diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 5024d0b350e1c..6c2bf213da4c7 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1386,6 +1386,7 @@ noinst_HEADERS = \
 	librbd/ImageCtx.h\
 	librbd/internal.h\
 	librbd/LibrbdWriteback.h\
+	librbd/parent_types.h\
 	librbd/SnapInfo.h\
 	librbd/WatchCtx.h\
 	logrotate.conf\
diff --git a/src/librbd/ImageCtx.cc b/src/librbd/ImageCtx.cc
index ab4eda57b1fb8..c6480ca43e8c8 100644
--- a/src/librbd/ImageCtx.cc
+++ b/src/librbd/ImageCtx.cc
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ namespace librbd {
 
   void ImageCtx::add_snap(string in_snap_name, snap_t id, uint64_t in_size,
 			  uint64_t features,
-			  cls_client::parent_info parent)
+			  parent_info parent)
   {
     assert(snap_lock.is_locked());
     snaps.push_back(id);
diff --git a/src/librbd/ImageCtx.h b/src/librbd/ImageCtx.h
index 12edf18dacae0..4515ed2a406d3 100644
--- a/src/librbd/ImageCtx.h
+++ b/src/librbd/ImageCtx.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "librbd/cls_rbd_client.h"
 #include "librbd/LibrbdWriteback.h"
 #include "librbd/SnapInfo.h"
+#include "librbd/parent_types.h"
 
 class CephContext;
 class PerfCounters;
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ namespace librbd {
     std::string object_prefix;
     std::string header_oid;
     std::string id; // only used for new-format images
-    cls_client::parent_info parent_md;
+    parent_info parent_md;
     ImageCtx *parent;
 
     ObjectCacher *object_cacher;
diff --git a/src/librbd/SnapInfo.h b/src/librbd/SnapInfo.h
index 1bb271a5136e6..82323ce7ff5d0 100644
--- a/src/librbd/SnapInfo.h
+++ b/src/librbd/SnapInfo.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "include/rados/librados.hpp"
 
 #include "librbd/cls_rbd_client.h"
+#include "librbd/parent_types.h"
 
 namespace librbd {
 
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ namespace librbd {
     librados::snap_t id;
     uint64_t size;
     uint64_t features;
-    cls_client::parent_info parent;
+    parent_info parent;
     SnapInfo(librados::snap_t _id, uint64_t _size, uint64_t _features,
 	     cls_client::parent_info _parent) :
       id(_id), size(_size), features(_features), parent(_parent) {}
diff --git a/src/librbd/cls_rbd_client.h b/src/librbd/cls_rbd_client.h
index 51c1c3a06cf83..4f2679b28bf84 100644
--- a/src/librbd/cls_rbd_client.h
+++ b/src/librbd/cls_rbd_client.h
@@ -8,35 +8,13 @@
 #include "include/rados.h"
 #include "include/rados/librados.hpp"
 #include "include/types.h"
+#include "librbd/parent_types.h"
 
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
 namespace librbd {
   namespace cls_client {
-    struct parent_spec {
-      int64_t pool_id;
-      string image_id;
-      snapid_t snap_id;
-      parent_spec() : pool_id(-1), snap_id(CEPH_NOSNAP) {}
-      parent_spec(uint64_t pool_id, string image_id, snapid_t snap_id) :
-	pool_id(pool_id), image_id(image_id), snap_id(snap_id) {}
-      bool operator==(const parent_spec &other) {
-	return ((this->pool_id == other.pool_id) &&
-		(this->image_id == other.image_id) &&
-		(this->snap_id == other.snap_id));
-      }
-      bool operator!=(const parent_spec &other) {
-	return !(*this == other);
-      }
-    };
-
-    struct parent_info {
-      struct parent_spec spec;
-      uint64_t overlap;
-      parent_info() : overlap(0) {}
-    };
-
     // high-level interface to the header
     int get_immutable_metadata(librados::IoCtx *ioctx, const std::string &oid,
 			       std::string *object_prefix, uint8_t *order);
diff --git a/src/librbd/internal.cc b/src/librbd/internal.cc
index e3bf49d3f5954..29a5349d67c0f 100644
--- a/src/librbd/internal.cc
+++ b/src/librbd/internal.cc
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include "librbd/ImageCtx.h"
 
 #include "librbd/internal.h"
+#include "librbd/parent_types.h"
 
 #define dout_subsys ceph_subsys_rbd
 #undef dout_prefix
@@ -611,6 +612,9 @@ namespace librbd {
       return r;
     }
 
