We use Zerto for multiple use cases. We are using it for disaster recovery, backup and recovery, and data protection. There is an inbuilt feature where we can utilize the Zerto platform in a hybrid model which means we have one instance on-premises and another instance on our cloud for redundancy and for cross integration.
Zerto DR (ZVM)
BYNETExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Competitive price, user-friendly, and continuous data protection
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto’s near-synchronous replication works. We have configured near-synchronous replication between two different clusters. One cluster is on-premises, and another cluster is on the cloud. For near-synchronous replication, the value proposition is excellent. We are able to achieve the results for which we procured this solution. Near-synchronous replication is working perfectly. We do not see any challenges with data retrieval, complete replication, and synchronization processes. Everything is working perfectly and seamlessly.
We were able to see its benefits when we integrated it with our HPE GreenLake for DR purposes. It is a SaaS-based platform, so we are able to see the fastest way to recover data and applications. We were perfectly able to meet our recovery point and recovery times objectives through Zerto. On top of that, Zerto is protecting our data from ransomware, cyberattacks, cyber threats, national disasters, or human errors.
We are using a lot of virtual machines on-premises and in the cloud. Our main goal is to protect the complete data that we have in production and non-production clusters with different applications and big platforms.
Zerto is a market leader in continuous data protection technology. Previously, we had RPOs and RTOs in terms of minutes, whereas now, they have changed from minutes to seconds.
Zerto has an inbuilt disaster recovery protection and prevention with continuous replication. Whenever we faced any challenge related to our link being broken or not being able to access the data from the primary data center, all the backups were readily available because Zerto had replicated snapshots. We have not seen much latency or delay in recovery and the ability to get replicated data from different destinations.
We have not had any ransomware type of event. However, during the PoC and testing in an isolated environment, we have seen what would happen in the case of an attack. We could see how Zerto and its policies will take action and isolate that environment within a fraction of a minute or second.
For DR, we were previously using VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) but there was a lot of complexity. It was time-consuming. Most of the time, we saw a lot of human errors happening, and we were not able to test our DR activity. By leveraging Zerto for the past 14 or 15 months, we could achieve all of our desired results. There were no human errors. Everything went seamlessly. We are very happy with this solution.
Zerto has had a positive effect on our IT resiliency strategy. With the earlier vendor, we had a lot of problems. Our data got lost in transit during replication, snapshot creation, and recovery scenarios. By using this robust platform, we could achieve our resiliency metrics. The metrics are stable and never went below the benchmark.
Things are working perfectly. Each and every feature is complete with advanced options. It is a simplified DR operation platform. It has great visibility when it comes to protection from ransomware attacks. It has deep analytics features and robust data recovery policies. Everything is good in this platform.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the resiliency towards cyber threats for data protection. The main reasons for adopting Zerto are data protection and being able to do disaster recovery for site recovery. We can ensure that if the site goes down, data is available to all the users within a fraction of a second. On top of these, we have the resiliency towards malware and other security threats and attacks. Zerto has an embedded feature to protect our data from external and internal threats.
Zerto is very easy to use. It is very user-friendly. It is a GUI-based platform with a centralized dashboard where we can create policies, snapshots, replication policies, and disaster recovery policies. It is very user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
Patch management can be better. Although we are doing patch management on the Zerto platform in an automated manner, it can be improved by leveraging some AI-assisted technology. With the help of AI, things are going to be faster in terms of patching the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Zerto for 14 or 15 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Since we deployed it, there have been no critical issues or major incidents. The platform is working as per the expectations. There was no downtime of any production activity. We are happy with the stability and overall performance of the complete platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is completely scalable in terms of adding licenses, subscriptions, modules, and different sorts of features. Its scalability is seamless, and it is easy to use.
How are customer service and support?
I have contacted them multiple times. Their support was good. We got a timely response and a timely resolution.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using VMware SRM previously. We switched from VMware SRM to Zerto due to complexity, cost, human errors, and data protection.
