endif
+deps += 'vhost'
+allow_experimental_apis = true
+sources = files(
+	'main.c'
+)
\ No newline at end of file
