We use the solution for DR failover/testing on our DR site. We're a Windows/VMware environment and replicate 25 virtual machines from our primary data center to our disaster recovery site. The solution allows us to perform live failovers without shutting down our production systems.
Works at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Live failover testing is seamless and limits production downtime
Pros and Cons
- "The fact that we are able to test the failover of live systems during regular hours is invaluable to our organization."
- "The GUI could be streamlined a bit more to enhance the administrative tasks."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto has made the testing and the actual failover process of our replicated virtual machines seamless. The product has relieved the administrative burden for the IT staff responsible for the disaster recovery implementation of the organization. Adding new virtual machines is quick and easy, and managing the environment is straightforward.
What is most valuable?
Failover testing is the most valuable feature. The fact that we are able to test the failover of live systems during regular hours is invaluable to our organization. No longer do we have to schedule failovers of our systems, which brings down our production environment.
What needs improvement?
There are a couple of minor areas that could use improvement.
The GUI could be streamlined a bit more to enhance the administrative tasks. I would also like to be able to throttle the email alerts, as sometimes they become a bit noisy, and get tough to keep on top of.
Buyer's Guide
Zerto
August 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?
Our company has been using the product for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to add new licenses for growth.
How are customer service and support?
Support has always been readily available if there were issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We never used a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward and seems to be in line with similar products.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate other products before choosing this solution.
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.
Team Lead, Virtualization/Converged at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Zert0 accomplishes everything advertised and much more...
What is most valuable?
Leveraging 'Move' to perform VC-to-VC migrations with little downtime.
How has it helped my organization?
Has simplified our DR/BC strategy and allows us to quickly protect Production applications that require low RPO's. We've done several fail-over tests with documented results. We feel Zert0 will only compliment our SDDC strategy.
For how long have I used the solution?
POC'd the product for 2 months and purchased in March of 2014.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
None.. Implementation was simple and quick. We were replicating vms in a matter of hours.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Nothing to date
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Customer service has been excellent
Technical Support:Technical support has been exceptional
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've used traditional LUN based replication which can be challenging in any virtual environment. Zert0 gave us the granularity to replicate VMDKs to any target datastore.
How was the initial setup?
Setup was simple and straightforward. We encountered no issues.
What about the implementation team?
We spent weeks doing a POC and literally installed and re-installed multiple times to see if there were any impacts on our infrastructure. There were none and it worked as advertised.
What was our ROI?
N/A
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We had capacity so our only setup costs were building a couple of VMs to install the Zert0 Consoles on and licensing of the product. Minimal when compared to SRM, Recover Point and Storage.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a POC with SRM and researched Recover Point extensively.
What other advice do I have?
I feel because the product is so simplistic yet extremely robust and effective management may perceive Zert0 as not being Enterprise worthy when in reality, it is. Bottom line, its a great product that brings standardization and simplicity to DR/BC.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Zerto
August 2024
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Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2024.
800,688 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Works at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Easy to set up and the ability to recover in minutes gives us peace of mind
Pros and Cons
- "We are in the process of switching over our production data center and Zerto has been a true time-saver that has cost us zero downtime."
- "The setup process is time-consuming."
What is our primary use case?
We use Zerto to keep a replica copy of the core servers we have running at our backup site. In the case of an outage, we are able to flip over to our backup location. Zerto keeps these servers up to date within seconds and in the case of an outage at our core data center, we can flip over services with little to no data loss.
How has it helped my organization?
Mostly what Zerto gives us is peace of mind.
We do the normal backups and that data gets stored offsite, but unlike backups, Zerto gives us the ability to be back up and running within minutes on a copy of our servers that is an identical copy of what is no longer accessible.
What is most valuable?
The features we found most valuable is site-to-site replication. This is what we purchased the product for and what we use it primarily for. We are in the process of switching over our production data center and Zerto has been a true time-saver that has cost us zero downtime.
What needs improvement?
Some features are not up to what we need, although we have found alternatives and aren't really looking for Zerto to handle those items today.
