Our primary use case is for DR failover.
Sytems anylist associate at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The near-synchronous replication is its shining feature
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the rollback feature that captures every couple of minutes. Whenever we have a server that goes down, we can use that to pull it back a couple of minutes before and it's good to go."
- "When setting up Zerto, you have to set up VRAs. I would like to see those not be needed as much. They're a little cumbersome and take up a lot of VM counts."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the rollback feature that captures every couple of minutes. Whenever we have a server that goes down, we can use that to pull it back a couple of minutes before and it's good to go.
The disaster recovery has been a benefit to us. The ability to capture or move something to another data center is also a really handy feature.
The near-synchronous replication is Zerto's shining feature. We leverage the most out of it.
On the technical side, we usually need more of the deeper, not near-synchronous replication. We need it more for the back backups but there's always a fire drill. There's always an emergency that needs something that happened five minutes ago to be restored.
We use Zerto to help protect VMs in your environment.
What needs improvement?
When setting up Zerto, you have to set up VRAs. I would like to see those not be needed as much. They're a little cumbersome and take up a lot of VM counts.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for around four to five years.
Buyer's Guide
Zerto
November 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is perfect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It feels like scalability is what it's built for. It's seamless.
How are customer service and support?
I don't usually have to call support. Some of my coworkers are a little more familiar with it, and they have always said that Zerto support is very good.
They're fast, responsive, and willing to look at issues that they're not familiar with.
An interactive chat with knowledgeable staff could be a helpful feature.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also looked at VMware. Zerto outperformed it and was more affordable.
What's nice about Zerto that I don't think we saw with VMware is the ability to use one console for multiple beta centers. It's really nice not having to go into a specific site to come to or from that site. If a site or a whole data center goes down, you can still access it from the other and pull over it if needed.
How was the initial setup?
We had VRAs that we had to set up. The initial setup was good. The hard part was getting all of the servers into certain groups and then getting the disaster recovery plan for all of those. That was the hard part. Once you have that all setup, initiating those plans is very easy.
What was our ROI?
We have seen ROI. I'm more on the technical side so I can't give exact metrics.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten. It gives me everything I want and everything I would need. Failing over is easy. Disaster recovery is easy. If there was ever an event where I had to roll over a whole data center, I don't really worry about it because Zerto has been there. The setup was probably the hardest part but once you get the hard part done, the rest is easy.
Sometimes the console is a little hard to understand. Simplifying some of the commands inside of it would help. It's a very minor aspect. Sometimes the endpoint and destinations can get a little confusing and exactly how you want some of the functions to roll over can be a little bit hard to pick up.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jul 15, 2024
Flag as inappropriateHPE Presales Consultant and Certified Instructor at Pleiades Tecnologia
Has really good near-synchronous replication and protection, which is an advantage for customers
Pros and Cons
- "We used Zerto to protect VMs in our environment. It depends on the network and environment, but the RTO takes around 7-8 seconds. When you compare Zerto to other solutions in the market, it's very powerful."
- "You have to start with 25 VMs which is too much for SMB clients. It would be better if they had the option to start with 10."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for running demos for HPE partners and customers, regarding disaster recovery and backup.
How has it helped my organization?
Although our primary use case is to show demos to partners and customers, we think it's really valuable.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are disaster recovery and that the RTO takes less than ten seconds. It's a reallypotent tool.
The near-synchronous replication is really good and an advantage for customers. This feature is really important because we can show it to customers and partners, helping recovering from ransomware, and does provide huge value.
You can protect your VMs in the environment. It depends on the network and environment, but the RTO takes around 7-8 seconds. When you compare Zerto to other solutions in the market, it's very powerful.
Also, the ease of use and speed of recovery are wonderful.
What needs improvement?
I'm happy with the solution, but I would like Zerto to support other hypervisors too
And the price could be cheaper, but it is reasonable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is really good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used SRM from VMware and RapidDR from Simplivity. In comparison to those products, Zerto is really simple to use and helpful.
We are constantly trying new products. Zerto has the lowest RTO, you can recover a lot more quickly than using other solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our clients think it's quite expensive but I advise them to consider all of Zerto's features.
