diff --git a/io-engine/src/bdev/dev.rs b/io-engine/src/bdev/dev.rs
index 727a9e0a3..c8f87909d 100644
--- a/io-engine/src/bdev/dev.rs
+++ b/io-engine/src/bdev/dev.rs
@@ -66,7 +66,12 @@ pub(crate) mod uri {
             }
             "malloc" => Ok(Box::new(malloc::Malloc::try_from(&url)?)),
             "null" => Ok(Box::new(null_bdev::Null::try_from(&url)?)),
-            "nvmf" => Ok(Box::new(nvmx::NvmfDeviceTemplate::try_from(&url)?)),
+            // keeping nvmf scheme so existing tests(if any, setting this
+            // scheme) work. The replicas and nexus however should
+            // always be exposing nvmf+tcp or nvmf+rdma now.
+            "nvmf" | "nvmf+tcp" | "nvmf+rdma+tcp" => {
+                Ok(Box::new(nvmx::NvmfDeviceTemplate::try_from(&url)?))
+            }
             "pcie" => Ok(Box::new(nvme::NVMe::try_from(&url)?)),
             "uring" => Ok(Box::new(uring::Uring::try_from(&url)?)),
             "nexus" => Ok(Box::new(nx::Nexus::try_from(&url)?)),
diff --git a/io-engine/src/bdev_api.rs b/io-engine/src/bdev_api.rs
index cfbcc05e8..9c39d892c 100644
--- a/io-engine/src/bdev_api.rs
+++ b/io-engine/src/bdev_api.rs
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ where
         Ok(device) if device.get_name() == bdev.name() => {
             bdev.driver()
                 == match uri.scheme() {
-                    "nvmf" | "pcie" => "nvme",
+                    "nvmf" | "nvmf+tcp" | "nvmf+rdma+tcp" | "pcie" => "nvme",
                     scheme => scheme,
                 }
         }
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ where
         Ok(device) if device.get_name() == bdev.name() => {
             bdev.driver()
                 == match uri.scheme() {
-                    "nvmf" | "pcie" => "nvme",
+                    "nvmf" | "nvmf+tcp" | "nvmf+rdma+tcp" | "pcie" => "nvme",
                     scheme => scheme,
                 }
         }
diff --git a/io-engine/src/core/bdev.rs b/io-engine/src/core/bdev.rs
index 19e4a8abd..8d2814076 100644
--- a/io-engine/src/core/bdev.rs
+++ b/io-engine/src/core/bdev.rs
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ where
     type Error = CoreError;
     type Output = String;
 
-    /// share the bdev over NVMe-OF TCP
+    /// share the bdev over NVMe-OF TCP(and RDMA if enabled)
     async fn share_nvmf(
         self: Pin<&mut Self>,
         props: Option<NvmfShareProps>,
diff --git a/io-engine/src/subsys/nvmf/transport.rs b/io-engine/src/subsys/nvmf/transport.rs
index 56e47e05b..1f3be04bd 100644
--- a/io-engine/src/subsys/nvmf/transport.rs
+++ b/io-engine/src/subsys/nvmf/transport.rs
@@ -154,9 +154,18 @@ impl TransportId {
 
 impl Display for TransportId {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        // If an rdma transport is found in transport id, we modify the
+        // trstring for uri scheme to explicitly indicate the tcp support
+        // also by default when there is rdma available.
+        let trstring = match self.0.trstring.as_str() {
+            "RDMA" => "rdma+tcp".to_string(),
+            _else => _else.to_lowercase(),
+        };
+
         write!(
             f,
-            "nvmf://{}:{}",
+            "nvmf+{}://{}:{}",
+            trstring,
             self.0.traddr.as_str(),
             self.0.trsvcid.as_str()
         )
diff --git a/io-engine/src/target/nvmf.rs b/io-engine/src/target/nvmf.rs
index c92c0331c..f247d821a 100644
--- a/io-engine/src/target/nvmf.rs
+++ b/io-engine/src/target/nvmf.rs
@@ -35,9 +35,16 @@ pub async fn unshare(uuid: &str) -> Result<(), NvmfError> {
 
 pub fn get_uri(uuid: &str) -> Option<String> {
     if let Some(ss) = NvmfSubsystem::nqn_lookup(uuid) {
-        // for now we only pop the first but we can share a bdev
-        // over multiple nqn's
-        ss.uri_endpoints().unwrap().pop()
+        // If there is rdma capable uri available, return that. Otherwise,
+        // for now we only pop the most relevant, but we can share a bdev
+        // over multiple nqn's.
+        let mut uris = ss.uri_endpoints().expect("no uri endpoints");
+        let rdma_uri = uris
+            .iter()
+            .find(|u| u.starts_with("nvmf+rdma+tcp"))
+            .cloned();
+
+        rdma_uri.or(uris.pop())
     } else {
         None
     }
diff --git a/libnvme-rs/src/nvme_uri.rs b/libnvme-rs/src/nvme_uri.rs
index 328b0e74d..7298011dc 100644
--- a/libnvme-rs/src/nvme_uri.rs
+++ b/libnvme-rs/src/nvme_uri.rs
@@ -42,12 +42,14 @@ impl Drop for NvmeStringWrapper {
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
 enum NvmeTransportType {
     Tcp,
+    Rdma,
 }
 
 impl NvmeTransportType {
     fn to_str(&self) -> &str {
         match self {
             NvmeTransportType::Tcp => "tcp",
+            NvmeTransportType::Rdma => "rdma",
         }
     }
 }
@@ -83,6 +85,7 @@ impl TryFrom<&str> for NvmeTarget {
 
         let trtype = match url.scheme() {
             "nvmf" | "nvmf+tcp" => Ok(NvmeTransportType::Tcp),
+            "nvmf+rdma+tcp" => Ok(NvmeTransportType::Rdma),
             _ => Err(NvmeError::UrlError {
                 source: ParseError::IdnaError,
             }),