Earlier this month, Zerto announced the release of ZVR 5.5. Today, Zerto hosted a keynote webinar to kick off the release. They keynote introduced some valuable new features, but where version 5.5 excels is in the further development of existing offerings; namely cloud continuity. Several enhancements to Azure and AWS offerings highlight Zerto Virtual Replication 5.5.

Azure and Zerto 5.5

In Zerto 5.0, the ability to replicate to Microsoft Azure was introduced. In version 5.5, bi-directional replication possible as you can now replicate back on-prem from Microsoft Azure. Replication with Azure now supports an array of features, including failovers, offsite clones, 30-day journals, and file restores from Azure journals.

Amazon Web Services and Zerto 5.5

Zerto 5.5 improves on their AWS offering by boosting recovery times. With the new zImporter feature, RTOs can be increased by up to 6x. Import Options now include:

• zImport for Data Volumes (fast)
  • Support for disks greater than 1Tb
  • AWS Import for OS
• zImport for All volumes (fastest)
  • Requires drivers on protected VMs
• AWS Import (Used in v4.x – v5.0)
  • No longer needed

Additional Features and Enhancements

• New Platform Support
  • VMware vSphere 6.5, Microsoft Hyper-V 2016
• Expanded Zerto API Enhancements
• VPG Management Improvements
• Better Clarity in Warning Messages
• Streamlined VRA Upgradeability
  • Automatic VRA upgrades with ZVM upgrade
• Geographic Diversity
  • More Azure/AWS Regions
• Zerto Analytics
  • Gather metrics from multiple environments

VMware 6.5 Compatibility

VMware 6.5 is fully supported in Zerto Virtual Replication version 5.5. However, if you are upgrading your VMware environment to 6.5 U1, a connection to CallHome or a manual update of the ZVM certified list is needed. Zerto Version 5.5 SP1 will natively support vCenter 6.5 U1.

Note – If you are still on Zerto version 4.0, it is no longer supported. According to the lifecycle support matrix, standard support and technical guidance ended on July 31^st, 2017.

Zerto Replication 5.5 Release Notes

Related Article – How to Perform File Level Restores in Zerto