You need to start with 25 VMs, which sometimes is too much for SMB clients in some countries. It would be better if they had the option to start with a license for less VMs, like 5 or 10.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten because of the low RTOs, the ease of use, and how helpful it is for clients.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jul 15, 2024
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Zerto
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
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Chief Technology Officer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Faster and more cost-effective than other solutions
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's most valuable features are its user interface, ease of implementation, and ease of execution."
- "In the future, the tool's user interface needs to be refreshed since it seems to be becoming somewhat antiquated."
What is our primary use case?
I use the Zerto in my company for all of our applications built on it. There are around 1,600 applications.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto has enabled us to move and replicate systems much faster than we ever had before. We could move entire data centers in six months versus what would have taken three years.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable features are its user interface, ease of implementation, and ease of execution.
Zerto's near-synchronous replication works. I work in the healthcare industry, where systems have to be up and working and are mission-critical, and Zerto is a part of that journey.
I have used Zerto to help protect VMs in your environment.
Zerto is an effective tool for bringing systems back at a pace. The limiting factor in Zerto is sometimes the application, but it has certainly allowed us to deliver more streamlined SLAs to our business.
In terms of comparing the speed of recovery of Zerto versus the speed of recovery with other disaster recovery solutions that I have used, I can say that my company moved from an old Commvault-based solution to a Zerto-based solution since the latter was far superior to the former.
Based on my usage or evaluations of other solutions, I would compare the ease of use Zerto provides with a product named Commvault. Compared to Commvault, Zerto is faster and more cost-effective.
What needs improvement?
Zerto can reduce its price.
In the future, the tool's user interface needs to be refreshed since it seems to be becoming somewhat antiquated.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto since 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool has been 100 percent stable for our company. In reality, the tool has been up since 2017.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not seen any problems with the product's scalability, especially since we run 1,600 applications with it. There don't seem to be any problems with scaling up.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is excellent. The tool's technical support team is responsive, easy to get a hold of, and kind, and the team also listens. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten. For me, to rate the support team ten out of ten, in a perfect world, there are more SLAs at fixed times.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Commvault. My company chose Zerto because it was modern and easy to implement, and the demonstrations we saw indicated that it should be part of our organization's future.
How was the initial setup?
The product's ease of setup made things straightforward, especially with good customer support, and backup when trying to get it all implemented.
My company uses the hybrid cloud services offered by GCP but hasn't added Zerto to it. My company also uses AWS and Microsoft Azure, but we haven't added Zerto to it.
What about the implementation team?
For the setup phase, my company bought some professional services because, obviously, my team hadn't had training, but now they are trained. My company bought some professional services, and my team got some hands-on training, so we now run the system in-house. I believe that Zerto's team should receive more training about the tool. I rate my experience with the tool's system integrator, WWT, as seven out of ten.
What was our ROI?
It offers more cost-avoidance than the return on investment, although the return on investment is possible to a certain extent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
At the time I had purchased the product, the pricing was fair and reasonable. Over the years, costs have certainly gone up, which makes it hard for healthcare companies to use the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I believe that Zerto's team should have more training.
I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jul 15, 2024
Flag as inappropriateCTO & Presales Manager at Pleiades Tecnologia
Reduces our operational costs, time commitment, and downtime
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Zerto are the ease of use and recovery speed."
- "While Zerto's current version supports VMware environments, I'd like the added flexibility of using Hypervisors as well."
What is our primary use case?
We use Zerto to protect our centralized environment on our data center.
We implemented Zerto to ensure our environment keeps running in the event of power failure or hardware issues.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto is extremely easy to use.
The near synchronous replication is powerful and eliminates the need to use other storage solutions. The near synchronous replication is important for the services that we are providing.
It has drastically reduced our downtime. Previously, recovering from an issue took three days, but now with Zerto, we're back up and running in about an hour, minimizing disruption and keeping our business operational.
The continuous data protection has transformed our IT operations. By enabling us to restore our entire environment and resume functionality within hours, it eliminates the multi-day downtime we previously experienced in recovery situations.
Zerto has significantly reduced our operational costs and time commitment by 90 percent. Compared to our previous solution, Zerto requires fewer resources and allows us to complete tasks much faster.
Zerto safeguards our virtual machines, ensuring critical applications recover in minutes while less essential ones are restored within hours. This significant improvement replaces our previous recovery time of two to three days for the entire environment.
