diff --git a/qapi/block-export.json b/qapi/block-export.json
index 1091c97f6f..658bdf05e1 100644
--- a/qapi/block-export.json
+++ b/qapi/block-export.json
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@
 #
 # Export a block node to QEMU's embedded NBD server.
 #
+# The export name will be used as the id for the resulting block export.
+#
 # Returns: error if the server is not running, or export with the same name
 #          already exists.
 #
@@ -182,6 +184,8 @@
 # Describes a block export, i.e. how single node should be exported on an
 # external interface.
 #
+# @id: A unique identifier for the block export (across all export types)
+#
 # @node-name: The node name of the block node to be exported (since: 5.2)
 #
 # @writethrough: If true, caches are flushed after every write request to the
@@ -192,6 +196,7 @@
 ##
 { 'union': 'BlockExportOptions',
   'base': { 'type': 'BlockExportType',
+            'id': 'str',
             'node-name': 'str',
             '*writethrough': 'bool' },
   'discriminator': 'type',
diff --git a/include/block/export.h b/include/block/export.h
index 6fffcb5651..cdc6e161ea 100644
--- a/include/block/export.h
+++ b/include/block/export.h
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ typedef struct BlockExportDriver {
 struct BlockExport {
     const BlockExportDriver *drv;
 
+    /* Unique identifier for the export */
+    char *id;
+
     /*
      * Reference count for this block export. This includes strong references
      * both from the owner (qemu-nbd or the monitor) and clients connected to
diff --git a/block/export/export.c b/block/export/export.c
index e94a68c183..7a4a78449a 100644
--- a/block/export/export.c
+++ b/block/export/export.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "block/nbd.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qapi/qapi-commands-block-export.h"
+#include "qemu/id.h"
 
 static const BlockExportDriver *blk_exp_drivers[] = {
     &blk_exp_nbd,
@@ -28,6 +29,19 @@ static const BlockExportDriver *blk_exp_drivers[] = {
 static QLIST_HEAD(, BlockExport) block_exports =
     QLIST_HEAD_INITIALIZER(block_exports);
 
+static BlockExport *blk_exp_find(const char *id)
+{
+    BlockExport *exp;
+
+    QLIST_FOREACH(exp, &block_exports, next) {
+        if (strcmp(id, exp->id) == 0) {
+            return exp;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return NULL;
+}
+
 static const BlockExportDriver *blk_exp_find_driver(BlockExportType type)
 {
     int i;
@@ -46,6 +60,15 @@ BlockExport *blk_exp_add(BlockExportOptions *export, Error **errp)
     BlockExport *exp;
     int ret;
 
+    if (!id_wellformed(export->id)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "Invalid block export id");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    if (blk_exp_find(export->id)) {
+        error_setg(errp, "Block export id '%s' is already in use", export->id);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     drv = blk_exp_find_driver(export->type);
     if (!drv) {
         error_setg(errp, "No driver found for the requested export type");
@@ -57,10 +80,12 @@ BlockExport *blk_exp_add(BlockExportOptions *export, Error **errp)
     *exp = (BlockExport) {
         .drv        = drv,
         .refcount   = 1,
+        .id         = g_strdup(export->id),
     };
 
     ret = drv->create(exp, export, errp);
     if (ret < 0) {
+        g_free(exp->id);
         g_free(exp);
         return NULL;
     }
@@ -87,6 +112,7 @@ static void blk_exp_delete_bh(void *opaque)
     assert(exp->refcount == 0);
     QLIST_REMOVE(exp, next);
     exp->drv->delete(exp);
+    g_free(exp->id);
     g_free(exp);
 
     aio_context_release(aio_context);
diff --git a/blockdev-nbd.c b/blockdev-nbd.c
index f927264777..814554dd90 100644
--- a/blockdev-nbd.c
+++ b/blockdev-nbd.c
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_add(NbdServerAddOptions *arg, Error **errp)
     export_opts = g_new(BlockExportOptions, 1);
     *export_opts = (BlockExportOptions) {
         .type                   = BLOCK_EXPORT_TYPE_NBD,
+        .id                     = g_strdup(arg->name),
         .node_name              = g_strdup(bdrv_get_node_name(bs)),
         .u.nbd = {
             .has_name           = true,
diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index cfa5b78b1a..66cb8f91b1 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -1064,6 +1064,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     export_opts = g_new(BlockExportOptions, 1);
     *export_opts = (BlockExportOptions) {
         .type               = BLOCK_EXPORT_TYPE_NBD,
+        .id                 = g_strdup("qemu-nbd-export"),
         .node_name          = g_strdup(bdrv_get_node_name(bs)),
         .has_writethrough   = true,
         .writethrough       = writethrough,
diff --git a/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c b/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
index 0fcab6ed2d..e6157ff518 100644
--- a/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
+++ b/storage-daemon/qemu-storage-daemon.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ static void help(void)
 "  --chardev <options>    configure a character device backend\n"
 "                         (see the qemu(1) man page for possible options)\n"
 "\n"
-"  --export [type=]nbd,device=<node-name>[,name=<export-name>]\n"
+"  --export [type=]nbd,device=<node-name>,id=<id>,[,name=<export-name>]\n"
 "           [,writable=on|off][,bitmap=<name>]\n"
 "                         export the specified block node over NBD\n"
 "                         (requires --nbd-server)\n"
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
index e1eaaedb55..31ce9e6fe0 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/223.out
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ exports available: 0
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"nosuch"}}
 {"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Cannot find device=nosuch nor node_name=nosuch"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n"}}
-{"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "NBD server already has export named 'n'"}}
+{"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Block export id 'n' is already in use"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n", "name":"n2", "bitmap":"b2"}}
 {"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Enabled bitmap 'b2' incompatible with readonly export"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n", "name":"n2", "bitmap":"b3"}}
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ exports available: 0
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"nosuch"}}
 {"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Cannot find device=nosuch nor node_name=nosuch"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n"}}
-{"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "NBD server already has export named 'n'"}}
+{"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Block export id 'n' is already in use"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n", "name":"n2", "bitmap":"b2"}}
 {"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Enabled bitmap 'b2' incompatible with readonly export"}}
 {"execute":"nbd-server-add", "arguments":{"device":"n", "name":"n2", "bitmap":"b3"}}
