linux-drivers/
drivers/net/ethernet/pensando/ionic

AMD Pensando Distributed Services and Pollara Ethernet adapters

Server-class Ethernet adapters and DPUs from AMD's Pensando line, including the Distributed Services Card family and the 400-gigabit Pollara AI NIC. They are deployed in hyperscale clouds and large enterprise data centers for high-speed networking, SR-IOV virtualization, and RDMA workloads.

keep conf=0.93 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-ethernet
93%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because the hardware is current, actively sold, and widely deployed in hyperscale environments. AMD shipped new Pollara 400 AI NICs in 2025, and upstream maintainer Shannon Nelson is still landing feature work, including RDMA support and a conversion to the modern ndo_hwtstamp API as recently as October 2025. There is no replacement driver; retiring this code would mean abandoning the hardware platform itself.

repository signals

28 files
16,686 source lines
251 commits, 5y
+6,077 / −3,094 lines added / removed, 5y
50 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 251 total · active in 44/61 months
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sources

  1. spinics.net

    June 24, 2025 netdev patch series adds RDMA support by extending the ionic Ethernet driver, showing active upstream feature work rather than removal.

  2. spinics.net

    June 9, 2025 net-next patch series contains maintenance fixes for ionic from Shannon Nelson, indicating ongoing maintainer attention.

  3. spinics.net

    October 17, 2025 net-next patch converts ionic to the ndo_hwtstamp API, showing adaptation to current networking core interfaces.

  4. kernel.org

    Current kernel documentation describes ionic as the Linux driver for the Pensando Ethernet adapter family and documents active features including XDP, SR-IOV, devlink, and RDMA auxiliary-device support.

  5. docs.kernel.org

    Current kernel docs state the companion ionic_rdma driver depends on the ionic Ethernet driver for AMD Pensando DSC devices, reinforcing that ionic remains part of an expanding supported stack.

  6. amd.com

    AMD marketed the Pensando Pollara 400 AI NIC in 2025, with product-page footnotes citing AMD testing on April 28, 2025, indicating new hardware was still being sold/promoted in 2025.

  7. amd.com

    AMD says Pensando DPU technology is adopted by large enterprise and cloud providers and widely used in hyperscale data centers, supporting ongoing real-world deployment.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Not a deprecation candidate. Upstream activity was grounded first via web search because the requested lore MCP was not exposed here and `lei` was unavailable in shell; I used indexed netdev/lore mirrors from `web.search_query` (spinics and lore mirror hits) and found 2025 feature/maintenance patch series for ionic, with no removal/deprecation thread in the queried results. Current kernel docs were obtained via `web.search_query` on kernel.org/docs.kernel.org and show the driver is still documented with modern features plus new RDMA integration. Market/deployment evidence came from AMD product pages found via `web.search_query`, showing Pensando NIC/DPU products actively marketed/tested in 2025 and deployed in hyperscale/cloud environments. No natural in-tree replacement covers the same hardware; replacement would mean retiring the hardware platform, not switching drivers.