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18.5.0 ‘Phobos’ released

· 8 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.14

New Features

  • Russian translation
  • Quick action tiles, and homepage software download links, in the Comet Server web interface
  • Updated Brazilian Portuguese translation
  • Updated French translation

Enhancements

  • Hide unbranded S3 server and bucket names from customer job reports (including Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi, and S3-compatible)
  • When performing software upgrade, add warning message the job log if the customer is very low on disk space (under 500MB)
  • Display software codename in Comet Server Service Manager
  • Clickable links in the "What's New?" section in the Comet Server web interface
  • Improve performance of backing up zero-byte files
  • Automatically select 'request first storage vault' when adding a new user in the Comet Server web interface if only one requestable destination is configured
  • Reduce memory usage under some error conditions

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with not performing retention passes in some multi-device locking situations
  • Fix an issue that could cause "Cannot make \foo\bar relative to \foo" error messages when backing up some types of UNC path
  • Fix an issue with issuing multiple scheduled jobs in the same second
  • Fix an issue with HTTP 409 errors by allowing errant duplicate chunk uploads to Comet Server if upload content exactly matches disk content
  • Fix an issue with "expected ## bytes, got 0" error messages when using Backup Operators mode in Comet Backup for Windows
  • Fix an issue with non-atomic disk/inode operations when rechecking file sizes using Backup Operators mode in Comet Backup for Windows
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with multiple error messages appearing on the same line if two retention passes run at the same time
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with displaying non-latin characters in custom branded text in the Comet Backup for Windows installer
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with missing help text for macOS in the first-use introduction text in the Comet Server web interface

Changes compared to 18.2.7

  • Remove the default "Unlimited" quota pie-chart in Comet Backup

  • Comet Server now always keeps a minimum of 10 days' of job history

New Features

  • Client web interface
  • Group policies
  • Password recovery codes
  • Option to limit Storage Vault speed for backup
  • Allow configuring storage during the initial setup wizard in Comet Server Service Manager
  • Allow importing settings from CrashPlan
  • Auto-refresh button when viewing backup job reports in Comet Server web interface
  • Automatically clean up old "In Progress" job records that are no longer running
  • Automatically unlock Storage Vaults when safe to do so
  • Button to copy backup job report content in Comet Server web interface
  • Display IP address of live-connected devices in the Comet Server web interface (column is hidden by default)
  • Display Protected Item sizes on user detail pages in the Comet Server web interface, linking to job that produced the information
  • Display pie-chart rings for Storage Vault quotas in Comet Backup
  • Display user account creation time, and allow searching/sorting by user account creation time in the Comet Server web interface
  • Group Policy option for mandatory, OS-specific exclusions from "Files and Folders" Protected Items
  • Option to configure new Comet Server for Windows installations using your cometbackup.com credentials instead of a serial number
  • Option to display ID on job list page, advanced option to navigate directly to job report by ID in the Comet Server web interface
  • Option to reduce number of disk access threads during backup
  • Option to set duration limit when immediately starting a backup in Comet Backup
  • Option to toggle whether the embedded Help page in Comet Backup is embedded, opens in a popup window, or is disabled (leave URL blank)
  • Policy option to prevent users from logging in to the client web interface
  • Quick action tiles, and homepage software download links, in the Comet Server web interface
  • Raw policy editor in the Comet Server web interface
  • Russian translation
  • Support "Copy (as cURL)" / "Copy (as wget)" when downloading Comet Backup for Linux
  • Support Hyper-V backup on Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, where Hyper-V module for Powershell is unavailable
  • Support backing up "Access denied" files in Comet Backup for Windows if the user account is in the Backup Operators group
  • Support cancelling a running job from the Comet Server web interface
  • Support importing Microsoft SQL Server Protected Items from AhsayOBM 6.x
  • Support renaming devices in the Comet Server web interface
  • Updated Brazilian Portuguese translation
  • Updated Croatian translation
  • Updated French translation
  • Updated Spanish translation
  • Write job report logs to Windows Event Log in Comet Backup for Windows

