Abdellateef Hasan - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use with a straightforward interface and menus, and provides excellent analytics, reporting, and monitoring
Pros and Cons
  • "Zerto's ease of use is outstanding; it's easy to set up and has a clear interface and menus. The reporting, analytics, and online monitoring are also excellent."
  • "Improvements in stability would be welcome; there are some software bugs that can affect RPOs. We want more of a guarantee that we won't lose any of our backups, even in the event of a disaster."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto for backups and DR; we back up to a StoreOnce unit and then offsite. We have over 11 servers, including three Oracle servers, one Oracle database, and an Active Directory. 

How has it helped my organization?

Before Zerto, we used another solution that caused database crashes and did not offer certainty regarding disaster recovery. Zerto is more configurable and stable.

A DR site reduces downtime, especially with full VM backup and online synchronization. Zerto accomplishes this without affecting network efficiency, as synchronization occurs at specific intervals.

What is most valuable?

Zerto's ease of use is outstanding; it's easy to set up and has a clear interface and menus. The reporting, analytics, and online monitoring are also excellent.  

Compared to other solutions, the speed of recovery with Zerto is faster. Our last backup solution, Data Protector, was very slow, but Zerto is rapid even in file retrieval. 

The solution helped reduce our organization's DR testing; it's hard to say precisely how much, but Zerto does faster DR testing than other products.

What needs improvement?

Improvements in stability would be welcome; there are some software bugs that can affect RPOs. We want more of a guarantee that we won't lose any of our backups, even in the event of a disaster. 

The platform measures the write speed of storage devices and gives an alert on the VPG if there is latency, but the nature of the alert suggests the solution isn't meeting the SLA. However, this shouldn't affect the health status of the backup. It should provide an express report that we should enhance our hardware rather than express latency as a threat to the backup capability.

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?

We've been using the solution for two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is acceptable, we experienced an issue once, but the backup time is speedy.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support is one of Zerto's best aspects; the support is excellent, and we can quickly get through to them. I rate them ten out of ten. The support staff are very kind and always solve a problem. I feel secure knowing I have access to such good support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We previously used Micro Focus Data Protector and Veeam Backup & Replication. Zerto is easier to use and more straightforward to configure. 

Zerto replaced our legacy backup solution, Data Protector. This not only saved on the cost of the old product but also provided more stability and security to our company. We now have a new backup methodology, and it's a significant upgrade.  

How was the initial setup?

I carried out the initial setup with support from Zerto, which was very straightforward.

The only requirement for maintenance is monitoring the solution and updating versions.

What about the implementation team?

I have 20 years of experience in IT, so I was well-positioned to carry out the deployment myself, with the assistance of Zerto support.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an ROI with Zerto. 

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

The pricing is slightly above average, but the immediate and comprehensive support makes the price acceptable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated many other options but found Zerto the best, especially for our HPE environment. It's the most stable and straightforward tool, and even those with limited experience can operate it.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution eight out of ten. 

I strongly recommend Zerto; I've tried many other solutions, but it's the most stable.

We use the product to help protect VMs in our environment, and regarding RPOs, I carry out the test for them every six months, and it's working correctly.

I advise those evaluating the solution to use it, especially in an HPE environment, as it's fully compatible and easy to manage. There is no requirement for special drivers or configurations.

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
VMware Engineer Infrastructure Team at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Scalable solution that reduces downtime during migrations
Pros and Cons
  • "The ease of use and simplicity in moving things without having to do a cross-v set of V-motions has been most valuable. It saves time and effort and it eliminates mistakes."
  • "The licensing is confusing and complicated."

What is our primary use case?

Our main use case for this solution is the data center migration. We are in the process of moving from our legacy data center and all the VMs into our new data center.

In the future, we would like to look more into disaster recovery using Zerto but that's a much longer process and we are still looking into it.

How has it helped my organization?

The speed of recovery with Zerto is at least five to ten times faster. It helped us reduce downtime during migrations. There would've been a lot more downtime had we done a standard migration across data centers, powering everything down. This downtime would have cost our company millions.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use and simplicity in moving things without having to do a cross vCenter V-motions has been most valuable. It saves time and effort and it eliminates mistakes. This project would've been years if not for Zerto. We completed it in months instead of years.

