Data Research Analyst & Business Development at DIS Research
Real User
Top 10
Saves significant recovery time, doesn't require a lot of resources, and eliminates the need for a dedicated physical data center
Pros and Cons
  • "Zerto stands out for its user-friendly approach to data protection and recovery, allowing for quick and efficient backups and restores."
  • "Zerto's setup process could be simpler."

What is our primary use case?

We store a lot of raw data for reporting and use Zerto to protect that data.

Before implementing Zerto, we lacked a data protection and recovery solution, resulting in a significant data loss incident of approximately 70 percent during a past event.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto is easy to use.

The near-synchronous replication offers a critical advantage for our customers' multi-platform environments by providing continuous data protection with minimal delay.

The main benefit of Zerto is that it doesn't affect the performance of the cloud platform while protecting the data. We realized the benefits of Zerto within the first three months.

Zerto's implementation has significantly improved our recovery time objective, allowing us to get our systems back online much quicker.

Zerto has significantly improved our disaster recovery capabilities, reducing downtime from days to just two hours.

With Zerto in place, our disaster recovery time has been reduced to a maximum of two days, whereas previously we lacked a recovery solution altogether.

Our disaster recovery testing with Zerto exceeded expectations. We aimed to restore all data within five days, but using Zerto's capabilities, we achieved a full recovery in just two days.

Zerto saved our staff three days of work, freeing them for other tasks.

Zerto's continuous data protection, journal-based recovery, automation, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud support, and non-disruptive testing have significantly improved our IT resilience strategy. These features not only enhance data protection and improve our Recovery Time Objective and Recovery Point Objective but also provide the flexibility and scalability needed for a robust IT environment.

It facilitates a cloud-based disaster recovery solution, eliminating the need for a dedicated physical data center to ensure business continuity in the event of an outage.

Zerto was our disaster recovery solution of choice because it offers a cloud-based implementation, which perfectly aligned with our organization's prioritization of cloud-based disaster recovery.

What is most valuable?

It stands out for its user-friendly approach to data protection and recovery, allowing for quick and efficient backups and restores.

What needs improvement?

Zerto's pricing structure could be more competitive to better suit the needs of a wider range of businesses.

The setup process could be simpler. A more streamlined installation would improve the user experience.

Zerto's long-term data storage capabilities, specifically how long data can be retained and managed, could benefit from further development.

Buyer's Guide
Zerto
June 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for ten months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We sometimes face challenges that require multiple hours of downtime but it is rare. I would rate the stability eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto is expensive.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is quick to respond.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Integrating the initial deployment into our infrastructure proved to be a complex undertaking.

To ensure a smooth implementation, we prioritized planning and engagement, starting with management and then incorporating other stakeholders. We piloted the project with the operations team for a month before a full organizational rollout.

The deployment took around one week and involved six people.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

What was our ROI?

Zerto provides a return on investment through the peace of mind we get knowing that all of our data is protected.

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

Zerto is expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

After considering both Commvault and Carbonite, we ultimately decided Zerto was the best fit for our data protection needs.

Zerto emerged as our choice for data protection because its feature set directly addressed the specific needs of our organization.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Zerto eight out of ten.

Maintaining Zerto is manageable as we have a dedicated team of three people responsible for its upkeep.

Our organization consists of 40 analysts in one site.

Zerto provides robust data protection and excels in disaster recovery for businesses, but its cost may be steeper compared to other solutions.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Prateek Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a tech company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Significantly reduces downtime, saves time, and is stable and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Zerto for us is its DR capability."
  • "Improvements in Zerto's user interface and the addition of advanced features such as artificial intelligence or machine learning for predicting ransomware attacks and workload requirements would be beneficial."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto for disaster recovery and resilience in our application. It helps with data protection, database recovery, and workload mobility.

How has it helped my organization?

The main benefits of Zerto for our company are disaster recovery, workload mobility, and end-to-end ransomware protection for our data.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Zerto for us is its DR capability. With Zerto, we can easily recover data in case of any incidents, minimizing the risk of data or information loss and ensuring the security of all databases within our applications.

What needs improvement?

Improvements in Zerto's user interface and the addition of advanced features such as artificial intelligence or machine learning for predicting ransomware attacks and workload requirements would be beneficial. This could help mitigate potential issues like computing pressure on our applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for 2 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Zerto is quite stable and mature.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto is scalable, allowing easy configuration to meet changing needs. If user demand increases, adjustments can be made to ensure smooth application performance.

