linux-drivers/
drivers/scsi/mpi3mr

Broadcom SAS4100/SAS5100 Tri-Mode MPI3 storage controllers

Broadcom's current generation of 24G Tri-Mode SAS/SATA/NVMe RAID and HBA adapters for servers and external storage arrays, built around the SAS4116 and related ROC/IOC silicon and marketed as the 9600 series. These cards have shipped since the early 2020s and remain Broadcom's flagship server-storage controllers in 2025.

keep conf=0.95 last_sold=2026 deploy=medium replacement=none subsystem=scsi category=storage-scsi-ata
95%

recommendation

It should stay in the kernel because the hardware is current, still being sold new, and the driver is under active maintenance: bug-fix series from Broadcom engineers were going through linux-scsi in mid-2025 and being picked up into stable kernels. No other in-tree driver covers this MPI3 controller family, so removing it would strand modern 24G Tri-Mode RAID/HBA deployments.

repository signals

16 files
26,232 source lines
295 commits, 5y
+28,752 / −2,500 lines added / removed, 5y
37 authors, 5y
monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 295 total · active in 47/61 months
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sources

  1. lore-kernel.gnuweeb.org

    linux-scsi carried an mpi3mr bug-fix series in June-July 2025, showing active upstream maintenance rather than removal.

  2. lkml.org

    mpi3mr fixes were still being selected into stable in May 2025, indicating ongoing bug-fix traffic and downstream relevance.

  3. docs.broadcom.com

    Broadcom's 9600-series product brief describes current 24G Tri-Mode RAID/HBA adapters built on 4000-series IOC and 4100-series ROC families for server/storage deployments.

  4. docs.broadcom.com

    Broadcom documents SAS4116W as an eighth-generation 24G Tri-Mode ROC for server and external storage, matching the mpi3mr PCI ID family and showing the hardware family remained market-relevant.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Local shell `sed`/`rg` on Kconfig and pci_id_table showed this is a Broadcom PCI SCSI driver for SAS4116/SAS5116 devices. Local shell `git log` showed substantive mpi3mr commits continuing into 2025-2026. `lei` was unavailable, so lore evidence was obtained via `web.search_query` and `web.open`: the 2025 linux-scsi patch thread and 2025 stable patch page show active fixes, and I found no removal/deprecation thread in those lore-focused searches. Broadcom product briefs were obtained via `web.search_query` + `web.open/find`; they show 4100-family/9600-series Tri-Mode server-storage products still being marketed, so this is not legacy-only hardware. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same MPI3 controller family; older mpt3sas-class drivers target different generations.