Added support for Disk Image backups on Linux. The feature supports skipping free filesystem sectors on EXT4 and XFS when used with either LVM2 or a custom kernel driver
Removed the default Comet Server admin account. The admin account will now be created through the Comet Server Service Manager setup wizard or when first opening the Comet Server web interface
Added the ability to dynamically switch between using domain and workstation details for SMB Storage Vault connections
Improved the email filters for "Time since job start" and "Time since job end" to allow configuration by seconds, minutes, hours and days in the Comet Backup desktop app
Improved the performance of connecting to a Storage Vault at the start of a backup or restore job if the Storage Vault has many other concurrent jobs running
Added progress updates when a backup performs some long running actions, such as removing unneeded data packs and removing deleted files from an Object Lock Storage Vault
Added a popup dialog for authentication validation failures when testing Storage Vault connections in the Comet Backup desktop app
Added an info icon for extra troubleshooting information when testing Storage Vault connections in the Comet Backup desktop app
Added a clickable cross-reference in a job log, if the job's execution was blocked by another task in the same Storage Vault
Added support for using the Create Recovery Media feature from Linux
Added Protected Item names for jobs from other devices in the activity log on the Comet Backup desktop app
Added a device name column to the Comet Backup desktop app activity log
Fixed an issue where extended file attributes were being saved and restored even when the "Back up extra system permissions and attributes" option was not enabled
Fixed an issue where restores of Files and Folders Protected Items for which an entire drive was selected would result in the root directory of the restore being a hidden directory
Fixed an issue causing all files to be rescanned when running a Files and Folders backup on a Windows device after upgrading from Comet 24.6.1 or older to Comet 24.6.2 or newer
Fixed an issue with missing JSON syntax support when using the "Edit Raw Profile" or "Edit Raw Settings" features in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue that could cause the Comet Server web interface to crash during a restore in the Edge web browser
Fixed a cosmetic issue with overflowing action buttons in some table views in the Comet Server web interface
Added an automatic clean up of stale Storage Vault locks immediately when a device reboots, or wakes from sleep
Added support for custom prefix directories for IAM-compatible Storage Template providers
Added an explanation tooltip for unavailable features in the Create Recovery Media dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app
Added safeguards to ensure the Hyper-V Protected Item "Latest VM state" mode is only used with supported Windows versions, in the Comet Server web interface and the Comet Backup desktop app
Improved the performance of evaluating the "if last job was missed" schedule option
Fixed an issue for Hyper-V Protected Items that caused the error message "Incorrect Function" to occur when backing up guest VMs
Fixed an issue for Microsoft 365 Protected Items that caused the error message "invalid character 'S' looking for beginning of value" to be returned during listing of accounts
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app and Comet Server changing device ID unexpectedly when SSH host keys are changed on Linux
Fixed an issue with backups not getting skipped even if "Skip if already running" is set when there are simultaneous backup jobs running
Fixed an issue with "warning 6001" error messages outputted in the Comet Server server log when generating a custom codesigned Windows client installer
Fixed an issue where backup jobs could complete successfully when a previous retention pass failed due to retention pass failures not being recorded properly
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app crashing when a user browses a target directory using the web interface
Fixed an issue with Constellation Role where buckets with Object Lock enabled were not deleted
Fixed an issue with Hyper-V Changed Block Tracking falling back to full scans
The Windows System Backup Protected Item is being deprecated. Windows System Backup Protected Items will still successfully backup, but will show a Warning notice on completion
Added support for Gen 1 VHD virtual disk for Hyper-V Protected Items when using the Hyper-V Latest VM State mode. VHD virtual disks will be stored in a VHDX format
Improved performance for granular restore of NTFS filesystems with complex or deep directory structures
Improved the speed of retention passes by using cached information to estimate the size of data that is in a Storage Vault
