AACRAID(4)

📦 version 15.1, in freebsd 14.5, freebsd 15.1, nixpkgs unstable

💖 AACRAID(4) 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for aacraid — the Adaptec Series 6/7/8 6G and 12G SAS+SATA RAID controller driver. yes, that's a mouthful. we're gonna get through it together, i promise 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

aacraid — the driver for Adaptec Series 6/7/8 6G and 12G SAS+SATA RAID controllers. iconic hardware, honestly.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

so if you wanna bake this driver into the kernel (main character move), you drop these lines into your kernel config file:

device pci
device aacraid

and if you also want the debugging code compiled in, add:

options AACRAID_DEBUG=N

alternatively — and this is the low-key easier route — you can load it as a module at boot time by putting this line in loader.conf(5):

aacraid_load="YES"

slay. that's it. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the aacraid driver gives you support for the Adaptec by PMC RAID controllers, including Series 6/7/8 and the upcoming families. it's giving "future-proof" energy ✨

here's the vibe on how the devices are laid out:

  • the RAID containers are handled via the aacraidp0 bus.
  • the physical buses show up as the aacraidp? devices (starting at aacraidp1).
  • those devices enable the SCSI pass-passthrough interface, and they let devices connected to the card — like CD-ROMs — be available via the CAM scsi(4) subsystem. no cap, that's actually so useful.
  • > heads up bestie: not all cards allow this interface to be enabled. so don't come for me if yours says no 🙈

the /dev/aacraid? device nodes give you access to the management interface of the controller. one node exists per installed card, periodt.

and here's the fun part: if the aacraid_linux.ko and linux.ko modules are loaded, the Linux-compatible ioctl(2) interface for the management device gets enabled, and it'll let Linux-based management applications control the card. literally the best of both worlds 🌈

🔥 HARDWARE 🔥

the aacraid driver supports these Adaptec 6G and 12G SAS/SATA RAID controllers:

  • Adaptec ASR-6405(T|E)
  • Adaptec ASR-6445
  • Adaptec ASR-6805(T|E|Q|TQ)
  • Adaptec ASR-7085
  • Adaptec ASR-7805(Q)
  • Adaptec ASR-70165
  • Adaptec ASR-71605(E|Q)
  • Adaptec ASR-71685
  • Adaptec ASR-72405
  • Adaptec Series 8 cards

look at that list. every single one of them. ate. 👑

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /dev/aacraid? — the aacraid management interface

💜 DIAGNOSTICS 💜

compiling with AACRAID_DEBUG set to a number between 0 and 3 will enable increasingly verbose debug messages. so like, 0 is chill and 3 is "tell me literally everything" energy. pick your fighter 😭

the adapter can also send status and alert messages asynchronously to the driver. those messages get printed on the system console, and they're also queued up for retrieval by a management application. so nothing gets lost, bestie — it's all waiting for you 🍓

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

go read them. i'll wait. 💅

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

  • Achim Leubner <achim@FreeBSD.org>
  • Ed Maste <emaste@FreeBSD.org>
  • Scott Long <scottl@FreeBSD.org>

legends, honestly. we stan. 🫶

💀 BUGS 💀

the controller is not actually paused on suspend/resume.

that's it. that's the bug. no elaboration. just vibes and a slightly unpaused controller 🙈

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's from the Debian gang, dated September 29, 2025, and it's the AACRAID(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual. mwah 💋 go forth and RAID responsibly 🌟💖

📦 where this page comes from