VMware Live Recovery Reviews

We use VMware SRM for disaster recovery.

VMware SRM replicates the VM from one site to another, and it helps us orchestrate the powering of VMs and DR when the DC goes down.

Currently, there is a limitation of consolidating only 15 sites per SRM.

Ransomware recovery or early detection could be incorporated into VMware SRM.

I have been using VMware SRM for three years.

VMware SRM is a stable solution.

VMware SRM is a scalable solution. I work with mostly small and medium businesses.

VMware SRM’s technical support is good.

Positive

We previously used Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator, which is more suited for small businesses. It doesn't offer as much flexibility as VMware SRM. For namesake, it's a DR solution, but it cannot compete with VMware SRM.

VMware SRM's initial setup is easy.

Two people can install VMware SRM in two to three hours.

We pay a yearly licensing fee for VMware SRM, which is not very expensive.

The fee is for the solution's license plus support. There are two options. One is subscription-based, which would be for a one or two years term base, and the other one is perpetual with support.

Just one person is enough to maintain the solution.

I highly recommend VMware SRM to other users.

Overall, I rate VMware SRM a nine out of ten.

Our initial deployment of VMware's Site Recovery Manager in conjunction with PostgreSQL for automotive sales, and also involved integrating SRM with HP's triple storage systems. It leverages background storage replication to ensure stable and reliable business continuity.

Stability and ease of installation, along with straightforward maintenance through the graphical user interface, make this solution a practical choice. It eliminates the need for complex compliance requirements, making it a highly effective solution.

The primary site lacks adequate equipment, such as power backup and cooling, which can lead to downtime during issues like power outages or overheating.

We have been working with it for six years now.

It is a highly reliable solution.

It's important to note that the scalability of the solution should align with the customer's needs. If they anticipate increased workloads and data, they can easily scale up their storage systems. Site Recovery Manager simplifies this process, as it doesn't necessitate extensive reconfiguration, instead, it involves adding or extending data links in the replication groups, making it a straightforward and manageable process. It is well-suited for mid-sized and small companies that don't have extensive data replication needs. It's a practical choice for businesses in need of a reliable and scalable disaster recovery solution that matches their specific requirements.

VMware offers excellent support for its products, and we haven't encountered any noteworthy issues or negative experiences in our interactions with their support team.

Positive

In addition to our existing setup, we use backup software, Veeam, for replication on the disaster recovery side. With Veeam, we replicate virtual machines from the primary site to the secondary site. It is particularly advantageous because it doesn't require the same storage type on both the primary and secondary sides, which gives us flexibility and allows us to mix and match storage types if needed. One of the key benefits of Veeam is its ease of management, making it a valuable resource for replication. I believe it has a promising future, especially for handling data replication in various sectors. We also employ Veeam in the banking system to replicate data from different strategies across multiple departments. Its performance in replicating virtual machines is superior to SRM. The choice between SRM and Veeam largely depends on your storage environment and replication needs.

The initial setup was easy and straightforward.

The implementation process typically involves setting up VMware, configuring virtual machines, creating storage blocks, and installing the necessary components. For VMware to work seamlessly with the storage, a connector from the storage vendor is installed within the VMware environment, and once this is in place, replication can begin. In cases where there's a substantial amount of data to replicate, and the customer lacks a robust network link between sites, a physical transfer of data is undertaken. This involves physically moving storage devices from the primary site to the DR site, initiating the replication process, and then returning the storage to its original location once replication is completed. The replication process usually takes around two weeks, which is considered suitable for customers with relatively uncomplicated needs. For smaller customers with ten machines or so, replication is organized into groups based on different data sources on the storage system. Implementation requires the involvement of one or two technical experts who are well-versed in the equipment and storage systems. Monitoring the system is primarily the responsibility of the customer, with one or two IT personnel overseeing the process. Email notifications are often set up to keep track of system performance and any issues that may arise.

It is reasonably priced, and its cost hasn't been a significant factor in our implementation. We utilize various licensing options, but we typically purchase licenses upfront, avoiding monthly or yearly payment structures. We often opt for multi-year agreements, and if technical support isn't required, it allows us to maintain the same number of virtual machines and central traffic capacity.

If you're dealing with a more stable and homogeneous storage environment and have technical reasons to favor SAN, then SRM, which is tightly integrated with the storage vendor, may have some advantages. Veeam is a better solution when you have a mix of heterogeneous storage types, multiple sites, and diverse data replication requirements, as it operates independently of the storage application. For larger customers, such as those in the banking sector with diverse storage systems and extensive data replication needs, Veeam might be preferred. While it might have a slightly higher price point compared to SRM, it offers more flexibility and scalability. SRM, on the other hand, is well-suited for smaller customers with simpler storage environments and a smaller number of servers. It's more straightforward to configure and manage in such scenarios. Overall, I would rate VMware SRM ten out of ten.

Virtual Machine Recovery during DR situation, with automation and easy to use menus and options.

Earlier, in case of disaster or server failure we had to rebuild the whole server/virtual machine from scratch. This rebuilding process used to take anywhere from close to a day or more, affecting production time.

With VMware vSphere Replication and SRM combined, we were able to cut down outage windows to a maximum of one hour.

We are making good use of replicated VMs for testing of OS/application update, before applying same to the production environment.