Improved Hyper-V Latest VM State (Changed Block Tracking) to respect the user's configured Hyper-V checkpoint settings on a per-VM basis instead of always attempting to take Production checkpoints
Fixed an issue causing Comet to fail to provision Object Lock buckets when using an Impossible Cloud (Object Lock) storage template
Fixed an issue on the Comet Server web interface that showed the About this Cluster menu for admins who had the "Prevent viewing and editing server settings" policy permission applied
Fixed an issue with loading SSL certificates in Comet Server if a PFX file uses the SHA256 algorithm
Fixed an issue with loading SSL certificates in Comet Server if a PFX file orders private keys after certificates
Fixed an issue with not allowing "All items" for granular restore in the Comet Backup desktop app
Fixed an issue with the Syncro integration preventing backup job warnings and errors from being raised as an RMM Alert
Fixed an issue where deleted files in a versioned S3 bucket would get undeleted if errors occurred when listing files during a retention pass
Fixed an issue where installing Comet Backup on a Synology device would cause a warning popup to appear after installation finished successfully
Fixed an issue where some NTFS volumes could not be recognised as NTFS partitions leading to browsing failure at the time of restore
Fixed an issue causing Comet Server to crash when a missed backup job is generated from devices with unrecognized timezones
Fixed an issue with SMB and FTP Storage Vaults overreporting the amount of data downloaded
Fixed an issue causing Comet Server to crash when attempting to download a DSM 6/7 client installer when Comet Server was installed using the Linux (other) installer
Fixed an issue with not retrying some types of network error during Reindex or Deep Verify operations
Fixed an issue with "Hash Mismatch" error messages at the end of a job log if a user profile is being modified frequently
Fixed an issue with Disk Image backups skipping partitions instead of affected blocks when the underlying hard drive is experiencing CRC errors
Fixed an issue causing Storage Vault size measurements to be 8x larger against Comet Server Storage Role
Fixed a Microsoft 365 listing issue where default permissions were receiving 403s from retrieving Site information
Fixed an issue with restoring files from non-Windows devices to Windows devices when the file name contains a backslash
Fixed an issue with retention passes on Storage Vaults without Object Lock showing Object Lock specific errors instead of the real retention pass error
Fixed a cosmetic issue with "failed to list objects with prefix" error messages incorrectly being outputted when an S3-compatible Storage Vault is too busy to be used
Added a new option in the admin account policies that allows top-level admins to grant tenant admins permission to configure Software Build Role settings
Significantly improved the performance of measuring Storage Vault sizes before a backup job starts
Added more device filtering options when creating a Bulk Upgrade campaign in Comet Server web interface
Added an option to specify a custom HELO/EHLO hostname when configuring SMTP or MX-Direct email delivery in the Comet Server web interface
Added support for configuring IP rate limits in the Comet Server web interface
Added support for configuring backup job bandwidth limits in different units such as KB/s, Kbit/s or Mbit/s from the Comet Server web interface
Allowed retention passes to safely continue with a warning if Comet is unable to clean up deleted tombstoned file versions from an S3-compatible target
Updated the MySQL Protected Item to prefer mariadb-dump over mysqldump on Linux devices
Updated Microsoft 365 account listing to append "Disabled" attribute to user mailboxes for later informed inclusion at the UI level
Reduced the memory usage when Constellation Role is deleting a very large bucket
Fixed an issue with Comet leaving temporary files in the Storage Vault if an error occurred when attempting a write when using Storage Role
Fixed an issue with extra log messages appearing on Linux when locking or unlocking the Comet Backup desktop app user interface
Fixed an issue with showing invalid restore options for non-Files and Folders backup jobs in the Comet Server web interface if the Protected Item had been deleted
Fixed an issue with showing invalid restore options for some types of backup jobs in the Comet Backup desktop app
Fixed an issue where Comet would not retry when cleaning up deleted tombstoned file versions from an S3-compatible target causing the job to fail
Fixed an issue with OIDC-based authentication on the Comet Server when the tenant hostname, or request hostname, has mixed-case characters
Fixed an issue with granular restore unable to open VMDKs from vSAN and snapshot extents for VMWare Protected Items
Fixed an error in Microsoft 365 account listing caused when a personal site is missing an associated user
Fixed an issue with backups being triggered on client upgrade when new the user profiles LastStartTime had not yet been set
