diff --git a/test/vmd/vmd.sh b/test/vmd/vmd.sh
index c700b4921..6e395b83b 100755
--- a/test/vmd/vmd.sh
+++ b/test/vmd/vmd.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ rootdir=$(readlink -f $testdir/../..)
 source $rootdir/scripts/common.sh
 source $rootdir/test/common/autotest_common.sh
 
+rpc_py=$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py
+
 pci_devs=$($rootdir/app/spdk_lspci/spdk_lspci | grep "NVMe disk behind VMD" | awk '{print $1}')
 
 if [ -z $pci_devs]; then
@@ -40,4 +42,16 @@ if [ -d /usr/src/fio ]; then
 	timing_exit fio_plugin
 fi
 
+$rootdir/test/app/bdev_svc/bdev_svc --wait-for-rpc & svcpid=$!
+trap "killprocess $svcpid; exit 1" SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT
+# Wait until bdev_svc starts
+waitforlisten $svcpid
+
+$rpc_py enable_vmd
+$rpc_py start_subsystem_init
+
+for bdf in $pci_devs; do
+	$rpc_py construct_nvme_bdev -b NVMe_$bdf -t PCIe -a $bdf
+done
+
 timing_exit vmd