diff --git a/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/mod.rs b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/mod.rs
index c21912963..9727c6139 100644
--- a/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/mod.rs
+++ b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/mod.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ pub mod nexus_module;
 pub mod nexus_nbd;
 pub mod nexus_rpc;
 pub mod nexus_share;
+pub mod nexus_simple_rebuild;
 
 /// public function which simply calls register module
 pub fn register_module() {
diff --git a/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_bdev_children.rs b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_bdev_children.rs
index 798542e0f..4bd894f6d 100644
--- a/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_bdev_children.rs
+++ b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_bdev_children.rs
@@ -138,10 +138,17 @@ impl Nexus {
                 // mark faulted so that it can never take part in the IO path of
                 // the nexus until brought online.
                 child.state = ChildState::Faulted;
+
+                // how to "tag" a child as out of sync?
+                child.repairing = true;
                 self.children.push(child);
                 self.child_count += 1;
-                // TODO -- rsync labels
-                Ok(self.set_state(NexusState::Degraded))
+                self.set_state(NexusState::Degraded);
+
+                // what to do if this fails?
+                let _ = self.sync_labels().await;
+
+                Ok(self.simple_rebuild().await)
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 if let Err(err) = bdev_destroy(uri).await {
diff --git a/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59ed60389
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mayastor/src/bdev/nexus/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+//!
+//! This file implements operations for the rebuild process
+//!
+//! `simple_rebuild` does a very simple sequential rebuild
+//! 
+
+use crate::{
+    bdev::nexus::{
+        nexus_bdev::{
+            Nexus,
+            NexusState,
+        },
+        nexus_child::{ChildState},
+        nexus_channel::DREvent,
+    },
+};
+
+use std::cmp;
+
+impl Nexus {
+    // rebuilds only the first bad child it finds
+    pub(crate) async fn simple_rebuild(&mut self) -> NexusState {
+        // if failed go back to the previous state
+        let state = self.state;
+
+        self.set_state(NexusState::Remuling);
+
+        let good_child = match self.children.iter().find(|c| c.repairing == false) {
+            Some(good_child) => good_child,
+            None => return self.set_state(state),
+        };
+
+        let bad_child = match self.children.iter().find(|c| c.repairing == true) {
+            Some(bad_child) => bad_child,
+            None => return self.set_state(state),
+        };
+
+        let bdev_handle = match &bad_child.bdev_handle {
+            Some(bdev_handle) => bdev_handle,
+            None => return self.set_state(state),
+        };
+
+        let block_size = self.bdev.block_len() as u64;
+        let max_rebuild_size = 10u64 * 1024 * 1024; // 10MiB
+        let max_blocks = max_rebuild_size / block_size;
+
+        // At the moment if we copy the whole bdev it causes the js tests to timeout
+        // One option is to invoke the rebuild through a different command (not on the add_child)
+        // TODO: fix this
+        let block_count = cmp::min(self.bdev.num_blocks(), max_blocks);
+
+        info!("Rebuilding child {} from {}, blocks: {}, blockSize: {}", bad_child.name, good_child.name, block_count, block_size);
+
+        let mut buf = match bdev_handle.dma_malloc(block_size as usize) {
+            Ok(buf) => buf,
+            Err(_) => return self.set_state(state),
+        };
+
+        for blk in 0..block_count {
+
+            let addr: u64 = (blk+self.data_ent_offset)*(block_size as u64);
+            if let Err(_) = good_child.read_at(addr, &mut buf).await {
+                return self.set_state(state)
+            }
+
+            if let Err(_) = bad_child.write_at(addr, &buf).await {
+                return self.set_state(state)
+            }
+        }
+
+        // here we drop the immutable ref in favour a mutable ref so we can mutate the child
+        // not ideal but it works... 
