Zerto recently announced the release of Zerto version 7.0. The following article using Zerto’s documentation as reference, shows Zerto 7.0 new features and functionalities (AWS/Azure/vCloud Director are not covered).

Enhanced Graphical User Interface

Long Term Retention

VPG Management

vSphere



APIs

Zerto Alerts

VRA

ZVM Maintenance

Security

Automated Billing for CSPs

Zerto Analytics

Enhanced Graphical User Interface

Zerto created a brand new ZVM Graphical User Interface with advanced technology, which is simpler and more accessible. In addition, as part of the new user experience, users are now able to launch Zerto Analytics from within the new ZVM interface

Long Term Retention

SMB Support: In additon to supporting network shared respositories on top of NFS protocol, Zerto now supports network shared respositories on top of SMB/CIFS protocol.

PBBA Support: Zerto now supports Purposely Built Backup Appliances (PBBAs), on top of NFS or SMB/CIFS protocols.

Enhanced Retention Settings: Retention settings can now be configured for Long Term Retention per VPG. The available Retention periods are:

■Daily Incremental Retention

■Weekly and Monthly Full or Incremental Retention. Either Weekly or Monthly Retentions must be set to Full.

■Yearly Full Retention

Search and Restore: Zerto enables users to quickly search for files and folders in specific VMs and restore either the virtual machine or VPG once the desired restore point is identified. Users will have to choose which VMs’ file systems to index, to allow easy and quick search for files and folders.

Sub-VPG/Single VM Restore: A single VM restore is available in which the user can select one or multiple VMs in a VPG for sub-VPG restore. IMPORTANT Notification: VSS functionality is no longer supported in Zerto. If you require VSS functionality, see Release Notes for Zerto with VSS, and Zerto – VSS Deployment and User Guide.

Sync from Repository: Zerto enables users to leverage copies of the repository to restore to the production site. This is done by scanning the repository. The capability is disabled by default and can be enabled by contacting @Zerto Support.

VPG Management

Evacuate Host: Zerto now enables users to evacuate an entire host by automatically changing the recovery host for all virtual machines to other recovery hosts in one operation. This eliminates the need of off-loading all VMs to a single replacement host or repeating the change recovery host operation until load-balancing is achieved.

Failover Resiliency Improvements : Recovery operations no longer roll back automatically when some VMs in a VPG fail to recover entirely. The user can choose to commit the VMs which recovered successfully or roll back.

vSphere

CD-ROM Drive Recovery:Zerto now maintains the CD-ROM drive when performing recovery operations to VMware and vCloud Director environments. The CD-ROM drives will be connected to the IDE controllers, as Client device, pass-through mode.

Zerto’s handling of MoREF ID reuse is more robust.

APIs

VPG Settings: Improved and expanded this API available at https://zvm_ip:port/v1/vpgSettings:

■vSphere to vCD VPG Management APIs: Zerto now supports the ability to create VPGs going from a vCenter environment to a vCloud Director environment using the VPGSettings API. As before, creating VPGs using the APIs can be done from the remote site, allowing CSPs using vCloud Director to remotely create VPGs for their DRaaS tenants. The new API is available in the Zerto Virtual Replication RESTful API Reference Guide, in the section vSphere to vCD VPG Management APIs.

■VPG Settings API Validations: Added validations to the VPG Settings API which determines whether a parameter is mandatory or relevant per protected/recovery site configuration.

■Change Recovery VRA API: A new API enables users to change the recovery VRA for all virtual machines at once or specify the virtual machines to change, available under: https://zvm_ip:port/v1/vras/{vraIdentifier}/changeRecoveryVra. The new API is available in the Zerto Virtual Replication RESTful API Reference Guide, in the section VRAs: Change Recovery VRA APIs

Zerto Alerts

Alerts which were marked as Acknowledged will no longer be un-Acknowledged, following a ZVM restart or upgrade. In addition, e-mail notification for active alerts will not be re-sent following a ZVM restart or upgrade.

VRA

SSH access to the VRAs is now possible from the ZVM operating system. This access is for connectivity troubleshooting, and password policy compliance only. Do not store scripts or configuration files on the VRA file system, as they will be overwritten at the next VRA upgrade. Any changes to the VRA operating system, apart from credential management (adding users, changing passwords and adding trusted SSH keys), are unsupported.

ZVM Maintenance

Zerto now enables you to perform maintenance operations on the ZVM VM with no down time. In order to perform these maintenance procedures, Zerto has integrated with Microsoft’s Failover Cluster feature and now allows their customers to install Zerto in a clustered environment.For details on installing a new ZVM cluster, see Zerto Virtual Replication Installation Guide for Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware vSphere, in the section Installing Zerto in Clustered vSphere Environments.To perform maintenance operations on your ZVM cluster operating system, see Zerto Virtual Manager Administration Guide for the VMware vSphere Environment, in the section Managing a Zerto Virtual Manager Cluster

Security

Sensitive database fields, such as hypervisor passwords, now have stronger encryption

Automated Billing for CSPs

CSPs participating in the Automated Billing program can no longer count on their ZCM to report their usage, and must make sure all their ZVMs are connected to Zerto’s billing server

If a ZVM is licensed for a software subscription and not connected to Zerto’s Automated Billing Server, then the user is alerted for 15 days that the ZVM is not sending usage data to Zerto’s Automated Billing Server. If the ZVM connection to Zerto’s Billing Server is not in place after 15 days, then the ZVM is disconnected from the VRAs. When the ZVM is disconnected from the VRAs, checkpoints are no longer generated on the recovery VRAs. (For more information visit Zerto.com KB Number 000001110

Zerto Analytics

Zerto Analytics: allows to track, monitor and check the health of your data center from any device. All your alerts, tasks, and information on Virtual Protection Groups (VPGs) can be viewed together.This allows you to monitor your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity status from any location that has internet connectivity. No VPN is required.Using Zerto Analytics, you can see aggregated information from the Zerto Virtual Managers, and view the status of your environment. Zerto Analytics is developed with an API first approach, therefore, everything that is presented in the GUI, is also available with APIs





Reference links:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/zertodownload_docs/Latest/Zerto%20Virtual%20Replication%20vSphere%20Enterprise%20Guidelines.pdf

http://s3.amazonaws.com/zertodownload_docs/Latest/Zerto%20Virtual%20Replication%20Release%20Notes.pdf

https://www.zerto.com/myzerto/labs/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/zertodownload_docs/Latest/Zerto%20Virtual%20Replication%20Cloud%20Service%20Provider%20Guidelines.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeRTOcorp/featured