Journal-Based Recovery - Rewind and Resume - Zerto

Rewind and Resume with Journal-Based Recovery

Recover files, VMs, applications, and entire datacenters from a checkpoint seconds ago to a few years ago—locally or remotely


Forget Traditional Backup—Use Zerto Journal Recovery

See how easy it is to recover data from just seconds ago.

Recover to Any Point in Time—Anytime

Legacy disaster recovery solutions rely on snapshots, which can lead to long downtime windows and lost data. Zerto removes the potential for these issues with continuous data protection driven by unique journaling technology.

The Zerto journal records the state of your infrastructure every few seconds. In the event of a disaster or any other disruption, your data stays protected while you recover to any point in time—and you experience minimal downtime.

From Periodic to Continuous

Say goodbye to periodic snapshots—the granular Zerto journal keeps a continuous log of all changes to applications and data, with intervals of seconds.

With continuous data protection, you can achieve RPOs measured in seconds, plus other benefits such as: 

  • Minimal data loss
  • Storage savings as no snapshots are created and only changes are recorded

Say Goodbye to Traditional Backups; Say Hello to Journal-based Recovery

Journal vs. Snapshots Considerations

Consistent Recovery in Scope and Time

While the granularity of the journal is in seconds, it lets you rewind to any point in time while maintaining application consistency, minimizing downtime, and preventing data loss.

Recovery from Site to Files

Zerto journaling technology allows for the recovery of an entire site or datacenter, individual applications, VMs, and even files in a consistent manner. Via its intelligent Index and Search functionalities, you can even find files or folders across different points in time, select the recovery point, and let the recovery orchestration take over and restore the file—it’s all done in the blink of an eye.

Recovery from Seconds to Years Ago

The journal can store up to 30 days of changes, which accounts for 90% of your regular recovery needs. Combine this journaling with Zerto's long-term retention repositories, and you can store data on cost-effective storage for many years, covering your compliance needs.

What is the Journal?

The journal is a dynamic record of every change made to a VM that’s protected by Zerto.

Users can specify a journal history of up to 30 days and Zerto will automatically generate checkpoints every 5-15 seconds that can be used for recovery.

This allows for the recovery of everything from a single file to entire applications or sites within seconds of a disruption.

Overview: What is the Journal?

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Zerto Platform: What is the Journal

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Selection of a checkpoint in the journal for recovery purposes

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How the Journal Works

Each VM has its own journal. For each protected machine, Zerto replicates every modification from the production to the target site in pieces called “grains.” These grains are markers that indicate differences in data and associations with a particular VM. This translates into maintaining a persistent bitmap on the recovery site; i.e., creating the change-block tracking copies.

In addition to the writes, Zerto updates checkpoints every few seconds with a timestamp. You can then recover to the most recent checkpoint or any previous checkpoint, all while maintaining write-order fidelity and crash consistency.

Store each journal locally through continuous backup or at a remote location, whether it’s in the cloud or on-premises. This ensures there is always an up-to-date copy of data available, even if the production site goes down.

Overview: How the Journal Works

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Zerto Platform: How does the Journal Work?

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The Best Recovery Solution

File & Folder Recovery

Recover files or folders created minutes ago and deleted seconds ago—it’s that quick and easy.

Recover from Ransomware

After a ransomware attack, recover data seconds before encryption—everything from single files to entire VMs.

Application Consistency

Application consistency grouping enables quick recovery of multi-VM applications to a consistent point in time.

No Impact to Production

Zerto’s continuous data protection keeps your data safe without impacting production.

What's Next?

Have a question about our product or capabilities? Contact us, we are here to help!

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