What needs improvement?

The licensing is confusing and complicated.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. We used it for our biggest data center and it handled it just fine. We haven't personally had to scale it up, but if we needed to, we definitely could.

How are customer service and support?

Support has been pretty good. I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

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

I personally have not used other solutions other than just what's built into VMware. When comparing the VMware native solution versus Zerto, it's night and day. It's much simpler and straightforward to set up.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is streamlined with simple instructions. Anybody can do it as long as they understand their infrastructure.

What about the implementation team?

We had a contractor that we brought in to help us with it. 

What was our ROI?

We have seen return in our investment with Zerto due to the speed and usability and being able to do this huge project with limited hiccups.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others that the cost of this solution is justified based on the value you receive. 

I would rate Zerto a 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
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.
MikeEllis - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant at AHEAD
Real User
Top 10
Stable solution that offers the most effective methods for data migration
Pros and Cons
  • "We work a lot with customers that need disaster recovery and the best possible migration approaches, and Zerto helps them minimize the amount of effort it takes to finish their upgrades or migrations."
  • "The biggest improvement would be exporting VPGs and a configuration of VPGs, as well as increasing or improving their IP customization rule set."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto to help our customers migrate and consolidate data centers, especially crossing different geo spaces or long distances.

I haven't used it for downtime, but our customers have it configured for all of their disaster recovery needs.

How has it helped my organization?

We work a lot with customers that need disaster recovery and the best possible migration approaches, and Zerto helps them minimize the amount of effort it takes to finish their upgrades or migrations.

Zerto helped reduce our customer's VR testing. It allows them to do disaster recovery tests a lot better and a lot safer without affecting the production environment. Last year I helped two customers migrate over 10,000 servers across the country and across Europe. Automating the process was extremely valuable in those migrations.

What is most valuable?

The near-zero downtime for migrating from one data center to another has been the most valuable outcome of using Zerto. When you are migrating half a petabyte of data from Texas to Las Vegas, and you're doing that with 3000 servers, you have a limited time to take down the application and bring it up. Our customers like having the downtime minimized.

What needs improvement?

The biggest improvement would be exporting VPGs and a configuration of VPGs, as well as increasing or improving their IP customization rule set.

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?

This is a stable solution. We ran into a minimal amount of bugs and the bugs that we do run into, we have workarounds for.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution can definitely scale out very well. I'm looking forward to new improvements in Zerto for Azure. These improvements would definitely make scaling out Zerto much better.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the support for this solution a ten out of ten. I've called Zerto's support for almost every case that I've needed to. They've been able to resolve the issues in a timely fashion.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I've used many other options. Zerto is definitely the best of the bunch. Zerto is definitely a lot easier to install than products like Set Recovery Manager, and it includes the replication technology that is agnostic from any storage replication that would be required.

What was our ROI?

Our customers definitely see a return on investment, especially with time savings, by doing required compliance testing for disaster recovery with a minimal amount of effort.

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

The pricing is top tier but offers good value. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner/reseller
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at Eastern Industrial Supplies, Inc.
Real User
We can bring a virtual machine online in a test environment, make changes, and turn it off again
Pros and Cons
  • "Zerto's continuous data protection is unmatched. It's phenomenal. It's also very easy to use. The menus are self-explanatory. Once you understand the terminology of the product, what the VPGs (Virtual Protected Groups) are, you're able to pretty much do what you want in the product. It's very easy to use."
  • "It took me a little bit of time to get used to Zerto's terminology and to relate it back to how you do a backup traditionally. It was a little different. It took a little while to understand what a VPG is and what it does. That's an area that they could probably improve on a little, making the documentation easier to understand."

What is our primary use case?

Zerto is part of our disaster recovery plan. We have it set up in our main office and in a remote location in another state. We replicate all of our ERP data over to the replication site utilizing Zerto. In case there's a failure or a ransomware attack, or anything that we need to restore back to a point in time, in real time, Zerto covers those scenarios.

