diff --git a/drivers/block/rbd.c b/drivers/block/rbd.c
index 94f31bde73e8b5da2bd6a0b9acaa2e2b099b4830..08018710f36360c73f19527e975a059c91a30e28 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rbd.c
+++ b/drivers/block/rbd.c
@@ -1847,8 +1847,6 @@ static void rbd_osd_req_callback(struct ceph_osd_request *osd_req,
 	if (osd_req->r_result < 0)
 		obj_request->result = osd_req->r_result;
 
-	rbd_assert(osd_req->r_num_ops <= CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP);
-
 	/*
 	 * We support a 64-bit length, but ultimately it has to be
 	 * passed to the block layer, which just supports a 32-bit
diff --git a/include/linux/ceph/osd_client.h b/include/linux/ceph/osd_client.h
index c6d1d603bacf9b7084f488d0298f17d55903287c..aada6a1383a4ccfe25f25c3b2916ff9751a496ff 100644
--- a/include/linux/ceph/osd_client.h
+++ b/include/linux/ceph/osd_client.h
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ struct ceph_osd {
 };
 
 
-#define CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP	3
+#define CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS	2
+#define CEPH_OSD_MAX_OPS	16
 
 enum ceph_osd_data_type {
 	CEPH_OSD_DATA_TYPE_NONE = 0,
@@ -139,7 +140,6 @@ struct ceph_osd_request {
 
 	/* request osd ops array  */
 	unsigned int		r_num_ops;
-	struct ceph_osd_req_op	r_ops[CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP];
 
 	/* these are updated on each send */
 	__le32           *r_request_osdmap_epoch;
@@ -175,6 +175,8 @@ struct ceph_osd_request {
 	unsigned long     r_stamp;            /* send OR check time */
 
 	struct ceph_snap_context *r_snapc;    /* snap context for writes */
+
+	struct ceph_osd_req_op r_ops[];
 };
 
 struct ceph_request_redirect {
diff --git a/net/ceph/osd_client.c b/net/ceph/osd_client.c
index f93d0e893f3f50ff777e426de26374e07035ba24..ccd4e031fa3f20ea9200395f16b620e4357420a8 100644
--- a/net/ceph/osd_client.c
+++ b/net/ceph/osd_client.c
@@ -338,9 +338,10 @@ static void ceph_osdc_release_request(struct kref *kref)
 	ceph_put_snap_context(req->r_snapc);
 	if (req->r_mempool)
 		mempool_free(req, req->r_osdc->req_mempool);
-	else
+	else if (req->r_num_ops <= CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS)
 		kmem_cache_free(ceph_osd_request_cache, req);
-
+	else
+		kfree(req);
 }
 
 void ceph_osdc_get_request(struct ceph_osd_request *req)
@@ -369,18 +370,22 @@ struct ceph_osd_request *ceph_osdc_alloc_request(struct ceph_osd_client *osdc,
 	struct ceph_msg *msg;
 	size_t msg_size;
 
-	BUILD_BUG_ON(CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP > U16_MAX);
-	BUG_ON(num_ops > CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP);
-
 	if (use_mempool) {
+		BUG_ON(num_ops > CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS);
 		req = mempool_alloc(osdc->req_mempool, gfp_flags);
-		memset(req, 0, sizeof(*req));
+	} else if (num_ops <= CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS) {
+		req = kmem_cache_alloc(ceph_osd_request_cache, gfp_flags);
 	} else {
-		req = kmem_cache_zalloc(ceph_osd_request_cache, gfp_flags);
+		BUG_ON(num_ops > CEPH_OSD_MAX_OPS);
+		req = kmalloc(sizeof(*req) + num_ops * sizeof(req->r_ops[0]),
+			      gfp_flags);
 	}
-	if (req == NULL)
+	if (unlikely(!req))
 		return NULL;
 
+	/* req only, each op is zeroed in _osd_req_op_init() */
+	memset(req, 0, sizeof(*req));
+
 	req->r_osdc = osdc;
 	req->r_mempool = use_mempool;
 	req->r_num_ops = num_ops;
@@ -398,12 +403,19 @@ struct ceph_osd_request *ceph_osdc_alloc_request(struct ceph_osd_client *osdc,
 	req->r_base_oloc.pool = -1;
 	req->r_target_oloc.pool = -1;
 
+	msg_size = OSD_OPREPLY_FRONT_LEN;
+	if (num_ops > CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS) {
+		/* ceph_osd_op and rval */
+		msg_size += (num_ops - CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS) *
+			    (sizeof(struct ceph_osd_op) + 4);
+	}
+
 	/* create reply message */
 	if (use_mempool)
 		msg = ceph_msgpool_get(&osdc->msgpool_op_reply, 0);
 	else
-		msg = ceph_msg_new(CEPH_MSG_OSD_OPREPLY,
-				   OSD_OPREPLY_FRONT_LEN, gfp_flags, true);
+		msg = ceph_msg_new(CEPH_MSG_OSD_OPREPLY, msg_size,
+				   gfp_flags, true);
 	if (!msg) {
 		ceph_osdc_put_request(req);
 		return NULL;
@@ -1811,7 +1823,7 @@ static void handle_reply(struct ceph_osd_client *osdc, struct ceph_msg *msg)
 
 	ceph_decode_need(&p, end, 4, bad_put);
 	numops = ceph_decode_32(&p);
-	if (numops > CEPH_OSD_MAX_OP)
+	if (numops > CEPH_OSD_MAX_OPS)
 		goto bad_put;
 	if (numops != req->r_num_ops)
 		goto bad_put;
@@ -2784,11 +2796,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(ceph_osdc_writepages);
 
 int ceph_osdc_setup(void)
 {
+	size_t size = sizeof(struct ceph_osd_request) +
+	    CEPH_OSD_SLAB_OPS * sizeof(struct ceph_osd_req_op);
+
 	BUG_ON(ceph_osd_request_cache);
-	ceph_osd_request_cache = kmem_cache_create("ceph_osd_request",
-					sizeof (struct ceph_osd_request),
-					__alignof__(struct ceph_osd_request),
-					0, NULL);
+	ceph_osd_request_cache = kmem_cache_create("ceph_osd_request", size,
+						   0, 0, NULL);
 
 	return ceph_osd_request_cache ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
 }