KTN-STL3 - drives, interposers, oh my?

[CrimsonCutlass]

Hello!
I'm looking at upgrading my storage and it seems like the KTN-STL3 is the way to go, with several for sale on ebay. Can anyone help me confirm that I can put whatever 3.5HDD I want in there? I ask because I got a dell storage vault M1200 and it required specific drives from a list, and I never used it.

- Can I use any SAS drive?
- What interposer do I need for SAS drives?
- If I go with SATA does that mean a different interposer?

I intended to read the user manual but I cannot find it anywhere. Does someone have a link they can share?

My setup if anyone is interested:
Dell R720 with SAS9300-8e - Running Proxmox
Dell R720 with SAS9300-8e - Running TrueNAS Scale
I intend to buy as many SAS drives and I can and connect both those R720s the SAS930-8e to the KTN-STL3 with a SFF-8644 to Mini SAS SFF-8088 cable.
How does that sound?

 

[BeTeP]

have you read https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/emc-ktn-stl3-15-bay-chassis.23244

 

[gregsachs]

Warning! Do not assume you can readily connect 2 hosts to this and have drives shared! In theory, you can divide the backplane into two zones, with each host talking to a subset of the drives. In practice, I'm not sure anyone knows how to do that, or if there is any firmware available for the KTN that supports it. You might be able to do with a SAS switch, but likely simpler to just look at 2 shelves. If you still have that dell the latest firmware is supposed to support non-dell drives. The big thread on MD1200s might be of interest as well.

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/fun-with-an-md1200-md1220-sc200-sc220.27487/page-8

 

[CrimsonCutlass]

have you read https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/emc-ktn-stl3-15-bay-chassis.23244

I scanned through it. There’s tons of topics covered but I didn’t find anything conclusive about drive brand/model limitations, or a product manual I could download. I’ll continue to read through it more thoroughly.

 

[CrimsonCutlass]

Warning! Do not assume you can readily connect 2 hosts to this and have drives shared! In theory, you can divide the backplane into two zones, with each host talking to a subset of the drives. In practice, I'm not sure anyone knows how to do that, or if there is any firmware available for the KTN that supports it. You might be able to do with a SAS switch, but likely simpler to just look at 2 shelves. If you still have that dell the latest firmware is supposed to support non-dell drives. The big thread on MD1200s might be of interest as well.

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/fun-with-an-md1200-md1220-sc200-sc220.27487/page-8

Thanks for this. Great advice before I get started. I’ll use my TrueNAS to host the shares.

 

[gregsachs]

Take a look at this xyratex as an alternative to the KTL:

Dell Xyratex HB-1235 Compellent -2x Controller, 2x PSU, 12x Caddies, No HDDs | eBay

Dell Xyratex HB-1235 Compellent 12 Bay Storage Array.

www.ebay.com

this is denser at 6 drives/u than the KTL; and very easy to source parts for.
If you are using sas drives, no interposer needed, and if you are using SATA and don't need dual path to controller the same is true.

 

[CrimsonCutlass]

Take a look at this xyratex as an alternative to the KTL:

Dell Xyratex HB-1235 Compellent -2x Controller, 2x PSU, 12x Caddies, No HDDs | eBay

Dell Xyratex HB-1235 Compellent 12 Bay Storage Array.

www.ebay.com

this is denser at 6 drives/u than the KTL; and very easy to source parts for.
If you are using sas drives, no interposer needed, and if you are using SATA and don't need dual path to controller the same is true.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out. Do you know if there are any requirements on drive models? I’m brand new to this, except for my M1200 fiasco. Good thing it was free and I could use the drives in my R720s.