The most important security feature in Zerto is protection against ransomware attacks and internal or external threats. These capabilities were not present in the VMware platform. Cybersecurity resiliency and protection are embedded in Zerto.
Zerto is very easy to use, operate, and administer. It is very simple and easy to create and work on any of the policies and rules. It is easy to extract reports and navigate to the other tabs where we can see the health scorecard and other things. We can see all the things. It is very easy to patch the entire system. Everything is good.
How was the initial setup?
We have a hybrid deployment. We have one instance of Zerto disaster recovery and protection running in an on-premises data center, and then we have another instance running on the cloud. Both are continuously replicated so that in case of any difficulty or problem with one, we can leverage the functionality of the other one. The on-premises one is taking care of the on-premises environment, and the cloud-based instance is taking care of the cloud-based environment.
Its initial deployment was very easy and flexible. We did not face any challenges. The solution is quite simple. It is easy to navigate, easy to use, and easy to migrate, although we did not go with any sort of migration. It was a fresh greenfield deployment, so we had no issues at all.
Its implementation took us about 12 weeks. It does require maintenance. The maintenance contract was already placed when we went with the purchase order for procurement. It was a multi-year support contract. It does require maintenance in terms of patch management, updates, health checks, performance tuning, policy updates, and recovery plans and procedures updates. We have a storage and backup team working 24/7 in this environment.
What about the implementation team?
We directly worked with a Zerto system integrator. That integrator was recommended by Zerto. We also worked with the Zerto team for the complete architecture, framework design, implementation plan, and other things. We did not take any help from any third-party vendor or resource.
We had five to seven people for its implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its pricing is very competitive. As compared to VMware SRM, Zerto has reduced our OPEX cost by at least 30%.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Zerto a ten out of ten as a platform. With the help of Zerto, we have very enriched features for ransomware protection of all our data repositories. It provides great support for disaster recovery and response. Our RTOs have improved after adopting the Zerto platform, so everything is good.
Fast, easy to use, and helpful for disaster management
What is our primary use case?
We use it for disaster recovery and analytics.
We use Zerto to help protect VMs in our environment. We are also using it for our Virtual Protected Group or VPG.
How has it helped my organization?
By implementing Zerto, we wanted disaster management, especially for our data. We did not want to lose data unnecessarily.
Over time, I keep seeing different benefits of using Zerto.
In terms of ease of use, Zerto is easy to use.
Zerto has near synchronous replication. It is okay. It has been easy for me to use.
Zerto is faster than other recovery solutions for real-time automation.
Zerto makes it easy for me to navigate and move my data to the cloud. It has had a positive effect.
Zerto has helped reduce downtime. There is about 25% reduction.
Zerto has improved the data recovery time. It has saved me time. It is faster than what I was using before. Zerto has saved me a lot of time, but I do not have the metrics.
Zerto has helped reduce our organization's DR testing by 30%. It has had a positive effect on our IT resilience.
What is most valuable?
I like the automation of transferring data in the case of any disaster to our VMs. It is also easy to use and fast.
What needs improvement?
Its price is a little bit on the higher side. Other than the pricing, I do not have any areas for improvement. I am enjoying Zerto. Everything is working the way I want it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for the past two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its stability is okay.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Its scalability is okay. As we keep having more customers, we might have to scale it, but for now, it is good.
How are customer service and support?
I contacted them once, and I got a quick response. They are fast. I wrote to them, and I quickly got a response. The response was timely and effective.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was using Microsoft Azure backup before. I migrated to Zerto. Zerto is faster.
How was the initial setup?
It is deployed in the cloud. Its deployment was not too easy and also not difficult.
Like every other team, it took us some time to get it going. It is not as easy as one, two, and three. It took us about one hour to get it going. That is why it is not too easy, but it is also not difficult.
After installation, we took the entire day because we were trying to make sure everything worked fine.
So far, I have not done any maintenance for Zerto.
What about the implementation team?
