The Samba team at SerNet has reached another major milestone in the STA-funded development project: SMB Direct (RDMA) support is now taking shape in the Linux kernel. This marks a new stage for Samba – bringing high-speed, low-latency data transfer into the open-source world. With Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA), data moves directly between client and server network adapters, bypassing the CPU and reducing latency. The result: enterprise-grade performance, available in an open, community-driven stack.
159 patches later
Developing SMB Direct required deep kernel integration. Over 159 patches, the Samba team unified existing SMB Direct components for both client and server, which paves the way toward a shared socket layer that can be exported to user space via socket API and then used by applications like Samba. This foundation enables future work on full SMB Direct support in smbd and smbclient, as well as automated testing and performance validation.
Several commits have already been merged into the main Linux kernel, with further work under active review: a milestone made possible through collaboration between Samba developers, kernel maintainers, and the wider Linux community.
Open performance, sovereign infrastructure
SMB Direct is more than a technical upgrade. It’s a step toward digital sovereignty through performance and openness. By making advanced data-transfer capabilities available as free software, Samba enables secure, scalable file services without proprietary dependencies. The Sovereign Tech Agency (STA) supports this work as part of its mission to strengthen open digital infrastructure and Europe’s technological resilience.
With STA funding, Samba can focus on the kind of long-term, architectural development that benefits everyone from enterprises to public institutions.
Learn more about the full STA-funded Samba project and all milestones: https://samba.plus/stf-project
