<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Scalability challenges:<\/strong> Zerto works well in smaller environments. But as environments grow, Zerto experiences more frequent replication failures that can require help from Zerto support to identify and fix. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Lack of reliability: <\/strong>Zerto uses point-to-point replication, which creates single points of failure. And users have recently reported outages on some of Zerto\u2019s features, such as their analytics platform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Storage costs:<\/strong> Zerto\u2019s journal-based recovery requires a lot of storage space, which will increase the costs of your DR strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
In this article, we\u2019ll dive deep into what works well with Zerto\u2019s disaster recovery, what presents challenges for some businesses, and how it compares to our own file replication and sync solution, Resilio Connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Want to see how Resilio can enhance your DR and business continuity strategy? <\/em>Schedule a demo.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Connect<\/a> offers an alternative approach. Resilio\u2019s DR solution<\/a> provides real-time multi-site replication to achieve low RPOs and RTOs across two or more sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution enables \u201cwrite anywhere\u201d DR where files can be updated across any site concurrently. Through a proprietary P2P (peer-to-peer) replication architecture, Resilio enables all sites to be active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio\u2019s DR solution also overcomes limitations with point-to-point replication architectures and TCP to enable an exceptionally fast DR solution that scales well across any number of physical or VM-based servers \u2014 across multiple sites. Thus, Resilio can be considered for both warm and hot-site disaster recovery<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Flexible: <\/strong>You can deploy Resilio with any type of storage (file, block, or object) or any type of server (physical, virtual, or containerized). You can use any cloud storage provider and deploy the solution on-premises and in hybrid cloud environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Fast: <\/strong>Resilio\u2019s P2P replication architecture scales performance by simply adding Resilio agents and increasing bandwidth. Resilio Platform is able to synchronize hundreds of endpoints 3\u201310x faster than traditional solutions like Zerto.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Reliable and highly available:<\/strong> By default, there is no single point of failure using Resilio. All sites are protected by active-active high availability. Clients can be load-balanced across sites for fast client redirection. Unlike traditional active\/passive solutions, Resilio Platform dynamically routes around outages with connection-loss recovery and checksums for data integrity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Scalable:<\/strong> Resilio scales organically to support environments of any size. And it can replicate files of any size, type, and number (450+ million in a single job).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Multidirectional:<\/strong> Traditional replication solutions like Zerto can only sync one way, from a source to a target. Resilio can sync in any direction: one- or two-way, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many (full mesh).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Versatile:<\/strong> You can use Resilio in a variety of different DR scenarios. You can run Resilio Platform in VMs or directly on physical systems, such as NAS devices. You can use it for real-time off-site backup, cloud DR, or branch office data protection. Many customers use Resilio for large-scale server synchronization and for cloud sync. You can also replicate all of your VMs using Resilio Connect. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Efficient: <\/strong>Resilio is designed to be efficient and gives you granular control over how replication occurs in your environment. Resilio\u2019s proprietary WAN acceleration technology can optimize transfers over any network (including high-latency, low-quality networks), and enables you to utilize any type of connection (VSATs, cell, Wi-Fi, IP connections). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Organizations in tech (Match, Microsoft), media (Turner Sports, CBS), retail (Mercedes-Benz, McDonald\u2019s), logistics (Deutsche Aircraft, Airtec Global), gaming (2K Games, Bungie), and more use Resilio Platform to quickly and reliably sync their replication environments and protect data as part of a disaster recovery strategy. To learn more about how Resilio Platform can enhance your disaster recovery strategy, <\/em>schedule a demo<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deployment, Management, and Automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A good disaster recovery solution should be flexible enough to support your current IT infrastructure (i.e., work with the devices, operating systems, and cloud storage platforms you use), as well as easy to manage and automate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zerto and Resilio Platform are similar in that they both:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Are flexible software-only solutions that work by installing agents on the machines you want to replicate to and from.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Can be deployed in on-prem, cloud, and hybrid\/multi-cloud environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Enable you to manage your entire replication environment from a centralized location that can be accessed via a web browser or console.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Allow you to automate how replication and recovery of your applications occurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Provide insight into replication and recovery through analytics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
