diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index c0b32afc2e9c83b712362603d5b63729d73fca1b..1be6cfccfff89ffc5e052c031cee262465fe51bf 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
 #include "locking/domain_lock.h"
 #include "virdomainsnapshotobjlist.h"
 #include "virdomaincheckpointobjlist.h"
+#include "backup_conf.h"
 
 #ifdef MAJOR_IN_MKDEV
 # include <sys/mkdev.h>
@@ -2236,6 +2237,9 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateDataClear(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
     priv->pflash0 = NULL;
     virObjectUnref(priv->pflash1);
     priv->pflash1 = NULL;
+
+    virDomainBackupDefFree(priv->backup);
+    priv->backup = NULL;
 }
 
 
@@ -2643,6 +2647,26 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBlockjobs(virBufferPtr buf,
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBackups(virBufferPtr buf,
+                                     virDomainObjPtr vm)
+{
+    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
+    g_auto(virBuffer) attrBuf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
+    g_auto(virBuffer) childBuf = VIR_BUFFER_INIT_CHILD(buf);
+
+    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_INCREMENTAL_BACKUP))
+        return 0;
+
+    if (priv->backup &&
+        virDomainBackupDefFormat(&childBuf, priv->backup, true) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    virXMLFormatElement(buf, "backups", &attrBuf, &childBuf);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 void
 qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatAllowReboot(virBufferPtr buf,
                                          virTristateBool allowReboot)
@@ -2938,6 +2962,9 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
 
     virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<agentTimeout>%i</agentTimeout>\n", priv->agentTimeout);
 
+    if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBackups(buf, vm) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3314,6 +3341,34 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBlockjobs(virDomainObjPtr vm,
 }
 
 
+static int
+qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBackups(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv,
+                                    xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt)
+{
+    g_autofree xmlNodePtr *nodes = NULL;
+    ssize_t nnodes = 0;
+
+    if ((nnodes = virXPathNodeSet("./backups/domainbackup", ctxt, &nodes)) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    if (nnodes > 1) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("only one backup job is supported"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (nnodes == 0)
+        return 0;
+
+    if (!(priv->backup = virDomainBackupDefParseNode(ctxt->doc, nodes[0],
+                                                     priv->driver->xmlopt,
+                                                     VIR_DOMAIN_BACKUP_PARSE_INTERNAL)))
+        return -1;
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
 int
 qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseAllowReboot(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
                                         virTristateBool *allowReboot)
@@ -3743,6 +3798,9 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
     if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBlockjobs(vm, priv, ctxt) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBackups(priv, ctxt) < 0)
+        goto error;
+
     qemuDomainStorageIdReset(priv);
     if (virXPathULongLong("string(./nodename/@index)", ctxt,
                           &priv->nodenameindex) == -2) {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index 7c752abc8037c6bcd9c236a4e8099a21009a2a8b..4c47b62b589002088cfea41aa2c1d953c0bd009f 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -414,6 +414,9 @@ struct _qemuDomainObjPrivate {
      * commandline for pflash drives. */
     virStorageSourcePtr pflash0;
     virStorageSourcePtr pflash1;
+
+    /* running backup job */
+    virDomainBackupDefPtr backup;
 };
 
 #define QEMU_DOMAIN_PRIVATE(vm) \