diff --git a/source3/smbd/globals.h b/source3/smbd/globals.h
index 70148fb76ae..3b9882d2117 100644
--- a/source3/smbd/globals.h
+++ b/source3/smbd/globals.h
@@ -389,6 +389,8 @@ struct smbXsrv_connection {
 	struct smbXsrv_open_table *open_table;
 };
 
+const char *smbXsrv_connection_dbg(const struct smbXsrv_connection *xconn);
+
 NTSTATUS smbXsrv_version_global_init(const struct server_id *server_id);
 uint32_t smbXsrv_version_global_current(void);
 
diff --git a/source3/smbd/process.c b/source3/smbd/process.c
index 127bbb3e390..d1074e21d9f 100644
--- a/source3/smbd/process.c
+++ b/source3/smbd/process.c
@@ -3485,6 +3485,29 @@ static void smbd_tevent_trace_callback(enum tevent_trace_point point,
 	}
 }
 
+/**
+ * Create a debug string for the connection
+ *
+ * This is allocated to talloc_tos() or a string constant
+ * in certain corner cases. The returned string should
+ * hence not be free'd directly but only via the talloc stack.
+ */
+const char *smbXsrv_connection_dbg(const struct smbXsrv_connection *xconn)
+{
+	const char *ret;
+
+	/*
+	 * TODO: this can be improved later
+	 * maybe including the client guid or more
+	 */
+	ret = tsocket_address_string(xconn->remote_address, talloc_tos());
+	if (ret == NULL) {
+		return "<tsocket_address_string() failed>";
+	}
+
+	return ret;
+}
+
 /****************************************************************************
  Process commands from the client
 ****************************************************************************/