How are customer service and support?

We have occasionally contacted Zerto's technical support for clarification on features and compatibility issues. Overall, the support has been good, with timely solutions provided for issues. I would rate them a 9 out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Compared to other disaster recovery solutions like VM-based software, we found Zerto to offer better speed of recovery, pricing, features, and overall protection.

We switched from VMware to Zerto due to pricing constraints and incomplete feature requirements. Comparing ease of use, Zerto was preferred over VMware as it offered better pricing and compatibility with HPE, a part of TechGuard Enterprises, which aligned with our infrastructure setup.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment of Zerto was smooth and simplified by the support and consulting team's expertise and friendliness. We had a team of 4 people involved, including 2 technical architects, myself for project planning and implementation, and a Zerto support person for function control and time management. No maintenance is required on our end after the deployment.

What was our ROI?

Zerto has had a positive impact on our RPOs. We have seen a return on investment and are satisfied with the product's overall value. The ease of deployment and user-friendly interface contribute to a seamless experience with Zerto.

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

We find Zerto's licensing model compatible with major cloud providers like Google, AWS, and Azure. The Azure pricing model is particularly cost-effective for us compared to other cloud providers. Additionally, we appreciate the quality of support and solutions provided by Zerto.

What other advice do I have?

We implemented Zerto to address challenges with ransomware and protect the personal information of our large user base. We needed a solution for ransomware protection and data protection.

Zerto is user-friendly and compatible with major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. We find it particularly convenient as a managed service on Azure, where we can easily enable and configure it for our applications.

Near synchronous replication with Zerto performs well, especially after HPE acquires TechGuard Enterprises. We are satisfied with their customer support and end-user support services.

We use Zerto to protect three virtual machines in our environment, each running a different application. Zerto ensures that all three virtual machines are fully protected.

Zerto has significantly reduced downtime for us as it operates in real-time without requiring any downtime for database or application protection. Simple configuration with our applications and databases is all that is needed.

Zerto has saved us time in data recovery situations, particularly from ransomware attacks. It provides comprehensive insights into attacks on our databases and applications, enabling us to take immediate action based on real-time reports and analysis of logs.

Zerto has streamlined our DR testing process by offering a DSO option within its configuration design tool. This feature simplifies the setup process and saves time without requiring technical expertise.

Zerto has positively impacted our IT resiliency strategy by aiding in the creation of comprehensive IT roadmaps. It assists in planning for application and database deployments, as well as implementing security solutions for protection against ransomware and data disasters. This early-stage planning helps us align our roadmap effectively.

New users can confidently use Zerto for their disaster recovery, virtual mobility, and ransomware protection needs without hesitation. It is a highly recommended software for ensuring data security and business continuity.

Overall, I would rate Zerto as a 9 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Zerto
June 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Trilok Khanna - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Consultant at a tech consulting company with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Top 20
A user-friendly UI, helps reduce recovery time, and DR testing
Pros and Cons
  • "The user interface is very user-friendly."
  • "It would be beneficial if Zerto also offered integration with other cloud management platforms, such as VMware Aria Automation."

What is our primary use case?

Our environment primarily integrates Zerto with VMware. This includes offering Zerto's self-service portal, which integrates seamlessly with Cloud Director. Additionally, we have Zerto integration at the vCenter level in situations where we don't use Zerto Cloud Manager and its self-service portal. This variety reflects the different use cases within our current processes. Since Zerto is our primary offering for disaster recovery solutions, we tailor the implementation based on customer needs.

We implemented Zerto to safeguard our private cloud infrastructure workloads. While disaster recovery is its primary function, we also leverage Zerto for data migration.

How has it helped my organization?

Our RPO with Zerto is under five minutes. The RPO time is dependent on the bandwidth. 

We have asynchronous replication with Zerto.

Zerto integrates well with Asynchronous Continuous Delivery tools. However, unlike SRM, Zerto offers protection during workflow rollbacks. This rollback functionality, along with its centralized reporting and UI management, makes Zerto an attractive solution.

