HPE Zerto In-Cloud Software for AWS
Hewlett Packard EnterpriseExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
We can quickly restore our servers, reduce downtime, and rely on the stability
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Zerto is easy to use and implement, especially when performing a failover.
Zerto's near synchronous replication is valuable for our SQL database.
The benefits of Zerto were immediately apparent. After implementation, we quickly realized we were protected against any disaster. Zerto also provides visibility into the health of replication, allowing us to identify and address any potential issues.
Since implementing Zerto, we have observed a positive impact on our Recovery Point Objectives, which have been reduced by half. Zerto's ability to easily group servers by application and configure protection groups streamlined our processes. Moreover, Zerto's support for on-premises to cloud replication is invaluable. We've leveraged this capability to replicate all systems to the cloud, establishing a robust disaster recovery solution. Zerto has proven to be an effective cloud migration and disaster recovery planning tool.
Our Recovery Time Objective determines how quickly we can restore our infrastructure. Zerto has been instrumental in reducing our RTO by enabling rapid recovery in any disaster recovery scenario.
Zerto has significantly reduced our downtime. For example, some servers have a recovery point objective of just five seconds. During disaster recovery tests conducted last year, we recovered 60 servers within eight hours, including server delivery, startup, and operating system verification by our team.
Zerto is our primary tool for achieving all disaster recovery objectives.
What is most valuable?
Zerto is a flexible and resilient business continuity and disaster recovery solution. Its industry-leading replication technology enables seamless data protection across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments.
Another valuable feature is the failover capability. Unlike many other tools we tested, Zerto allows us to perform a disaster recovery test without risk to our production environment.
What needs improvement?
Zerto's current reporting capabilities are insufficient for our needs. We require detailed reports to analyze the performance of our environments. To achieve this, we have developed a custom reporting solution using Zerto and other tools to thoroughly assess VPG configurations and overall environment health against specified parameters. Unfortunately, Zerto does not natively provide this level of reporting functionality.
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?
Zerto is highly stable, and I do not recall encountering any crashes.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling Zerto is easy. We just need to add additional virtual/appliances servers.
How are customer service and support?
Zerto provides excellent support, but response times to our issues can sometimes be a concern, possibly due to the size and complexity of our environment.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We currently utilize both SRM and Zerto, but SRM's replication capabilities are limited to data centers, while Zerto offers additional cloud replication options. Unlike SRM, which is exclusively designed for VMware infrastructure, Zerto is compatible with other virtual platforms, providing greater flexibility.
Zerto is easier to use than SRM.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is straightforward. We only need to deploy a few servers to build an environment and start to replicate.
Deploying Zerto in a single region required three months. One contributing factor to this timeline was the time-intensive process of collecting Virtual Recovery Appliances and deploying them across 500 ESXi servers. A team of ten architects and engineers was dedicated to this project.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house by my team and me. As the architect, I oversaw the project's planning, construction, and deployment. We consulted with Zerto to identify potential areas for improvement.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to other options like SRM, Zerto is a more expensive solution, making it primarily suitable for larger organizations. Smaller and medium-sized businesses might find Zerto's cost expensive. While Azure Site Recovery is free for users of Azure cloud services, Zerto offers a broader range of features.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Zerto nine out of ten.
Our organization takes a unique approach to disaster recovery testing, conducting 15 tests annually to meet policy and audit requirements. Zerto is the cornerstone of our DR testing strategy, enabling us to validate between five and seven applications in each test.
Zerto requires ongoing maintenance and a dedicated person monitors it daily. However, we must still test and deploy updates into our production environment.
Potential users should be knowledgeable of virtual environments and clearly understand their disaster recovery needs, including the required replication type, desired recovery strategy, and whether Zerto aligns with their specific requirements.
Has had a positive effect on our RTOs and RPOs
What is our primary use case?
I use Zerto for disaster recovery and data protection.
How has it helped my organization?
It is very easy and user-friendly. You do not need too much knowledge about it before you navigate around it. It is not complex. It is easy for users to use.
We can see its benefits from time to time. Every time we use it, we keep seeing the benefits of Zerto.
We have seen a positive effect on our RTOs and RPOs. We will keep using Zerto. We do not have any plan to change the brand.
Zerto helps me save time. It helps do things slightly faster.
Zerto has helped me with my time management. It helps me save time. It makes my work easier. It is easy to navigate through.
I find it to be the best. It has had a positive effect on everything I do in my daily activity.
What is most valuable?
Zerto is easy to use and user-friendly. It is not complex, so I find it easy to use. I do not need to have much knowledge about it before using it.
What needs improvement?
Its price should be improved.
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?
I have had a crash once or twice.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I feel it is very good because it supports virtual machines.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted their support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used any other solution. Zerto is the first one.
How was the initial setup?
It was easy. I have not tried any other product, so I cannot compare it with others. This was my first time using Zerto, and I found it to be easy.
It did not take much of my time. It probably took two to three days, but I am not sure because it has been three years.
What about the implementation team?
I had a little assistance with the deployment. It was not just me. We had three people involved in its deployment.
It needs to be maintained. You need to check whether any user or anything else requires attention.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They should adjust the pricing because I feel its price is too much. If they reduce the price, there will be more users and customers.
What other advice do I have?
If you have not deployed it before, you should seek assistance before the deployment.
I would rate Zerto an eight out of ten.
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?
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.