However, there are some key differences in how the solutions are deployed and managed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deployment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ideally, you should be able to deploy your DR solution directly on your existing infrastructure. This enables you to begin replicating and protecting your data as quickly as possible without the need to migrate data and invest in new hardware or storage platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Devices<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Whether in the cloud or on-premises devices, Zerto agents work through virtual machines (VMs). Zerto supports replication between VMware vSphere, VMware Cloud Director, Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to VMs (such as VMware, Citrix, and hypervisors), Resilio Platform agents can be installed directly on any device or cloud server, including servers, desktops, laptops, mobile devices (Resilio offers iOS and Android apps), and NAS\/DAS\/SAN devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operating Systems<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Zerto supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and Ubuntu operating systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform works with all popular operating systems, such as Linux, Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Unix, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cloud Storage Providers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Both Resilio Platform and Zerto support just about any cloud storage platform you want to use. Zerto supports 350+ cloud service providers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform works with any S3-compatible cloud storage provider, such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Wasabi, MinIO, Oracle, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Resilio](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-1024x776.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Management and Automation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
An effective DR system should provide centralized management<\/strong> (so you can easily control replication and recovery processes across your entire environment from one location), automation<\/strong> (so these processes can occur with minimal human intervention), and analytics<\/strong> (so you can monitor and optimize performance, identify and troubleshoot issues, and ensure SLAs are being met). This is particularly true of hardware and cloud-agnostic platforms like Resilio Platform and Zerto, as they allow you to control all of your storage environments from one single interface, rather than investing in multiple solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Zerto, you can manage your replication environment through the Zerto User Interface on a web browser, VMware VSphere web client, or a Client Console. Some of the things you can control through the interface include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Program VM recovery settings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Run live failover tests and DR tests<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Create pre and post-recovery scripts to automate recovery<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Create recovery checkpoints<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Manage users and access<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Create Virtual Protection Groups (i.e., groups of machines that replicate at the same time and failover to the same backup site)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Plan workloads with monitoring and visibility. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Monitor recovery SLAs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Forecast future infrastructure needs to another site or the cloud.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform offers a similar portal through which you can manage and control your replication and recovery environment. But Resilio Platform was designed to give users granular control over their environment so they can configure replication to occur exactly as they want it to, maximize resource utilization, and minimize costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can use Resilio\u2019s Management Console to:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Visualize, monitor, track, and configure all file replication globally for your disaster recovery services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Obtain visibility into your environment through an easy-to-use interface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Receive real-time performance metrics and notifications. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Adjust replication parameters such as disk I\/O threads, buffer size, packet size, file priorities, and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Create bandwidth utilization profiles for each server that govern how much bandwidth the server can use at certain times of the day and on certain days of the week. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Use Resilio\u2019s powerful REST API to automate tasks through scripts and APIs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Resilio](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/resilio-connect-overview-989x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nAll of your Resilio replication and sync jobs are fully automated for as many global locations and replication sites as needed \u2014 it\u2019s a set-it-and-forget-it solution that works in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Case Study: Deutsche Aircraft<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Deutsche](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Deutsche-aircraft-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deutsche Aircraft manufactures commercial aircraft. DA switched from DFSR to Resilio Platform in order to sync millions of files across their Microsoft DFS namespace and protect business-critical data \u2014 which significantly reduced management time and increased efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a 10Gbps network but prefer to use under 1Gbps for data transfer and replication. With Resilio, we\u2019re able to keep that down to 250Mbps during the day and at night move back up to 1GBps\u2026 Resilio Platform is much easier to manage than DFSR. Using the Resilio Platform management console, you can see everything you need to know. Everything is visible.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn how Resilio Platform helps Deutsche Aircraft manage data synchronization in 1\/8th the time it took with DFSR.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Replication Methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When choosing a DR solution, you must take the following aspects of your DR plan into consideration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- RPO (Recovery Point Objective): <\/strong>What\u2019s the maximum amount of data loss your organization\/application can tolerate?