Zerto offers a cloud-based disaster recovery solution, eliminating the need for physical data centers. In this instance, we leveraged Zerto to protect a private cloud workload running VMware and ensure its seamless recovery in Microsoft Azure. Disaster recovery in the cloud is crucial. As part of the private and hybrid cloud infrastructure team, I'm involved with a service in our catalog that runs workloads in a private cloud but configures disaster recovery primarily for the public cloud, Azure in our case. This is important for both the customer and the organization that provides the service.

Zerto offers significantly faster recovery times compared to SRM. SRM's recovery process involves multiple steps, requiring a detailed checklist to ensure the correct sequence is followed within protection groups and recovery plans. This complexity is a common issue with other data recovery products. Ideally, any product, not just from a design perspective but also from implementation and operation, should be user-friendly. It should be intuitive and easy to operate to achieve its intended purpose. This is a key reason we chose Zerto over other data recovery solutions.

Migrating data with Zerto is incredibly easy. It performs a continuous replication of our data in the background, even while our primary server is running. This live replication ensures all changes are captured before the server is shut down. In other words, it includes everything, resulting in a seamless migration process. Triggering the migration is also straightforward. We simply need to choose whether it's a move operation or a scale-over operation.

It helps reduce downtime during migrations. While there might be a brief interruption when workloads are shut down, there's no data loss. However, downtime for disaster recovery depends on the specific application's RPO. RPO isn't a fixed value; it varies based on how much data loss an application can tolerate.

It helps to reduce our overall DR testing. The solution is designed so that we can trigger the app or a move operation within three steps. Making it easier and quicker for the administrator or customer that is working on it.

Zerto's user-friendly interface simplifies operation and management, allowing us to minimize the number of people involved in overall backup and DR management.

What is most valuable?

The user interface is very user-friendly. Additionally, the journaling feature allows users to restore their progress to any point in time. This is a valuable feature, especially since similar products, like SRM and SCX, don't offer this functionality. In my opinion, this journaling capability makes Zerto unique.

What needs improvement?

Zerto integrates with vCloud Director to protect workloads deployed there. However, it would be beneficial if Zerto also offered integration with other cloud management platforms, such as VMware Aria Automation. For example, Site Recovery Manager recently introduced integration with VMware Aria Automation, allowing the protection of workloads deployed through Aria Automation. This functionality, including site recovery management, is currently not available in Zerto. Zerto's strength seems to lie specifically in its VMware capabilities, which could be an area for improvement.

Another point to consider is the potential for Zerto drivers to cause issues in ESXi environments. In some cases, users have reported problems and discovered that the Zerto drivers are not verified by VMware. While HPE is a technical alliance partner for Zerto, improved collaboration between VMware and Zerto regarding driver validation would be valuable. This information seems to be missing at the moment. We are currently in touch with our technical account manager to clarify this.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for over five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Most Zerto issues we experience are at the ESXi level, likely due to the Zerto drivers. However, these issues are not currently impacting our work.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is quick.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I also use SRM but I believe Zerto is better because it's easier to integrate with other systems. While SRM also offers integration for workload protection through VMware Aria Automation and a SIM connection application similar to replication, it may have some limitations. For instance, Zerto might require an agent to communicate with the source system, which could be a disadvantage. This suggests that there might be features offered by other vendors that Zerto could incorporate to improve its functionality.

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment is straightforward. Zerto has introduced an appliance, making deployment even easier by removing the need for patching and object installation.

One member of our deployment team is needed for the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

As a Zerto partner, we do all the deployments for our customers and provide comprehensive training.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Zerto nine out of ten.

I recommend that new users take advantage of any training videos and documentation offered by Zerto to familiarize themselves with all the features and how to use them.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Accountant at TEE TEE
Real User
Helps our organization block threats, is user-friendly, and effective in storage
Pros and Cons
  • "Zerto is truly inspiring."
  • "The performance was generally good, but occasional lag disrupted the flow, leaving room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I use Zerto to store and protect my files. Whether I'm working on a project or just need to access old files, Zerto ensures everything is safe. This makes it very convenient, as I can easily access any information I need with just a single click.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto is effective at blocking unknown threats and attacks. We might consider using it on the business website as well, but it's important to understand how it might impact our operations. It helps with blocking threats, which is certainly valuable. So, in terms of its effectiveness, I'd say it's close to 99% guaranteed.