How has it helped my organization?

Being able to bring a virtual machine online in a test environment, look at it, make changes and then say, "Okay, we're done," and turn it off again, is pretty helpful for us. It has actually saved us a couple of times.

For example, we had an order that was put in by a customer but the entire order got deleted. There was no history of it and no way of retrieving what was on the order. So we actually spun up our production ERP system on our remote location, utilizing Zerto. We brought it online and restored it to the point of time when we knew the record was there, and made a screenshot of the record with all the line data included. Then we shut it back down. We were able to re-key the order and it worked out great.

With Zerto, our disaster recovery is probably the one piece that we know is reliable and available. The way Zerto works, and the way we are utilizing it as part of our disaster recovery solution, make our disaster recovery plan very easy to explain for us and to our auditors.

In addition, when we need to fail back or move workloads, Zerto decreases the time it takes and the number of people needed. A failback literally takes minutes to do, and one person can do it. We can either put it into production or just say, "Okay, we've got what we need." We'll just end it and go back to our normal production cycle. It's very easy and definitely decreases workload. There are no tapes to dig out or backups to sort through. You just grab the time you want and say, "Hey, put me back into this period and time," and it does it.

What is most valuable?

Zerto's continuous data protection is unmatched. It's phenomenal.

It's also very easy to use. The menus are self-explanatory. Once you understand the terminology of the product, what the VPGs (Virtual Protected Groups) are, you're able to pretty much do what you want in the product. It's very easy to use.

What needs improvement?

It took me a little bit of time to get used to Zerto's terminology and to relate it back to how you do a backup traditionally. It was a little different. It took a little while to understand what a VPG is and what it does. That's an area that they could probably improve on a little, making the documentation easier to understand.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for two and a half to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Zerto is outstanding. It runs 24/7 and works as described. If there are any issues or any problems arise, we get notifications from Zerto, but that does not happen often. Usually, if there's an issue, it's related to something we've done, or because we need to increase a file size or job log. Other than that, it works the way it's supposed to.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto covers 10 production machines in our environment, which is not a huge scale. We only have one replication site. We could easily add more replications if we wanted to. Zerto has that flexibility. But for us, a one-to-one replication to our Nashville location works perfectly for us.

How are customer service and support?

I have had to call their technical support and they're very responsive. The issue is always resolved. I give them very high marks for their support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We didn't have a solution that does what Zerto does.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very simple, very straightforward. Zerto got online with us when we did the initial configuration and gave us easy guidelines to follow. We were able to have it up and running in less than an hour.

We took what Zerto recommended in their deployment guide. We knew the areas we wanted to cover and what we wanted to improve upon. Based on those things, we were able to come up with a nice, easy plan to follow to get it implemented.

When there's an issue, just one person is involved, but generally speaking, there's not much maintenance on Zerto. Once you get it up and running, it does what it's supposed to do.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely seen return on our investment in Zerto. First, it's a time-saver. Second, for IT, it gives us peace of mind. We don't have to worry about it. 

One of the ways Zerto is really good in that regard is that you can actually bring your servers online in your test environment and see exactly what something would look like if you restored it. And if you don't want to restore it, you just hit "cancel" and it puts it back the way it was. It's great to be able to do that. The test features they have built into the product mean you can test a scenario like "What if I want to spin this up over here, how would it look?" You can do that.

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

Licensing Zerto was very simple. They had a product that fit our size and scale. It made it really easy to choose. 

As far as pricing goes again, we're a $150 million dollar company, meaning we're not a huge company but we're not a small one either. Zerto had the right pricing model that fit our budget, and they delivered on it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Zerto was the leader in the category, and I'd used it in the past with another company, so we just went straight to Zerto. There was no need for a PoC with another product. We knew it would work for us.

What other advice do I have?

My advice about Zerto would be "do it." The product is just that good. What it does is very impressive. And again, it gives you peace of mind, knowing your data is safe and secure and that it's replicating like it's supposed to. That's just a great feeling.

We don't do long-term retention currently due to how our backups are made. We use Zerto for anything less than a one-week window and we can revert back. 

