diff --git a/include/migration/migration.h b/include/migration/migration.h
index 7d1eef717e..e831259c3b 100644
--- a/include/migration/migration.h
+++ b/include/migration/migration.h
@@ -157,17 +157,10 @@ void migration_fd_process_incoming(QEMUFile *f);
 
 void qemu_start_incoming_migration(const char *uri, Error **errp);
 
-void migration_channel_process_incoming(MigrationState *s,
-                                        QIOChannel *ioc);
-
 void migration_tls_channel_process_incoming(MigrationState *s,
                                             QIOChannel *ioc,
                                             Error **errp);
 
-void migration_channel_connect(MigrationState *s,
-                               QIOChannel *ioc,
-                               const char *hostname);
-
 void migration_tls_channel_connect(MigrationState *s,
                                    QIOChannel *ioc,
                                    const char *hostname,
diff --git a/migration/Makefile.objs b/migration/Makefile.objs
index 00a3f4a1d9..4e8ab0a918 100644
--- a/migration/Makefile.objs
+++ b/migration/Makefile.objs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 common-obj-y += migration.o socket.o fd.o exec.o
-common-obj-y += tls.o
+common-obj-y += tls.o channel.o
 common-obj-y += colo-comm.o colo.o colo-failover.o
 common-obj-y += vmstate.o page_cache.o
 common-obj-y += qemu-file.o
diff --git a/migration/channel.c b/migration/channel.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..40c63824c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migration/channel.c
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * QEMU live migration channel operations
+ *
+ * Copyright Red Hat, Inc. 2016
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *  Daniel P. Berrange <berrange@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * Contributions after 2012-01-13 are licensed under the terms of the
+ * GNU GPL, version 2 or (at your option) any later version.
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "channel.h"
+#include "migration/migration.h"
+#include "trace.h"
+#include "qapi/error.h"
+#include "io/channel-tls.h"
+
+void migration_channel_process_incoming(MigrationState *s,
+                                        QIOChannel *ioc)
+{
+    trace_migration_set_incoming_channel(
+        ioc, object_get_typename(OBJECT(ioc)));
+
+    if (s->parameters.tls_creds &&
+        *s->parameters.tls_creds &&
+        !object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(ioc),
+                             TYPE_QIO_CHANNEL_TLS)) {
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
+        migration_tls_channel_process_incoming(s, ioc, &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            error_report_err(local_err);
+        }
+    } else {
+        QEMUFile *f = qemu_fopen_channel_input(ioc);
+        migration_fd_process_incoming(f);
+    }
+}
+
+
+void migration_channel_connect(MigrationState *s,
+                               QIOChannel *ioc,
+                               const char *hostname)
+{
+    trace_migration_set_outgoing_channel(
+        ioc, object_get_typename(OBJECT(ioc)), hostname);
+
+    if (s->parameters.tls_creds &&
+        *s->parameters.tls_creds &&
+        !object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(ioc),
+                             TYPE_QIO_CHANNEL_TLS)) {
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
+        migration_tls_channel_connect(s, ioc, hostname, &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            migrate_fd_error(s, local_err);
+            error_free(local_err);
+        }
+    } else {
+        QEMUFile *f = qemu_fopen_channel_output(ioc);
+
+        s->to_dst_file = f;
+
+        migrate_fd_connect(s);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/migration/channel.h b/migration/channel.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2e0a7e33cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migration/channel.h
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * QEMU live migration channel operations
+ *
+ * Copyright Red Hat, Inc. 2016
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ *  Daniel P. Berrange <berrange@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2.  See
+ * the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+ *
+ * Contributions after 2012-01-13 are licensed under the terms of the
+ * GNU GPL, version 2 or (at your option) any later version.
+ */
+
+#ifndef QEMU_MIGRATION_CHANNEL_H
+#define QEMU_MIGRATION_CHANNEL_H
+
+#include "io/channel.h"
+
+void migration_channel_process_incoming(MigrationState *s,
+                                        QIOChannel *ioc);
+
+void migration_channel_connect(MigrationState *s,
+                               QIOChannel *ioc,
+                               const char *hostname);
+#endif
diff --git a/migration/exec.c b/migration/exec.c
index aba9089466..57a93355d1 100644
--- a/migration/exec.c
+++ b/migration/exec.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
+#include "channel.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "io/channel-command.h"
 #include "trace.h"
diff --git a/migration/fd.c b/migration/fd.c
index 58cb51a9e6..05e0a5cca8 100644
--- a/migration/fd.c
+++ b/migration/fd.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
+#include "channel.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "monitor/monitor.h"
 #include "io/channel-util.h"
diff --git a/migration/migration.c b/migration/migration.c
index 2feeee8787..217616df6a 100644
--- a/migration/migration.c
+++ b/migration/migration.c
@@ -444,56 +444,6 @@ void migration_fd_process_incoming(QEMUFile *f)
     qemu_coroutine_enter(co);
 }
 
-
-void migration_channel_process_incoming(MigrationState *s,
-                                        QIOChannel *ioc)
-{
-    trace_migration_set_incoming_channel(
-        ioc, object_get_typename(OBJECT(ioc)));
-
-    if (s->parameters.tls_creds &&
-        *s->parameters.tls_creds &&
-        !object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(ioc),
-                             TYPE_QIO_CHANNEL_TLS)) {
-        Error *local_err = NULL;
-        migration_tls_channel_process_incoming(s, ioc, &local_err);
-        if (local_err) {
-            error_report_err(local_err);
-        }
-    } else {
-        QEMUFile *f = qemu_fopen_channel_input(ioc);
-        migration_fd_process_incoming(f);
-    }
-}
-
-
-void migration_channel_connect(MigrationState *s,
-                               QIOChannel *ioc,
-                               const char *hostname)
-{
-    trace_migration_set_outgoing_channel(
-        ioc, object_get_typename(OBJECT(ioc)), hostname);
-
-    if (s->parameters.tls_creds &&
-        *s->parameters.tls_creds &&
-        !object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(ioc),
-                             TYPE_QIO_CHANNEL_TLS)) {
-        Error *local_err = NULL;
-        migration_tls_channel_connect(s, ioc, hostname, &local_err);
-        if (local_err) {
-            migrate_fd_error(s, local_err);
-            error_free(local_err);
-        }
-    } else {
-        QEMUFile *f = qemu_fopen_channel_output(ioc);
-
-        s->to_dst_file = f;
-
-        migrate_fd_connect(s);
-    }
-}
-
-
 /*
  * Send a message on the return channel back to the source
  * of the migration.
diff --git a/migration/socket.c b/migration/socket.c
index 1cfbe81e69..53f9d61605 100644
--- a/migration/socket.c
+++ b/migration/socket.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
+#include "channel.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "migration/qemu-file.h"
 #include "io/channel-socket.h"
diff --git a/migration/tls.c b/migration/tls.c
index a33ecb767e..34ad121abf 100644
--- a/migration/tls.c
+++ b/migration/tls.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "channel.h"
 #include "migration/migration.h"
 #include "io/channel-tls.h"
 #include "crypto/tlscreds.h"