Zerto has helped our organization block threats, is user-friendly, is effective in storage, and inspires users.

Zerto's Cloud disaster recovery is impressive, and recovering most of our data can be relatively straightforward. However, it requires careful planning and understanding. Navigating the recovery site is crucial, so ensure we read and comprehend the instructions thoroughly before clicking anything. This way, we'll know which box to choose and where to click to achieve our desired outcome.

It is easy to migrate data using Zerto.

It helps reduce downtime.

It has helped reduce our disaster recovery time. Before Zerto, we needed ten people for disaster recovery and now with Zerto, we are down to three. 

What is most valuable?

Zerto is truly inspiring. Sometimes, when I provide information and receive it back, it can be remarkably refreshing and motivate me to get the most out of it. There might be instances where I initially think something isn't applicable, but then I try it out and say "wow" as I realize I am getting something positive from it. it becomes quite inspiring and brings out my best creative potential. Witnessing these features makes me naturally want to explore and create more.

What needs improvement?

The performance was generally good, but occasional lag disrupted the flow, leaving room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

While Zerto is stable, it can sometimes be slow to retrieve the data we need.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto is scalable.

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

We used to complete tasks manually, which consumed a lot of manpower, before adopting Zerto.

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

Zerto is affordable.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten.

No matter what we choose to do, there will always be potential positives and negatives. When aiming for the best outcome, focus on visualizing success and avoid dwelling on negativity. However, even while striving for the positive, acknowledge that occasional setbacks like technology issues or unexpected problems might occur. Don't get discouraged in the present; trust that Zerto will ultimately lead to something beneficial and fulfilling.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Google
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Aldo Centino - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at Waternet
Real User
Provides near-synchronous replication, is easy to migrate data, and helps our users collaborate
Pros and Cons
  • "The communication between the VM and the secondary data center is the most valuable feature."
  • "I would like Zerto to provide more detailed information when there is an issue."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto to verify the information being transferred from one data center to another.

How has it helped my organization?

When a site is down, we can continue to use the other site thanks to Zerto.

The near-synchronous replication is extremely valuable because it ensures we can continue working.

The move action between the app and data center is great and we can see the benefits in minutes.

Our RPOs are performing well thanks to Zerto.

Migrating data using Zerto is easy.

Zerto helps our users collaborate during data migration.

Our RTO using Zerto is good.

What is most valuable?

The communication between the VM and the secondary data center is the most valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

I would like Zerto to provide more detailed information when there is an issue.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Zerto is extremely stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I have used the technical support of Zerto several times and they are good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Though I wasn't part of the initial deployment, the procedure is relatively simple. Manager rollout is the first step, followed by CPG installation on VMs by the CPG teams and subsequent network configuration verification.

Four people are required for the deployment.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Zerto a nine out of ten.

Zerto is a good solution for transferring data between centers.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Sr Director, Private Hosting at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Does not rely on a secondary backend product and is easier and more straightforward to use
Pros and Cons
  • "I found VM level replication and being able to group the VM levels to be valuable. I like not having to worry about whether a particular VM is in the right storage group; some of those sorts of things would trip us up previously."
  • "There's one feature that SRM had that Zerto doesn't have, and it's one that we've been asking for. With the orchestration part of the failover, with our DR and our primary sites, the IP addresses are almost identical. The only difference is one octet. With SRM, we could say during a failover change. With Zerto, we keep hearing that it's coming, but we haven't received it yet. It's a feature that would be very beneficial. It would reduce the time a little bit more."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use it for DR, that is, for VM replication between two data centers, using it not only for replication but also for orchestration.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto provided better overall DR coverage and more consistency.

What is most valuable?

I found VM level replication and being able to group the VM levels to be valuable. I like not having to worry about whether a particular VM is in the right storage group; some of those sorts of things would trip us up previously. 

It's a lot easier and more straightforward for a VM administrator because he can know that this VM goes in this group or gets this tag, for example, and that it's now in a DR group and is taken care of. I don't have to worry about all the backend details. It's just simplified.

In terms of ease of use, the benefit of Zerto over SRM is the fact that it doesn't rely on a secondary backend product, with having to have the right storage groups with RecoverPoint or something else with multi-tier architecture.