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- RTO (Recovery Time Objective):<\/strong> What\u2019s the maximum amount of downtime your organization\/application can tolerate? How quickly do you need your system to be back online?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- DR\/Failover Configuration:<\/strong> How do you want to configure the recovery process on your machines?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The replication methodology of your DR solution has a large impact on how well it can meet your requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Replication Frequency<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many organizations and applications can\u2019t tolerate much data loss when an outage or disaster occurs, and require a very low RPO. The more frequently a solution replicates data to a backup site, the lower your RPO will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zerto provides near-synchronous, always-on replication. When changes are made to files, it replicates just the changed portions of files (almost) immediately. And through the Zerto User Interface, you can configure checkpoint frequency for each journal \u2014 i.e., how often the journal creates checkpoints that you can restore to when a disaster strikes. Because of Zerto\u2019s continuous replication, it can achieve sub-10-second RPOs and RTOs within hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But while Zerto provides continuous replication, it performs near-synchronous replication \u2014 which creates a slight delay between when a change occurs and when it\u2019s replicated. In other words, Zerto\u2019s replication doesn\u2019t actually occur in true real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Connect, on the other hand, performs true real-time replication.<\/strong> It uses optimized checksum calculations (i.e., identification markers assigned to each file that change whenever a change is made to the file) and notification events from the host OS to immediately detect and replicate file changes (you can also sync on a fixed schedule or perform manual syncs). Because of this, Resilio can achieve sub-5 second RPOs and RTOs within minutes of an outage \u2014 a difference that may seem trivial but is critical in high-activity production environments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Replication Architecture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The replication architecture of a DR replication solution has a large impact on the speed with which replication occurs as well as the scalability and reliability of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zerto, like most traditional replication solutions, uses a point-to-point replication architecture. In a point-to-point architecture, replication can only occur between two machines at a time in one of two topologies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Hub and spoke:<\/strong> This consists of a hub device and several remote devices. The remote devices can\u2019t communicate with each other, but the hub device can communicate with any of the remote devices. So all file transfers must first go to the hub device, which then replicates them to the remote devices one by one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Follow-the-sun: <\/strong>In this topology, replication occurs from one device to another sequentially \u2014 i.e., Device 1 shares files with Device 2; then Device 2 shares files with Device 3; and so forth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Both topologies are slow, as replication can only occur from one device to another. And hub and spoke replication adds an unnecessary step where data must first get sent to the hub server. These speed issues only compound as your replication environment grows and replication needs to occur across more devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These topologies are also unreliable, as they create single points of failure. In other words, if replication is interrupted between any devices (e.g., Device 1 to Device 2), then every other device must wait to receive files and full synchronization is delayed. And in the hub and spoke topology, if the hub device goes down, replication fails across your entire site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio\u2019s P2P (peer-to-peer) replication architecture is fast, organically scalable, and highly reliable. With P2P replication, every device in your environment can communicate with each other and can share files simultaneously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio uses a process known as file chunking to break files down into multiple pieces that can transfer independently of each other. All endpoints in your system can work together to share file chunks simultaneously \u2014 enabling Resilio to synchronize your entire environment 3\u201310x faster than traditional solutions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, imagine you need to sync a file across five servers. Resilio can break that file down into five chunks and begin sharing it across devices. Device 1 can share a file chunk with Device 2. As soon as it receives the first chunk, Device 2 can immediately begin sharing it with another device. Soon, every device in your system will be sharing file chunks concurrently.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"P2P](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/p2p-vs-client-server.gif\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This enables Resilio Platform to provide replication that is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nBlazing Fast<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Because of its P2P architecture, Resilio Platform can perform horizontal scale-out replication. We\u2019ve seen replication speeds of 100+ Gbps per cluster<\/a>. And our engineers were able to transfer a 1 TB dataset between Azure regions in 90 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nOrganically Scalable<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
