Changes compared to 24.11.0
New Features
User Grouping
In Comet 24.12.0, it is now possible to group users in the Comet Server web interface. This will allow users belonging to a department, company, cost center, etc. to be grouped logically inside Comet. This makes it easier to find customers belonging to the same group as well as easily roll out policies for everyone assigned to a group.
Single Device Ownership Of Storage Vaults
In Comet 24.12.0, a new User setting is available to choose if devices that share the same user account login should back up Protected Items to a shared Storage Vault or isolated Storage Vaults. There are pros and cons of each option:
Pros of shared Storage Vaults: Data from multiple devices stored in a shared Storage Vault can take advantage of Comet's deduplication, reducing overall storage requirements.
Cons of shared Storage Vaults: Devices are able to see and restore all data from the other devices, and it is possible for backups to be delayed or missed on a device due to the Storage Vault being locked for retention jobs.
Pros of isolated Storage Vaults: Devices cannot see or restore data from other devices, and there is no risk of delayed or missed backup jobs due to the Storage Vault being locked.
Cons of isolated Storage Vaults: Backup data will not be deduplicated between devices increasing overall storage requirements.
To configure isolated Storage Vaults, when configuring a new user account select the "Provision storage vaults automatically ..." option under Storage Vault Provisioning. For existing users, head to the users account page and set the "Automatically create Storage Vaults for newly registered devices" option to a Storage Template.
To configure shared Storage Vaults, when configuring a new user account select the "Provision storage vaults once ..." option under Storage Vault Provisioning. For existing users, head to the users account page and set the "Automatically create Storage Vaults for newly registered devices" option to (none).
Enforce Password Change On Next Login
Self-Hosted Comet Server Only
In Comet 24.12.0, a new Admin Accounts setting is available to enforce that the password for the admin account is changed the next time they log in. This feature can be used to regularly enforce that passwords used to log in to a Comet Server web interface are changed.
Rate Limiting for Failed Login Attempts to a Comet Server
Self-Hosted Comet Server Only
In Comet 24.12.0, a new License & Access setting is available to block users and IP addresses after repeated unauthorised logins. This feature should be used in combination with other security features such as Multi-Factor Authentication to protect against malicious attempts to gain access to your Comet Server.
Enhancements
Reduced Memory Usage During Backup and Restores
In Comet 24.12.0, some key optimizations have been made to how index files are stored in memory and what information Comet requires during a backup or restore. As a result, memory usage has been reduced by up to 40% for all backup or restore jobs.
Improvements to Retrieving Windows Disk Information
Previously, Comet made use of the WMI API to retrieve Windows disk information before a Windows Disk Image backup.
In Comet 24.12.0, Comet now uses the DeviceIoControl API to improve the reliablility of fetching Windows Disk Information before a backup job can start
Solves Known Error Message: Browsing disks: Finding disk drives: Class does not exist.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue with the Gradient integration causing the base unit number to be reported as 1 regardless of how many devices are configured for a Comet user
- Fixed an issue with not detecting GNOME Disks as a supported partitioning tool when performing a physical Disk Image restore on Linux
- Fixed an issue where using both the "Prevent changing password" and "Require change password at next login" settings together would make it impossible to log in to a Comet Server admin account
- Fixed an issue with high CPU load if there are a large number of concurrent login attempts to the Comet Server
- Fixed an issue with Microsoft 365 Protected Item sizes that didn't include sizes for some emails
- Fixed an issue causing the Comet Server to crash when restoring data for deleted MySQL and MSSQL Protected Items
- Fixed a cosmetic issue with Windows terminology when creating Recovery Media from a Linux host OS
- Fixed a cosmetic issue with showing a warning about VM quotas when configuring a new Hyper-V or VMware Protected Item
- Fixed a cosmetic issue with field layout when editing a VMware Protected Item in the Comet Backup desktop app