diff --git a/vmkdrivers/src_9/include/linux/netdevice.h b/vmkdrivers/src_9/include/linux/netdevice.h
index 76207dc14990eaf00df0d60bd97ad41b7069b83e..57685fef0190ee00813527d805f12fbb3a47e2f1 100644
--- a/vmkdrivers/src_9/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/vmkdrivers/src_9/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -299,6 +299,40 @@ typedef enum {
    NETPOLL_BACKUP = 1,
 } vmklnx_poll_type;
 
+/*
+ * since all pointers are 4 bytes or even 8 bytes aligned,
+ * let's simply embed the poll_type in the lower bits of vmk_NetPoll->priv
+ * final pointer value = (original priv pointer | poll_type)
+ */
+#define POLLPRIV_TYPE_BITS	1
+#define POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK	((1 << POLLPRIV_TYPE_BITS) - 1)
+
+static inline void *pollpriv_embed(void *priv, vmklnx_poll_type poll_type)
+{
+        VMK_ASSERT(priv);
+        VMK_ASSERT((((unsigned long) priv) & POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK) == 0);
+        VMK_ASSERT(poll_type <= POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK);
+        return (void *)(((unsigned long )priv) | poll_type);
+}
+
+static inline vmklnx_poll_type pollpriv_type(void *priv)
+{
+        VMK_ASSERT(priv);
+        return (vmklnx_poll_type)(((unsigned long)priv) & POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK);
+}
+
+static inline struct napi_struct *pollpriv_napi(void *priv)
+{
+        VMK_ASSERT(pollpriv_type(priv) == NETPOLL_DEFAULT);
+        return (struct napi_struct *) (((unsigned long)priv) & (~POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK));
+}
+
+static inline struct net_device *pollpriv_net_device(void *priv)
+{
+        VMK_ASSERT(pollpriv_type(priv) == NETPOLL_BACKUP);
+        return (struct net_device *)  (((unsigned long)priv) & (~POLLPRIV_TYPE_MASK));
+}
+
 struct napi_struct {
         unsigned long           state;
         int                     weight;