We had two people involved in its deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Zerto is a little bit on the higher side in terms of pricing. It would be better if they had a pay-as-you-go package.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I got a review from a friend and decided to give it a try. She asked me to give it a try to see how I could recover data fast and do other things without wasting time. I was looking for these features, and I got them with Zerto.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise knowing what you want in the software and why you are going for this software. If you want fast data recovery software, you should go for Zerto. I have been using Zerto for two years, and I have not had any reason for regret. New users who are going for Zerto would not regret their decision.
I would rate Zerto an eight out of ten.
The non-destructive testing enables businesses to test their disaster recoveries without impacting production
What is our primary use case?
We use Zerto to recover cloud services hosted on Azure and AWS and on-prem servers. We also use it to protect VMs. Our company has a small data operation, so we can upload all the data to the server.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto helps recover documents and protect data. It has excellent security and is easy to set up. We can make multiple backups and replicate different public or private cloud sites. It gives you versatility and confidence. It's because it's easy to manage and configure. There are no challenges using this tool.
We have near-zero data loss, and it has manual recovery checkpoints. We can create frequent recovery checkpoints in business for in-time backups. The second one is automated and non-destructive testing.
The recovery time is very fast. I don't think another tool can deliver a recovery team that fast. When we ran a DR test on Zerto, it migrated quickly and efficiently. It has drastically reduced the time we spend on DR testing. We're less dependent on Hypervisor for storage resources. Our recovery time has been reduced to 30 minutes on average. It depends on the data. Sometimes, it may take only 15 to 20 minutes, but if we're uploading all of the company's data, it will take 35 to 40 minutes.
What is most valuable?
The HR recovery is valuable because I work with the HR manager to recover the HR system first. The data will synchronize with the cloud. I also like Zerto's non-destructive testing, which enables businesses to test their disaster recoveries without impacting production.
It has a user-friendly interface, so we can manage data protection and recovery tasks quickly. It's also cost-effective because it reduces the infrastructure cost. It's easy to integrate. Sometimes, I integrate it by myself when the manager isn't there.
The onboarding is simple because when we're backing up, we have a copy of production running on the secondary side. We have real-time DR, meaning we can automatically remove and replace the data on the server.
It's good for reliability, timing, and simplification. For reliability, it's a logical construction that behaves productively. It's a critical system where timing and coordination are necessary. It also offers simplicity to design and analyze the system by clearly defining the relationship between events and conditions.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes we require extra storage for Zerto.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Zerto for five to 10 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Zerto is highly stable. We've never had any performance issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Zerto is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Zerto 10 out of 10. Sometimes, we encounter errors, my manager talks with the support. They are helpful and always resolve our issues quickly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What other advice do I have?
I rate Zerto nine out of 10. I would recommend Zerto. My sister company also plans to implement it. To those considering Zerto, I would suggest using the trial version. The UI seems complex the first few times you use it, but after you work with it a little, it's easy to understand.
Reasonable pricing with a good interface and easy setup
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for DR purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
It provided an easier way to set up everything regarding DR. We had a small team. There were only four people and one of them was a manager, so we had just three people with one desktop guy. We were looking for a solution that was easy to set up, did not require too much maintenance, and something we didn't have to constantly keep an eye on. Zerto provided that.
What is most valuable?
The setup is easy and very comfortable. There are not too many issues doing the upgrades. Maintenance is easy and configuration is easy as well. It's all just GUI-based. You just select the server that you want on the DR and it starts the application.
Transfers between the data center are good as well. They do the compressions and also the encryption. That way, you are protected and it doesn't consume too much bandwidth.
The interface is very good. It's not too complicated. The interface is way easier than Veeam. You can do everything from the interface - including authorization of DR.
Its near-synchronous replication is good. We get an RTO of five seconds. They also provide different checkpoints. They maintain a lot of checkpoints, so you can go back in time on the DR side if you want to. Of course, there is a limitation based on how much space you have.
We noted the benefits of Zerto immediately. Before I joined, the company used to do a very manual process. We started doing a POC with Zerto, Veeam, and Pure Storage. I found that Zerto was easier to manage - and it's cheaper than the rest of them. That, coupled with the limitation of the human resources, we wanted to have less maintenance, less interface, and I found Zerto very, very useful in that process.
