diff --git a/fs/smb/common/smbdirect/smbdirect_connection.c b/fs/smb/common/smbdirect/smbdirect_connection.c
index 6e4b7aa2440d..0b35840ad4f2 100644
--- a/fs/smb/common/smbdirect/smbdirect_connection.c
+++ b/fs/smb/common/smbdirect/smbdirect_connection.c
@@ -6,6 +6,53 @@
 
 #include "smbdirect_internal.h"
 
+__maybe_unused /* this is temporary while this file is included in others */
+static struct smbdirect_send_io *smbdirect_connection_alloc_send_io(struct smbdirect_socket *sc)
+{
+	struct smbdirect_send_io *msg;
+
+	msg = mempool_alloc(sc->send_io.mem.pool, sc->send_io.mem.gfp_mask);
+	if (!msg)
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+	msg->socket = sc;
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&msg->sibling_list);
+	msg->num_sge = 0;
+
+	return msg;
+}
+
+__maybe_unused /* this is temporary while this file is included in others */
+static void smbdirect_connection_free_send_io(struct smbdirect_send_io *msg)
+{
+	struct smbdirect_socket *sc = msg->socket;
+	size_t i;
+
+	/*
+	 * The list needs to be empty!
+	 * The caller should take care of it.
+	 */
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(!list_empty(&msg->sibling_list));
+
+	/*
+	 * Note we call ib_dma_unmap_page(), even if some sges are mapped using
+	 * ib_dma_map_single().
+	 *
+	 * The difference between _single() and _page() only matters for the
+	 * ib_dma_map_*() case.
+	 *
+	 * For the ib_dma_unmap_*() case it does not matter as both take the
+	 * dma_addr_t and dma_unmap_single_attrs() is just an alias to
+	 * dma_unmap_page_attrs().
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < msg->num_sge; i++)
+		ib_dma_unmap_page(sc->ib.dev,
+				  msg->sge[i].addr,
+				  msg->sge[i].length,
+				  DMA_TO_DEVICE);
+
+	mempool_free(msg, sc->send_io.mem.pool);
+}
+
 __maybe_unused /* this is temporary while this file is included in others */
 static struct smbdirect_recv_io *smbdirect_connection_get_recv_io(struct smbdirect_socket *sc)
 {