Microchip Smart Storage PQI SCSI host adapters (SmartRAID, SmartHBA, SmartIOC)
Controls Microchip's (formerly Adaptec/Microsemi) Smart Storage PCIe SAS/SATA host adapters that speak the PQI protocol, including current SmartRAID 3200, SmartHBA 2200, HBA 1200, SmartROC 3200, and SmartIOC 2200 product lines as well as older Adaptec Series 9 controllers. These cards are widely used in enterprise servers and storage arrays to attach SAS and SATA disks with optional hardware RAID.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because the hardware is still being sold new by Microchip in 2025 and the driver is actively maintained, with roughly 133 substantive commits over the last five years and a reviewed stable-bound fix as recently as April 2026. It also serves as the modern replacement for aacraid on Adaptec Series 9 controllers, so there is no in-tree successor that would make it redundant.
repository signals
sources
- spinics.net
April 21, 2026 stable-bound smartpqi fix with Don Brace review shows current upstream maintenance and no removal trajectory.
- microchip.com
Microchip still markets current Smart Storage Platform products including SmartRAID 3200, SmartHBA 2200, HBA 1200, SmartROC 3200, and SmartIOC 2200, indicating ongoing new-sales availability beyond 2025.
- docs.kernel.org
Kernel documentation describes smartpqi as the Microchip Smart Storage SCSI driver and states it replaces aacraid for Adaptec Series 9 controllers, so there is no newer in-tree successor to smartpqi itself.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_SCSI_SMARTPQI in mainline kernels and ties it to Smart Storage PQI SAS PCI hardware, confirming it is a real shipping hardware driver.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Keep: static signals already show heavy recent churn (133 substantive commits in 5y, latest 2026-02-04), and a shell inspection of the directory confirmed an active PCI/SCSI host driver in smartpqi_init.c rather than helper-only code. I obtained the maintenance evidence by web-searching for lore/kernel-list traffic and used the Spinics archive URL because direct lore MCP/lei access was unavailable here; that search surfaced a reviewed April 2026 smartpqi fix. I obtained the deployment/new-sales evidence by web search, then opened Microchip's current Smart Storage Platform page showing present product families. I obtained functional-role/replacement context by web search plus opening docs.kernel.org, which says smartpqi replaces aacraid on older Series 9 hardware; therefore replacement_driver is null. I obtained hardware/config corroboration from LKDDb via web search. No active removal or deprecation discussion was found in the searched public archives.