Zerto covers our entire production environment. If something goes wrong, you can use Zerto to recover the server if you want. Mainly, we started Zerto just for protection.
The recovery time objective is good. We've had no issues. If the line goes down, it recovers very quickly since it provides a lot of compression in the data. It doesn't consume much bandwidth.
If we have issues in our database, we can recover the data. We can go back and time and pull out whatever is lost.
Zerto has helped us reduce overall DR testing in our company. What used to take a month I can do in less than two days.
It's impacted our IT resiliency strategy. It provides, in terms of DR and data protection, peace of mind. We can get our data back quickly.
What needs improvement?
They have moved to appliances, and the configuration of appliances is a bit complicated. The appliance is is very complicated to configure by proxy as they move everything to containers, and each container needs to be configured. It's a little bit complicated.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for almost eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is very good. I'd rate stability nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's easy to scale Zerto. I'd rate scalability nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I've contacted technical support. I've had no issues with them. They are well-versed and know the answers.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is easy. We create a server and deploy. You just answer a few questions, and you are done.
Even if a person is new to Zerto, it would still be very easy. As a very small team, we are always searching for products that aren't too complicated.
The deployment itself might take half a day. It's a one-person job.
If you add new servers, there will be maintenance. You can also set up reporting if you like.
What about the implementation team?
When we first deployed eight years ago, we may have used somebody from Zerto. They provided us with help as they were new at the time. If I had to do it again, I could handle it on my own. It's not too complicated.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable and very affordable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did look at the Veeam. We also look at the Pure Storage. Pure Storage also had some sort of replication, however, the RTO was too big. The RTO was around 15 minutes with Pure, and Zerto was providing an RTO of five seconds.
What other advice do I have?
Keeps regular backups of data for recovery
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for disaster recovery purposes.
What is most valuable?
We implemented Zerto because it is crucial for our organization, especially as we move into the cloud. We needed to ensure that we could retrieve data properly and migrate easily. The solution allows us to keep our users collaborating throughout the migration process, making it much quicker than our previous solution.
The most valuable feature is its simplicity. It's easy to use, especially when moving data to keep our users collaborating. Putting the server into maintenance mode and moving our systems has worked well for our team.
Zerto is easy to use because of its simple setup and configuration. It also has a user-friendly interface, making data migration, seamless server maintenance, data recovery, and automated replication easy to use.
The replication feature is very valuable. For example, the solution provides synchronous replication, ensuring that data is almost instantly copied to the recovery site with minimal latency. This real-time replication means that the data at the disaster recovery site is nearly up to date with the primary site, reducing data loss in the event of failure.
It is very important to our organization because replication is a fundamental aspect of modern IT infrastructure and disaster recovery. It ensures continued access by having a copy of the data available at a secondary location, which is critical for major business operations during a primary site failure. Even in cases of data loss, replication allows for the restoration of data from the latest copy, minimizing downtime and aiding in quick retrieval.
The main benefits of using Zerto include improved data protection, data recovery, and operational efficiency. Regarding data protection, replication's continuous availability and redundancy ensure that our data is always available at a secondary location, protecting against data loss. Redundancy means having multiple copies of data, which is critical for recovering from data corruption or loss.
We have used Zerto to protect VMs in our environment. Implementing automated backup solutions has helped us save time in data recovery situations. Regular backups ensure we always have copies of our data and systems for recovery. It has helped ensure that our organization is well-prepared to handle protection and disaster efficiently. By identifying the request and replying promptly, we can ensure the resilience of our overall service.
What needs improvement?
The tool must improve its long-term storage cloud strategy, making it more seamless and improving the solution's downtime features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We did not encounter any issues in stability.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used AWS Cloud before Zerto. From my experience, both Zerto and AWS solutions are easy to use. They both have user-friendly interfaces that simplify managing disaster recovery tasks, including setting up replication and handling failover and failback processes.
