NetApp SnapMirror vs. HPE Zerto Software

It is fantastic for disaster recovery. We've used it in DR tests for years and it just works. This is the primary reason I can think of why a company would use this feature set.

Incentivized

Zerto is well suited for disaster recovery and virtual machine replication between multiple data centers. DR testing for audit or regulations is much easier with Zerto, great reporting, dashboard etc. It is not well suited for physical server replication for disaster recovery or as a primary backup solution.

Incentivized

• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity are strong areas where NetApp SnapMirror exceeds by providing multiple recovery options without the need for additional software or degrading network performance.

Incentivized

• It is simple to set up and use. In my opinion, one of the most important functions of a tool is its interface. If you have the best product in the world but it takes an arm and a leg to configure and a doctorate degree to use, then the product isn't worth very much.
• The continuous replication is done very well. The failover and failback process runs smoothly.
• This has less to do with the product than the company, but Zerto as a company really listens to their customer base. We've always had a very good interpersonal experience with their support and sales teams. Having great people behind their product is definitely one of Zerto's strengths.

Incentivized

• The volume size on the destination partner always has to be bigger than the source. This can get annoying. Not sure if they have made this automatic in future releases.
• When you break a SnapMirror to use the destination volume you have to redirect all requests to the new volume. This isn't really a con but it is something you need to think about.

Incentivized

• Moving a VM from one protection group to another could be simplified.
• I would like to see an executive-style report of recovery and testing for upper management.
• The ability to deploy Zerto as a virtual appliance, without the need for a windows server.

Incentivized

Very well versed and a good product to deal with downtime to recover from the failure is pretty good. Also, NetApp's engagement on Incident calls is very professional and humble. I would give a 100% rating to this product as I have been working on this for the past 5 years. It is stable, fast and highly reliable

Incentivized

We really like the easy setup of this replication solution, as well as the ease of management. Not to mention, our internal IT Economist determined that the Zerto solution would provide the best ROI out of the competing solutions we analyzed. So far, his calculations have been spot on, and we have saved substantially

Incentivized

It just works 99% of the time. Even if there's a network outage, jobs just pick up after the outage is over. The only reason it's not a 10 is the weakness of the GUI interface for configuration. For me, all configuration has to be done at the command line.

Incentivized

Zerto is very easy to implement and support. Uses are broad, only issues are once something doesn't sync it is difficult to get assistance until your reach tier 2 or tier 3 support. Basic file and folder recovery is great. Live and test fail overs are also easy to implement without issue.

Incentivized

NetApp support has always been great. With the NetApp Auto-support system/web portal, the visibility into your NetApp storage is incredible. There have been times when I've been contacted by them for an issue that I haven't even discovered yet. For example, I received a call 20 minutes after a drive failed in our filer. I hadn't checked my email at that time and therefore didn't see the alert.

Incentivized

Very responsive, very capable. Overall, the product is very easy to set up and configure. Problems usually encroach when lower-level components are updated for changed, for instance, vSphere. Support usually can help us work through any issues that pop up from upgrades to other software, but their own updates can lag behind a little.

Incentivized

Ease and speed of initial co figuration.

Incentivized

We originally had an EMC storage device. We had quickly outgrown the device and looked for alternatives. We were drawn to NetApp because of the great software solution surrounding it. We had been using a combination of backup solutions previously combining the Dell EMC box with Backup Exec and a tape library. NetApp replaced all of that nicely. No more tapes. Seamless replication no only locally but also to a remote location.

Incentivized

Zerto solves issues with snapshot-based backups and provides continuous data protection up to 14 days with an astonishing granularity. Zerto's One-2-Many can provide local and offsite backups with near real-time and fast restore of a VM

Zerto does not backup physical machines or VMs that are turned off, but there are other products to do that.

Other backup products are stepping up with ease of deployment and small organizations would find them a little easier to use as there are fewer configuration options.

Incentivized

• NetApp SnapMirror has allowed us to recover critical data in a timely manner on multiple occasions.
• We have been able to decrease our RPO objectives.
• We have been able to decrease our DR costs as well.

Incentivized

• DR and CyberSecurity recovery can be done in minutes or a few hours via Zerto, as opposed to days with backup/recovery.
• DR testing and recovery can be done anytime in an isolated environment to test recoverability and functionality.
• Zerto licensing is very affordable to protect critical business functions.
• On-prem to cloud migrations are very quick and easy to perform.

Incentivized