Fixed an issue causing the DenyConstellationRole permission to be respected by Constellation Role-related API endpoints even if the PreventEditServerSettings permission is not enabled
Fixed an issue causing the DenyConstellationRole permission to be toggled on when the "Prevent viewing and editing server settings" checkbox is toggled on or off in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue with a slightly misleading error message when access to Constellation Role-related API endpoints is denied due to restricted admin permissions
Fixed a cosmetic issue with truncating long page title text in the Comet Server web interface
Added configuration to the Comet Server to set the maximum number of CPU cores that are allowed to be used when generating new builds of the Comet Backup client software
Added a new environment variable (COMETD_TMPDIR) to allow configuration of the temp directory used by the Comet Server when running in Linux
Fixed an issue which caused the SEVT_TENANT_UPDATED event to emit the tenant name instead of the tenant ID
Fixed an issue where the "Open Folder" button was not visible in the Comet Backup desktop app after a restore job had completed
Fixed an issue where the "Open Folder" button in the Comet Backup desktop app failed to open a file browser at the location of the restored files for UNC paths
Fixed an issue where S3 backups showed a Object Lock error about enabling Versioning on the S3 bucket instead of the real failure
Fixed an issue where audit logs would not be pruned if Authentication Role was set to keep logs indefinitely
Fixed an issue where setting "If the last job was Missed" on a schedule triggered extra backup jobs if the device's live connection dropped while the scheduled job was still running
Added a label in the Comet Server web interface and the Comet Backup desktop app to distinguish if Protected Items are enforced via the policy
Added the ability to convert Windows System Backup Protected Items to Disk Image Protected Items via the Users tab and Bulk Actions dropdown in the Comet Server web interface
Improved Microsoft 365 Drive downloads by adding configurable account concurrency and adding concurrency to single file downloads
Fixed an issue with default Protected Items, allowing edit and delete options when the configured policy doesn't strictly enforce it
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app deleting DeviceIdentificationEntropy and DeviceIdentificationHardwareIDOverride registry keys when uninstalled
Fixed an issue causing a deadlock when too many requests to a Storage Vault fail during decompression in a single job
Fixed an issue causing restores to panic when Comet fails to load a directory included in the files being restored
Fixed an issue with some search results not appearing when multiple partial matches exist in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue with search results not appearing for results with non-ASCII characters in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue allowing search invocation underneath an active dialog in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue causing Comet Server to segfault when starting on Linux
Fixed an issue causing clients running on Windows Server 2008R2 and Windows 7 to lose their live connection and become unable to be remotely upgraded after a Comet Server upgrade
Added the ability to configure SQL timeouts for MSSQL restores
Improved error message output for when a Hyper-V backup fails due to Hyper-V not being installed on the endpoint
Added additional threading to single file downloads from Microsoft 365, and added retry logic for when the download URL has expired. Expired URLs can cause 401 errors.
Fixed an issue that allowed new Storage Vaults to be added using the Comet Server API even if adding a Storage Vault is restricted for a tenant admin
Fixed an issue where restoring symlinks to a SquashFS archive caused the archive to be invalid
Fixed an issue where granular restores to SquashFS archives that include files from multiple partitions or disks do not restore all files
Fixed an issue where selecting a directory containing a virtual disk for granular restore would restore some of the VMDK files as well as the disk contents
Fixed an issue preventing granular restores from restoring files and folders from inside and outside a virtual disk in the same restore job
Fixed an issue causing granular restores to archive formats to create symlinks on disk instead of inside the archive
Fixed an issue causing the "Overwrite if existing file is newer" option to be ignored by granular restores
Fixed an issue with reduced performance when running Comet Backup for Linux on ARMv7 CPUs
Fixed an issue with macOS installs where the Comet version was not being reported
Fixed an issue causing unexpected entries to appear in the snapshot browser and the subsequent restore to fail when restoring from a Hyper-V snapshot using the Comet Server web interface if a VHDX file appears at the root of the snapshot