The setup process is time-consuming.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Zerto for around four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
With its built-in notifications and reporting, Zerto will alert you if there is anything wrong before it can become a problem.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Zerto works for one or one thousand machines and scaling out is an easy process. Zerto also seems to better support the major cloud vendors, with updates as well.
How are customer service and technical support?
Zerto technical support has been very responsive and has always been able to help. They are available 24x7 and always have someone to contact you right away.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to using Zerto, we were using VMware's SRS. It was not keeping a close enough copy of our servers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward, but also a lot of information was needed. A fair bit of time was spent setting things up, but it was really just time-consuming. There was nothing that needed to be done by the vendor.
As far as setup and maintenance are concerned, you need to be sure to set it up properly, test it, and occasionally perform updates. For the most part, once it is in place it is pretty hands-off.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented with the help of Zerto, who was very helpful in explaining the process and how everything works.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Zerto is not cheap but is an invaluable asset.
If you have the need for what Zerto can do for you then the cost really isn't a factor.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We only had experience with VMware's product and didn't know of anything other than Zerto. Once we tried the product we were hooked and never had a reason to look at anything else.
What other advice do I have?
When we implemented Zerto, we only utilized some of the features. This was mostly because of our needs at the time and partially because the other parts were not up to what we needed. They have since greatly improved on these parts, like the backups features, but we aren't really looking for Zerto to handle those items today.
We have never regretted implementing Zerto and I would not trade it for any other product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Operations Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
DR-site VM activation allows for immediate crash recovery
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to have a RPO of seconds has enabled us to restore data to just before an incident has occurred, which certainly saves a lot of time and money."
- "We have had issues with licensing, where the license we've been given by Zerto support doesn't include VSS replication, which was a pain at the time."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use for this solution is DR Replication to a separate data centre. We use VMware at both sites. We're currently replicating around eighty VMs from our primary data centre in London to our secondary data centre in Beccles. Most of these are SQL servers with the VSS agent installed.
How has it helped my organization?
We now have the ability to activate replicated VMs at our DR site within minutes of something happening to our primary data centre. The ability to have a RPO of seconds has enabled us to restore data to just before an incident has occurred, which certainly saves a lot of time and money.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of this solution are its ease of use and simple setup.
The ability to do a test failover to an isolated environment has been very useful, as this allows us to test servers without any implications to our live environment.
The dashboard is very clear and concise, showing any problems in different colours.
What needs improvement?
The VSS agent setup and configuration does seem to be a bit clunky compared to the rest of the software. We have had issues with licensing, where the license we've been given by Zerto support doesn't include VSS replication, which was a pain at the time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for four years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager - Storage & Servers at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Replication from Hyper-V to ESX so that I can retire my old environment is nice. The ability to add hard disks to a VM and have Zerto just pick up those changes would be improvements.
Valuable Features:
- Replication from Hyper-V to ESX so I can retire my old environment
- Failover from Site A to Site B
Improvements to My Organization:
Before this product, we had a lot of custom scripting and multiple other products to try and get to a similar place that Zerto allows without fully managing to. Zerto allows for a more granular replication ability and therefore a more flexible model than the per-socket licensed alternatives. It is positioned fantastically for pay as you grow which is just what we were after.
Room for Improvement:
- IP Addressing of failed over VM’s isn’t working properly.
- Over time, it would be great to get more meat on the bones in the backups side of the product.
- Ability to add hard disks to a VM and have Zerto just pick up those changes rather than perform a full re-mirror.
Deployment Issues:
There are many post migration activities associated with a Hyper-V to ESX migration – don’t presume this is a hands off activity as it very much isn’t at this time. To make it hands off, there would be a ton of custom scripting required.
Stability Issues:
There have been no issues with the stability.
Scalability Issues:
It has not been an issue to scale it for our needs.
Other Advice:
The product has significant promise but it’s a long way from fully functional, there are fantastic features in the product and fantastic features promised “in the next release” too. Make sure you run through a good sizing exercise first.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Reduces downtime and is fast and efficient
Pros and Cons
- "The stability is good, and I have never had any customers say anything bad about it. Some have used it for years and have not had any problems."