In my view, if VMware comes up with an appliance-based solution like vCenter Server (which was also Windows-based), it will be much easier for deployment. It will also save Windows Server Operating System licensing costs, which for most of the organization recur annually.

Around five years (maybe more, I can't recollect exactly).

Not really for use and operation, but a version upgrade is a real problem. When upgrading to the latest version, there are always problems with the upgrade, normal functioning etc. Doing an upgrade is lot of hard work. Always had to rely on next minor upgrade.

VMware needs to do better software testing before release.

No.

Very good. They are very eager to support the customer and, more than just wanting to close the ticket, they strive for customer satisfaction.

Previously we were not using any DR solution, but we are using Veeam along with SRM.

SRM is being used for far-end recovery whereby the DR site is in another city.

Veeam is being used for near-end recovery, whereby the DR server is located in the same datacenter. This is useful for VM level recovery, where only a VM or handful VMs or vDisks are affected.

It was pretty straightforward. We kept the DC and DR servers together in the same datacentre during initial setup and VM syncing. After setup and syncing completion, we moved the DR server to the DR site.

Compare to hardware-based replication, I think software based replication is best and cheap. For a start, one can use vSphere Replication, which is available free of cost if vCenter is purchased for deploying a DR solution. It is very easy to deploy, though the recovery process will be manual. With SRM, the whole replication and recovery process can be automated for fast VM recovery.

No.

It’s a good product from VMware. Just ensure that for each version upgrade, be patient and look for reviews or, if possible, have a test (virtualized) environment for test deployment.

I use the solution for disaster recovery.

The solution is consistent. It is an automated DR solution. It has test features. We can test DR in advance. We are using the tool for disaster recovery. The product has improved automation. The automation of failover and failback has improved our operational efficiency significantly. It is quite easy to integrate the solution with other VMware products.

The solution must provide better integration with third-party vendors.

I have been using the solution for two years.

I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a seven out of ten. We have 10 to 20 users in our organization. We use the solution twice a month.

I rate the ease of setup a seven out of ten. The deployment takes a few months.

We deployed the product with a few in-house team members. The tool requires continuous maintenance. We need two or three people to maintain it.

I will recommend the solution to others. It is a nice product. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Our primary use case for VMware SRM is automatization.

The features I have found most valuable are the ability to script test failover and the ability to re-IP.

In my opinion, the integration with Peer Persistent Storage could be improved.

I have been using this solution for about five years.

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.

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.

As a vendor, I did not have contact with technical support.

My impression is that the initial setup process is relatively straightforward.

The deployment model of this solution that we are using is on-premises.

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.

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.

We use SRM to replicate our important servers to our VR site. We are customers of VMware and I'm a junior manager. 

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. 

The solution is on the expensive side. 

I've been using this solution for four years. 

We've found the solution to be stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

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. 

We initially took out a five-year contract and recently extended it for another 12 months. It's quite an expensive solution. 

I think this is a good tool that's easy to manage and worth the cost, so I rate it nine out of 10. 

We used VMware SRM mainly for the DC-DR configuration.

The most valuable feature of the solution is the integration part, along with the subsequent hardware.

It would be better if we could get more reporting features in VMware SRM.

Wherever we have deployed the solution, we haven't faced any issues with stability.

I rate the solution an eight to nine out of ten for stability.

I have four to five customers for VMware SRM.

The solution’s initial setup is not very complex.

I don't see a challenge concerning the solution's deployment process. The deployment can be done once the design is finished. Two engineers are more than enough to deploy the solution.

VMware SRM is an expensive solution, and users need to pay extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.

The implementation of VMware SRM helps with the overall business resiliency perspective. We are still using the virtualization layer for the application, which becomes closely integrated with the solution provided. So, that's a benefit to any organization. Moreover, the solution gives you a single dashboard through which you can look at everything.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven to eight out of ten.

We are a system integrator in Morocco and this is one of the products that we implement for our clients. Our customers use VMware SRM to replicate sites for the purpose of disaster recovery. SRM is a recovery manager and we combine it with NetApp to provide recovery solutions.

The most valuable feature is the simplicity of operations. You have two main buttons, where one is red and one is green. The red button is used for real disaster recovery and the green button is used if you want to simulate it.

The interface is user-friendly.

The storage replication adapter (SRA) is quite good because it allows SRM to work with storage arrays from any vendor.

I would like to see a detailed history of the events for each site because I have found difficulty with that. The two vCenters have to be synchronized, which sometimes gives us problems because Keberos does not tolerate more than five minutes in time difference.

I have been dealing with VMware SRM since 2009.

The recovery point (RPO) is set to 24 hours, which means that this is being used daily. Our backup happens at 8:00 pm every night.

VMware SRM is scalable.

Most of our clients are in Morocco, and 80% of them are bigger companies with a lot of users.

Technical support from VMware is good and I would rate them an eight out of ten.

The initial setup is definitely simple.

The last project that I worked on took two weeks to deploy. This included installing NetApp, vCenter, ESXi, and the initial application.

We have an in-house team that includes me and two other people. We also do maintenance for some of our clients.

In the past, with version 6.0, there were two versions of SRM. There was a version for Windows as well as an appliance. However, all of our customers are now moving to the appliance.

I recommend using this product because it integrates well with replication technology from any vendor using the SRA.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.