Fixed an issue causing no default restore type to be selected in the restore dialog of the Comet Server web interface for Hyper-V and VMware restores
Fixed an issue causing "undefined" to appear in the breadcrumb in the snapshot browser when restoring from a Disk Image/Hyper-V/VMware snapshot using the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue with tenant email reporting when using the test button as a top-level admin in the Comet Server web interface. The test email is now correctly filtered to the expected tenant
Fixed an issue with the Protected Items table in the Users page on the Comet Server web interface where it was not possible to run a backup from any page other than the first page
Fixed an issue where backup jobs could complete successfully when a previous retention pass failed. Backup jobs are now blocked until retention pass errors are resolved
Fixed an issue when backing up a VMware virtual disk on a vSAN datastore
Fixed an issue with user email reporting not being enabled by default
Fixed an issue causing errors when attempting to begin an OpenID Connect authentication process to fail to display in the browser and cURL
Fixed an issue with restore jobs under reporting the Downloaded size
Fixed an issue with the Comet Server web interface failing to display the users page
Fixed an issue applying language selections in the Comet Server web interface
Added informational headers to job logs that are exported to CSV (now renamed to Text) or Excel. Previously these headers were only included when exporting to Clipboard
Added the ability to select which logs are exported from the Server Logs and Job Logs pages in the Comet Server web interface
Removed Object Lock options from Storage Role in the Comet Server web interface and the Comet Server Service Manager
Added a warning when starting the Comet Server starts if the Storage Role is detected to be using Object Lock
Enabled Server Self-Backup by default for new Comet Server installations. This will not affect existing Comet Servers when they are upgraded
Removed the File column on the Server Logs page on the Comet Server web interface
Added a Last Message column to the Server Logs page on the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue preventing one or more files from being selected for restore when a partition of a virtual disk is selected in the granular restore workflow
Fixed a crash caused by an out-of-bounds access when using granular restore from a Hyper-V Protected Item
Fixed an issue with the Comet Server web interface where schedule options would overlap in certain languages
Fixed an issue with extra fields appearing when editing a Storage Template created prior to 23.12.5 in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue with missing validation for Storage Template settings using the Custom Remote Bucket type
Fixed a cosmetic issue with not resetting the Test Connections button state when switching Storage Template types in the Comet Server web interface
Fixed a cosmetic issue with showing an unusable Test Connections button for Storage Template settings using the Custom Remote Bucket type
Fixed an issue with unexpected "incomplete data" log messages when restoring large files to certain locations
Fixed a performance regression introduced in Comet 23.9.10 when using granular restore to restore multiple files from a Disk Image or Hyper-V Protected Item
Notice: The deb and rpm installers for Comet Server now require glibc 2.25 or later. There are no changes to the system requirements for the tar package version of Comet Server.
Updated the appearance of badges for cross-organization users when logged in as the top level admin. Instead of displaying "Other Tenant" the badge now displays the tenant name on the Users, User detail, Client news and Storage buckets page
Support new "Latest VM State (Changed Block Tracking)" option for Hyper-V for improved backup performance.
Added support for VMware ESXi hosts running on a free license. Comet now supports both the free and paid versions of VMware for backups and restores.
Added the ability to enforce policies created by a top-level administrator onto tenant administrators and tenant users. This allows top-level administrator to enforce settings and preferences across an entire Comet Server.
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app not refreshing the Job History when a new backup job is started.
Fixed an issue with hourly scheduler where it failed to adjust correctly to the USA Daylight Savings Time (DST)
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app jumping to a different Protected Item view when there is a Protected Item being edited. This usually occurred when a scheduled backup was run.
Fixed an issue where VMware snapshots created in CBT mode had incomplete chunks.
Fixed an issue with the My Devices chart on the Comet Server web interface failing to render.
