Any word on 7.5 Azure installer

Would like to know when too.

Support just said it will be on the 7.5 U2 release. Unknown ETA.

Please review this guide and fill out the linked form to gain access to 7.5 for Azure:

https://www.zerto.com/myzerto/knowledge-base/zerto-field-notice-ftn-20191104-zerto-7-5-azure-platform-update-on-microsoft-incremental-snapshots-preview/

So if our workloads aren’t in those Azure regions, we can’t upgrade to 7.5 until we migrate everything over there?

What matters is not where your workloads are currently located (Azure or on prem).  What matters what region your ZCA and its associated resources are located in.  If the region is not supported by Microsoft yet for incremental snapshots, then you cannot use Zerto 7.5 for Azure yet.

Is 7.5 supported in UK South now? Is anyone running it?

Microsoft hasn’t updated their list of supported regions.  As far as I am aware, the current target is still by the end of Q1 for all regions not currently supported.  In case the list is out of date, you can try creating an incremental snapshot of a managed disk via the CLI or Powershell following this KB:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/disks-incremental-snapshots

If that works in your region, Zerto 7.5 will also work.

Thank you so much for your response, Neal. I have been speaking to one of the engineers to confirm which version of Zerto to use with Azure UK South. He initially asked me to use v7.5 (with Azure UK) and after long conversations, he now says, “v7.5 will work but you will get some errors” with no clarity of what errors. I seem to have a feeling fro this v7.5 would be a bad idea in my scenario and from your reply, it seems v7.5 will not be supported altogether because there’s no incremental snapshots capability in Azure UK at the moment.

Would you recommend using v7.0 in this scenario or v7.5? I’m guessing you’ll say v7.0 but I want to confirm as I’ve been getting mixed advice before speaking to you. Whether you suggest v7.0 or v7.5, I would like to confirm if that advice applies to both ZVM on-premises and the ZCA in the cloud?

Also, a few more queries please:

– I have been told that with v7.0 if we need to replicate a disk larger than 4TB, we can replicate that to page blogs (unmanaged disks) but will need to raise a support case to replicate a disk this large. Could you confirm?

– I’ve also been told that the disk larger than 4TB will need to be promoted to premium managed disk at the time of failover. Does Zerto handle the task of promoting the disk? How does this conversion/promotion affect the RTO?

Thanks

I’ve just checked the ‘Zerto’ appliance in the Azure Marketplace at https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Marketplace/MarketplaceOffersBlade/selectedMenuItemId/home and on the plans tab, it states ‘Zerto 7’ which would suggest that the ZCA deployed would be v7.0.

Hello Mohsin,

Yes, the Marketplace image is still 7.0 until the Incremental Managed Snapshot feature is rolled out to all Azure regions.  Without this feature enabled in your region, 7.5 will install successfully.  However, the VRA service will not remain started, as it is looking for APIs that do not exist in the region yet.  This is why access to the 7.5 installer is being controlled through the Field Tech Notice form.  It is necessary that we confirm that a supported region is being used before allowing access to the download link.  Therefore, it is recommended to continue using 7.0 until the Incremental Managed Snapshot feature is available in your Azure region.

It is not a problem if your on-prem site is upgraded to 7.5 while the paired Azure site remains 7.0.  However, one important thing to keep in mind is that it is not possible to pair a 7.0 site with a 7.5 site due to pairing changes is 7.5: https://www.zerto.com/myzerto/knowledge-base/pairing-changes-in-zvr-7-5/

Regarding your second question, support up to 8 TB disks (8191 MiB to be precise) is available starting in 7.0 U1.  It is necessary that Zerto Support apply a tweak to enable support.  The other thing to keep in mind is that you must recover any VM with > 4 TB disks to Premium Managed storage.  Zerto manages the conversion process of the page blob to any type of recovery disk that you choose, including Premium Managed.  The type of recovery disk chosen has no impact on on RTO.