diff --git a/backends/hostmem-file.c b/backends/hostmem-file.c
index e44c319915..e319ec1ad8 100644
--- a/backends/hostmem-file.c
+++ b/backends/hostmem-file.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ struct HostMemoryBackendFile {
     bool share;
     bool discard_data;
     char *mem_path;
+    uint64_t align;
 };
 
 static void
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ file_backend_memory_alloc(HostMemoryBackend *backend, Error **errp)
         path = object_get_canonical_path(OBJECT(backend));
         memory_region_init_ram_from_file(&backend->mr, OBJECT(backend),
                                  path,
-                                 backend->size, fb->share,
+                                 backend->size, fb->align, fb->share,
                                  fb->mem_path, errp);
         g_free(path);
     }
@@ -115,6 +116,40 @@ static void file_memory_backend_set_discard_data(Object *o, bool value,
     MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(o)->discard_data = value;
 }
 
+static void file_memory_backend_get_align(Object *o, Visitor *v,
+                                          const char *name, void *opaque,
+                                          Error **errp)
+{
+    HostMemoryBackendFile *fb = MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(o);
+    uint64_t val = fb->align;
+
+    visit_type_size(v, name, &val, errp);
+}
+
+static void file_memory_backend_set_align(Object *o, Visitor *v,
+                                          const char *name, void *opaque,
+                                          Error **errp)
+{
+    HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(o);
+    HostMemoryBackendFile *fb = MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(o);
+    Error *local_err = NULL;
+    uint64_t val;
+
+    if (host_memory_backend_mr_inited(backend)) {
+        error_setg(&local_err, "cannot change property value");
+        goto out;
+    }
+
+    visit_type_size(v, name, &val, &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        goto out;
+    }
+    fb->align = val;
+
+ out:
+    error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+}
+
 static void file_backend_unparent(Object *obj)
 {
     HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(obj);
@@ -145,6 +180,10 @@ file_backend_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
     object_class_property_add_str(oc, "mem-path",
         get_mem_path, set_mem_path,
         &error_abort);
+    object_class_property_add(oc, "align", "int",
+        file_memory_backend_get_align,
+        file_memory_backend_set_align,
+        NULL, NULL, &error_abort);
 }
 
 static void file_backend_instance_finalize(Object *o)
diff --git a/docs/nvdimm.txt b/docs/nvdimm.txt
index 2d9f8c0e8c..21249dd062 100644
--- a/docs/nvdimm.txt
+++ b/docs/nvdimm.txt
@@ -122,3 +122,19 @@ Note:
      M >= size of RAM devices +
           size of statically plugged vNVDIMM devices +
           size of hotplugged vNVDIMM devices
+
+Alignment
+---------
+
+QEMU uses mmap(2) to maps vNVDIMM backends and aligns the mapping
+address to the page size (getpagesize(2)) by default. However, some
+types of backends may require an alignment different than the page
+size. In that case, QEMU v2.12.0 and later provide 'align' option to
+memory-backend-file to allow users to specify the proper alignment.
+
+For example, device dax require the 2 MB alignment, so we can use
+following QEMU command line options to use it (/dev/dax0.0) as the
+backend of vNVDIMM:
+
+ -object memory-backend-file,id=mem1,share=on,mem-path=/dev/dax0.0,size=4G,align=2M
+ -device nvdimm,id=nvdimm1,memdev=mem1
diff --git a/exec.c b/exec.c
index d28fc0cd3d..629a508385 100644
--- a/exec.c
+++ b/exec.c
@@ -1612,7 +1612,13 @@ static void *file_ram_alloc(RAMBlock *block,
     void *area;
 
