diff --git a/lib/private.h b/lib/private.h
index 6e0170ed..e3d97b32 100644
--- a/lib/private.h
+++ b/lib/private.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 #else
 #define MAX_DMA_SIZE UINT32_MAX /* FIXME check for __i386__ etc? */
 #endif
-#define MAX_DMA_REGIONS 16
+#define MAX_DMA_REGIONS 64
 
 #define SERVER_MAX_DATA_XFER_SIZE (VFIO_USER_DEFAULT_MAX_DATA_XFER_SIZE)
 
diff --git a/test/py/libvfio_user.py b/test/py/libvfio_user.py
index 976590ca..e68e126b 100644
--- a/test/py/libvfio_user.py
+++ b/test/py/libvfio_user.py
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ def is_32bit():
     return (1 << 31) - 1 == sys.maxsize
 
 
-MAX_DMA_REGIONS = 16
+MAX_DMA_REGIONS = 64
 # FIXME get from libvfio-user.h
 MAX_DMA_SIZE = sys.maxsize << 1 if is_32bit() else (8 * ONE_TB)