Thankfully, we have not had to use Zerto for ransomware, but it would absolutely be a lifesaver should that scenario come up. Similarly, we haven't had a situation where we had to fully flip over to our DR environment. We have tested it, and it works great. Our recovery time would literally be 20 minutes and we'd be up and running in a brand new location, without missing a single record.

While Zerto hasn't necessarily changed the amount of staff involved in our overall backup and DR management, it has definitely made those tasks very easy. We set it up once and we don't have to worry about it anymore. It runs and does its thing. We don't have to babysit it or watch it or worry about it. It just works. For what we use it for, I don't see an area in which I would say, "Hey, add this feature or make this change." It works as described, right out-of-the-box.

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
Sr. System Administrator at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Easy to operate with a user-friendly interface, good support, and it scales well
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is real-time replication, where we have the ability to recover things in near real-time."
  • "We have had some issues with trying to get certain parts of the backup or restore functionality to work."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is disaster recovery.

We have Zerto deployed on-premises at both our primary and DR locations.

How has it helped my organization?

In general, Zerto helps us with our DR plan because it makes things so easy.

Zerto does a very good job of providing continuous data protection. I've been very impressed and would rate it an eight out of ten. Especially when it comes to DR testing, it is very easy to work with and we are able to recover our infrastructure at our DR site within a matter of minutes.

When we have to failback or move workloads, Zerto decreases the time it takes and the number of people involved in the process. I've used other solutions and I haven't seen anything that compares to what it can do. It is difficult to estimate the exact time saving because it depends on the workload.

Realistically, you could have a single admin responsible for the restores, whereas with other solutions, depending on how big your environment is, it would take more people. In our environment, it would take upwards of five people to restore our core infrastructure and by using Zerto, it reduces the number of people by about half.

With respect to DR management, Zerto has reduced the number of people involved in the process. I wasn't at the company when they used the previous product, so I'm not sure by exactly how much.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is real-time replication, where we have the ability to recover things in near real-time.

It's very helpful for DR testing because we can recover VMs in an isolated bubble and prove our DR methodology.

Zerto is very easy to use, which is one of its big selling points. It takes just a few clicks to restore a VM, which means that it's easy to train somebody to help in a DR situation.

What needs improvement?

We have had some issues with trying to get certain parts of the backup or restore functionality to work. However, I cannot recall the specific details.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto since I started with the company two years ago. In total, the company has been using it for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been very good. I can't think of a time that we've really had any issues that we didn't cause or something maybe with an update. We're running it 24/7 and I can't think of a time that we've had any major issues with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From my perspective, Zerto's scalability is very good. We have 60 VPGs and 122 virtual machines that we're using Zerto to replicate to our disaster recovery site. This will grow with any new infrastructure that we build. Any new servers, depending on their RTO or how soon we need to recover them, would be put into Zerto. Potentially, we will add some, although I'm not aware of any major growth at this time.

Our operations department monitors the dashboard just to confirm that our RTO and the VPG health look good. There are perhaps five people in that team, who are watching the dashboard.

In my team, there are three of us that use it, although we don't look at it daily. It would only be if we get reports of an issue or we need to adjust a setting or something like that.

Overall, on a day-to-day basis, there are probably about five people that use it.

How are customer service and support?

I have not personally dealt with the technical support but I know about the experience that my coworker has had. They are typically very helpful and provide good responses compared to other companies in the industry.

Zerto was recently acquired by HP and there is some concern in our organization about what might happen to the technical support, seeing as they were bought out by a bigger company. We're hoping that it doesn't negatively impact the support that we receive.

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

I have used Veeam in the past and it's similar to Zerto in certain aspects. They both have their pros and cons, but I would say from what I've seen, I like Zerto. It just seems to be a little bit more user-friendly in the UI. Functionality-wise, they're similar. I think Veeam would be one of their main competitors.

I have also used the older product by VMware called Site Replication Manager. It really doesn't compare to Zerto.

How was the initial setup?

I have been involved in some of the Zerto setups and from what I have seen, they go very well. It seems that it is pretty easy to perform the initial setup.

It takes about an hour per site, or per server to upgrade it. 

