In my company, we use VMware SRM for virtual machine replication.
Information Technology Specialist at ARC ONE (PVT) LTD
An expensive and complex product that offers scalability and stability to its users
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable solution...The solution's technical support is excellent."
- "In general, the drawbacks of VMware SRM, where improvements can be made, stem from the fact that it is an expensive and complex product."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of VMware SRM is RTO, better described as recovery time. In most places, my company uses SRM along with backup software since SRM cannot be used as a backup product as it is just a replication tool.
What needs improvement?
VMware SRM is not a popular product anymore since all the other backup products can provide the same functions as SRM. With Veritas, Arcserve, or Commvault, you can take care of the replication part. VMware SRM is not a popular choice among users anymore since it is a highly costly product while also being complex to configure. When it comes to backup products, you can use RTO and RPO, so there is no need to have a separate solution like SRM. In general, the drawbacks of VMware SRM, where improvements can be made, stem from the fact that it is an expensive and complex product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware SRM for six to seven years. My company has a partnership with VMware.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
At the moment, just one of our company's customers uses the solution since we have replaced the native backup software used in our company. We need to take care of the renewal of SRM since, right now, we only take care of the renewal of vSphere in our company.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is excellent.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup was easy, but if you try to integrate it with other storage solutions, then it gets complex and difficult.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
What other advice do I have?
For first-time users, VMware SRM can be a very difficult tool to use, especially considering the product's configuration part. The configuration is very difficult.
With VMware SRM, you have to download the separate appliance and think about Windows to build a separate native appliance while also having knowledge about ESXi, making it a difficult process. When it comes to VMware SRM, the technical things are very difficult to start in the first place.
I rate the overall tool a five out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Systems Engineer at evonic
User-friendly software with good technical support services
Pros and Cons
- "It has a good and effective user interface."
- "The product's stability could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product to implement discovery for server and database solutions.
What is most valuable?
The software is user-friendly. It has a good and effective user interface.
What needs improvement?
The product's stability could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using VMware SRM for eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the product's stability an eight out of ten. Sometimes, we need to restart the system as it stops working. It needs improvement.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 400 VMware SRM users in our organization. I rate its scalability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support services are good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. We need to download the application file and deploy it in vCentre Server. Later, we need to register a static manager to create a bridge between two environments. After that, we check if the static environment is configured with the data centers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The software is expensive. There is a one-time cost involved in purchasing the license.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend VMware SRM to others and rate it a ten out of ten. I advise other users to always install the latest version.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Customer Success Engineer at Digital Network Solution (DNS)
An easy-to-deploy solution for synchronous replication and asynchronous replication
Pros and Cons
- "It is a very stable solution...I was involved in VMware SRM's deployment phase two years ago, and it was an easy process."
- "The technical support is not quick enough to respond when a user tries to contact them."
What is our primary use case?
In my company, we use VMware SRM for synchronous replication.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that vMotion is possible in VMware SRM, making it a great tool, especially when doing a DR drill. Synchronous replication and asynchronous replication are also some of the good features of the solution.
What needs improvement?
The weakness in VMware SRM is visible when, in our company, we try to do some cross-platform programming. For cross-platform programming, we might need some external tools, like Veeam or Commvault, for cross-hypervisor replication. It is not so easy to integrate it with other solutions. The aforementioned details can be considered for improvement of the solution.
The technical support is not quick enough to respond when a user tries to contact them. For improvement, the support should respond quickly to a user.
Cross-hypervisor restoration support or multi-platform support would be some of the best traditional features I would like to see in VMware SRM's future releases.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware SRM for two to three years. My organization functions as a cloud service provider. My company uses the product as well as recommends the product to the company's customers.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't found any issues with VMware SRM's scalability.
In my company, most of the machines have been replicated through VMware SRM, which consists of very few and not many in numbers. We also use Veeam as a backup for external storage, making VMware SRM a handy tool for our company.
One or two administrators are enough to handle the solution.
Speaking about the product's future usage, our company doesn't have much of a requirement for VMware SRM because we majorly need it only for testing purposes. For our company, VMware SRM is not an important tool. Our company recommends VMware SRM to our customers since VMware has been putting out all these features, making its product better.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is not bad since they are responsive. My company successfully resolved most issues we faced while working with the product. My company had raised only one or two issues with VMware, and they had successfully resolved our issues.
I rate the technical support a seven to eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In our company, we use Nutanix Leap, which is similar to VMware SRM.
VMware SRM is available to users as a separate package from VMware, while Leap comes with Nutanix allowing users to use it anytime. In terms of utility, Nutanix Leap and VMware SRM are the same.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in VMware SRM's deployment phase two years ago, and it was an easy process.
The solution is deployed on-premises.