It's still too early to compare the speed of recovery with Zerto versus the speed of recovery with other disaster recovery solutions. We've just started the DR tests to understand the time difference. However, from what I've seen so far, the speed of recovery is similar but more consistent with Zerto. We don't have situations where we've missed this or that.

Zerto reduced the staff involved in data recovery situations by a single person. Now, we don't have the backend storage person who has to keep an eye on it anymore. With a different solution, we would have needed two people.

What needs improvement?

There's one feature that SRM had that Zerto doesn't have, and it's one that we've been asking for. With the orchestration part of the failover, with our DR and our primary sites, the IP addresses are almost identical. The only difference is one octet. With SRM, we could say during a failover change. With Zerto, we keep hearing that it's coming, but we haven't received it yet. It's a feature that would be very beneficial. It would reduce the time a little bit more.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Zerto for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability seems fine. I haven't seen any issues with it thus far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

For our organization, the scalability matched our needs. Between the data centers, we probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 VMs.

How are customer service and support?

From what I have seen, the technical support has been very good. They've been very responsive to my team.

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

We previously used SRM. Zerto is a little bit more mature, has a better feature set, and is more aligned with the features and functionalities that we need.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an ROI from the perspective of a reduction in hardware and a reduction in the number of people trying to focus on the tool sets.

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

It is less expensive than the full solution that we had previously, but at the same time, it's not an inexpensive product either.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Cohesity and other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, Zerto is a very good product for us, and I would rate it at nine on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Infrastructure Server Manager at a logistics company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Is consistent, agile, and reduces downtime
Pros and Cons
  • "We've seen a massive benefit from using Zerto in terms of time savings and consistency. You see a consistent outcome every time you do the conversions. We're moving from one platform to another, but the payloads in what we're moving are different. We see consistent delivery."
  • "Right now, our production environment runs on-premises, and we have a DR copy of everything that we run in production. However, our development runs on that hardware. In the case of a DR event, we would need to shut down development and bring up our secondary copy of production. We're hoping that Zerto is going to be the tool to help us do that."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our conversion from Hyper-V to VMware. The DR purposes are being looked into as well.

We've got about 1500 to 2000 Hyper-V machines. These Hyper-V machines are used and converted to VMware, and these are the two environments that we work with now, both on-premises and in a hosted environment.

What is most valuable?

The ease of the conversion, moving from Hyper-V over to VMware, has been the most valuable feature. It's the primary reason why we chose Zerto.

We've seen a massive benefit from using Zerto in terms of time savings and consistency. You see a consistent outcome every time you do the conversions. We're moving from one platform to another, but the payloads in what we're moving are different. We see consistent delivery.

Time savings-wise, I see anywhere from 30 to 50 VMs be converted from Hyper-V to VMware on a nightly basis. We've seen some pretty good throughput on the nights that we do conversions.

Zerto has absolutely helped to reduce downtime. If we were to do this manually, the amount of time that we would have to shut down the VMs on Hyper-V to be able to do the conversions and move them over to VMware would be massive.

That amount of downtime would cost our company a lot. We've got a team of three or four guys that do the labor. If you take what they're getting paid and you compound the amount of time that it would take to do the conversion, there would be a drastic cost in labor for those conversions.

What needs improvement?

Right now, our production environment runs on-premises, and we have a DR copy of everything that we run in production. However, our development runs on that hardware. In the case of a DR event, we would need to shut down development and bring up our secondary copy of production. We're hoping that Zerto is going to be the tool to help us do that.

For how long have I used the solution?

Zerto is primarily being used this year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We're getting consistent results, so the product seems to be very stable.

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

From a DR perspective, we use multiple different facets. We have multi-site data centers in our environment, along with Cohesity. We use Cohesity from a backup and DR perspective.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial setup but have heard feedback that those involved loved the simplicity of it.

What was our ROI?

We've absolutely seen an ROI in terms of time savings with respect to downtime. When you convert a couple of thousand machines from one platform to another, the amount of downtime that it would take itself would have paid for Zerto many times over.

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

We get our money's worth with Zerto.

What other advice do I have?

