diff --git a/drivers/message/fusion/mptsas.c b/drivers/message/fusion/mptsas.c
index 711fcb5cec87..d636dbe172a3 100644
--- a/drivers/message/fusion/mptsas.c
+++ b/drivers/message/fusion/mptsas.c
@@ -3763,7 +3763,7 @@ mptsas_send_link_status_event(struct fw_event_work *fw_event)
 						printk(MYIOC_s_DEBUG_FMT
 						"SDEV OUTSTANDING CMDS"
 						"%d\n", ioc->name,
-						sdev->device_busy));
+						atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy)));
 				}
 
 			}
diff --git a/drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c b/drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c
index d0bd7e0ab7a8..1ddf0fb43b59 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/scsi_lib.c
@@ -302,9 +302,7 @@ void scsi_device_unbusy(struct scsi_device *sdev)
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(shost->host_lock, flags);
 	}
 
-	spin_lock_irqsave(sdev->request_queue->queue_lock, flags);
-	sdev->device_busy--;
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(sdev->request_queue->queue_lock, flags);
+	atomic_dec(&sdev->device_busy);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -355,9 +353,9 @@ static void scsi_single_lun_run(struct scsi_device *current_sdev)
 
 static inline int scsi_device_is_busy(struct scsi_device *sdev)
 {
-	if (sdev->device_busy >= sdev->queue_depth || sdev->device_blocked)
+	if (atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy) >= sdev->queue_depth ||
+	    sdev->device_blocked)
 		return 1;
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -1204,7 +1202,7 @@ scsi_prep_return(struct request_queue *q, struct request *req, int ret)
 		 * queue must be restarted, so we schedule a callback to happen
 		 * shortly.
 		 */
-		if (sdev->device_busy == 0)
+		if (atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy) == 0)
 			blk_delay_queue(q, SCSI_QUEUE_DELAY);
 		break;
 	default:
@@ -1255,26 +1253,33 @@ static void scsi_unprep_fn(struct request_queue *q, struct request *req)
 static inline int scsi_dev_queue_ready(struct request_queue *q,
 				  struct scsi_device *sdev)
 {
-	if (sdev->device_busy == 0 && sdev->device_blocked) {
+	unsigned int busy;
+
+	busy = atomic_inc_return(&sdev->device_busy) - 1;
+	if (sdev->device_blocked) {
+		if (busy)
+			goto out_dec;
+
 		/*
 		 * unblock after device_blocked iterates to zero
 		 */
-		if (--sdev->device_blocked == 0) {
-			SCSI_LOG_MLQUEUE(3,
-				   sdev_printk(KERN_INFO, sdev,
-				   "unblocking device at zero depth\n"));
-		} else {
+		if (--sdev->device_blocked != 0) {
 			blk_delay_queue(q, SCSI_QUEUE_DELAY);
-			return 0;
+			goto out_dec;
 		}
+		SCSI_LOG_MLQUEUE(3, sdev_printk(KERN_INFO, sdev,
+				   "unblocking device at zero depth\n"));
 	}
-	if (scsi_device_is_busy(sdev))
-		return 0;
+
+	if (busy >= sdev->queue_depth)
+		goto out_dec;
 
 	return 1;
+out_dec:
+	atomic_dec(&sdev->device_busy);
+	return 0;
 }
 
-
 /*
  * scsi_target_queue_ready: checks if there we can send commands to target
  * @sdev: scsi device on starget to check.
@@ -1448,7 +1453,7 @@ static void scsi_kill_request(struct request *req, struct request_queue *q)
 	 * bump busy counts.  To bump the counters, we need to dance
 	 * with the locks as normal issue path does.
 	 */
-	sdev->device_busy++;
+	atomic_inc(&sdev->device_busy);
 	atomic_inc(&shost->host_busy);
 	atomic_inc(&starget->target_busy);
 
@@ -1544,7 +1549,7 @@ static void scsi_request_fn(struct request_queue *q)
 		 * accept it.
 		 */
 		req = blk_peek_request(q);
-		if (!req || !scsi_dev_queue_ready(q, sdev))
+		if (!req)
 			break;
 
 		if (unlikely(!scsi_device_online(sdev))) {
@@ -1554,13 +1559,14 @@ static void scsi_request_fn(struct request_queue *q)
 			continue;
 		}
 