- "Zerto added the backup feature, but it's not quite up to speed yet when you compare it with the backup capabilities of other solutions out there."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is doing demos and testing to make sure that Zerto is going to work for our customers. I test it mainly for disaster recovery and backup.
We've tested with VMware, Zadara, and AWS.
What is most valuable?
My clients found the DR feature to be the most valuable. It's something they deal with daily from a virtual machine using VMware, Amazon, or Azure.
Zerto absolutely helped to reduce downtime. My customers can bring up their machine somewhere else, and they can test on it.
Zerto's speed of recovery is very fast and efficient whenever I tested it.
What needs improvement?
Zerto added the backup feature, but it's not quite up to speed yet when you compare it with the backup capabilities of other solutions out there.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used Zerto off and on for about a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good, and I have never had any customers say anything bad about it. Some have used it for years and have not had any problems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Zerto can be scaled to any number of servers that you need.
How are customer service and support?
My customers have used Zerto's technical support and had no problems with it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
My clients loved Commvault from a backup side of things, but Commvault just didn't do the DR right for them. It was not quick real-time DR. They brought in Zerto, and it worked phenomenally for their production systems.
From a backup perspective, Commvault is really good, but from a DR perspective, Zerto is way better. It's much quicker and easier to use, and it works right out of the box.
What was our ROI?
My customers said that though they had to pay for it, they were glad they bought it because Zerto works. It's got really great ROI coming from that perspective.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing model is good. The price is a little bit expensive, but for what customers get on it, it tends to pay for itself. However, if more and more companies start to improve, then Zerto may need to look at their pricing and make it a little better.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Veeam, Cohesity, and RackWare. Zerto is by far the best disaster recovery product out there.
What other advice do I have?
You should set it up, test it on a few machines, and also test it in multiple environments. Most people have multiple clouds, so make sure you try it with VMware, AWS, etc. Also, decide whether you want to do all your critical tasks with Zerto and fully plan your DR as the top-level. Determine what is most important and then scale it down to the least important. You can then implement Zerto from that perspective.
Overall, I would rate Zerto at nine on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
CTO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We like the replication at the hypervisor level.
What is most valuable?
Replication at the hypervisor level. We’re a cloud Service Provider, and any solution relying on a specific storage vendor's functionality is a show stopper for us.
How has it helped my organization?
We can set up Disaster Recovery environments for our customers in a matter of minutes.
What needs improvement?
I hope that in the future the product will offer integrated encryption functionalities, so that the VPN setup between protected and protection site can become optional.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for four years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Assuming that you comply with the minimum requirements specified in their documentation, there should be no problems with deployment which is very straightforward.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have never encountered problems with the stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Zerto scales very well.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
10+
Technical Support:11 on a scale from 0 to 10, probably the best technical support amongst the vendors I'm working with.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes, complexity and cost.
How was the initial setup?
Very straightforward and simple setup.
What about the implementation team?
We always do the implementation in-house for our customers. The vendor always kindly provides one of their engineers to perform a post-installation check.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We sell on a per-use basis and pay using the same model.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When we started using the product, it was pretty unique. Since then, we have evaluated some competitors but still there’s no match.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We’re a partner in the Service Provider’s program
Sr System Admin at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Allows us to to replicate our critical application servers with a sub 5 min RPO.
Improvements to My Organization:
Zerto allow us to to replicate our critical application servers with a sub 5 min RPO. Before Zerto we would restore from tape backup.
Also, the testing recovery in an isolated environment allows us to test recovery any time we need to.
Room for Improvement:
I would like to have automated load balancing of the ZVM's at the target site. Each ESX server needs to have ZVM system to replicate the VM's. At the target site if you need to take one of the ZVM's offline at the target site you need to manually change the VM's using the ZVM. I would like this to be automated.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
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Updated: August 2024
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Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
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- Internal vs External DR Site: Pros and cons
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Good/accurate review of the product. As a fellow Zerto user, I concur with the findings.