HPE Zerto Software Reviews and Pricing

it_user282024

Cloud Solution Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Aug 3, 2015

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I can safely deploy it on an ISP environment because it's designed with isolation and multi-tenancy in mind.

What is most valuable?

Interoperability between Hyper-V, ESX, vCloud, and AWS.
Very easy to use
Reliable
Fast
Also the architecture (on the ISP side) is designed with isolation and multi-tenancy in mind, so it's safely deployable on an ISP environment.

How has it helped my organization?

It allows smooth migrations which would be a lot more difficult with other technologies.

What needs improvement?

A "manual mode" which would allow the user to failover the VMs but keeping them powered off at destination

More powerful scripting engine

Ability to move protected VMs between VPGs
More reliable ETA on VPG syncronization
root-level user for VRA installation ( at the moment the user "root" is hardcoded )
Bandwidth throttling schedule should include days of week

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for four months.

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What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Not at all.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were no issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no issues.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

Great pre-sales experience, and good support.

Technical Support:

8/10.

How was the initial setup?

It was pretty straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I love the application, and it has become essential in my work.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user282300

Cloud Architect with 501-1,000 employees

Jul 30, 2015

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With it, we're able to provide our customers with disaster recovery options that work, but when we scaled, we had slight issues protecting SQL servers.

What is most valuable?

Being able to provide customers with DR options that work.

How has it helped my organization?

We are a Cloud Services provider that owns and operates data centers coast-to-coast.

For how long have I used the solution?

Couple of years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Only slightly when using it to protect 37 SQL servers. The high IOPS have been dealt with and we have solved that issue.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

excellent

Technical Support:

excellent

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used many other solutions, but this is the one we reached for first.

How was the initial setup?

Yes - super simple.

What other advice do I have?

When you can't afford to risk your data, Zerto is the solution.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: www.tierpoint.com offers Zerto to fullfil a feature in our product profile.

Buyer's Guide

HPE Zerto Software

May 2025

Free Report: HPE Zerto Software Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about HPE Zerto Software. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,856 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user240054

Technical Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 17, 2015

This product is very easy to use and administer. One thing to be aware of is that the vSphere side and the AWS side will have two separate installers.

Zerto has been a great product for companies looking to deploy an easy to use disaster recovery solution. One of the limitations of the product was that it only worked with VMware vSphere, but not any more. Version 4 just dropped and it’s got a myriad of new goodies.

New User Interface
Cross-Replication from vSphere to Microsoft SCVMM and Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Sizing improvements
More Secure Virtual Replication Appliances
vSphere 6 support

The most appealing new capability was the ability to fail over a vSphere environment to Amazon Web Services (AWS). This could save small businesses A LOT of money. Small businesses that have a disaster recovery requirement no longer need to have a dedicated co-lo and spend money on equipment when they may never use it. AWS provides compute, storage and network on an as-needed basis and most of the time, the disaster recovery site is not needed which correlates to savings.

Zerto – Amazon Web Services Installation

Lets take a look at the Zerto architecture for vSphere to AWS. It requires a Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) at each site which manages the environment. The vSphere side also requires a Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA) for each ESXi host that will have virtual machines to replicate. The AWS side does not require a VRA.

One thing to be aware of is that the vSphere side and the AWS side will have two separate installers.

AWS Site

The AWS site requires the Zerto Cloud Appliance installer. This can be installed on a Windows-based host inside an EC2 instance. Most of the installation screens here are a basic information and the opportunity to change ports etc so I’ve left them out. The screen below however is some of the meat and potatoes of the installation. You’re asked for an IP/Hostname of the Cloud Appliance which it will populate for you. If you have multiple NICs on your EC2 instance, you could change it. The second part of the screenshot below is the Access Key ID which is a unique ID for an AWS owner. You can find these in the Identity and Access Management Section (IAM) in the AWS portal.

Once you click next, the installer will check to ensure windows firewall rules are open and the AWS Access Keys are valid.

vSphere Site

The vSphere site hasn’t changed much from the previous versions. The Zerto Virtual Manager needs to be installed on a Windows server.