If you're in the middle of a conversion between different platforms, regardless of whether you're moving from on-premises to hosted or from one environment to another, it seems to be very agile and able to move your workloads into different environments pretty easily. I would give Zerto a rating of nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Administrator at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Easy to set up and use with a nice GUI, good support, and the automated failover works well
Pros and Cons
  • "Zerto is extremely easy to use. You set it and forget it."
  • "The reporting could be improved in terms of the reports that you can show to auditors to prove that you have done the testing. I provide the reports that it generates now but, it would be great if, at the end of a DR test, it would generate a report of everything that Zerto did."

What is our primary use case?

Zerto runs on a Windows Virtual Server and we have it installed at two sites. There is the production site, as well as the failover DR site.

We use this product almost exclusively for disaster recovery. It is responsible for the automated recovery of what we deem to be our mission-critical servers.

How has it helped my organization?

In terms of its ability to provide continuous data protection, this is a product that I trust. We test it quarterly to make sure that what the dashboard is telling us is correct. But, I've used it long enough to know that when I see the dashboard telling me that the virtual protection groups (VPGs) health are all green, then things are working correctly. Our average RPO is usually somewhere between three and 10 seconds.

We used to perform a disaster recovery test once a year, and it was painful because everything was manual. Now that we do it quarterly, we're able to provide management with reports of the tests, which not only makes management happy but also makes various governing bodies happy. We're a financial advisory firm, so it's the SEC that oversees us. That said, I'm sure this holds true in many industries. It allows you to have the reports to prove that you've done the tests. We don't have to ask them to take our word for it.

When we need to failback or move workloads, Zerto has absolutely decreased the time and number of people that are required to do so. For example, if I just want to test and prove that the network is up, it's something that I can do by myself. If I want to have people log in and test applications and stuff like that, I would need additional people. However, it has a built-in test function, so it will create a complete test network that you can run workloads on to show that the tests are successful. Afterward, you can delete the network and you're back just running, waiting for the next time you want to do that. In a situation like this, using Zerto saves eight hours or more and I can set it up and test it on my own unless I want people actually testing applications.

Thankfully, we have not had to use this product to recover from a ransomware attack or other disaster, but it would absolutely work in that case. By replicating the data, if ransomware were to hit the production side, it most likely would not also lock the disaster recovery side. This means that we would certainly be able to bring it up from there. Alternatively, it lets us pick points in time, so we can just go back to the moment in time before the ransomware happened. In a situation like this, I can't say that it would take fewer people but it would take fewer hours.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the automated failover, as it allows us to get the essential servers up at our DR site with little intervention.

Zerto is extremely easy to use. You set it and forget it.

It has a nice graphical interface.

What needs improvement?

The reporting could be improved in terms of the reports that you can show to auditors to prove that you have done the testing. I provide the reports that it generates now but, it would be great if, at the end of a DR test, it would generate a report of everything that Zerto did.

This would include details like what systems were up. Currently, that's not how the report reads. You would have to be an IT person to read the current reports that it produces. I would like for them to be the type of reports that I can put in front of an auditor or the president of our firm that would make sense to them, without me having to interpret and explain the results.

For how long have I used the solution?

We are in our seventh year of using Zerto.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, this solution is rock-solid. If it fails, it's not going to be Zerto that fails. It's going to be either that your storage has failed or the bandwidth, or connectivity, is not there. I don't see a way where Zerto would be the culprit in a failure-type instance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Our company is fairly small and the entire firm relies on it. That said, only one person actively uses it. We have three or four IT staff but Zerto has always been my responsibility.

In terms of scalability, I bet it would be no issue whatsoever. It's licensed according to the virtual machines that you want to protect. The only limitation of the scalability would be how deep your pockets are because it's going to be license costs.

We're a registered financial advisory firm, and we are growing. In the past year to 18 months, we have grown from approximately 52 employees to 70 employees. Everybody relies on it because if we have a disaster recovery type of situation, then everybody is going to expect to be able to work.

It is still a very small number of IT staff, so I can see that as we hire more IT staff to support a larger user base, we will certainly have more users.  At least, I hope not to be the only one responsible for this solution as we grow.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

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

Prior to Zerto, we used VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM). We switched because it requires a lot of manual upkeep, and there is no automation involved unless you write the scripts. There are lots of freeware sites where you can download scripts, but aside from that, we were spending a lot of time manually writing scripts and maintaining everything. This was really counterproductive for the amount of time we had available in a day.