AWS offers a wide range of cloud-native disaster recovery services, like AWS Backup and AWS Disaster Recovery, which are integrated into its management console. AWS also supports automation through APIs and integrates well with enterprise systems, which allows organizations to automate backup, recovery, and failover processes.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and can be completed within a month. The configuration process is minimally complex. We first assess the current environment, looking at training requirements and infrastructure. After that, we do design and configuration, including architecture design, installation, and configuration. Lastly, we do testing and validation. We have finally distributed the team. After that, we will train our employees through training sessions. We'll give them documentation and train them. And lastly, we do the deployment rollout.
What about the implementation team?
Our in-house team did the deployment. There were ten resources.
What other advice do I have?
Automated testing and recorded tests can vary based on several factors, including the complexity of our IT environment. For us, it takes around seven to eight days. It's still taking the same time, so we must explore more. Our team is exploring the process more, so it's still taking that much time.
I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Phenomenal recovery time, good scalability, and fantastic support
What is our primary use case?
We use Zerto for disaster recovery. That is our main use for it.
How has it helped my organization?
Everybody at the top wants to be able to hear about our disaster recovery timelines. The ability to restore our Practice Management systems several states away in a matter of 45 minutes is phenomenal.
I love the near-synchronous replication of Zerto. We are based out of Alabama but we have our off-site disaster recovery in Colorado. Being able to have data very quickly over in Colorado is phenomenal.
Zerto has enabled us to do disaster recovery in the cloud, rather than in a physical data center. Having DR in the cloud is super important for our organization. That is where our business intelligence center lives. Without that data, we do not make money.
We have used Zerto to help protect VMs in our environment. It has been a huge contributor and has made a world of difference in terms of timelines. It helps spin up our Practice Management systems in a very quick time frame.
What is most valuable?
The ease of adding additional servers is valuable. We have a portal that we can go into to add those new servers, and then outside of that, the overall time that it took for disaster recovery simulation is also good.
What needs improvement?
They are doing a lot of great things, but I have heard that Zerto is expensive.
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?
I would rate it nine out of ten for stability because we had one virtual machine that was not backing up properly, but we did work with support. We got phenomenal support. They helped us fix it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I like the scalability. Because we are in the acquisition space, we wanted adaptability. As new engineers are coming in and adding more to our data center, they can go through and they can just add it to Zerto. That is a part of their process.
How are customer service and support?
They are fantastic. I would rate them a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had a different platform previously, and we swapped it with Zerto about two years ago.
We had Commvault. We were not getting consistent backups. We were not getting consistent disaster recovery. Each of our simulations did not match up, and nothing made sense.
I would rate Zerto a ten out of ten in terms of speed of recovery versus other solutions.
How was the initial setup?
It was super easy. We did partner with Verinext to come in and help implement it, so the swapover was instantaneous. It was super quick.
Our experience with Verinext was fantastic.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI. We had an outage in our data center, and we were able to use Zerto to spin up in Colorado to be able to continue to operate, which is multi-million dollars at 450 animal hospitals.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have heard that it is expensive, but that is not my world.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
N-able was a solution we looked at, but it did not fit our needs. We had previously been using Commvault, and then we found Zerto. Our solutions partners were the ones that recommended it to us. After we saw what it was able to do, we made the swap.
What other advice do I have?
If someone is considering Zerto, I would advise them to go ahead and swap to Zerto. I would share my entire experience with it with them and how it has been phenomenal for us.
I would rate Zerto a ten out of ten because of the recovery time.
Fast disaster recovery, seamless integration, and good protection
What is our primary use case?
I use Zerto for ransomware resilience and data recovery.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto has improved my organization by allowing us to replicate individual VMs or groups of VMs. It allows flexible protection and recovery of data. It is also easy to integrate with other solutions.
It has had a positive effect on our recovery time. It is very fast.
Zerto is easy to use. As long as you have the technical know-how, it is easy to use.
The near-synchronous replication is good. It ensures data availability and fast data recovery. I love that. We use Zerto to replicate the VMs from one site to another, ensuring data availability, protection, and disaster recovery.