A P2P environment scales organically. Since every endpoint can share files with every other endpoint, then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Adding more endpoints only increases replication speed and available resources (i.e., bandwidth, compute power, CPU, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- You can non-disruptively sync and protect hundreds of millions of files across your environment and DR sites. This effectively turns every endpoint in your environment into a backup site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Resilio can also replicate files of any size and number. We\u2019ve successfully synced 450+ million files in a single job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, Zerto experiences issues in large-scale environments. Some users have reported that Zerto doesn\u2019t scale well<\/a>. And Zerto\u2019s journal-based recovery consumes lots of storage space, which increases the costs of your disaster recovery plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\nHighly Reliable<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
P2P replication is also one of the major keys to Resilio\u2019s bulletproof reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike point-to-point solutions, P2P environments have no single points of failure. If any endpoint in your system goes down, the necessary files or services can be obtained from any other device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio\u2019s P2P architecture enables it to achieve Active-Active High Availability for Disaster Replication \u2014 it minimizes data loss via backups and active\/passive or active\/active failover strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in the event that a device or network goes down, Resilio Platform can dynamically route around the outage and ensure your data is still replicated to its target endpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Replication Direction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Zerto is primarily a one-way replication solution \u2014 it replicates and protects data from a source to a backup site, and performs failover and failbacks. Zerto can also perform one-to-many replication, but it\u2019s limited to one source replicating to (at most) three targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform can replicate files in any direction, such as one-way, two-way, one-to-many, many-to-one, and N-way sync.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
N-way sync is particularly effective for many disaster recovery scenarios, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Remote work:<\/strong> Employees in different locations can collaborate on the same files and have all of their file changes synchronized across your entire environment, including your backup site. In the event of a disaster, every endpoint can work together to quickly restore any affected systems\/endpoints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Websites and applications:<\/strong> Match<\/a> (which owns dating websites\/apps like Hinge and Tinder) uses Resilio Platform to sync data across their servers. Any change made by a user located anywhere in the world can be immediately distributed to every other server globally. In the event of a disaster, any server can be used as a backup site, and every server can work together to restore the affected servers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Case Study: VoiceBase<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
VoiceBase\u2019s software provides speech-to-text transcriptions for audio and video. They use Resilio Platform for software distribution, enabling them to distribute large speech model files (50+ GB) to over 400 production servers every 2\u20134 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/strong>Resilio Platform enables us to reliably distribute our code, specifically new language models in a fraction of the time. These copy jobs now take an hour, down from eight. Best of all, once Resilio Platform was installed, it just works: We never need to manually intervene in any way.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn more about how using Resilio Platform helped VoiceBase reduce software distribution time by 88%.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
WAN Acceleration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Disaster recovery in the cloud or for globally distributed physical sites requires transfer over WAN networks. Depending on your locations, backup may even need to happen over poor-quality networks in areas with little or no connectivity. In these scenarios, a good DR solution must have the ability to manage network traffic and work around network quality issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zerto employs some traditional WAN optimization techniques, such as using compression algorithms to reduce the bandwidth required between sites. But if you want more WAN acceleration capabilities, you\u2019ll need to invest in a 3rd-party WAN optimization software<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform uses a proprietary WAN acceleration protocol known as Zero Gravity Transport\u2122 (ZGT).<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Resilio](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/TPN-banner-blog-2-1024x626.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ZGT enhances WAN transfers via:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- A congestion control algorithm that constantly probes the Round Trip Time to calculate the ideal data packet send rate. It uses this information to maintain a uniform packet send rate over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Sending acknowledgements for each packet receipt in groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Retransmitting lost packets in groups once per RTT, rather than after each packet is delivered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