What about the implementation team?

We deploy and upgrade the solution in-house.

It's usually two people that are responsible for maintenance but it could be four people on the team.

What was our ROI?

I believe that we have seen a return on our investment. The return comes from time saved in manpower, for example. From what I've seen, it's worth the cost.

I've also heard comments from my coworkers to say that it's an expensive product but it definitely makes you feel more comfortable in a DR situation.

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

I have not been directly involved in the pricing and licensing. My understanding is that it's expensive but worth the price.

What other advice do I have?

We don't use Zerto for long-term data retention and I'm not aware that there are any plans to do so. We use Zerto in tandem with our backup solution, just to be safe. That said, we have used Zerto for recovery in scenarios where we couldn't find the particular data that we were looking for in our other backup solution. 

We have not experienced any ransomware incidents or other situations where we needed disaster recovery. However, Zerto would definitely save us time for that. Depending on the situation, it could save the number of people involved as well.

Although we have not had to use it in an actual event, it helps us in terms of regulatory and audit compliance. If we had a real event, we would all feel more comfortable that we'd be able to restore or be in a better position to have our infrastructure restored in a small amount of time.

We have not yet looked into using Zerto for DR in the cloud but in the future, we're going to look at the option of doing so.

My advice for anybody who is considering Zerto is to do a proof of concept or a trial. I'm not sure what the vendor has available in this regard but I would advise trying it out with a small number of virtual machines.

I would rate this solution a nine 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
PeerSpot user
Manager, Infrastructure at Vizient Inc
Real User
Easy to set up and configure, flexible, and gives us peace of mind for our critical applications
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Zerto is its overall flexibility, where it can be used for standard DR or you can also use it for server migrations, data center consolidations, etc."
  • "I wouldn't mind seeing Zerto sold at a cheaper price point, although the cost is comparable to VMware SRM."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto for disaster recovery of our tier 1 applications from our primary data center to our secondary data center. We have also used Zerto to successfully perform server migrations from one site to another for data center moves and company acquisitions.

Our administrators love the product and it has been proven to be easier to use than VMware SRM which we were using before going with Zerto.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto has given us the peace of mind to know that we have full DR protection for our critical applications.

Zerto is relatively easy to set up and administer.

We were able to create runbooks within Zerto to help with DR failovers, and testing DR failovers is pretty easy as well.

We used to use VMware SRM and it was very cumbersome to add in new virtual machines or storage volumes because they would basically "break" the SRM protection groups that were already out there. With Zerto, it takes on new additions to protection groups much easier and it saves our admins a lot of time having to care and feed it.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Zerto is its overall flexibility, where it can be used for standard DR or you can also use it for server migrations, data center consolidations, etc. You can also use it for data protection and physical to virtual migrations as well.

It is kind of a swiss-army knife.

What needs improvement?

I can't think of any major areas of improvement with Zerto. Make sure that they are building in cloud-friendly features in future releases because a lot of enterprises are starting to move workloads to the cloud and are seriously considering doing DR to the cloud as well. Our company may be moving in that direction also.

I wouldn't mind seeing Zerto sold at a cheaper price point, although the cost is comparable to VMware SRM.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Zerto for four Years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Zerto has been rock solid for us in terms of stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Zerto seems to be ok. This will depend on the size of your environment and how often you need your data replicated for BCP and SLAs.

How are customer service and technical support?

Zerto customer service has been great so far. No complaints!

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

We used to use VMware SRM and we switched to Zerto because it is less expensive and easier to administer.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Zerto was very straight forward. The rest of the configuration will be as complex as your environment's DR needs and application stacks are.

What about the implementation team?

We had an engineer from Zerto help us with the installation and initial configuration for thirty days.

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

It is good to do a full Disaster Recovery plan for your organization and doing a BCP plan as well. You need to figure out how many critical servers and applications you have in your environment so you will know how many Zerto licenses to buy, etc.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We only baked off VMware SRM and Zerto.

What other advice do I have?

It is good to implement a proof of concept of Zerto to test it out. I highly recommend it for data center moves.