Fixed an issue with Virtual Storage Vault policy options being available incorrectly when configuring a schedule for a Protected Item
Fixed an issue with the list of allowed Storage Vault types not being immediately visible when editing admin permissions in the Comet Server web interface for an admin user with the "Restrict available Storage Vault types" setting enabled
Fixed an issue with a non-existent empty Protected Item being shown in the Comet Backup desktop app after restoring a snapshot from other device
Fixed an issue with the Restore dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app showing snapshots from another devices as if they were from the current device
Improved Comet Server behavior when it fails to start due to license issues. It now starts successfully with limited functionality and displays an error message indicating how to identify the issue
Added logging of the reason the job started at the beginning of backup job logs
Added option to aggregate usage by Account Name for Gradient PSA integration
Added automatic cancellation of running jobs using a Storage Vault when that Storage Vault is deleted
Improved the appearance of the "About" window in the Comet Server Service Manager
Feature: Added a lobby option to the Comet Backup desktop app installers, allowing for silent installation with fully-remote device authentication via the Devices page in the Comet Server web interface.
Feature: Updated the name of the Connected Devices page to Devices in the Comet Server web interface and redesigned the page to show all devices.
Feature: Added bulk actions to the Devices page in the Comet Server web interface.
Added support for using OpenID Connect 1.0 for Single Sign-On for Comet Server admin users. This allows admin users to authenticate themselves to Comet Server using their existing credentials at an external Identity Provider, such as Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), Google, or other OIDC providers
Fixed and reinstated the disk image BIOS mode reporting feature that was removed due to a compatibility issue with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 devices
Fix an issue with editing storage vault names when the 'prevent users viewing storage type' permission was set
Fix a cosmetic issue with the loading spinner not disappearing when no snapshots are found during the Disk Image restore process in the Comet web UI
Fix an issue with the disk image BIOS mode reporter stopping a backup job on a permissions error
Fix an issue with detecting timezones on Windows if multiple countries share the same effective timezone
Fix an issue with streaming restores of Microsoft SQL Server databases if the database name contains an invalid character
Fix an issue with "exit code 4" error messages missing further detail when failing to perform a T-SQL BACKUP / RESTORE command against Microsoft SQL Server
Fix an issue where Wasabi error logs caused by System Clocks being too far behind or too far ahead not outputting as expected
Fix a cosmetic issue with missing results in the Comet Server web interface quick search if the same device hardware is registered across multiple user accounts
Fix a cosmetic issue with the homepage Self-Backup widget if a Server Self-Backup is currently running
Fix a cosmetic issue with deleting single snapshots from the Comet Server web interface if no snapshots are selected
Fix a cosmetic issue with not highlighting the previous search content when using the Alt+Q keyboard shortcut in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with incorrect help text on the Policies page in the Comet Serverweb interface
Added an option to use temporary files instead of RAM during a restore
Added a partial data recovery option to zero over unreadable data chunks during a restore (Comet will not abandon the job when it finds an unreadable chunk)
Fixed an issue with high Comet Server Auth Role memory usage if there are a large number of live connected devices
Fixed an issue with no snapshots being retained when the retention value MonthOffset was set to 0 when configured using the API or editing the raw user profile
Fixed an issue with the retention range MonthOffset value not being respected when set to 31 (the 31st) and being changed to 30
Fixed an issue blocking access to the Storage Vaults page in the client web interface
Fixed an issue with the Comet Server Docker container failing to start during a recreate event
Fixed an issue with the web UI being unable to perform a restore when the 'All items' option was selected
Fixed an issue with snapshot IDs not being shown in the Comet Server web interface restore dialog when advanced options are enabled
Fixed an issue with disk image browsing where MBR partitioned disk might cause a crash
Fixed an issue with high memory usage during retention passes, even if the "Prefer temporary files instead of RAM" option was set
Fixed an issue with Office 365 client where in certain scenarios, the client may lock up
Fixed an issue with some S3-compatible storage servers including Scaleway
Fixed an issue with Disk Image backup permissions
Fix an issue where error messages keep repeating when trying to 'Select items...' from the web interface while restoring and there are no snapshots available
Fixed a cosmetic issue causing quick search results to scroll with page content on the landing page