Enhancements

  • Add a "Stop campaign" button on the Bulk Update page in the Comet Server web interface, replacing active-state checkbox
  • Add a warning message if Powershell components for Hyper-V are not installed
  • Add explanations for some features on the User page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Add proactive defence layers against possible clickjacking and XSS attacks against the Comet Server web interface
  • Add standardised Comet Server API endpoint synonyms for software download variants
  • Add tooltips for navigation bar icons in the Comet Server web interface
  • Allow configuring the option to reduce number of disk access threads in the Comet Server web interface
  • Allow linking directly to the downloads page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Always use a subdirectory when importing a Local Path Storage Vault from another backup product
  • Automatically focus search field on the User list page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Automatically select 'request first storage vault' when adding a new user in the Comet Server web interface if only one requestable destination is configured
  • Clickable links in the "What's New?" section in the Comet Server web interface
  • Cosmetic toggle extraneous columns in the Comet Server web interface, to better fit mobile devices
  • Display (always-enabled) compression and deduplication status in Storage Vault property dialogs
  • Display an explanation message when failing to take a VSS snapshot of a non-NTFS filesystem
  • Display elapsed time for currently running backup jobs in Comet Server job report
  • Display message in backup log if the current device is responsible for stale locks in the Storage Vault
  • Display number of databases and backup mode in Microsoft SQL Server backup job reports
  • Display software codename in Comet Server Service Manager
  • Emphasise currently selected language in the dropdown menu in the Comet Server web interface
  • Expand the warning message when revoking devices in the Comet Server web interface
  • Extend heuristic to avoid compressing more types of already-compressed files during backup
  • Hide news header in Comet Backup main screen if no news is present
  • Hide unbranded S3 server and bucket names from customer job reports (including Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi, and S3-compatible)
  • Improve compatibility with some types of FTP server
  • Improve logging around HTTP 400/500 errors when Comet Server encounters a file upload conflict, or fails to delete/retrieve a file from cloud storage
  • Improve message guidance when Comet Server does not start owing to a bad license
  • Improve page load performance of the Job History page in the Comet Server web interface by up to 10x
  • Improve performance for loading the Comet Server web interface
  • Improve performance of backing up zero-byte files
  • Improve performance of loading very large job reports in the Comet Server web interface
  • Improve performance of taking backups from VSS snapshots, by eliminating some unnecessary disk activity
  • Improve responsiveness of cancelling a backup job going to a Comet Server destination
  • Improve responsiveness of cancelling some types of backup jobs
  • Improve speed of installing Comet Server (remove locales requirement on Debian/Ubuntu; trim NSIS size on Windows)
  • Improve webfont loading performance for the Comet Server web interface
  • Increase connection limits for server-side cloud storage
  • New workflow for managing multiple email addresses for users in the Comet Server web interface
  • Reduce idle memory consumption of Comet Server web interface
  • Reduce memory usage under some error conditions
  • Rename backup types for Microsoft SQL Server, to clarify the behaviour
  • Simplified workflow for managing password recovery in the Comet Server web interface
  • Simplify network setup and user setup in the Setup Wizard inside Comet Server Service Manager
  • Support importing path exclusions from CrashPlan
  • Suppress all popups from the embedded Help browser in Comet Backup for Windows
  • Try to prevent PC sleeping during backup/restore operations in Comet Backup for Windows
  • Use a wizard when creating new Protected Items in Comet Backup
  • Use branded filenames when downloading Comet Backup for Windows and Linux
  • Validate email address formats when saving changes in the Comet Server web interface
  • Warn during an active job if it detects its own lockfile was unexpectedly deleted
  • When performing software upgrade, add warning message the job log if the customer is very low on disk space (under 500MB)
  • Write Comet Server log files in Notepad-compatible format on Windows