diff --git a/source/adios2/toolkit/sst/dp/rdma_dp.c b/source/adios2/toolkit/sst/dp/rdma_dp.c
index 64c99ded9d..3ec2eb7afb 100644
--- a/source/adios2/toolkit/sst/dp/rdma_dp.c
+++ b/source/adios2/toolkit/sst/dp/rdma_dp.c
@@ -200,26 +200,24 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
                   FI_ASYNC_IOV | FI_RX_CQ_DATA;
     hints->ep_attr->type = FI_EP_RDM;
 
-    // FI_ADDR_CXI is also available
-    // FI_ADDR_CXI_COMPAT is the one that MPICH chooses
-    // FI_ADDR_OPX is sneakily used to denote FI_ADDR_CXI_COMPAT
-    hints->addr_format = FI_ADDR_OPX;
-
-    // The following differ from the SST configuration in ADIOS2
-    hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_ENDPOINT;              // 
-    hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL; // 
-    hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;    // 
-
-    // Authentication is needed
-    // TODO: the first ID in SLINGSHOT_SVC_IDS is chosen, but we should rather 
-    // choose the one corresponding with the FABRIC_IFACE
-    // example:
-    // SLINGSHOT_SVC_IDS=5,5,5,5
-    // SLINGSHOT_VNIS=1310,1271
-    // SLINGSHOT_DEVICES=cxi0,cxi1,cxi2,cxi3
-    // FABRIC_IFACE=cxi2 (user specified)
-    if(fabric->cxi_auth_key)
+    uint32_t fi_version;
+    if (fabric->cxi_auth_key)
     {
+        fi_version = FI_VERSION(1, 11);
+
+        hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_ENDPOINT;
+        hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;
+        hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;
+
+        // Authentication is needed
+        // TODO: the first ID in SLINGSHOT_SVC_IDS is chosen, but we should
+        // rather choose the one corresponding with the FABRIC_IFACE
+        // example:
+        // SLINGSHOT_SVC_IDS=5,5,5,5
+        // SLINGSHOT_VNIS=1310,1271
+        // SLINGSHOT_DEVICES=cxi0,cxi1,cxi2,cxi3
+        // FABRIC_IFACE=cxi2 (user specified)
+
         hints->ep_attr->auth_key = malloc(sizeof(struct cxi_auth_key));
         memcpy(hints->ep_attr->auth_key, fabric->cxi_auth_key,
             sizeof(struct cxi_auth_key));
@@ -230,6 +228,14 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
             sizeof(struct cxi_auth_key));
         hints->domain_attr->auth_key_size = sizeof(struct cxi_auth_key);
     }
+    else
+    {
+        fi_version = FI_VERSION(1, 5);
+
+        hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_BASIC;
+        hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_AUTO;
+        hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_AUTO;
+    }
 
     if (Params->DataInterface)
     {
@@ -243,7 +249,7 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
     fabric->info = NULL;
 
     pthread_mutex_lock(&fabric_mutex);
-    fi_getinfo(FI_VERSION(1,11), NULL, NULL, 0, hints, &info);
+    fi_getinfo(fi_version, NULL, NULL, 0, hints, &info);
     pthread_mutex_unlock(&fabric_mutex);
     if (!info)
     {
@@ -269,7 +275,8 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
         }
         if ((((strcmp(prov_name, "verbs") == 0) && info->src_addr) ||
              (strcmp(prov_name, "gni") == 0) ||
-             (strcmp(prov_name, "psm2") == 0)) &&
+             (strcmp(prov_name, "psm2") == 0) ||
+             (strcmp(prov_name, "cxi") == 0)) &&
             (!useinfo || !ifname ||
              (strcmp(useinfo->domain_attr->name, ifname) != 0)))
         {
@@ -280,7 +287,8 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
             useinfo = info;
         }
         else if (((strstr(prov_name, "verbs") && info->src_addr) ||
-                  strstr(prov_name, "gni") || strstr(prov_name, "psm2")) &&
+                  strstr(prov_name, "gni") || strstr(prov_name, "psm2") ||
+                  strstr(prov_name, "cxi")) &&
                  !useinfo)
         {
             Svcs->verbose(CP_Stream, DPTraceVerbose,
@@ -359,16 +367,23 @@ static void init_fabric(struct fabric_state *fabric, struct _SstParams *Params,
     fabric->addr_len = info->src_addrlen;
 