It has reduced our downtime by 85 percent.
While we hadn't previously tested our disaster recovery plan, our current backups and improved recovery time give us greater confidence in our ability to respond to an incident.
Zerto strengthens our IT team's disaster recovery plan by boosting their confidence in the system's reliability. With Zerto, the system can now recover quickly from the biannual power outages that used to cause instability, thanks to its improved stability within the failover environment.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Zerto are the ease of use and recovery speed.
The most valuable feature for enhancing our data protection strategy is the ability to test and validate that the protection is up and running when we need it.
What needs improvement?
While Zerto's current version supports VMware environments, I'd like the added flexibility of using Hypervisors as well. Although previous Zerto versions offered this functionality, it seems to be missing in the latest iteration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Zerto nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability of Zerto nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team was responsive and effective in resolving the small number of problems we encountered.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to rely solely on Veeam for backups, but now we have a layered approach. We still perform Veeam backups for long-term data protection. However, we've added Zerto for disaster recovery, enabling much faster recoveries of our critical systems in case of a major outage. This way, we have both comprehensive backups and the ability to get our key functions back up and running quickly.
Zerto boasts faster recovery speeds than Veeam and offers a significantly easier testing process.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment was straightforward. It was completed by one person in one day.
What was our ROI?
The time Zerto saves us restoring our services provides a significant return on investment.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Zerto nine out of ten.
Our Zerto deployment spans multiple locations and is managed by a team of eight administrators who are responsible for protecting 30 virtual machines.
While Zerto itself doesn't require regular maintenance, it's important to conduct periodic tests to verify our disaster recovery functionality and generate reports to monitor its health.
I would recommend Zerto because it provides better and more simplified protection.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Last updated: Jun 2, 2024
Flag as inappropriateDisaster Recovery & Cybersecurity Consultant at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
An effective tool for automation and orchestration of complex activities
Pros and Cons
- "Its ease of use and scalability are valuable."
- "There should be more comprehensive cyber recovery capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
For one client, the use case was to facilitate data center migration, and for another client, it was for failover and failback of the data center for DR. We wanted to have controlled failover and failback of related applications for DR.
We have not used it for disaster recovery in the cloud. Everything has been on-prem so far.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto helps in automating disaster recovery capabilities. It allows automation and orchestration of complex activities.
We have used Zerto to help protect VMs in our environment. Zerto’s overall effect on our RPOs has been pretty good.
It has also been effective for our RTOs.
Zerto has helped to reduce downtime, specifically for failover and failback, but it is hard to qualify the time saved.
Zerto has not saved us time in a data recovery situation due to ransomware or other causes because we have not been impacted by any such issue.
Zerto has helped to reduce the organization's DR testing. There is about 20% reduction.
It has also reduced the number of staff involved in a data recovery situation, but I have not seen any reduction in the number of staff involved in overall backup and DR management.
What is most valuable?
Its ease of use and scalability are valuable.
I also find the near-synchronous replication to be valuable. It is extremely important for organizations.
What needs improvement?
There should be more comprehensive cyber recovery capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. It is deployed across multiple locations. There are roughly about 4,000 VMs.
We might use it to migrate to cloud solutions. It is to be decided.
How are customer service and support?
I have not reached out to them myself.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using SRM. We switched to Zerto for automation.
Zerto is highly effective in terms of ease of use as compared to other solutions. Zerto is also pretty effective in terms of its speed of recovery.
We can easily migrate data using the Zerto console.
Zerto has not yet replaced all of our legacy backup solutions but it will.
How was the initial setup?
Our setup is all on-premises. I was involved in its deployment to some degree. It was pretty straightforward to deploy.
It took about three months. It was an enterprise-wide solution.
What about the implementation team?
It was a combination of in-house staff and a third party. The third party was a VAR or value-added reseller.
It required just a handful of staff for deployment. It does not require any maintenance from our side.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI, but I do not have the metrics.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is not a bad pricing model.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other options on paper, not physically.
What other advice do I have?
Zerto is an effective tool for automation and orchestration of complex activities.
The biggest lesson that I have learned by using Zerto is the need for application involvement and defining protection groups.