Fixed an issue with bucket name validation where Wasabi bucket names ending with a period were reported as invalid
Fixed an issue with the Comet Server session timeout not being respected by the Comet Server web interface
Fixed an issue with Office 365 backups that may lead to hanging workers while querying the Storage Vault
Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup desktop app crashing when loading if a recent backup job was extremely large
Fixed a cosmetic issue causing the mobile navigation menu content to be truncated on mobile devices in landscape orientation or short screens
Fixed a cosmetic issue with Policy summary page for the Random job delay
Protected Items defined by Policy can now optionally remain linked for future changes
Added several new admin permissions to allow a global admin to help prevent a tenant admin from seeing the Comet service or storage provider types in use. The global admin can hide server history and server info widgets on the dashboard, prevent creation of storage via templates or custom storage, and can also filter the list of allowed cloud storage providers
Releasing a new version of Comet Client's internal Office 365 plugin. Users may see some changes in the way the Office 365 client behaves and what information is logged to the job details
Allow top-level admins to create Tenant-assigned policies directly with the AdminPoliciesNew API
Allow searching for device names in the quick search bar in the Comet Server web interface
Add direct link to Bucket Users page from the Storage Role buckets page if Constellation is enabled
Greatly expanded the internal event stream to include most events
Added new event stream FileOptions that allow users to log all events to file for audit or other purposes
Fix an issue with Comet Server crashing if a Protected Item is owned by a non-existent device
Fix an issue with searching of snapshots that could cause a crash in the Comet Backup desktop app
Fix an issue with using the 'copy to clipboard' button when configuring Office 365 authentication from the Comet Server web interface on some web browsers
Fix an issue with storage validation not working when configuring a Storage Template
Fix an issue with incorrectly configured Backblaze Storage Vaults taking a long time to report an error
Fix an issue with parsing the MFT for granular file restore if it is highly fragmented
Fix a cosmetic issue with missing error text when failing to migrate a user account between tenants in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with table page numbering in the Comet Server web interface if the language is set to Dutch
Fix a cosmetic issue with some error popups saying 'message' instead of the real error message in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with inconsistent field labeling for Azure Blob Storage between the Comet Backup desktop app and the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with some translated text not applying in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with "Insert explanation here" help popups in the Policies section in the Comet Server web interface
Fix an issue with deleting individual snapshots silently failing if the Storage Vault is currently being cleaned up by another device
Fix an issue with the Comet Server web application crashing on some private-mode web browsers
Fix a cosmetic issue with highly verbose logging in the Comet Server server log if devices are running very old versions of Comet Backup
Fix an issue with configuring an SSH server on macOS causing Comet Backup to change its device ID
Fix an issue with slowly growing memory usage in long running jobs
Fix an issue with possibly losing concurrent profile changes when using the Import feature or when a device has an Office 365 Protected Item that was created in an early version of Comet
Fix an issue with missing error messages if the backup.delegate service is unable to save settings to disk
Fix an issue with large files using Windows LZNT1 compression when restoring single files from a Disk Image or Hyper-V backup
Fix an issue with restoring single files from a Disk Image or Hyper-V backup if the NTFS MFT is highly fragmented
Fix an issue with Comet Backup crashing when using the "Prefer temporary files instead of RAM" in some low-memory scenarios
Fix an issue with individual file restore from Hyper-V backup if protected item has more than one VM
Fix for an issue with Gradient integration where alerts were being sent for jobs still in the running state. Alerts will now only be sent after the job is finished and only if the job was unsuccessful.
Fix a cosmetic issue with option text in the Restore dialog when alternating between Hyper-V and Disk Image restore types
Fix a cosmetic issue with a warning message in update jobs containing "%s"
SECURITY NOTICE: This version of Comet Server fixes an important security issue related to administrator accounts. If you share your Comet Server with tenant administrators or limited-permission administrator accounts, we strongly recommend upgrading at the earliest possibility.
Notice: The Authenticode certificate used by Comet has been renewed. When installing the Windows version of Comet Server or Comet Backup, you may see Windows Defender Smartscreen prompts for approximately one week as the replacement certificate builds reputation.