     block->page_size = qemu_fd_getpagesize(fd);
-    block->mr->align = block->page_size;
+    if (block->mr->align % block->page_size) {
+        error_setg(errp, "alignment 0x%" PRIx64
+                   " must be multiples of page size 0x%zx",
+                   block->mr->align, block->page_size);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    block->mr->align = MAX(block->page_size, block->mr->align);
 #if defined(__s390x__)
     if (kvm_enabled()) {
         block->mr->align = MAX(block->mr->align, QEMU_VMALLOC_ALIGN);
diff --git a/include/exec/memory.h b/include/exec/memory.h
index a4cabdf44c..07c5d6d597 100644
--- a/include/exec/memory.h
+++ b/include/exec/memory.h
@@ -465,6 +465,8 @@ void memory_region_init_resizeable_ram(MemoryRegion *mr,
  * @name: Region name, becomes part of RAMBlock name used in migration stream
  *        must be unique within any device
  * @size: size of the region.
+ * @align: alignment of the region base address; if 0, the default alignment
+ *         (getpagesize()) will be used.
  * @share: %true if memory must be mmaped with the MAP_SHARED flag
  * @path: the path in which to allocate the RAM.
  * @errp: pointer to Error*, to store an error if it happens.
@@ -476,6 +478,7 @@ void memory_region_init_ram_from_file(MemoryRegion *mr,
                                       struct Object *owner,
                                       const char *name,
                                       uint64_t size,
+                                      uint64_t align,
                                       bool share,
                                       const char *path,
                                       Error **errp);
diff --git a/memory.c b/memory.c
index 4b41fb837b..449a1429b9 100644
--- a/memory.c
+++ b/memory.c
@@ -1570,6 +1570,7 @@ void memory_region_init_ram_from_file(MemoryRegion *mr,
                                       struct Object *owner,
                                       const char *name,
                                       uint64_t size,
+                                      uint64_t align,
                                       bool share,
                                       const char *path,
                                       Error **errp)
@@ -1578,6 +1579,7 @@ void memory_region_init_ram_from_file(MemoryRegion *mr,
     mr->ram = true;
     mr->terminates = true;
     mr->destructor = memory_region_destructor_ram;
+    mr->align = align;
     mr->ram_block = qemu_ram_alloc_from_file(size, mr, share, path, errp);
     mr->dirty_log_mask = tcg_enabled() ? (1 << DIRTY_MEMORY_CODE) : 0;
 }
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index 7b9c33ad12..83675a03f3 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ static void allocate_system_memory_nonnuma(MemoryRegion *mr, Object *owner,
     if (mem_path) {
 #ifdef __linux__
         Error *err = NULL;
-        memory_region_init_ram_from_file(mr, owner, name, ram_size, false,
+        memory_region_init_ram_from_file(mr, owner, name, ram_size, 0, false,
                                          mem_path, &err);
         if (err) {
             error_report_err(err);
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index b3e03c5464..5ff741a4af 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -3974,7 +3974,7 @@ property must be set.  These objects are placed in the
 
 @table @option
 
-@item -object memory-backend-file,id=@var{id},size=@var{size},mem-path=@var{dir},share=@var{on|off},discard-data=@var{on|off},merge=@var{on|off},dump=@var{on|off},prealloc=@var{on|off},host-nodes=@var{host-nodes},policy=@var{default|preferred|bind|interleave}
+@item -object memory-backend-file,id=@var{id},size=@var{size},mem-path=@var{dir},share=@var{on|off},discard-data=@var{on|off},merge=@var{on|off},dump=@var{on|off},prealloc=@var{on|off},host-nodes=@var{host-nodes},policy=@var{default|preferred|bind|interleave},align=@var{align}
 
 Creates a memory file backend object, which can be used to back
 the guest RAM with huge pages.
@@ -4027,6 +4027,13 @@ restrict memory allocation to the given host node list
 interleave memory allocations across the given host node list
 @end table
 
+The @option{align} option specifies the base address alignment when
+QEMU mmap(2) @option{mem-path}, and accepts common suffixes, eg
+@option{2M}. Some backend store specified by @option{mem-path}
+requires an alignment different than the default one used by QEMU, eg
+the device DAX /dev/dax0.0 requires 2M alignment rather than 4K. In
+such cases, users can specify the required alignment via this option.
+
 @item -object memory-backend-ram,id=@var{id},merge=@var{on|off},dump=@var{on|off},prealloc=@var{on|off},size=@var{size},host-nodes=@var{host-nodes},policy=@var{default|preferred|bind|interleave}
 
 Creates a memory backend object, which can be used to back the guest RAM.