Zerto has had a good effect on our RPOs. There is continuous protection and availability of data because it is all automated.
It is very fast. It has had an effect on our RTOs. It has reduced our downtime by 20%.
Zerto offers a comprehensive solution for data recovery and protection. It has saved us a lot. It has saved about 30% of the time.
Zerto has a user-friendly interface and intelligent dashboard. It is easy to manage. It has saved about 40% of the time.
We have had a positive impact on our IT resiliency strategy. Continued data protection and automated DR have been very helpful.
Zerto has simplified our compliance with industry regulations.
What is most valuable?
I love the seamless data integration between on-premises and cloud environments. Fast disaster recovery is also valuable.
I also love that it provides real-time and historical analytics.
It simplified my work. It has a user-friendly interface. It is easy for me to create my views in the dashboard. It makes work easy for me.
What needs improvement?
I am enjoying it so far, and I am happy with its capabilities, but it is expensive.
Their support can be faster.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable. I have been using Zerto for three years, and my company had been using it before I joined. It is stable. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Its scalability is good. Zerto can meet the needs of any business.
We use it in multiple departments and at multiple sites. There are ten people who use Zerto. They are strictly admins.
How are customer service and support?
My experience has been positive. They are always trying to help.
I would rate their support an eight out of ten because we sometimes do not get a fast response.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used the Microsoft Azure solution, but I could not get the fastness, scalability, and ease of management that I wanted. I was looking for these capabilities, and that is why I went for Zerto.
Zerto is a better solution, but it is expensive. Zerto is a bit faster than other solutions. Other ones have automated disaster recovery, but Zerto is faster.
How was the initial setup?
It is deployed on the cloud. Its deployment was straightforward. It took about three hours. Three people were involved in its deployment.
Like every other software, it does require some maintenance from time to time, but it is not much.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI. Whatever we do, we are getting a fast result. It is always an advantage for the business. Zerto has had a positive effect. I do not have the metrics, but it has saved us a substantial amount.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Zerto to anyone who wants fast disaster recovery and protection. It has most of the features that people are looking for.
I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten.
Our recovery time went from hours to seconds and our DR testing is all automated
What is our primary use case?
I have a main data center with a few virtual machines running. I am protecting my mission-critical VMs on a disaster recovery server that I have outside of the data center. This ensures that I have protection. If something happens with my main data center at any moment, I have a copy, and that copy is at a remote and physically separated site for disaster recovery.
How has it helped my organization?
By implementing Zerto, I wanted to lower the RTO and RPO. Previously, the time to restore those mission-critical VMs with the traditional backup application took too long which impacted my business. That is why I decided to evaluate and then keep Zerto to protect my mission-critical VMs. It helps to lower the time to recover when something happens with one of my data centers.
Zerto is very easy to use. I did not have to attend a multi-day training. Online training is available from Zerto. It is very easy to use in my opinion as compared to other solutions.
Near-synchronous replication was the reason why I evaluated Zerto. I then decided to use Zerto because it works effectively. It is different from the other solutions in the market. Because I did not know that technology, I evaluated it, and I found out that it effectively works. That is why I decided to use it. I am a fan of Zerto.
We have a faster recovery time. I am lucky that until now, I did not have to use it in production effectively. That means that I did not lose access to my first data center, but it gave me peace of mind. I know that if something happens, at that moment, I know what to do to recover and to fail over to that second data center. There is peace of mind for sure.
We use Zerto to protect virtual machines from VMware to VMware. Our RPOs went from hours to seconds. That is a huge improvement.
Before using Zerto, I had an issue, and we had almost a day of downtime. I had to put a lot of energy and time at that moment, not being able to do my regular job. Since moving to Zerto, I never had a big downtime, but when I evaluated Zerto and ran the tests, failovers always worked. I have not had to use it in production so far because everything has stayed online until now. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Zerto has definitely helped to reduce our organization's DR testing. Previously, the procedure to do the testing took several hours, and now, it is all automated. The nice thing is that the testing is automated. It is a part of the solution itself, and it is very easy to perform.