The setup phase of VMware SRM can be done within a day, and then the planning and all policies that need to be set up would take four to five days or even a week.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VMware SRM is expensive when compared to Veeam and makes Veeam look cheaper. For support, some additional payments need to be made over the licensing costs of the solution. Even with Veeam, additional payments must be made over the licensing costs.
What other advice do I have?
VMware SRM is a handy solution since it does what it is told to do by its user while staying stable.
I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Principal - Solution Engineering at Tata Communications Ltd
A scalable solution that integrates well with the VMware platform, but its platform agnostics do not support on-cloud usage
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of VMware SRM is its integration with the VMware platform."
- "VMware SRM's platform agnostics should support on-cloud usage as well."
What is our primary use case?
I have mostly worked with VMware SRM, which is a solution tightly integrated with the product.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of VMware SRM is its integration with the VMware platform.
What needs improvement?
VMware SRM's platform agnostics should support on-cloud usage as well. VMware SRM has to add a couple of features related to the cloud.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware SRM for five to six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware SRM is currently a very stable solution, but we came across many issues three to four years back.
I rate VMware SRM a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware SRM is a scalable solution. Our clients are generally enterprise businesses.
I rate VMware SRM an eight out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
VMware SRM's technical support is very good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also used to have Datto and Carbonite for DR.
How was the initial setup?
I rate VMware SRM an eight out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.
What about the implementation team?
The solution's deployment took a few days.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VMware SRM is a little bit pricey. On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate VMware SRM's pricing a seven out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate VMware SRM a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Director - Cyber Resilience at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A highly scalable solution, especially for those who run enterprise-sized businesses
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is strong when it comes to protection and analytics, with the latter being added later on."
- "The administration guides can be complicated and difficult to use, so it would be helpful if it was made easier."
What is most valuable?
The interface of VMware SRM is quite basic and doesn't offer much in terms of features. The solution is strong when it comes to protection and analytics, with the latter being added later on. Protection has been the major feature that we have been using, and it has been quite effective for our needs.
What needs improvement?
The two main areas for improvement in VMware SRM are pricing and administration guides. Pricing is always a consideration, and it could be improved. The administration guides can be complicated and difficult to use, so it would be helpful if it was made easier. Administrators don't want to find themselves in a situation where they can't find what they need, so it's important to make sure that the tools are easy to use.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using VMware SRM for six to seven years, which is also the longest experience I have had with any VMware product. Our company recommended it to one of our customers initially, and after that, we had complete freedom to implement it for them. It was a good experience overall. Additionally, my company has a partnership with VMware.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of VMware SRM is good. Scalability for Azure and AWS is also good. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
My company deals with enterprise-sized customers.
How are customer service and support?
VMware's vendor support was good. I rate VMware's technical support an eight or nine out of ten. To be more specific, I rate it an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I rate the initial setup process of the solution a seven or eight out of ten on a scale where one is difficult, and ten is easy. The setup process was not too difficult or too easy. Essentially, we were imaging all their physical servers on the cloud.
In our company, the deployment process takes about an hour. In some cases, due to the size of the data we were dealing with, it took a couple of days, which was the maximum, but usually, it was completed within a few hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate the solution's pricing a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive.
What other advice do I have?
l always recommend others to have a POC in place. It's always about whether a solution suits your environment or not. So if it does, then go for it. If it doesn't, one should go for another solution. I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Straightforward deployment but the licensing can be pricy
Pros and Cons
- "My impression is that the initial setup process is relatively straightforward."
- "In my opinion, the integration with Peer Persistent Storage could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for VMware SRM is automatization.
What is most valuable?
The features I have found most valuable are the ability to script test failover and the ability to re-IP.
What needs improvement?
In my opinion, the integration with Peer Persistent Storage could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of this solution an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability of this solution an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.
How are customer service and support?
As a vendor, I did not have contact with technical support.
How was the initial setup?
My impression is that the initial setup process is relatively straightforward.
The deployment model of this solution that we are using is on-premises.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you are buying this solution in an EOA bundle, then the pricing doesn't really matter that much. However, if you're buying a one-off license, the solution is pretty expensive.
I would rate pricing a three, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate this solution a seven, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Junior Manager (Virtual Infrastructure) at a maritime company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has a very good replication feature
Pros and Cons
- "The replication is a key feature."
- "The replication part of SRM is really good, as we once had our production site collapse completely and we were able to recover all the data, so the restore level of the application is very good."
- "The solution is on the expensive side."
What is our primary use case?
We use SRM to replicate our important servers to our VR site. We are customers of VMware and I'm a junior manager.
What is most valuable?
The replication part of SRM is really good. We once had our production site collapse completely and we were able to recover all the data. The restore level of the application is very good.
What needs improvement?
