diff --git a/blockdev-nbd.c b/blockdev-nbd.c
index c437d32573..ca41cc6fdd 100644
--- a/blockdev-nbd.c
+++ b/blockdev-nbd.c
@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_start(SocketAddress *addr,
 void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_writable, bool writable,
                         Error **errp)
 {
-    BlockBackend *blk;
+    BlockDriverState *bs = NULL;
+    BlockBackend *on_eject_blk;
     NBDExport *exp;
 
     if (!nbd_server) {
@@ -158,26 +159,22 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_writable, bool writable,
         return;
     }
 
-    blk = blk_by_name(device);
-    if (!blk) {
-        error_set(errp, ERROR_CLASS_DEVICE_NOT_FOUND,
-                  "Device '%s' not found", device);
-        return;
-    }
-    if (!blk_is_inserted(blk)) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_DEVICE_HAS_NO_MEDIUM, device);
+    on_eject_blk = blk_by_name(device);
+
+    bs = bdrv_lookup_bs(device, device, errp);
+    if (!bs) {
         return;
     }
 
     if (!has_writable) {
         writable = false;
     }
-    if (blk_is_read_only(blk)) {
+    if (bdrv_is_read_only(bs)) {
         writable = false;
     }
 
-    exp = nbd_export_new(blk_bs(blk), 0, -1, writable ? 0 : NBD_FLAG_READ_ONLY,
-                         NULL, false, blk, errp);
+    exp = nbd_export_new(bs, 0, -1, writable ? 0 : NBD_FLAG_READ_ONLY,
+                         NULL, false, on_eject_blk, errp);
     if (!exp) {
         return;
     }
diff --git a/qapi/block.json b/qapi/block.json
index db05169187..8b08bd2fd0 100644
--- a/qapi/block.json
+++ b/qapi/block.json
@@ -161,9 +161,9 @@
 ##
 # @nbd-server-add:
 #
-# Export a device to QEMU's embedded NBD server.
+# Export a block node to QEMU's embedded NBD server.
 #
-# @device: Block device to be exported
+# @device: The device name or node name of the node to be exported
 #
 # @writable: Whether clients should be able to write to the device via the
 #     NBD connection (default false). #optional