Zerto vs vSphere Replication
Zerto vs vSphere Replication (focusing around data replication)
| Zerto Replication | vSphere Replication | |
| Generally recommended for: | Any size vSphere infrastructure | Small infrastructures, remote offices, and non-critical applications |
| Max number of VMs protected per appliance and vCenter Server: | 500/5000 | 500/500 |
| Linked clone and template support: | Yes | No |
| Physical RDM and Virtual RDM support: | Yes, virtual and physical mode RDMs are supported | No/Yes, Physical RDMs are not supported but virtual RDM are supported |
| RPO range: | Seconds | 15 minutes to 24 hours |
| Application consistent?: | Supports Windows VMs using VSS and Linux with Application Quesicense | Only with Windows VMs using VSS |
| How VMs are chosen: | VMs can be organized into Virtual Protection Groups | VMs can be selected individually or multi-select but virtual protection grouping is not available |
| Automated failback support: | Yes | No, VMware recommends SRM |
| Allows you to plan, test, and automate failover and failback: | Yes | No, VMware recommends SRM |
| Compression included: | Yes | No, and neither does SRM |
| RE-IP addressing of virtual machines: | Yes | No, VMware recommends SRM |
| Cloning of recovery sites: | Yes | No |
| Point in time recovery: | Yes, up to 5 days with standard recovery, up to 1 year with extended recovery using the Offsite Backup feature | Yes, up to 24 snapshots |
| Compatible with vApps: | Yes | No |
| vCloud Director integration: | Yes | No |
| Snapshot-based? | No | Yes/No, VMware says that vSR doesn’t use snapshots technology but does use a modified version of CBT, still many of the same snapshot-based limitations apply. For example, vSR uses VM snapshots at the recovery site when recovering to a different point-in-time. |
Zerto vs VMware Site Recovery Manager (focusing around automation of disaster recovery planning, testing, and automation)
| Zerto | SRM (with vSphere Replication) | |
| Provides planning, testing, and execution of disaster recovery for vSphere: | Yes | Yes |
| Designed for: | Zerto was designed for hypervisor-based replication AND disaster recovery orchestration | SRM was designed for disaster recovery orchestration only |
| Licensed: | Per-VM | Per-VM |
| Replication granularity: | Per-VM and/or Per- Virtual Protection Group | Per-VM or multi-select but virtual protection grouping is not available |
| Configure consistency groups (virtual protection groups): | Yes | No |
| Replication recovery points: | Yes, up to 5 days with standard recovery, up to 1 year with extended recovery using the Offsite Backup feature | Yes, up to 24 snapshots |
| Compatibility: | Zerto works with ESX 4.0 U1 and above. Zerto can replicate between different versions of vCenter. | vSR works with ESX 5.x and above. SRM requires the same version of vCenter and SRM be installed at both sites. |
| Managed with: | vSphere Client Plugin and stand-alone browser UI | vSphere Client Plugin |
| Replication is performed with: | Zerto Hypervisor-based replication | vSphere Replication |