Once the ZVMs have been installed, we need to pair the local vSphere site with the Amazon site.. To do this we can login to the ZVM by using a web browser and navigating to https://ZVMFQDN:9669 . Here we see that we still need to install VRAs and pair to another site. Click on the “Sites” tab at the top of the screen to pair the vSphere site, with the AWS Site.

Enter the IP Address of the Cloud ZVM and the port and click “PAIR”. Note: for this to work properly, network connectivity must already exist to the Amazon Networks. In my case a Site-Site VPN tunnel was created.

Now you can see that a site is listed in the “Sites” section and that we still need to install VRAs. Click the “Setup” tab at the top to install the VRAs.

Select all of the ESXi hosts that will need virtual machines replicated and enter information to install the VRAs. Each of the VRAs is a small virtual machine that will reside on the ESXi host. Enter the root password for the ESXi host, a datastore to house the virtual machine, a network that has access to the AWS Site and the amount of VRA RAM needed. You will also need to enter the network information for the VRA so that it can communicate with the ZVM and the remote site.

When done, your “Setup” tab should look similar to the one below.

Create a VPG

Now we need to setup our Virtual Protection Groups (VPG) this is the group of virtual machines that you are protecting. Click the “VPGs” tab at the top of the menu and add a VPG. A wizard will walk you through this as seen below.

I created a simple VPG called AmazonVPG.

Select one or more virtual machines to protect. You can define which order they should boot in if necessary.

Decide where the protected VMs should be replicated. I’ve only setup one other site, so it was automatically selected. Journal history determines how far back in time you can go to restore a virtual machine and “Test Reminder” just sends you an email if you haven’t tested the recovery in a while. The target RPO alert is only for alerting purposes. Zerto tries to replicate as fast as possible, so this is not a desired RPO setting, but rather an alarm to let you know that your RPO is not being met, probably due to too much replication traffic, or possibly a down WAN link.

The recovery menu allows you to define a failover network and a test network. The test network will allow you to have a completely separate environment for testing the failovers of virtual machines without affecting the production machine. These two networks can be the same or different depending on your preference.

When you’re finished with the wizard, you’ll notice that the VPG shows initializing and the Initial sync is taking place. Go grab a cup of coffee, the sync could take a while.

Notice that when the sync takes place, Zerto is utilizing an Amazon S3 bucket to house the virtual machine files. This should be cheap storage that can be used to dump the files until you need them.

Failover

You’ve done all the hard work. Our VPG is set up and its meeting it’s SLA. Now lets fail that server over to AWS. Click the “FAILOVER” button at the bottom right hand corner of the ZVM screen. NOTE: there is a toggle to change from a real failover which is disruptive to the protected virtual machine, and a test failover which is not disruptive.

Select the VPG to be failed over.

On the execution parameters screen you can change the checkpoint to which you fail over. Click Next.

When you’re ready, click “Start Failover Test”.

You’ll see the ZVM will have an action item taking place. When it’s finished you’ll notice that your EC2 screen has an additional virtual machine listed. Note: The failover process could take some time so be sure to test your RTO. The Cloud ZVM performs an import from the S3 bucket into EC2 and this process can take time.

When you’re finished with a “Test Failover” you can click the Stop button and you’ll be prompted with a window to enter a note about the test for record keeping. If this is a real failover scenario, there is no current failback built into Zerto 4 at the time of release. Failing back from AWS to your vSphere environment can be accomplished by exporting the VM and importing into vSphere. Look for this to change in future updates from Zerto.

Summary

I’m a big fan of Zerto and even more so now that they can replicate to Amazon. This product is very easy to use and administer and doesn’t require any sort of hardware appliance to handle replication traffic. It even does WAN optimization to cut down on the amount of bandwidth needed. If you’re looking for a orchestration tool for disaster recovery, you should check them out.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Zerto has been a sponsor of theITHollow for a long time. This has not in any way affected my views towards the product and I was not paid or even asked to write this post.

it_user153090

Head of Cloud Architecture at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Apr 16, 2015

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Top of the list if you're using VMware or Hyper-V. Would be nice to have more supported hyper-visors.

What is most valuable?