Zerto has enhanced our IT resiliency a lot.
I do not have many regulations to follow because I am not in finance or health care, but it simplifies my work because it clearly shows me what I have, what is supported, and what is protected. Zerto definitely enhances my visibility.
What is most valuable?
There are two main things that I like. One is the fact that my recovery time is now much lower effectively. It is also very valuable that I can test it. There is a possibility to test that failover. At a regular moment in time, I can run that test and see if it effectively works when I have a major issue in the future.
What needs improvement?
I am switching to another HPE offering called HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery which is using Zerto technology in the backend but has a lower entry point. The native Zerto implementation is optimal for larger environments. My environment is rather small since I do not have hundreds of virtual machines. The initial Zerto offering was for a larger environment with more than 100 VMs. At that moment, it was not that easy to talk to HPE to get a good price. HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery uses the same technology, so it is a really good technology, but the entry point is much more interesting for me. They have lowered the number of protected VMs. That is why I am now evaluating HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery.
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 always available. So far, I never had any issues. It is very good. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is definitely scalable, at least in my environment. I do not have the biggest environment, but based on what I saw when HPE initially presented the solution and all the new things that I see in it now, it is a very scalable solution. Why I prefer this solution compared to Veeam, for instance, is its scalability. I am convinced that the way it works with journaling makes it much more scalable than other solutions.
How are customer service and support?
So far, I never had to call support because I never had issues with the platform at all. Until now, everything worked fine, and I never had to contact support. This is through HPE, and I expect the HPE support to work like before and provide the same experience for Zerto.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am still using Veeam, but with Veeam, I was never able to go up to a few seconds of RPO. Zerto is much more scalable and flexible as compared to the Veeam solution, so I am using Zerto for the short-term retention and protection of my data, and I am still using Veeam for the mid- and long-term retention of my data.
How was the initial setup?
It is for on-prem to on-prem DR. I am not using the public cloud for DR.
It took less than a day to set it up. It was very easy to deploy. In less than a day, everything was set up in two data centers.
In terms of maintenance, it is self-maintaining, so I do not have to put a lot of time into it. It is part of my testing. Every two or three months, I do a failover test, and at that time, I also check if everything is working fine and if any new updates need to be applied. When there are new updates, which do not happen that often, it is very easy to deploy the updates.
What about the implementation team?
Only one person was involved in its deployment. It was just me. To set up and maintain it, there is just me. I do not need several people because it integrates with my compute and my storage. I can see my hypervisor. Technically, there is one storage person who is responsible for all this.
We are a small company. Zerto is being used by one team, but there are two physical buildings. Here on-site, we have our main data center, which is highly available with multiple servers, and on our DR site, there is just one server. It is one big server where we have copies of the mission-critical VMs that we are protecting.
What was our ROI?
It is hard to measure because I have not had a real disaster since I have been using Zerto. If I consider the time while testing the procedure, it went down from hours and days to less than an hour. I see large gains, but it is hard to say in the percentage. It is effectively much better.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think the price is fair for what it is offering. It gives me the peace of mind that my data is protected. It is worth the cost.
It is like insurance for a car. You do not get the value until you have an accident.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am now evaluating HPE GreenLake for Disaster Recovery, which is using Zerto in the backend.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend Zerto. I have really low RPOs of seconds since I started using Zerto, and it works effectively. That is why I love Zerto. It does what it should be doing.
I like the tool because you can go from anywhere to anywhere. I am currently using it for on-prem to on-prem DR, but it can go from anywhere to anywhere. It shows the flexibility and the scalability of the tool. It is a no-brainer to evaluate Zerto because you can also go perfectly to the public cloud from your on-premises so that the public cloud is your DR site. I did not use it myself, but you can even use it as a migration tool for migration from an old environment to a new environment. It is a very flexible tool. That is why I was impressed with it and how HPE integrated Zerto into its portfolio. It was a smart move to do the acquisition of Zerto.