     /*
-     * FI_MR_ALLOCATED and FI_MR_ENDPOINT are required for the CXI provider.
-     * FI_MR_LOCAL and FI_MR_PROV_KEY are for compatibility
-     * with the rest of the legacy SST-libfabric implementation (where mr_mode
-     * used to be FI_MR_BASIC which is equivalent to FI_MR_VIRT_ADDR |
-     * FI_MR_ALLOCATED | FI_MR_PROV_KEY | FI_MR_LOCAL)
+     * The libfabric data-plane of SST was originally programmed to use
+     * FI_MR_BASIC as mr_mode, which is equivalent to
+     * FI_MR_VIRT_ADDR | FI_MR_ALLOCATED | FI_MR_PROV_KEY | FI_MR_LOCAL.
+     *
+     * However, HPE's CXI provider requires two changes to that:
+     * (1) It does not support FI_MR_VIRT_ADDR.
+     * (2) It requires use of FI_MR_ENDPOINT.
+     *
+     * So we propagate the bit value currently contained in the mr_mode
+     * for these flags.
      */
-    info->domain_attr->mr_mode =
-        FI_MR_ALLOCATED | FI_MR_ENDPOINT | FI_MR_PROV_KEY | FI_MR_LOCAL;
+    info->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_ALLOCATED | FI_MR_PROV_KEY |
+                                 FI_MR_LOCAL |
+                                 (FI_MR_ENDPOINT & info->domain_attr->mr_mode) |
+                                 (FI_MR_VIRT_ADDR & info->domain_attr->mr_mode);
 
-    fabric->mr_virt_addr = 0;
+    fabric->mr_virt_addr = info->domain_attr->mr_mode & FI_MR_VIRT_ADDR ? 1 : 0;
 
 #ifdef SST_HAVE_CRAY_DRC
     if (strstr(info->fabric_attr->prov_name, "gni") && fabric->auth_key)
@@ -2026,15 +2041,36 @@ static int RdmaGetPriority(CP_Services Svcs, void *CP_Stream,
                   FI_ASYNC_IOV | FI_RX_CQ_DATA;
     hints->ep_attr->type = FI_EP_RDM;
 
-    // FI_ADDR_CXI is also available
-    // FI_ADDR_CXI_COMPAT is the one that MPICH chooses
-    // FI_ADDR_OPX is sneakily used to denote FI_ADDR_CXI_COMPAT
-    hints->addr_format = FI_ADDR_OPX;
+    char const *vni_env_str = getenv("SLINGSHOT_VNIS");
 
-    // The following differ from the SST configuration in ADIOS2
-    hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_ENDPOINT;              // 
-    hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL; // 
-    hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;    // 
+    uint32_t fi_version;
+    if (vni_env_str)
+    {
+        // try fishing for the CXI provider
+        Svcs->verbose(CP_Stream, DPSummaryVerbose,
+                      "RDMA Dataplane trying to check for an available CXI "
+                      "provider since environment variable SLINGSHOT_VNIS is "
+                      "defined (value: '%s').\n",
+                      vni_env_str);
+        fi_version = FI_VERSION(1, 11);
+
+        hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_ENDPOINT;
+        hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;
+        hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_MANUAL;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        Svcs->verbose(CP_Stream, DPSummaryVerbose,
+                      "RDMA Dataplane trying to check for an available non-CXI "
+                      "provider since environment variable SLINGSHOT_VNIS is "
+                      "not defined.\n");
+
+        fi_version = FI_VERSION(1, 5);
+
+        hints->domain_attr->mr_mode = FI_MR_BASIC;
+        hints->domain_attr->control_progress = FI_PROGRESS_AUTO;
+        hints->domain_attr->data_progress = FI_PROGRESS_AUTO;
+    }
 
     if (Params->DataInterface)
     {
@@ -2052,7 +2088,7 @@ static int RdmaGetPriority(CP_Services Svcs, void *CP_Stream,
     }
 
     pthread_mutex_lock(&fabric_mutex);
-    fi_getinfo(FI_VERSION(1, 11), NULL, NULL, 0, hints, &info);
+    fi_getinfo(fi_version, NULL, NULL, 0, hints, &info);
     pthread_mutex_unlock(&fabric_mutex);
     fi_freeinfo(hints);