Intel FM10000 multi-host Ethernet controllers
Intel's FM10000-series multi-host Ethernet controllers (FM10420 and FM10840), high-end PCIe network silicon aimed at servers and rack-scale fabric designs that needed multiple host interfaces and SR-IOV virtual functions. Intel sold these from the mid-2010s into 2022.
recommendation
Worth keeping but worth flagging as legacy hardware. Intel marked both FM10000 SKUs end-of-life with last orders in mid-2022 and last shipments in early 2023, so new deployments are unlikely, but the driver still receives steady upstream maintenance (around two dozen commits across many authors in the last five years, with activity as recent as late 2025) and remains the only in-tree option for the silicon already deployed in the field.
repository signals
sources
- intel.com
Intel ARK lists FM10420 in the FM10000 family as discontinued, with last-order date July 22, 2022 and last-ship date January 22, 2023.
- intel.com
Intel ARK lists FM10840 in the FM10000 family as discontinued on the same 2022/2023 timeline.
- docs.kernel.org
Upstream kernel documentation still carries the fm10k driver as the Linux base driver for Intel Ethernet Multi-host Controller hardware, including SR-IOV/VF configuration notes.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_FM10K still present through current kernel series and identifies supported PCI IDs for FM10000 host and virtual interfaces.
- intel.com
Intel still publishes a separate FM10000 driver package/download page, indicating legacy support visibility even though the products are discontinued.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real PCI Ethernet driver directory with module entry points. Upstream activity signal is not removal-shaped: user-provided tree metadata shows 23 substantive commits in the last 5 years, 18 authors, and most recent substantive touch on 2025-11-27, so this is maintained legacy code rather than abandoned code. Hardware side is obsolete: Intel ARK pages for both FM10000 SKUs were obtained via `web.search_query` and show discontinued status with 2022 last-order / 2023 last-ship dates. Kernel-docs and LKDDb pages were also obtained via `web.search_query` and show the driver remains documented and selectable in current kernels. Direct lore probing was attempted via shell (`lei`) but unavailable in this environment; no removal discussion was surfaced by web lore queries. Result: keep the driver, but annotate as legacy/discontinued hardware with low modern deployment and no clear drop-in replacement driver for the same silicon.