"What's New?" is a series of blog posts covering recent changes to Comet in more detail. This article covers the latest changes in Comet Voyager over November 2022.
November was a more active month for Comet development. There were six "Voyager" releases in the 22.9.x series during November, plus the first release of our new 22.11.0 "Ananke" quarterly series. This exceeds our previous quiet release volumes in October and September. A large number of minor cosmetic improvements were added, as well as many small bugfixes, so we would recommend that all users of previous 22.9.x versions should continue to follow the latest updates for the best experience.
Apple silicon
Comet 22.9.8 now includes a native Apple silicon version of Comet Backup for macOS. This will improve efficiency when running on recent Apple computers with M1 and M2 chips.
Your existing macOS users will likely be running the current, x86_64 version of Comet Backup for macOS on their M1 or M2 hardware. The x86_64 version does run well under Apple's high-performance Rosetta2 emulation layer included with macOS. In addition, the backup job speed is usually limited by network speed or disk I/O, not CPU speed, so running under emulation is not likely to significantly impact backup job runtimes. However, the native version for Apple silicon will be more CPU and battery-efficient. After upgrading to the native Apple silicon version, there will be no visible difference to the end-user, except for a snappier and longer-lasting computer.
When an existing macOS user, running a version of Comet prior to 22.9.8 on M1 or M2 hardware, is part of a Bulk Upgrade Campaign to upgrade their installed Comet Backup client app, they will first upgrade to the 22.9.8 x86_64 version under emulation. This version can detect that it is running under Rosetta2, and during the following software upgrade, it will upgrade to the ARM64 version instead of the x86_64 version. As a result, two upgrade cycles may be required for all macOS users to receive the full performance and efficiency benefits of this change.
Gradient MSP
Comet 22.9.6 added a built-in feature to integrate with Gradient MSP. Gradient MSP is an external service that allows you to sync user account data and backup job error alerts into many RMM/PSA systems including ConnectWise, Autotask, Kaseya, Syncro, Pulseway RMM, HaloPSA and more. There is no cost to connect one Comet Server to one PSA.
Check out our launch webinar below to see how to take advantage of this service to connect your Comet Backup user accounts to your PSA platform, perform billing and invoice reconciliation, and receive alerts about failed backup jobs.
Full integration documentation is available on the Gradient MSP knowledgebase at https://support.meetgradient.com/comet-backup .
Quick access downloads
The latest version of Comet Backup adds support for a quick access download button directly within the navigation bar. This is intended to help first-time users of the Comet Server app find this option more easily, as well as being a quick option for experienced users.
Long-time users of Comet Server might remember the original version of this feature - a download icon in the top navigation bar - that existed between Comet Server 17.3.2 and 18.5.0 "Phobos". It was removed in Phobos owing to the introduction of the download links on the login screen, and also the download button within the home-screen 2x2 button pad.
Change your root keys for Comet Storage Powered By Wasabi
The "Comet Storage Powered By Wasabi" service is an integrated way to use Wasabi Cloud Storage and pay for it within your account.cometbackup.com account. This service gives you full access to create and delete buckets in multiple regions, for use with Comet-Hosted servers, self-hosted servers, or any other use case.
During November we added support for regenerating the top-level root access keys for your Wasabi account. The top-level root access keys are needed by Comet Server for the Storage Templates feature, to automatically provision new direct-to-cloud Storage Vaults for your customer. Being able to rotate these keys and issue new replacements can be a crucial feature if anyone gains access to your Comet Server configuration.
For your convenience, if the old keys are in use on a Comet-Hosted server for a Wasabi Storage Template, or for Constellation, then the Comet-Hosted server will automatically have its settings changed to use the replacement keys.
JavaScript / TypeScript API SDK
Another feature released in November is our latest new SDK for the Comet Server API - this time for JavaScript:
The SDK is available on GitHub under the MIT license and also from the NPM package manager. It includes all the definitions you may have seen in the PHP, Ruby, and Go SDKs, bringing the total number of official SDKs up to four.
It comes with built-in examples and is built for TypeScript first. The SDK also contains generated JSDoc typings, ESM and CommonJS bundles, making this suitable for both Node.js and browser users. We've also created a sample app using the Next.js framework that shows how you can use this framework to create a custom B2C signup form for Comet Server using the new SDK.
The Comet Server web interface is a "single-page app" (SPA) that uses the same Comet Server API for its entire feature set, ensuring that our Comet Server API is stable, reliable and well tested. For many years now, our own Comet Server web interface has been entirely developed using Typescript, using a private internal version of this same SDK. We're very pleased to be able to release this work publicly under the open-source MIT license, unlocking productivity for Node.js, TypeScript, and JavaScript programmers looking to integrate Comet Server more closely with their businesses.
The Comet Server API is JSON over HTTP and can of course still be used in programming languages that do not yet have an official SDK, and we have many code samples available for other programming languages in our documentation.
Comet 22.11.0 "Ananke"
We've just put the finishing touches on our latest Quarterly release, 22.11.0 "Ananke". This rolls up the whole quarter of 22.9.x enhancements into a new fixed point for you to build your business on.
Like Comet's previous recent quarterly software releases, "Ananke" is named after a moon of Jupiter, discovered as recently as 1951. It's the largest moon of the "Ananke group", a set of seven of the moons of Jupiter that have similar orbits and are thought to have a common origin. The moon is named after the ancient Greek mythological goddess of inevitability and necessity.
If you prefer to watch and listen rather than read, I'm hosting a webinar next week to discuss the latest 22.11 "Ananke" software release. Please register for a notification before we go live on December 6th (PST) to catch up on all the latest Comet news with me - there will be a free live Q&A session after the presentation.
As well as that, we have many more videos available on our YouTube channel, including guides on getting started with Comet, individual features, demonstrations with our technology partners, and webinars for previous quarterly software releases.