diff --git a/tools/libxl/libxl_stream_read.c b/tools/libxl/libxl_stream_read.c
index 258dec4c83..dac134e554 100644
--- a/tools/libxl/libxl_stream_read.c
+++ b/tools/libxl/libxl_stream_read.c
@@ -104,6 +104,20 @@
  * Depending on the contents of the stream, there are likely to be several
  * parallel tasks being managed.  check_all_finished() is used to join all
  * tasks in both success and error cases.
+ *
+ * Failover for remus
+ *  - We buffer all records until a CHECKPOINT_END record is received
+ *  - We will consume the buffered records when a CHECKPOINT_END record
+ *    is received
+ *  - If we find some internal error, then rc or retval is not 0 in
+ *    libxl__xc_domain_restore_done(). In this case, we don't resume the
+ *    guest
+ *  - If we need to do failover from primary, then rc and retval are both
+ *    0 in libxl__xc_domain_restore_done(). In this case, the buffered
+ *    state will be dropped, because we haven't received a CHECKPOINT_END
+ *    record, and therefore the buffered state is inconsistent. In
+ *    libxl__xc_domain_restore_done(), we just complete the stream and
+ *    stream->completion_callback() will be called to resume the guest
  */
 
 /* Success/error/cleanup handling. */
@@ -758,6 +772,9 @@ void libxl__xc_domain_restore_done(libxl__egc *egc, void *dcs_void,
     libxl__stream_read_state *stream = &dcs->srs;
     STATE_AO_GC(dcs->ao);
 
+    /* convenience aliases */
+    const int checkpointed_stream = dcs->restore_params.checkpointed_stream;
+
     if (rc)
         goto err;
 
@@ -777,11 +794,20 @@ void libxl__xc_domain_restore_done(libxl__egc *egc, void *dcs_void,
      * If the stream is not still alive, we must not continue any work.
      */
     if (libxl__stream_read_inuse(stream)) {
-        /*
-         * Libxc has indicated that it is done with the stream.  Resume reading
-         * libxl records from it.
-         */
-        stream_continue(egc, stream);
+        if (checkpointed_stream) {
+            /*
+             * Failover from primary. Domain state is currently at a
+             * consistent checkpoint, complete the stream, and call
+             * stream->completion_callback() to resume the guest.
+             */
+            stream_complete(egc, stream, 0);
+        } else {
+            /*
+             * Libxc has indicated that it is done with the stream.
+             * Resume reading libxl records from it.
+             */
+            stream_continue(egc, stream);
+        }
     }
 }