The solution is on the expensive side.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've found the solution to be stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
We used the documentation for our initial setup and had some difficulties. The deployment was carried out in-house and took a day or two. We had some help from colleagues in other companies and had a couple of people from our company involved in the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We initially took out a five-year contract and recently extended it for another 12 months. It's quite an expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
I think this is a good tool that's easy to manage and worth the cost, so I rate it nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
A stable solution to run application and server functions, but lacking in threat-protection functionality
Pros and Cons
- "We find the back up feature of this solution to be particularly valuable."
- "We have found this solution to be very stable so far."
- "We would like the patching management function of this product to be improved."
- "We have found that the technical support team are not always competent enough to help with our issues, and often have to escalate them."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to run our applications and our server functions.
What is most valuable?
We find the back up feature of this solution to be particularly valuable.
What needs improvement?
We would like the patching management function of this product to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for around 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found this solution to be very stable so far.
How are customer service and support?
We have found that the technical support team are not always competent enough to help with our issues, and often have to escalate them.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
We found that the initial setup for this product was quite easy.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented this solution using a third-party team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The level of licensing required for this solution is dependent on the server instances in use.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise organizations who wish to use this solution, to ensure that their threat protection software is in place and up to date, as there isn't any threat protection embedded in this product.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Advisor on IT Governance and Projects / Advisor on IT Governance and Projects at Tribunal de Contas do Estado do Ceará (TCE-CE)
Reliable with good disaster recovery and a generally good design
Pros and Cons
- "It's very reliable. The solution is stable."
- "The disaster recovery has been good; in the case of a disaster, the product is very simple, we have security and lower downtime, and it's very reliable."
- "The back sites sometimes are very, very complicated."
- "We are limited to 50 VMs."
What is our primary use case?
In this scenario of disaster recovery, we start simply with our VMs. We have just two packs of 25 VMs. We just protect just about 15 VMs.
How has it helped my organization?
Thanks to SRM, we haven't had any kind of disaster in our environment.
What is most valuable?
The disaster recovery has been good.
In the case of a disaster, the product is very simple. We have security and lower downtime.
It's very reliable. The solution is stable.
Its design is good and it does what it is intended to do.
What needs improvement?
We are limited to 50 VMs.
The main limitation is the fact we can just activate the product in a disaster scenario. Sometimes we need to activate some VMs in the backup or disaster recovery sites, even if our main site is okay. However, in our current environment, we cannot do this due to the limitations of SRM.
The back sites sometimes are very, very complicated. It is the nature of the product. Sometimes we use vMotion to achieve this kind of objective.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've used the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The soluton is scalable. We are doing preparing our environment to be active site-to-site - both the production site and secondary site.
We have 900 people in total on the solution.
We're in the process of changing things now.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good. We've been very pleased with the responsiveness and helpfulness.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've only used SRM. We did not use anything previously.
How was the initial setup?
More or less, due to the product itself, it's relatively easy to set up. However, in our environment, we have a VM, and that VM application is very complicated. Sometimes we have some issues in running this application on the backup site. This is not due to this SRM. Rather, it is due to our environment.
The deployment took about two years.
We have a team of four people that can handle deployment and maintenance duties. They are all specialists.
What about the implementation team?
Sometimes we talk to the local reseller of VM products. We also consult with the vendor of the hardware product. In Brazil, for the government, we have a procurement process. It is not personal. We can just publish our request for a quotation. Any local reseller or national reseller can offer their services.
What was our ROI?
We've never calculated ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay 400,000 Brazilian Reals for the license. There are no other fees associated with the product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Most of our VMs are VMware. However, we are changing some VM products, and maybe we will use something else. We are just evaluating at this time. We haven't really seriously evaluated anything. We just update our existing license to support and update.
What other advice do I have?
We are just a customer.
I'm not sure which version of the product we're using. However, we are updating right now, in the next month.
Right now, our environment is on-prem. We want to install the hyper-converged to start moving to the cloud.
I'd advise others to maintain the solution and keep it up to date.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Product Line Manager at Cisco
Convenient and stable but setup is overly complicated
Pros and Cons
- "VMware SRM's most valuable features are its convenience and its use of stretched clusters."
- "SRM has to be installed on two separate data centers, so both have to be coordinated very well, which becomes complicated when configuring the software for disaster recovery."
What is our primary use case?
I mainly use VMware SRM for automation, creation of VMs, and monitoring.
What is most valuable?
VMware SRM's most valuable features are its convenience and its use of stretched clusters.
What needs improvement?
SRM has to be installed on two separate data centers, so both have to be coordinated very well, which becomes complicated when configuring the software for disaster recovery. It would be much simpler if there was just one centralized, cloud-based place to manage both sites.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using VMware SRM for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
VMware SRM is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
VMware SRM is quite scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is complex and took almost a week to deploy. I would rate the installation experience as two-and-a-half out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We used an in-house team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
VMware SRM is quite expensive.
What other advice do I have?
If you're able to overcome the initial hump of setting up VMware SRM, it works very well. I'd give VMware SRM a rating of seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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