I recently started looking into the AI insights that was added in the latest version. Need to evaluate further but it looks very promising from what I can see now already.
I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten.
It's fast and automated, with minimal data loss
What is our primary use case?
We implemented Zerto to improve our backup speeds and data recovery time. Zerto is deployed across multiple departments, and around 12 admins and analysts currently use it.
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto has improved my organization in multiple ways, particularly its ability to scale. We have a massive environment that is undergoing cloud development because we are not a very old company, and we needed something that could help us. It's doing its job. Zerto supports multifocal scenarios across the cloud and on-premise.
The solution has had a positive effect on our RPOs. The time is faster with Zerto. Another benefit is reduced downtime. Compared to what we used before, I'd estimate it reduces downtime by 25 percent. The solution has saved us time in a data recovery situation. I'm unsure how much, but it's a lot of time. Zerto has reduced our DR testing time by about 30 percent.
Zerto has simplified compliance with industry regulations by including audit logs and official reporting to support regulatory compliance. It has also simplified our workload because it can do so many jobs.
What is most valuable?
The best feature of Zerto is the fast, automated backup and recovery. The data lift for applications is short, with minimal data loss. Zerto has improved my RTO because we can replicate and easily manage our data, which has positively impacted my company.
Zerto is easy to use if the installation is done properly. Its near-synchronous replication is wonderful, but I'm still learning how to use it.
What needs improvement?
Zerto's analytics could be more detailed. The analytics report seems to be more difficult to read.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Zerto for 19 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Zerton nine out of 10 for stability. It's highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Zerto seven out of 10 for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Zerto support eight out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Microsoft Azure's backup option. It was a little bit cheaper, but Zerto's recovery is faster. It's a little bit more expensive but much quicker.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't part of deploying Zerto, but I believe it was straightforward for them. It required a four-person team and took around two hours. After deployment, we occasionally experience some software bugs that must be investigated.
What was our ROI?
We've seen a 10 percent ROI with Zerto compared to what we had before.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate Zerto two out of 10 for affordability. The licensing model is somewhat complex. Adding more flexible and less costly options would help.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Zerto nine out of 10. I would recommend Zerto to others.
Ensures that we have the most up-to-date information in the case a disaster occurs
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for Zerto in my company is to manage disaster recovery.
How has it helped my organization?
My organization has experienced the benefits of using the tool, which include the ability to test our disaster recovery quickly.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the constant synchronization, ensuring that we have the most up-to-date information should a disaster occur and we need to handle failovers.
Zerto's near-synchronous replication is why we first acquired the product.
Zerto's overall effect on our RPOs is such that it improves them significantly, and it is the reason why we purchased the product. Rather than having to recover from backup, which is time-consuming, it is available instantly.
If I compare the speed of recovery with Zerto versus the speed of recovery with other disaster recovery solutions, Zerto is at least five times faster than other products.
What needs improvement?
It turns out that my organization has not been using all the capabilities of Zerto and we just found from the session, HPE Discover'24, that the things we were looking for already existed within Zerto. I don't have anything to ask for improvement in Zerto.
I don't want any additional features in the product as I would be busy employing the functionalities I recently found out are available in the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zerto for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is fine for our company. We are a relatively small organization, but it has done everything we needed.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support has been solid and very good, and we hope it stays that way under HPE.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In our company, we would recover from our backup software, so things depended on whatever backup tool was used at the time.
How was the initial setup?
When it comes to the product's initial setup phase, Zerto's support has been very strong and relatively straightforward.
What was our ROI?
I have experienced a return on investment from the use of Zerto. The exercises associated with disaster recovery are faster and we are able to save time now in our company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortunately, the tool's pricing and licensing are not a concern for me at the moment. Other teams handle it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The evaluation of other solutions against Zerto was pretty quick. In our company, after we saw a Zerto in use, we couldn't find anything else like it in the market.
What other advice do I have?
I have used Zerto to protect VMs in our company's environment.
Considering that there is always someplace to go from where our company is currently, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.