diff --git a/drivers/net/xen-netback/common.h b/drivers/net/xen-netback/common.h
index 083ecc93fe5e7b0941aedba3ccb9fd27158cc03b..5f1fda44882b764d2adcdc4d02a782740db6cbc5 100644
--- a/drivers/net/xen-netback/common.h
+++ b/drivers/net/xen-netback/common.h
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ struct xenvif {
 	 */
 	bool disabled;
 	unsigned long status;
+	unsigned long drain_timeout;
+	unsigned long stall_timeout;
 
 	/* Queues */
 	struct xenvif_queue *queues;
@@ -328,7 +330,7 @@ irqreturn_t xenvif_interrupt(int irq, void *dev_id);
 extern bool separate_tx_rx_irq;
 
 extern unsigned int rx_drain_timeout_msecs;
-extern unsigned int rx_drain_timeout_jiffies;
+extern unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_msecs;
 extern unsigned int xenvif_max_queues;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_FS
diff --git a/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c b/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
index a6a32d337bbbcf0440dae386117c4dfb3b6b901c..9259a732e8a4a6d20740a1ad9170962040b8d1f8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
+++ b/drivers/net/xen-netback/interface.c
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ static int xenvif_start_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 		goto drop;
 
 	cb = XENVIF_RX_CB(skb);
-	cb->expires = jiffies + rx_drain_timeout_jiffies;
+	cb->expires = jiffies + vif->drain_timeout;
 
 	xenvif_rx_queue_tail(queue, skb);
 	xenvif_kick_thread(queue);
@@ -414,6 +414,8 @@ struct xenvif *xenvif_alloc(struct device *parent, domid_t domid,
 	vif->ip_csum = 1;
 	vif->dev = dev;
 	vif->disabled = false;
+	vif->drain_timeout = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_drain_timeout_msecs);
+	vif->stall_timeout = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_stall_timeout_msecs);
 
 	/* Start out with no queues. */
 	vif->queues = NULL;
diff --git a/drivers/net/xen-netback/netback.c b/drivers/net/xen-netback/netback.c
index 4a509f715fe8be2f8ff70f7dbf87dce93631caa9..908e65e9b8219783ae4b99e5d06e4701478c830d 100644
--- a/drivers/net/xen-netback/netback.c
+++ b/drivers/net/xen-netback/netback.c
@@ -60,14 +60,12 @@ module_param(separate_tx_rx_irq, bool, 0644);
  */
 unsigned int rx_drain_timeout_msecs = 10000;
 module_param(rx_drain_timeout_msecs, uint, 0444);
-unsigned int rx_drain_timeout_jiffies;
 
 /* The length of time before the frontend is considered unresponsive
  * because it isn't providing Rx slots.
  */
-static unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_msecs = 60000;
+unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_msecs = 60000;
 module_param(rx_stall_timeout_msecs, uint, 0444);
-static unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_jiffies;
 
 unsigned int xenvif_max_queues;
 module_param_named(max_queues, xenvif_max_queues, uint, 0644);
@@ -2020,7 +2018,7 @@ static bool xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
 	return !queue->stalled
 		&& prod - cons < XEN_NETBK_RX_SLOTS_MAX
 		&& time_after(jiffies,
-			      queue->last_rx_time + rx_stall_timeout_jiffies);
+			      queue->last_rx_time + queue->vif->stall_timeout);
 }
 
 static bool xenvif_rx_queue_ready(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
@@ -2038,8 +2036,9 @@ static bool xenvif_have_rx_work(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
 {
 	return (!skb_queue_empty(&queue->rx_queue)
 		&& xenvif_rx_ring_slots_available(queue, XEN_NETBK_RX_SLOTS_MAX))
-		|| xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue)
-		|| xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue)
+		|| (queue->vif->stall_timeout &&
+		    (xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue)
+		     || xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue)))
 		|| kthread_should_stop()
 		|| queue->vif->disabled;
 }
@@ -2092,6 +2091,9 @@ int xenvif_kthread_guest_rx(void *data)
 	struct xenvif_queue *queue = data;
 	struct xenvif *vif = queue->vif;
 
+	if (!vif->stall_timeout)
+		xenvif_queue_carrier_on(queue);
+
 	for (;;) {
 		xenvif_wait_for_rx_work(queue);
 
@@ -2118,10 +2120,12 @@ int xenvif_kthread_guest_rx(void *data)
 		 * while it's probably not responsive, drop the
 		 * carrier so packets are dropped earlier.
 		 */
-		if (xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue))
-			xenvif_queue_carrier_off(queue);
-		else if (xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue))
-			xenvif_queue_carrier_on(queue);
+		if (vif->stall_timeout) {
+			if (xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue))
+				xenvif_queue_carrier_off(queue);
+			else if (xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue))
+				xenvif_queue_carrier_on(queue);
+		}
 
 		/* Queued packets may have foreign pages from other
 		 * domains.  These cannot be queued indefinitely as
@@ -2192,9 +2196,6 @@ static int __init netback_init(void)
 	if (rc)
 		goto failed_init;
 
-	rx_drain_timeout_jiffies = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_drain_timeout_msecs);
-	rx_stall_timeout_jiffies = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_stall_timeout_msecs);
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_FS
 	xen_netback_dbg_root = debugfs_create_dir("xen-netback", NULL);
 	if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL(xen_netback_dbg_root))
diff --git a/drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c b/drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c
index d44cd19169bdd64a6044d1fc4fcf6a9a4a7ab357..efbaf2ae1999a97982a8e57274e3cf09f95b42ec 100644
--- a/drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c
+++ b/drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c
@@ -887,9 +887,15 @@ static int read_xenbus_vif_flags(struct backend_info *be)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
 	if (xenbus_scanf(XBT_NIL, dev->otherend,
-			 "feature-rx-notify", "%d", &val) < 0 || val == 0) {
-		xenbus_dev_fatal(dev, -EINVAL, "feature-rx-notify is mandatory");
-		return -EINVAL;
+			 "feature-rx-notify", "%d", &val) < 0)
+		val = 0;
+	if (!val) {
+		/* - Reduce drain timeout to poll more frequently for
+		 *   Rx requests.
+		 * - Disable Rx stall detection.
+		 */
+		be->vif->drain_timeout = msecs_to_jiffies(30);
+		be->vif->stall_timeout = 0;
 	}
 
 	if (xenbus_scanf(XBT_NIL, dev->otherend, "feature-sg",