diff --git a/package/Dockerfile b/package/Dockerfile
index 38eb7d5de..07a3d57ef 100644
--- a/package/Dockerfile
+++ b/package/Dockerfile
@@ -102,11 +102,11 @@ RUN zypper -n install sg3_utils iproute2
 RUN zypper -n install util-linux-systemd nfs-client nfs4-acl-tools
 RUN zypper clean -a
 
-# Install SPDK dependencies
+# Install SPDK dependencies (--rdma pulls libibverbs/librdmacm runtime libs for the NVMe-oF RDMA transport)
 COPY --from=cbuilder /usr/src/spdk/scripts /usr/src/spdk/scripts
 COPY --from=cbuilder /usr/src/spdk/include /usr/src/spdk/include
 RUN for i in {1..10}; do \
-        bash /usr/src/spdk/scripts/pkgdep.sh && break || sleep 1; \
+        bash /usr/src/spdk/scripts/pkgdep.sh --rdma && break || sleep 1; \
     done
 
 # Copy pre-built binaries from cbuilder and gobuilder
diff --git a/pkg/client/instance.go b/pkg/client/instance.go
index a659ee2eb..f6da84332 100644
--- a/pkg/client/instance.go
+++ b/pkg/client/instance.go
@@ -149,6 +149,11 @@ type InstanceCreateRequest struct {
 	ShardGroup     ShardGroupCreateRequest
 	DataLayoutType rpc.DataLayoutType
 
+	// TransportType selects the NVMe-oF transport for the internal
+	// engine<->replica connections of a v2 (SPDK) volume (TCP or RDMA). The
+	// zero value is TCP, preserving the pre-existing default behavior.
+	TransportType rpc.TransportType
+
 	// Deprecated: replaced by DataEngine.
 	BackendStoreDriver string
 }
@@ -179,13 +184,14 @@ func (c *InstanceServiceClient) InstanceCreate(req *InstanceCreateRequest) (*api
 		switch req.InstanceType {
 		case types.InstanceTypeEngine:
 			spdkInstanceSpec = &rpc.SpdkInstanceSpec{
-				Size:              req.Size,
-				ReplicaAddressMap: req.Engine.ReplicaAddressMap,
-				Frontend:          req.Engine.Frontend,
-				SalvageRequested:  req.Engine.SalvageRequested,
-				SnapshotMaxCount:  int32(req.Engine.SnapshotMaxCount),
-				UblkQueueDepth:    int32(req.Engine.UblkQueueDepth),
-				UblkNumberOfQueue: int32(req.Engine.UblkNumberOfQueue),
+				Size:                req.Size,
+				ReplicaAddressMap:   req.Engine.ReplicaAddressMap,
+				Frontend:            req.Engine.Frontend,
+				SalvageRequested:    req.Engine.SalvageRequested,
+				SnapshotMaxCount:    int32(req.Engine.SnapshotMaxCount),
+				UblkQueueDepth:      int32(req.Engine.UblkQueueDepth),
+				UblkNumberOfQueue:   int32(req.Engine.UblkNumberOfQueue),
+				TransportType: req.TransportType,
 			}
 		case types.InstanceTypeEngineFrontend:
 			spdkInstanceSpec = &rpc.SpdkInstanceSpec{
@@ -197,11 +203,12 @@ func (c *InstanceServiceClient) InstanceCreate(req *InstanceCreateRequest) (*api
 			}
 		case types.InstanceTypeReplica:
 			spdkInstanceSpec = &rpc.SpdkInstanceSpec{
-				Size:             req.Size,
-				DiskName:         req.Replica.DiskName,
-				DiskUuid:         req.Replica.DiskUUID,
-				ExposeRequired:   req.Replica.ExposeRequired,
-				BackingImageName: req.Replica.BackingImageName,
+				Size:                req.Size,
+				DiskName:            req.Replica.DiskName,
+				DiskUuid:            req.Replica.DiskUUID,
+				ExposeRequired:      req.Replica.ExposeRequired,
+				BackingImageName:    req.Replica.BackingImageName,
+				TransportType: req.TransportType,
 			}
 		case types.InstanceTypeShard:
 			spdkInstanceSpec = &rpc.SpdkInstanceSpec{
diff --git a/pkg/instance/instance.go b/pkg/instance/instance.go
index 18e1af06a..e81c8fc04 100644
--- a/pkg/instance/instance.go
+++ b/pkg/instance/instance.go
@@ -197,7 +197,8 @@ func (ops V2DataEngineInstanceOps) InstanceCreate(req *rpc.InstanceCreateRequest
 		engine, err := c.EngineCreate(req.Spec.Name, req.Spec.VolumeName, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.Frontend, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.Size,
 			req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.ReplicaAddressMap, req.Spec.PortCount, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.SalvageRequested,
 			req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.SnapshotMaxCount,
-			convertIMDataLayoutTypeToSPDKDataLayoutType(req.DataLayoutType))
+			convertIMDataLayoutTypeToSPDKDataLayoutType(req.DataLayoutType),
+			convertIMTransportTypeToSPDKTransportType(req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.TransportType))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -210,7 +211,8 @@ func (ops V2DataEngineInstanceOps) InstanceCreate(req *rpc.InstanceCreateRequest
 		}
 		return engineFrontendResponseToInstanceResponse(engineFrontend), nil
 	case types.InstanceTypeReplica:
-		replica, err := c.ReplicaCreate(req.Spec.Name, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.DiskName, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.DiskUuid, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.Size, req.Spec.PortCount, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.BackingImageName)
+		replica, err := c.ReplicaCreate(req.Spec.Name, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.DiskName, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.DiskUuid, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.Size, req.Spec.PortCount, req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.BackingImageName,
+			convertIMTransportTypeToSPDKTransportType(req.Spec.SpdkInstanceSpec.TransportType))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -1352,6 +1354,20 @@ func convertIMDataLayoutTypeToSPDKDataLayoutType(layout rpc.DataLayoutType) spdk
 	}
 }
 
+// convertIMTransportTypeToSPDKTransportType maps the imrpc
+// NVMe-oF transport selector to its spdkrpc equivalent. The zero value
+// (TRANSPORT_TYPE_TCP) maps to TCP so instances created by an older
+// control plane - which never sets the field - keep their historical TCP
+// behavior.
+func convertIMTransportTypeToSPDKTransportType(transport rpc.TransportType) spdkrpc.TransportType {
+	switch transport {
+	case rpc.TransportType_TRANSPORT_TYPE_RDMA:
+		return spdkrpc.TransportType_TRANSPORT_TYPE_RDMA
+	default:
+		return spdkrpc.TransportType_TRANSPORT_TYPE_TCP
+	}
+}
+
 func (s *Server) InstanceDeleteTarget(ctx context.Context, req *rpc.InstanceDeleteTargetRequest) (*emptypb.Empty, error) {
 	logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
 		"name":       req.Name,