Overall, I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Database Admin at Fintec
Reliable with minimal downtime and helps reduce staff
Pros and Cons
- "We can use Zerto to help protect our VMs."
- "We're not fully satisfied with the support team."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for data replication. We have it in Oracle. It helps with disaster recovery. We have a primary and secondary server and the data can move between the two thanks to Zerto.
How has it helped my organization?
Right now, I'm having issues with delays when archiving. We're facing issues with RPU and getting 20 or 30-minute delays. That's a bandwidth issue.
We do rely on the replication capabilities. When our one system went down, we were able to immediately replicate.
What is most valuable?
It's a reliable solution - if we have great bandwidth. It offers near-synchronous replication. This is very important. We're a fintech company relying on Zerto for disaster recovery. We tend to only use the replication features.
We use the solution for immutable data copies. The 3-2-1 rule is very reliable.
We can use Zerto to help protect our VMs.
It's had a positive effect on our RPOs. We have virtual protection groups and haven't had any issues. Our production server does need to be replicated in real-time, and everything else can be replicated whenever we like.
It only takes five to ten minutes to switch over or failover. During data migrations, our users can continue to collaborate just fine. It's fine and fast.
The RTO is good. If a machine is storing more than two to three terabytes, it takes longer than ten minutes, but any time the storage is less than that, it takes ten minutes or less.
Our downtime is minimal.
We've saved a lot of time in a data recovery situation.
We do switchovers from time to time to test DR. We do switchovers every three months. It only takes half an hour. It saves us about one hour at least. We can allocate the time we save to any other activity or task.
It's reduced the number of staff needed for DR by three or four people.
The solution did replace some legacy solutions. It replaced small backup solutions. It's helped us save on the costs needed to manage them. We've saved around two resources so far. I'm not sure how much those tools cost. However, we needed four infrastructure and two or three database people looking after those. Now, we don't need to.
What needs improvement?
We don't have great bandwidth. When we don't have good bandwidth, it doesn't work so well.
We're not fully satisfied with the support team.
The first time, it's difficult to migrate data. However, after that, it becomes easier.
They need to give more options, such as more archiving options.
For how long have I used the solution?
The company has been using the solution for around one year. I've used it for three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, from what I have seen.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around 100 direct Zerto users. We have around 30,000 to 35,000 end-users. We have 10 production servers, Linux machines, five development servers, and five Unity servers.
It is very scalable. We can scale up to 200 machines and have maybe around 80 right now. I'm not sure if we will scale more in the future.
How are customer service and support?
Support has dropped off. When I joined the organizations, they were very active.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use Oracle. I used it in my previous company. In this company, we use HP, and it works well with Zerto.
Zerto is very easy to use, and the GUI is very comfortable. We can configure, replicate, and sync right from the GUI.
How was the initial setup?
We have Zerto on an HP machine.
I was not involved in the deployment of the solution.
Maintenance is necessary, and we have two people handling maintenance tasks.
What was our ROI?
The solution is worth the cost. Having disaster recovery is necessary. If we ever suffer from a hardware failure, we can easily replicate in one click.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is a bit expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. I'd recommend the solution to others.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Cloud Data Center Architect at Cable Bahamas
Our customers like the fact that they can restore within seconds
Pros and Cons
- "Another advantage is the ease of use. You can click through instead of typing in the code. It's all already scripted down to the network adjustments within the VMs and the timed delays for servers that need to come up in sequence. Overall, it's a good package for us to use. We started using it in about 2018 and haven't looked back."
- "It would also be nice if you could update without having to download a new installation file for Zerto Virtual Manager. Within the app, it could prompt you to install and perform the installation from within the application. Generally, it's relatively easy to use, but it gets a little complex when customers have special network requirements and need to customize how long they want the save points to be retained. We need to work with the storage team on the backend to see what makes the most sense for the client."
What is our primary use case?
We're a managed services provider that uses Zerto primarily for disaster recovery as a service. We offer Zerto as a DR option for our clients. Our customers in the Bahamas need a DR option outside of the hurricane belt, so we have workloads throughout the world to ensure our customers have somewhere to restore from.
Currently, we run Zerto in a vCloud environment. All of the services are brought up in a vCloud environment. It saves us from having to constantly buy equipment. The vCloud environment enables us to spin up an environment as needed instead of having unnecessary hardware sitting there using resources.
