diff --git a/fs/ceph/export.c b/fs/ceph/export.c
index 9349bb37a2f..ca3ab3f9ca7 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/export.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/export.c
@@ -56,13 +56,15 @@ static int ceph_encode_fh(struct inode *inode, u32 *rawfh, int *max_len,
 	struct ceph_nfs_confh *cfh = (void *)rawfh;
 	int connected_handle_length = sizeof(*cfh)/4;
 	int handle_length = sizeof(*fh)/4;
-	struct dentry *dentry = d_find_alias(inode);
+	struct dentry *dentry;
 	struct dentry *parent;
 
 	/* don't re-export snaps */
 	if (ceph_snap(inode) != CEPH_NOSNAP)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	dentry = d_find_alias(inode);
+
 	/* if we found an alias, generate a connectable fh */
 	if (*max_len >= connected_handle_length && dentry) {
 		dout("encode_fh %p connectable\n", dentry);