Near real time continuous disaster recovery, Journaling and the ability to replicate from Hyper-V and other VMware clouds into our cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

We provide this product as a service to our clients. The ease of providing test failover results to them is invaluable and only takes a few minutes to initiate and complete so no time is wasted.

What needs improvement?

More Supported Hyper-visors

For how long have I used the solution?

2 year

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Non What so ever very straight forward and easy to complete. Also upgrading to the latest version could not be easier to do.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not once in the last two years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Non scales easily with an appliance on each ESX host and a central management console.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Excellent

Technical Support:

Excellent

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did use a previous product which was clunky to use and was only a point in time image. Zerto is simple fast and reliable and our clients like the charts we can produce and is near real time.

How was the initial setup?

Initial install was straightforward and simple to complete with the minimum amount of time taken up.

What about the implementation team?

We had Zerto help us with the implementation and they were brilliant.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay per month per protected VM which is vastly cost efficient.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, I looked at VMare SRM and Veeam Replication.

What other advice do I have?

If you are looking at DR products put Zerto straight to the top of the list if you are using VMware or Hyper-V.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user187677

Network Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 2, 2015

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Zero to DR in 60 minutes

Valuable Features:

The simplicity of replication and test failover make this a very easy-to-use solution.

Improvements to My Organization:

We did not have disaster-recovery plans for some of our critical systems because application-based solutions were too expensive and complicated. Moving these applications to VMs and creating DR plans using Zerto makes a complicated failover much easier.

Room for Improvement:

Remediating VMware clusters gets more complicated because the VRAs are pinned to each host and will prevent the host from entering maintenance mode. The cluster must now be remediated manually because once all VMs are migrated from the host you must power down the VRA manually and perform the remediation. Once remediated you can exit maintenance mode and restart the VRA and allow VMs to migrate back to the host.

Use of Solution:

6 months

Deployment Issues:

When we were deploying our POC we had some errors in network configuration that had to be worked out in order for Zerto to function properly. I can't understate the importance of getting your networking configuration done in advance.

Initial Setup:

Once you have your network configured the Zerto configuration is simple. We implemented a proof-of-concept deployment in about 2 hours.

Implementation Team:

We implemented in-house as part of a proof-of-concept with a Zerto engineer.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user161283

Engineer at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

Nov 6, 2014

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Easy to configure replication groups and multiple options for recovery of virtual machines

What is most valuable?

Simple, fast install

Easy upgrades

Grouping virtual machines by application, not LUN

Automatic IP address change

How has it helped my organization?

Simplified the way annual DR tests are performed as well as being a tool for migrating workloads between data centers as needed.

What needs improvement?

Would like to see additional reports after recovery operations with details on recovery of each VM

For how long have I used the solution?

2 years

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Sales and customer service are responsive to questions.

Technical Support:

Technical Support is very helpful. They reply to phone or email quickly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Used VMware SRM previously

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward, simple deployment

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user159951

Team Lead, Virtualization/Converged at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 31, 2014

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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?

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: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user159705

Senior Vmware administrator at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 30, 2014

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The top dog of DR IMO.

What is most valuable?

The ease of daily operations. This program takes almost no interaction on a daily basis.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto has given us a sense of security. To know that we can move our production data to our DR site in minutes lets me sleep much better at night.

What needs improvement?

Support for Hyper-V which is on the way.

For how long have I used the solution?

In production for almost 1 year now.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Absolutely none. I was replicating my first VPG in less than an hour.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Only things that I have caused myself.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Started with 50 vms today protecting almost 300 and I have had no issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I would give it an 8/10. Alot of customer service is handled through back and forth emails but once you get someone on a phone call and screen sharing the level goes to a 10/10.

Technical Support:

9/10

Alot of customer service is handled through back and forth emails but once you get someone on a phone call and screen sharing the level goes to a 10/10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We tried out SRM but chose Zerto because of the ease of use.

How was the initial setup?

Very straightforward and I had a tech with me the whole way.

What about the implementation team?

Implemented in-house and once again it was a PAINLESS process.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

SRM and went with Zerto so we would not have to use SAN-to-SAN replication.

What other advice do I have?

The best thing is that all you need is storage and vcenter in two locations and you have met all requirements to install and protect your vm's.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.