How has it helped my organization?
We haven't had any major disasters that required us to use Zerto, but we perform two or three live failover tests with clients. Everyone seems to be pretty happy with the product and the turnaround time.
It's all about client satisfaction. They may not understand the underlying tech architecture, but they want to know how fast we can bring the environment back up. We can achieve fast restorations and restore sections if needed instead of the entire environment. It's been a great experience for us and our customers.
What is most valuable?
The RTO/RPO times are fast. The speed is probably the biggest selling point for us. It's not live replication, where you have two sites up at the same time, but our customers like the fact that they can restore within seconds.
It takes them nearly to the last point of connectivity, so it's seamless and easy to operate. It's easy to operate, and customers feel that they have a level of control. With some platforms, most things need to be done by the provider, but customers have a management platform in their environment. They can run tests without our direct involvement.
Another advantage is the ease of use. You can click through instead of typing in the code. It's all already scripted down to the network adjustments within the VMs and the timed delays for servers that need to come up in sequence. Overall, it's a good package for us to use. We started using it in about 2018 and haven't looked back.
What needs improvement?
We have an issue with the management platform because we don't always upgrade to the latest version, whereas the customers tend to constantly upgrade. Sometimes, we lose connectivity because something isn't supported.
For example, we have VMware version 7 update 3. This morning, a customer upgraded it without informing us. It's their responsibility to notify us because our environment is large, and we don't update every time a new version comes out. It's somewhat of a pain.
In addition to data, the other thing would be the hardware versions for VMware. I finally found a proper support matrix, but we ran into a few problems in the early stages. I don't know how to address this, but maybe when the version is going to update, the client could get a prompt saying that the cloud location is not on that same version. It would be a more efficient way to tell them instead of trying to figure it out.
It would also be nice if you could update without having to download a new installation file for Zerto Virtual Manager. Within the app, it could prompt you to install and perform the installation from within the application. Generally, it's relatively easy to use, but it gets a little complex when customers have special network requirements and need to customize how long they want the save points to be retained. We need to work with the storage team on the backend to see what makes the most sense for the client.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Zerto for about five years.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Zerto support nine out of 10. I haven't had any serious issues aside from the problem with version differences between a client's environment and ours. That is just a matter of striking a balance with the clients. An IT environment can't update too frequently because you don't want a change to break something. Unfortunately, you can't stop the customer.
Support has been good about helping us troubleshoot those issues. It's easy to run a diagnostic tool and get the file. It's difficult to pull down a diagnostic file in some solutions because you need to do it via a command line. With this, it's just a couple of options you select. You run a diagnostic, save the file, and send it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I work on the cloud management side, so it was already deployed. I wasn't involved in deploying the cloud portion. However, I installed all of the virtual management for customers and set up the environment for them. That part of it was easy. It was a click-through thing. Most of the time, we'll guide the customer through the process, so they can see it as well. We show them the step-by-step process of performing the updates.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Zerto is like a Ferrari. It's very fast but not the cheapest solution. You're paying a high price for quality and the assurance that you will have the environment up and steady.
There are tradeoffs, too. Our clients spend money on licensing but save on equipment. The customers could either buy a bunch of equipment or pay for Zerto licenses. That's where we come in. We provide you with a cloud solution that doesn't cost all this money upfront. The prices could always be better, but we don't complain so much about it because the savings come from other places.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Zerto nine out of 10. A lot of people are trying to convince us to look at VMware backups instead, but I don't see the urgency because Zerto works for us. I don't see anything on the market that can restore in seconds as opposed to minutes or hours. For us to switch, we would need something that beats Zerto. Right now, nothing beats it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Sr Infrastructure Engineer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Simple UI, quick disaster recovery, and responsive support
Pros and Cons
- "The UI is straightforward. It makes it very simple to group our resources and understand that our production workloads are covered because we can set them up as granular or as non-granular as we want."
- "The biggest pain points we have experienced are related to some of the SQL-intensive workloads just because the VPGs struggle a little bit to keep up. That might be because we are pushing too many transactions."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for disaster recovery. We do disaster recovery in the cloud as well. We also do routine testing of the disaster recovery functionalities.