+    parent_spec pspec(p_ioctx.get_id(), p_imctx->id,
+				  p_imctx->snap_id);
+
     if (p_imctx->old_format) {
       lderr(cct) << "parent image must be in new format" << dendl;
       return -EINVAL;
@@ -635,9 +639,6 @@ namespace librbd {
       order = p_imctx->order;
     }
 
-    cls_client::parent_spec pspec(p_ioctx.get_id(), p_imctx->id,
-				  p_imctx->snap_id);
-
     int remove_r;
     librbd::NoOpProgressContext no_op;
     ImageCtx *c_imctx = NULL;
@@ -912,7 +913,7 @@ namespace librbd {
     Mutex::Locker l(ictx->snap_lock);
     Mutex::Locker l2(ictx->parent_lock);
 
-    cls_client::parent_info *parent_info;
+    parent_spec *parent_spec;
 
     if (ictx->snap_id == CEPH_NOSNAP) {
       if (!ictx->parent)
@@ -991,7 +992,7 @@ namespace librbd {
 
       ictx->parent_lock.Lock();
       // struct assignment
-      cls_client::parent_info parent_info = ictx->parent_md;
+      parent_info parent_info = ictx->parent_md;
       ictx->parent_lock.Unlock();
 
       // scan snapshots; if none of them refer to this parent,
@@ -1278,7 +1279,7 @@ namespace librbd {
     vector<string> snap_names;
     vector<uint64_t> snap_sizes;
     vector<uint64_t> snap_features;
-    vector<cls_client::parent_info> snap_parents;
+    vector<parent_info> snap_parents;
     {
       Mutex::Locker l(ictx->snap_lock);
       {
@@ -1337,7 +1338,7 @@ namespace librbd {
 
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < new_snapc.snaps.size(); ++i) {
 	  uint64_t features = ictx->old_format ? 0 : snap_features[i];
-	  cls_client::parent_info parent;
+	  parent_info parent;
 	  if (!ictx->old_format)
 	    parent = snap_parents[i];
 	  vector<snap_t>::const_iterator it =
@@ -1356,7 +1357,7 @@ namespace librbd {
 	ictx->snaps_by_name.clear();
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < new_snapc.snaps.size(); ++i) {
 	  uint64_t features = ictx->old_format ? 0 : snap_features[i];
-	  cls_client::parent_info parent;
+	  parent_info parent;
 	  if (!ictx->old_format)
 	    parent = snap_parents[i];
 	  ictx->add_snap(snap_names[i], new_snapc.snaps[i].val,
diff --git a/src/librbd/parent_types.h b/src/librbd/parent_types.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..07e6cfa503dc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/librbd/parent_types.h
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// -*- mode:C++; tab-width:8; c-basic-offset:2; indent-tabs-mode:t -*-
+// vim: ts=8 sw=2 smarttab
+#ifndef CEPH_LIBRBD_PARENT_TYPES_H
+#define CEPH_LIBRBD_PARENT_TYPES_H
+
+// parent_spec uniquely identifies a parent in the clone relationship
+// (clone(parent) creates child, then parent_spec <-> child_imageid)
+
+namespace librbd {
+  struct parent_spec {
+    int64_t pool_id;
+    string image_id;
+    snapid_t snap_id;
+    parent_spec() : pool_id(-1), snap_id(CEPH_NOSNAP) {}
+    parent_spec(uint64_t pool_id, string image_id, snapid_t snap_id) :
+      pool_id(pool_id), image_id(image_id), snap_id(snap_id) {}
+    bool operator==(const parent_spec &other) {
+      return ((this->pool_id == other.pool_id) &&
+	      (this->image_id == other.image_id) &&
+	      (this->snap_id == other.snap_id));
+    }
+    bool operator!=(const parent_spec &other) {
+      return !(*this == other);
+    }
+  };
+
+  struct parent_info {
+    parent_spec spec;
+    uint64_t overlap;
+    parent_info() : overlap(0) {}
+  };
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/test/rbd/test_cls_rbd.cc b/src/test/rbd/test_cls_rbd.cc
index 505a993e9c458..36ff8c210d968 100644
--- a/src/test/rbd/test_cls_rbd.cc
+++ b/src/test/rbd/test_cls_rbd.cc
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ using ::librbd::cls_client::dir_list;
 using ::librbd::cls_client::dir_add_image;
 using ::librbd::cls_client::dir_remove_image;
 using ::librbd::cls_client::dir_rename_image;
-using ::librbd::cls_client::parent_info;
-using ::librbd::cls_client::parent_spec;
+using ::librbd::parent_info;
+using ::librbd::parent_spec;
 
 static char *random_buf(size_t len)
 {