ZGT optimizes how data is transferred and fully utilizes any network connection. Because of this, you can use Resilio Platform with any type of connection<\/strong>, such as VSATs, cell (3G, 4G, 5G), Wi-Fi, and any IP connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Cross](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cross-region-replication-Azure-3-1024x668.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nResilio can also be deployed at the edge of networks, in remote areas with little to no network coverage (such as in the ocean or in undeveloped countries with poor internet availability). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organizations in remote locations can use Resilio Platform to sync data from the edge to the cloud, then sync across their entire replication environment (including to a backup site).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter your situation, Resilio Platform will fully utilize any connection and ensure your data is reliably delivered to its destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Case Study: MixHits Radio<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"MixHits](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/MixHits-radio.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nMixHits Radio<\/a>, a music streaming service for businesses (such as McDonald\u2019s and Dunkin Donuts) uses Resilio Platform to sync their music and metadata in real-time over WANs for all their web servers across the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have gone from spending 15 hours on average per week troubleshooting conflicts in the prior solution to spending no time at all with Resilio. We configure jobs once in the Resilio Platform Management Console and never have to look at it again.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn more about how Resilio Platform helps MixHits Radio sync their servers over the WAN quickly and efficiently.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disaster Recovery Configurations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform and Zerto are both software-only, agent-based solutions for disaster recovery. But understanding how each solution configures disaster recovery is crucial to determining how it will fit into your business continuity strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zerto DR Configuration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Zerto is installed only on VMs. For the public cloud, you must install the Zerto Cloud Appliance (ZCA). For on-premises environments, you must use the Zerto Virtual Replication (ZVR). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both appliances consist of several key components:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM):<\/strong> The ZVM runs on a dedicated Windows VM and manages everything that\u2019s required for replication between the protected sites and the recovery sites, except the actual replication of data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA):<\/strong> VRAs are installed on each hypervisor host on the protection and recovery sites. They manage data replication. The VRAs on the recovery sites maintain protected VM disks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA): <\/strong>The VBA is a Windows service that manages File-Level Recovery within Zerto.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Zerto User Interface:<\/strong> This is the Zerto management interface, which is accessed via a browser, in VMware vSphere Web Client, or in a Client console.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Zerto Elastic Journal:<\/strong> All data replicated to the recovery sites is copied into a journal, which saves time-stamped copies of data. In the event of a disaster or attack, you can restore data to any point in time saved in the journal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Functionally, Zerto operates by replicating data site-to-site. The data on your devices is replicated to a designated backup site. Time-stamped copies of data are preserved in journals on each backup machine. And in the event of a disaster, you can recover data to any saved point in time \u2014 which is a capability that Resilio Platform doesn\u2019t offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also create Virtual Replication Groups (VPGs). VPGs are groups of up to 3 machines that backup data at the same time and recover from the same backup site \u2014 enabling you to sync certain machines that need to function cohesively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform DR Configuration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
While Zerto offers a few capabilities that Resilio Platform doesn\u2019t, Resilio provides more flexibility and reliability for disaster recovery strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resilio works by simply deploying Resilio agents on all of your endpoints. And you can configure how Resilio Platform replicates and syncs files for various DR scenarios, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scenario 1: Consolidating Data to Backup Center<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
You have multiple endpoints and want to sync data to one or more backup sites. You can program Resilio to sync all endpoints to all backup sites. Or you can configure Resilio to sync specific endpoints to specific backup sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the event of a disaster, you can program endpoints to failover to specific backup sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scenario 2: Sync Data Across Your Entire Environment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
You can sync every endpoint in your environment via Resilio\u2019s N-way sync capabilities. This effectively turns every endpoint in your environment into a backup site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can configure Active-Active failover scenarios. And in the event of a disaster, every endpoint can work together to restore your application and achieve sub-5 second RPOs and RTOs within minutes of an outage.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Hot\/Live](\"https:\/\/blog.resilio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hot-dr-warm-dr-cold-dr-and-offsite-copy-699x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Versatility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform is a much more versatile solution than Zerto and can be used for multiple use cases simultaneously, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Disaster recovery: <\/strong>Any enterprise business can use Resilio to back up data to a data center and\/or the cloud. Resilio can replicate data to any cloud, to and across multiple clouds, and across cloud regions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Web and app server sync:<\/strong> Businesses running websites and apps can use Resilio Platform to keep their servers synchronized. App updates can be quickly distributed across all globally distributed servers. Changes made by users on one server can be immediately distributed to every other server. And thousands of servers can be synchronized at all times concurrently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Software distribution:<\/strong> Software companies can use Resilio Platform to distribute updates in record time (VoiceBase reduced software distribution time by 88% with Resilio). And Resilio\u2019s Active-Active High Availability enables them to minimize downtime and meet SLAs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Remote work:<\/strong> Hybrid\/remote work organizations can use Resilio Platform to synchronize data across all globally distributed offices, remote sites, and backup sites. Resilio can enhance collaboration by enabling employees to work on the same files and have those files synced to every other endpoint immediately \u2014 so everyone always has the most up-to-date versions of files. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Resilio Platform can also be used as an efficient object storage gateway<\/a> to provide low-latency access to files stored in any S3-compatible cloud storage. Resilio\u2019s storage gateway enables organizations to enhance productivity and reduce costs via:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Selective sync:<\/strong> You can automate syncs and control which files get synchronized to which endpoints. Employees don\u2019t need to manually sync files and can focus on their work instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Selective caching:<\/strong> Resilio allows you to choose which files you want to cache locally, so you can store frequently accessed files locally (providing employees with faster access to files and reducing data transfer fees) and store infrequently accessed files in long-term cloud storage (freeing up space on your on-prem devices).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Partial downloads:<\/strong> Employees can perform full downloads or only download the portions of files they need. This gives them quicker access to files while also reducing data transfer costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Edge deployment: <\/strong>Resilio\u2019s WAN optimization technology enables organizations that work in remote locations at the edge of networks to sync and backup data for disaster recovery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Case Study: Delirio Films<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
- Edge deployment: <\/strong>Resilio\u2019s WAN optimization technology enables organizations that work in remote locations at the edge of networks to sync and backup data for disaster recovery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Partial downloads:<\/strong> Employees can perform full downloads or only download the portions of files they need. This gives them quicker access to files while also reducing data transfer costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Selective caching:<\/strong> Resilio allows you to choose which files you want to cache locally, so you can store frequently accessed files locally (providing employees with faster access to files and reducing data transfer fees) and store infrequently accessed files in long-term cloud storage (freeing up space on your on-prem devices).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Selective sync:<\/strong> You can automate syncs and control which files get synchronized to which endpoints. Employees don\u2019t need to manually sync files and can focus on their work instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Remote work:<\/strong> Hybrid\/remote work organizations can use Resilio Platform to synchronize data across all globally distributed offices, remote sites, and backup sites. Resilio can enhance collaboration by enabling employees to work on the same files and have those files synced to every other endpoint immediately \u2014 so everyone always has the most up-to-date versions of files. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Software distribution:<\/strong> Software companies can use Resilio Platform to distribute updates in record time (VoiceBase reduced software distribution time by 88% with Resilio). And Resilio\u2019s Active-Active High Availability enables them to minimize downtime and meet SLAs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Web and app server sync:<\/strong> Businesses running websites and apps can use Resilio Platform to keep their servers synchronized. App updates can be quickly distributed across all globally distributed servers. Changes made by users on one server can be immediately distributed to every other server. And thousands of servers can be synchronized at all times concurrently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Disaster recovery: <\/strong>Any enterprise business can use Resilio to back up data to a data center and\/or the cloud. Resilio can replicate data to any cloud, to and across multiple clouds, and across cloud regions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Zerto Elastic Journal:<\/strong> All data replicated to the recovery sites is copied into a journal, which saves time-stamped copies of data. In the event of a disaster or attack, you can restore data to any point in time saved in the journal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Zerto User Interface:<\/strong> This is the Zerto management interface, which is accessed via a browser, in VMware vSphere Web Client, or in a Client console.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA): <\/strong>The VBA is a Windows service that manages File-Level Recovery within Zerto.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Virtual Replication Appliance (VRA):<\/strong> VRAs are installed on each hypervisor host on the protection and recovery sites. They manage data replication. The VRAs on the recovery sites maintain protected VM disks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM):<\/strong> The ZVM runs on a dedicated Windows VM and manages everything that\u2019s required for replication between the protected sites and the recovery sites, except the actual replication of data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Retransmitting lost packets in groups once per RTT, rather than after each packet is delivered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Sending acknowledgements for each packet receipt in groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- A congestion control algorithm that constantly probes the Round Trip Time to calculate the ideal data packet send rate. It uses this information to maintain a uniform packet send rate over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Websites and applications:<\/strong> Match<\/a> (which owns dating websites\/apps like Hinge and Tinder) uses Resilio Platform to sync data across their servers. Any change made by a user located anywhere in the world can be immediately distributed to every other server globally. In the event of a disaster, any server can be used as a backup site, and every