How has it helped my organization?
We do disaster recovery in the cloud. Having DR in the cloud is absolutely fundamental. Backups are great, and disaster recovery is quick. If something is down, with the click of a button, we would be able to spin up multiple assets. Zerto allows us to do that.
We primarily have Azure, but we also have some integration with AWS. We found it pretty seamless. There are a couple of pain points every now and then with setting up policies and getting things to work as expected, but their support is very helpful for any of the cases that we run into. Whether it is running against RTO or having issues with certain VMs and certain workloads, we have been able to work through these issues and get it functioning as expected.
Zerto has been very helpful for RPOs. It definitely keeps us at our target recovery point. It is definitely the most important toolset for us to meet the RPOs.
Zerto definitely helps our engineers sleep better at night because we know that we can meet our RPO. We have an immediate button if we have to do a restore. Sometimes, we look in Zerto first rather than having to dig out of backup. That is probably Zerto's highest value-add.
It does near-synchronous replication. CDP has definitely come a long way. They were the first ones to do it, and they have definitely done it the best in my opinion. Other solutions that are out there are trying to emulate it, but in our stack, Zerto will always be the one on which we rely the most for continuous replication. For production workloads, this continuous replication is absolutely critical. We have a lot of SQL data and things that are constantly changing. It is sometimes a little bit of a struggle for Zerto to keep up with that much change rate, but with the tweaks that we have made, it has definitely been more possible. It is definitely something that is important to us, and for production apps, it is absolutely key.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of features. The UI is straightforward. It makes it very simple to group our resources and understand that our production workloads are covered because we can set them up as granular or as non-granular as we want. If we want to select an entire cluster, we can do that, or we can group it by application, which is the best practice and what we do as an organization.
What needs improvement?
The biggest pain points we have experienced are related to some of the SQL-intensive workloads just because the VPGs struggle a little bit to keep up. That might be because we are pushing too many transactions. That might be on us, but that would be my main suggestion. There might be a way to tweak the settings. There is an option to exclude scratch disks or temp disks in SQL, and that helps, but we still struggle a little bit with the databases with high transaction volume for the VPGs to keep up. We have done a little bit of work with the monitoring features that they have in the portal to identify whether ZVM or something else is overloaded and then allocate more resources to it, but there can be a little bit more transparency. If there is something they can do along those lines, that would be awesome.
Deployment is an area that can be improved a little bit. Sometimes deploying new ZVMs and things can be a little confusing. Also, with the supportability matrix, there is a little bit of a gray area sometimes as to which version is supported. There is some opportunity there to improve transparency around versioning and what to use moving forward for all workloads.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for about five years between multiple organizations.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. We have no issues. We do not have to worry that Zerto will go down. We shifted most of our on-prem into Azure, and it works flawlessly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is definitely scalable. It just works. We can add more VMs. We can add more ZVMs to scale with the business needs.
We are using it mostly for the production workloads. We have a couple thousand VMs.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate them a nine out of ten. It is hard to get a ten out of ten. There is always more that you can do with support, but they are always very responsive. They helped us through multiple issues with different VPG replications. We have had some issues there, and they were always very good at guidance. They always have a solution and a lot of good documentation as well to reference before opening a case. That is helpful.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have only used Zerto in the past. That is the one I am the most familiar with and comfortable with. I can compare it to other backup tool sets that I have used in the past, but I know Zerto is not exactly a backup solution.
Its UI is very simple. I always find what I am looking for relatively easily. As they have evolved the web portal, it has only gotten better. The UI is definitely on point today.
What was our ROI?
I believe we have seen an ROI, but I do not know the exact number. We are definitely seeing a good return from what we have put into the Zerto product. Our business users said that it is very important to them to have disaster recovery and for us to be able to perform quarterly tests with all these different application stacks. We can show them what it is like to bring up a bubble environment and do full testing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
It was a little before I joined the company, so I cannot comment on the solutions they evaluated.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten. There is always room for improvement. There could be a little bit more transparency around releases and what version to use. They have done some rebranding in the past such as ZRA and ZVM. There is some confusion there sometimes related to some of the internal terminology when you do not work on it every day, but overall, we are very happy with the product. It does what it is intended to do, and as a customer, that is all you can ask for.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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