Essentially, SRM was replaced because of better interface automation and ease of use. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is very easily done because you tie it into your VMware vCenter. When you put in your credentials, it will recognize everything on your networks. It will recognize storage, whether it be cloud-based or as in our case, at another data center. Once you have those defined, it's just a matter of creating groups that you want to recover, server-wise.

The reason that you would want to do it in groups is that you can set it up in the automation such that it will bring up groups in a certain order. That way, you have a network where the domain controllers come up in the first group, and you can automate stuff from there.

Seven years ago, when I first started to use it, I found it more difficult. I wouldn't say that it was complex but they have certainly made improvements over the years. Where it stands now, if I had to set it up from scratch, I could probably do it in about an hour. Of course, that is because of the way I know the application but in terms of how they have changed the setup, it is certainly more user-friendly than it was compared to where it started.

I remember running into a couple of issues during the deployment, and I contacted their support. They were fantastic and helped me get through it. They made sure that all of my questions were answered, and that it was up and running how we intended it to be used. A lot of it probably had to do with me being a novice at that point, in terms of using the application.

It was a multi-site deployment, with a production site and a DR site, with dedicated storage for each. We have changed the storage that it uses over the years and if I had to do it again, I would use another vendor for storage. A lot of the issues that we ran into were related to the initial storage that we used, as opposed to Zerto issues, even though it was Zerto support that helped me fix them. 

Overall, the deployment was fairly easy. Not because everything went great, but because of the combination of the application being pretty well-written and the support. I would rate the deployment an eight out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed Zerto with the help of a consultant, contacting support as we needed to. The consultant was NetGain Technologies and they're based out of Lexington, Kentucky. Their service was phenomenal and I would use them again in a heartbeat for this type of deployment. Ultimately, any issues that we ran into boiled down to some issues with the storage we chose to run it on.

I am responsible for the maintenance. 

What was our ROI?

We have absolutely seen a return on investment in terms of the manhours that have to be put into maintaining and testing this type of product. Thankfully, we have never had to use it in a true DR situation. However, I can guarantee that if something were to happen, even beyond the manhours and ease of automation, that it would pay for itself.

Our network infrastructure runs pretty smoothly most of the time. That said, Zerto has helped us to reduce downtime by approximately 20%. It is difficult to equate this with a monetary value because we have to consider what happens when a client misses a trade or cannot get a hold of their portfolio manager.

If it were an outage of a couple of hours then the person might pay a little more or a little less for a stock that they were trying to purchase. Overall, however, it is difficult to estimate. We aren't a day trading-type firm, so ultimately, I'm not sure that a short outage has any effect on our revenue stream whatsoever.

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

As a small company, we own the smallest license that Zerto offers, which is 15 VMs. I've not had to contact them or my reseller about purchasing additional licenses or to find out how much they cost.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We spoke with VMware to see what their pipeline was for upgrades or changes to Site Recovery Manager and we also looked at both Cohesity and Rubrik.

I like the separation of the software and the storage, whereas some of those other products are all-in-one. You're buying the software and storage together on the same platform. This means that the scalability would be different.

Sometimes, this is a case of adding shelves for storage. In that situation, for example, you have to start taking the data center rack space into account. Whereas with Zerto, it lets us build upon hardware we already had, even though we use dedicated storage.

What other advice do I have?

Version 9 of this product is out. However, we have not yet upgraded. We're not leveraging the cloud the way a lot of companies do these days, and I know from the release notes that I've read that most of the new features are related to the cloud. There's not a lot of research and development being done on physical data centers anymore.

At this point, I'm very happy with where the product sits for my network. We are now just starting to move things to the cloud, which will take place over the next couple of years, so my assessment in this regard may change in perhaps a few years.

At the moment, we don't have plans to use it for long-term retention. We keep about three days' worth of data in Zerto and then it rolls off. We have other systems in place for long-term retention.

My advice for anybody who is looking into implementing Zerto is to do your homework. In the end, this product checks all of the boxes and it's the one that I would go with.

In the way that we use this solution, which I know is not how everybody uses it, we have storage that is specifically used for Zerto and two data centers. The way it works in that scenario, as long the bandwidth is there, meaning some sort of dedicated circuit between the two sites, it's flawless in my opinion.

The biggest lesson that I have learned from using Zerto is that disaster recovery doesn't have to be a giant pain. I certainly used to look at it that way in the past.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zerto Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zerto Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.