diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index 4b31e2a331..e7ba566d2b 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -1541,8 +1541,8 @@
       attributes <code>ports</code> and <code>vectors</code>, which
       control how many devices can be connected through the
       controller.  A "scsi" controller has an optional
-      attribute <code>model</code>, which is one of "auto",
-      "buslogic", "lsilogic", "lsias1068", or "vmpvscsi".
+      attribute <code>model</code>, which is one of "auto", "buslogic",
+      "ibmvscsi", "lsilogic", "lsias1068" or "vmpvscsi".
       A "usb" controller has an optional attribute <code>model</code>,
       which is one of "piix3-uhci", "piix4-uhci", "ehci",
       "ich9-ehci1", "ich9-uhci1", "ich9-uhci2", "ich9-uhci3",
diff --git a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
index fdcbc28ee3..5f67a6f18b 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/domaincommon.rng
@@ -1081,6 +1081,7 @@
             <value>lsilogic</value>
             <value>lsisas1068</value>
             <value>vmpvscsi</value>
+            <value>ibmvscsi</value>
             <value>piix3-uhci</value>
             <value>piix4-uhci</value>
             <value>ehci</value>
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index d4745510f1..f01650aef2 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -234,7 +234,8 @@ VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virDomainControllerModelSCSI, VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LAS
               "buslogic",
               "lsilogic",
               "lsisas1068",
-              "vmpvscsi")
+              "vmpvscsi",
+              "ibmvscsi");
 
 VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virDomainControllerModelUSB, VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_USB_LAST,
               "piix3-uhci",
diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.h b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
index bac5a872a8..c6c4e271ed 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.h
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ enum virDomainControllerModelSCSI {
     VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LSILOGIC,
     VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LSISAS1068,
     VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_VMPVSCSI,
+    VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_IBMVSCSI,
 
     VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LAST
 };
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 1bd1f3765b..6d98036af5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -2288,14 +2288,30 @@ qemuBuildControllerDevStr(virDomainDefPtr domainDef,
                           int *nusbcontroller)
 {
     virBuffer buf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
+    int model;
 
     switch (def->type) {
     case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_SCSI:
-        if (STREQ(domainDef->os.arch, "ppc64") &&
-            STREQ(domainDef->os.machine, "pseries")) {
-            virBufferAddLit(&buf, "spapr-vscsi");
-        } else {
+        model = def->model;
+        if (model == -1 || model == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_AUTO) {
+            if (STREQ(domainDef->os.arch, "ppc64") &&
+                STREQ(domainDef->os.machine, "pseries")) {
+                model = VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_IBMVSCSI;
+            } else {
+                model = VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LSILOGIC;
+            }
+        }
+        switch (model) {
+        case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LSILOGIC:
             virBufferAddLit(&buf, "lsi");
+            break;
+        case VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_IBMVSCSI:
+            virBufferAddLit(&buf, "spapr-vscsi");
+            break;
+        default:
+            qemuReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED,
+                            _("Unsupported controller model: %s"),
+                            virDomainControllerModelSCSITypeToString(model));
         }
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",id=scsi%d", def->idx);
         break;
diff --git a/src/vmx/vmx.c b/src/vmx/vmx.c
index c250aeeb98..6ac500c616 100644
--- a/src/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/src/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -481,16 +481,17 @@ def->parallels[0]...
 #define VMX_BUILD_NAME(_suffix)                                               \
     VMX_BUILD_NAME_EXTRA(_suffix, #_suffix)
 
-/* directly map the virDomainControllerModel to virVMXSCSIControllerModel,
- * this is good enough for now because all virDomainControllerModel values
- * are actually SCSI controller models in the ESX case */
+/* directly map the virDomainControllerModel to virVMXSCSIControllerModel.
+ * Using an uppercase name for unused values ensures that they will never
+ * be used.  */
 VIR_ENUM_DECL(virVMXControllerModelSCSI)
 VIR_ENUM_IMPL(virVMXControllerModelSCSI, VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_MODEL_SCSI_LAST,
               "auto", /* just to match virDomainControllerModel, will never be used */
               "buslogic",
               "lsilogic",
               "lsisas1068",
-              "pvscsi");
+              "pvscsi",
+              "UNUSED ibmvscsi");
 
 
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..799eb920eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.args
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test /usr/bin/qemu -S -M \
+pc -m 214 -smp 1 -nographic -nodefconfig -nodefaults -monitor \
+unix:/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -no-acpi -boot c -device spapr-vscsi,id=scsi0,\
+bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 -drive file=/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1,if=none,\
+id=drive-ide0-0-0 -device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,\
+id=ide0-0-0 -drive file=/tmp/scsidisk.img,if=none,id=drive-scsi0-0-0 -device \
+scsi-disk,bus=scsi0.0,scsi-id=0,drive=drive-scsi0-0-0,id=scsi0-0-0 -usb \
+-device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7cf5798c14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-disk-scsi-vscsi.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809</uuid>
+  <memory>219136</memory>
+  <currentMemory>219136</currentMemory>
+  <vcpu>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='i686' machine='pc'>hvm</type>
+    <boot dev='hd'/>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
+  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
+  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu</emulator>
+    <disk type='block' device='disk'>
+      <source dev='/dev/HostVG/QEMUGuest1'/>
+      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
+      <source file='/tmp/scsidisk.img'/>
+      <target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/>
+      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
+    </disk>
+    <controller type='ide' index='0'/>
+    <controller type='scsi' index='0' model='ibmvscsi'/>
+    <memballoon model='virtio'/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 30bea3759e..754d898a0e 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -429,6 +429,8 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("disk-scsi-device-auto", false,
             QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
+    DO_TEST("disk-scsi-vscsi", false,
+            QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("disk-sata-device", false,
             QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,
             QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG, QEMU_CAPS_ICH9_AHCI);
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 2cc1f7dde6..f35caee696 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("disk-drive-cache-v1-wb");
     DO_TEST("disk-drive-cache-v1-none");
     DO_TEST("disk-scsi-device");
+    DO_TEST("disk-scsi-vscsi");
     DO_TEST("graphics-listen-network");
     DO_TEST("graphics-vnc");
     DO_TEST("graphics-vnc-sasl");