+        // alternatively we'd have to use something like "interior mutability" or AtomicBool
+        let bad_name = bad_child.name.clone();
+        let bad_child = match self.children.iter_mut().find(|c| c.name == bad_name) {
+            Some(bad_child) => bad_child,
+            None => return state,
+        };
+        
+        bad_child.repairing = false;
+        bad_child.state = ChildState::Open;
+
+        info!("Rebuild of child {} is complete!", bad_name);
+
+        // child can now be part of the IO path
+        self.reconfigure(DREvent::ChildOnline).await;
+
+        self.set_state(NexusState::Online)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/mayastor/tests/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs b/mayastor/tests/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..056347684
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mayastor/tests/nexus_simple_rebuild.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+use crossbeam::channel::unbounded;
+pub mod common;
+
+use mayastor::{
+    bdev::{nexus_create, nexus_lookup},
+    core::{
+        mayastor_env_stop,
+        MayastorCliArgs,
+        MayastorEnvironment,
+        Reactor,
+    },
+};
+
+static DISKNAME1: &str = "/tmp/disk1.img";
+static BDEVNAME1: &str = "aio:///tmp/disk1.img?blk_size=512";
+
+static DISKNAME2: &str = "/tmp/disk2.img";
+static BDEVNAME2: &str = "aio:///tmp/disk2.img?blk_size=512";
+
+static NEXUS_NAME: &str = "rebuild_test";
+static NEXUS_SIZE: u64 = 10 * 1024 * 1024;  // 10MiB
+
+#[test]
+fn rebuild_test() {
+
+    common::truncate_file(DISKNAME1, NEXUS_SIZE / 1024);
+    common::truncate_file(DISKNAME2, NEXUS_SIZE / 1024);
+
+    test_init!();
+
+    Reactor::block_on(rebuild_test_start());
+
+    common::delete_file(&[DISKNAME1.into(), DISKNAME2.into()]);
+}
+
+async fn rebuild_test_start() {
+    create_nexus().await;
+
+    let nexus = nexus_lookup(NEXUS_NAME).unwrap();
+    let device = nexus.share(None).await.unwrap();
+
+    let nexus_device = device.clone();
+    let (s, r) = unbounded::<String>();
+    std::thread::spawn(move || s.send(dd_urandom(&nexus_device)));
+    reactor_poll!(r);
+
+    let nexus_device = device.clone();
+    let (s, r) = unbounded::<String>();
+    std::thread::spawn(move || s.send(compare_nexus_device(&nexus_device, DISKNAME1, true)));
+    reactor_poll!(r);
+    
+    let nexus_device = device.clone();
+    let (s, r) = unbounded::<String>();
+    std::thread::spawn(move || s.send(compare_nexus_device(&nexus_device, DISKNAME2, false)));
+    reactor_poll!(r);
+
+    // add the second child -> atm it's where we rebuild as well
+    nexus.add_child(BDEVNAME2).await.unwrap();
+
+    let (s, r) = unbounded::<String>();
+    std::thread::spawn(move || s.send(compare_devices(DISKNAME1, DISKNAME2, true)));
+    reactor_poll!(r);
+
+    mayastor_env_stop(0);
+}
+
+async fn create_nexus() {
+    let ch = vec![BDEVNAME1.to_string()];
+    nexus_create(NEXUS_NAME, NEXUS_SIZE, None, &ch)
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+}
+
+pub fn dd_urandom(device: &str) -> String {
+    let (_, stdout, _stderr) = run_script::run(
+        r#"
+        dd if=/dev/urandom of=$1 conv=fsync,nocreat,notrunc iflag=count_bytes count=`blockdev --getsize64 $1`
+    "#,
+    &vec![device.into()],
+    &run_script::ScriptOptions::new(),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+    stdout
+}
+
+pub fn compare_nexus_device(nexus_device: &str, device: &str, expected_pass: bool) -> String {
+    let (exit, stdout, _stderr) = run_script::run(
+        r#"
+        cmp -n `blockdev --getsize64 $1` $1 $2 0 5M
+        test $? -eq $3
+    "#,
+    &vec![nexus_device.into(), device.into(), (!expected_pass as i32).to_string()],
+    &run_script::ScriptOptions::new(),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(exit, 0);
+    stdout
+}
+
+pub fn compare_devices(first_device: &str, second_device: &str, expected_pass: bool) -> String {
+    let (exit, stdout, _stderr) = run_script::run(
+        r#"
+        cmp -b $1 $2 5M 5M
+        test $? -eq $3
+    "#,
+    &vec![first_device.into(), second_device.into(), (!expected_pass as i32).to_string()],
+    &run_script::ScriptOptions::new(),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(exit, 0);
+    stdout
+}