server can work together to restore the affected servers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Remote work:<\/strong> Employees in different locations can collaborate on the same files and have all of their file changes synchronized across your entire environment, including your backup site. In the event of a disaster, every endpoint can work together to quickly restore any affected systems\/endpoints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- You can non-disruptively sync and protect hundreds of millions of files across your environment and DR sites. This effectively turns every endpoint in your environment into a backup site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Adding more endpoints only increases replication speed and available resources (i.e., bandwidth, compute power, CPU, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Follow-the-sun: <\/strong>In this topology, replication occurs from one device to another sequentially \u2014 i.e., Device 1 shares files with Device 2; then Device 2 shares files with Device 3; and so forth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Hub and spoke:<\/strong> This consists of a hub device and several remote devices. The remote devices can\u2019t communicate with each other, but the hub device can communicate with any of the remote devices. So all file transfers must first go to the hub device, which then replicates them to the remote devices one by one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- DR\/Failover Configuration:<\/strong> How do you want to configure the recovery process on your machines?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- RTO (Recovery Time Objective):<\/strong> What\u2019s the maximum amount of downtime your organization\/application can tolerate? How quickly do you need your system to be back online?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- RPO (Recovery Point Objective): <\/strong>What\u2019s the maximum amount of data loss your organization\/application can tolerate?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Use Resilio\u2019s powerful REST API to automate tasks through scripts and APIs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Create bandwidth utilization profiles for each server that govern how much bandwidth the server can use at certain times of the day and on certain days of the week. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Adjust replication parameters such as disk I\/O threads, buffer size, packet size, file priorities, and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Receive real-time performance metrics and notifications. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Obtain visibility into your environment through an easy-to-use interface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Visualize, monitor, track, and configure all file replication globally for your disaster recovery services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Provide insight into replication and recovery through analytics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Allow you to automate how replication and recovery of your applications occurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Enable you to manage your entire replication environment from a centralized location that can be accessed via a web browser or console.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Can be deployed in on-prem, cloud, and hybrid\/multi-cloud environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Are flexible software-only solutions that work by installing agents on the machines you want to replicate to and from.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Efficient: <\/strong>Resilio is designed to be efficient and gives you granular control over how replication occurs in your environment. Resilio\u2019s proprietary WAN acceleration technology can optimize transfers over any network (including high-latency, low-quality networks), and enables you to utilize any type of connection (VSATs, cell, Wi-Fi, IP connections). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Versatile:<\/strong> You can use Resilio in a variety of different DR scenarios. You can run Resilio Platform in VMs or directly on physical systems, such as NAS devices. You can use it for real-time off-site backup, cloud DR, or branch office data protection. Many customers use Resilio for large-scale server synchronization and for cloud sync. You can also replicate all of your VMs using Resilio Connect. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Multidirectional:<\/strong> Traditional replication solutions like Zerto can only sync one way, from a source to a target. Resilio can sync in any direction: one- or two-way, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many (full mesh).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Scalable:<\/strong> Resilio scales organically to support environments of any size. And it can replicate files of any size, type, and number (450+ million in a single job).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Reliable and highly available:<\/strong> By default, there is no single point of failure using Resilio. All sites are protected by active-active high availability. Clients can be load-balanced across sites for fast client redirection. Unlike traditional active\/passive solutions, Resilio Platform dynamically routes around outages with connection-loss recovery and checksums for data integrity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Fast: <\/strong>Resilio\u2019s P2P replication architecture scales performance by simply adding Resilio agents and increasing bandwidth. Resilio Platform is able to synchronize hundreds of endpoints 3\u201310x faster than traditional solutions like Zerto.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Flexible: <\/strong>You can deploy Resilio with any type of storage (file, block, or object) or any type of server (physical, virtual, or containerized). You can use any cloud storage provider and deploy the solution on-premises and in hybrid cloud environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Storage costs:<\/strong> Zerto\u2019s journal-based recovery requires a lot of storage space, which will increase the costs of your DR strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Lack of reliability: <\/strong>Zerto uses point-to-point replication, which creates single points of failure. And users have recently reported outages on some of Zerto\u2019s features, such as their analytics platform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n