+		if (!scsi_dev_queue_ready(q, sdev))
+			break;
 
 		/*
 		 * Remove the request from the request list.
 		 */
 		if (!(blk_queue_tagged(q) && !blk_queue_start_tag(q, req)))
 			blk_start_request(req);
-		sdev->device_busy++;
 
 		spin_unlock_irq(q->queue_lock);
 		cmd = req->special;
@@ -1630,9 +1636,9 @@ static void scsi_request_fn(struct request_queue *q)
 	 */
 	spin_lock_irq(q->queue_lock);
 	blk_requeue_request(q, req);
-	sdev->device_busy--;
+	atomic_dec(&sdev->device_busy);
 out_delay:
-	if (sdev->device_busy == 0 && !scsi_device_blocked(sdev))
+	if (atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy) && !scsi_device_blocked(sdev))
 		blk_delay_queue(q, SCSI_QUEUE_DELAY);
 }
 
@@ -2371,7 +2377,7 @@ scsi_device_quiesce(struct scsi_device *sdev)
 		return err;
 
 	scsi_run_queue(sdev->request_queue);
-	while (sdev->device_busy) {
+	while (atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy)) {
 		msleep_interruptible(200);
 		scsi_run_queue(sdev->request_queue);
 	}
diff --git a/drivers/scsi/scsi_sysfs.c b/drivers/scsi/scsi_sysfs.c
index de57b8bca7be..79df9847edef 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/scsi_sysfs.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/scsi_sysfs.c
@@ -585,13 +585,21 @@ static int scsi_sdev_check_buf_bit(const char *buf)
  * Create the actual show/store functions and data structures.
  */
 sdev_rd_attr (device_blocked, "%d\n");
-sdev_rd_attr (device_busy, "%d\n");
 sdev_rd_attr (type, "%d\n");
 sdev_rd_attr (scsi_level, "%d\n");
 sdev_rd_attr (vendor, "%.8s\n");
 sdev_rd_attr (model, "%.16s\n");
 sdev_rd_attr (rev, "%.4s\n");
 
+static ssize_t
+sdev_show_device_busy(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr,
+		char *buf)
+{
+	struct scsi_device *sdev = to_scsi_device(dev);
+	return snprintf(buf, 20, "%d\n", atomic_read(&sdev->device_busy));
+}
+static DEVICE_ATTR(device_busy, S_IRUGO, sdev_show_device_busy, NULL);
+
 /*
  * TODO: can we make these symlinks to the block layer ones?
  */
diff --git a/drivers/scsi/sg.c b/drivers/scsi/sg.c
index 7a291f5c7227..01cf88888797 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/sg.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/sg.c
@@ -2574,7 +2574,7 @@ static int sg_proc_seq_show_dev(struct seq_file *s, void *v)
 			      scsidp->id, scsidp->lun, (int) scsidp->type,
 			      1,
 			      (int) scsidp->queue_depth,
-			      (int) scsidp->device_busy,
+			      (int) atomic_read(&scsidp->device_busy),
 			      (int) scsi_device_online(scsidp));
 	}
 	read_unlock_irqrestore(&sg_index_lock, iflags);
diff --git a/include/scsi/scsi_device.h b/include/scsi/scsi_device.h
index 4e078b63a9e5..3329901c7243 100644
--- a/include/scsi/scsi_device.h
+++ b/include/scsi/scsi_device.h
@@ -81,9 +81,7 @@ struct scsi_device {
 	struct list_head    siblings;   /* list of all devices on this host */
 	struct list_head    same_target_siblings; /* just the devices sharing same target id */
 
-	/* this is now protected by the request_queue->queue_lock */
-	unsigned int device_busy;	/* commands actually active on
-					 * low-level. protected by queue_lock. */
+	atomic_t device_busy;		/* commands actually active on LLDD */
 	spinlock_t list_lock;
 	struct list_head cmd_list;	/* queue of in use SCSI Command structures */
 	struct list_head starved_entry;