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
BartHeungens - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Specialist at Bitcon
Real User
Top 10
Our recovery time went from hours to seconds and our DR testing is all automated
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "The native Zerto implementation requires quite a big environment. My environment is rather small. I do not have hundreds of virtual machines."

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.

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.
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Systems Engineer at Shiftmovers
Real User
Top 5
Fast duplication, good ROI, and timely support
Pros and Cons
  • "Its user interface is excellent, and when it comes to data duplication, Zerto is very fast."
  • "Overall, Zerto is doing a very good job. We have experienced a few downtimes on networking. Most of the time, they come up with a solution immediately to sort out any challenge that may affect data flow or data migration. It does not happen frequently. We might experience it once in two months, but when we face any downtime, it does not impact the data."

What is our primary use case?

Zerto is our main application for curbing risks. We use it to protect our workflows on applications from threats that can come from the cloud and on-premises.

How has it helped my organization?

Before Zerto, our organization kept experiencing some attacks. Our data was not safe. There were frequent attacks on our data, and that is why we decided to deploy Zerto.

It helps to ensure that our organization's data is safe from any latest threats.

It ensures that our applications are protected. We have high-security firewalls that cannot be attacked or broken by ransomware attacks.

Zerto can block unknown threats and attacks. It has security measures in place to stop any threats that can harm our data.

When it comes to data capacity, Zerto provides an assessment of data replication that can be orchestrated to feed the data protection models.

We used to mostly have on-premises applications, but after the deployment of Zerto, we are able to move to the cloud and ensure that our data is secure from both sides.

When it comes to cloud recovery, Zerto ensures that data transfer from the cloud to our organization is safe. It cannot be easily attacked with malware or by cybercriminals. It is very important to us that our database is safe and the data on our cloud servers cannot be interfered with by external or anonymous users. It ensures that the data for the organization is channeled for the right purpose and through the right infrastructure.

We use Zerto to support DR on the AWS platform. The support has been very good, and I would recommend it. The performance has been good, and our data has always been safe.

I have not had any difficulties with data migration. Since we deployed Zerto, data migration has not been a challenge.

Zerto helps our organization to be in the right direction when it comes to data protection and recovery from both on-premise and cloud servers. When there is anything crucial or any challenge, their customer support team provides a timely solution, which helps with performance.

The recovery management has been efficient. We can use the tools to accommodate any form of data for future retrieval. Our data is safe.

Zerto has been excellent for our RPOs. When it comes to disaster recovery, the company makes sure that we have the right tools at the right time to ensure that we do not have any data recovery challenges across the enterprise.

Zerto has saved a lot of time. We used to take eight hours, but now, it takes us six hours to accomplish most tasks and projects based on the data flow.

Zerto has reduced the number of staff involved in a data recovery situation. We have 20% less staff.

Zerto has also reduced the number of staff involved in overall backup and DR management.

What is most valuable?

Its user interface is excellent, and when it comes to data duplication, Zerto is very fast.

Their customer support team ensures that we get timely updates and provides status or data on threats to help us ensure that our applications are safe.

The cost of deploying and running this platform is also good as compared to other platforms.

What needs improvement?

Overall, Zerto is doing a very good job. We have experienced a few downtimes on networking. Most of the time, they come up with a solution immediately to sort out any challenge that may affect data flow or data migration. It does not happen frequently. We might experience it once in two months, but when we face any downtime, it does not impact the data. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for the last six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is good. Their technical support team has been doing well. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We were not using a similar solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

It was not complex. It was simple. The deployment was simple and clear. It took a few hours.

What about the implementation team?

We had four people involved in its deployment. Overall, we have eight people who work with this solution.

What was our ROI?

We have seen positive returns on investment. We have achieved a lot, and our performance keeps on improving. We have seen an 80% ROI in the past six months.

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

Its price can be better, but it is not bad. Most small-scale organizations can afford it, but they can come up with more customer-friendly packages.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options. For now, we are okay with Zerto. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, its performance has been good, and I would recommend it to other organizations. It is a good solution that can help any organization to achieve projects based on data management.

Overall, I would rate Zerto a nine 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.
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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.