Feature: Support Gradient MSP as a PSA platform. 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. For more information, please see https://support.meetgradient.com/comet-backup
Enhancement: Support the 'hide files instead of deleting them' option for Backblaze B2 in Constellation, to hide unused customer buckets and rely on B2 lifecycle policies for delayed cleanup
Enhancement: Cosmetic add icons to the Storage Template configuration settings in the Comet Server web interface
Enhancement: Various improvements to the Comet Server web interface's UI
Fix an issue with codesigning custom installers for macOS when Comet Server is installed on ARM64 Linux
Fix an issue with outdated Daylight Saving timezone rules on Windows
Fix an issue with the Comet Server web interface crashing when trying to restore data for a Protected Item that has been deleted from the live configuration
Fix a cosmetic issue with showing streaming MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server restore options for devices running older, ineligible versions of Comet Backup
Fix a cosmetic issue with missing loading animation on the Settings page in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with unclear labels when configuring Backblaze B2 Master Application Keys as a Storage Template in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with an unexpected border-radius on the main navigation bar in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with crushed spacing and padding in the FTP Storage Vault configuration and in the Storage Templates dialog in the Comet Server web interface
Fix an issue with MySQL streaming restore raising packet size errors when restoring large blobs
Reduce maximum concurrent installer generations to one less than the number of CPU cores, to prevent large Bulk Update Campaigns from slowing down the Comet Server
Reduce memory usage requirements for Comet Server Storage Role when processing a large file upload
Support SVG logo images in Comet Backup and in Comet Server
User can now be transferred between tenants via API or web interface. Main organization's default Organization Name will be Comet Server Operator Organization unless overridden by Company Name under Branding
Cosmetic redesign the New Storage Vault dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app to use a wizard
This brings the behavior in line with creating new Protected Items in the Comet Backup desktop app: a wizard is used for initial creation, to help guide you through the process, but after initial creation a tabbed dialog is used, for quickly jumping to any setting.
Cosmetic redesign the Search dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app to use a wizard, allowing easier back navigation
Remove support for running the Comet Backup client on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and macOS 10.10 "Yosemite". The new minimum version is Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and macOS 10.11 "El Capitan"
Webhook and websocket events for the top-level Tenant will now include events from tenants
Fix an issue with Office 365 where a message folder could potentially be resynced every time backup is run. This might increase incremental backup time
Fix an issue with selected files or folders not being restored when one selected file name was a prefix of another selected file name during restores initiated from the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue where 'Job execution delay' is renamed to 'Random job delay'
Fix an issue with when IDrive e2 fails key authentication
Fix an issue with Comet Backup on Windows not respecting the 'Require password to open the application' Policy option for a single time after it receives credentials from the Silent Install feature
Fix an issue with missed backups generated when the client's time run a earlier than the server
Fix an issue with jobs running soon after they are finished
Support fallback domain controllers when configuring LDAP connection for administrators
Comet Server supports using external authentication sources for admin accounts. If you have a highly-available LDAP server infrastructure using multiple servers, such as an Active Directory failover cluster with primary/fallback domain controllers, you are now able to configure multiple LDAP server addresses in Comet Server. When an admin user tries to authenticate at the Comet Server login screen, if a connection to the first entry on the list fails, Comet will try the remaining entries on the list before denying the authentication attempt.
Update Thai translation
Improve handling of temporary files on Synology devices using the SPK client installer
During backup jobs, Comet saves some temporary files in the system temporary directory. In the Synology DSM operating system, the default directory for temporary files (/tmp) is a RAM disk. With this change, Comet switches to use a custom temporary directory. This reduces the RAM requirements for running Comet Backup on Synology devices, meaning that large backup jobs on RAM-constrained Synology devices will no longer cause slowdown or freezes due to running out of RAM.
Thank you to our partners for getting the Chinese (Traditional) localization started! The best-quality translations come from our customers, who better understand the software and the backup industry. We appreciate any translation assistance that is offered.
If you want to correct a translation in Comet, or if you want to translate Comet into a new language, further information is available via CometBackup/translations at GitHub.
This release comes with two key improvements to server self backup. Using the new slider component you can select 'faster' or 'smaller' to optimize the compression levels for the backup.
A new option has been added to exclude the job database from the Comet Server self backup. It is best practice to keep regular backups of your comet server. Some very large databases can cause this to be a high cpu operation.
In this case, we recommend having two backup schedules, one very regular backup that excludes the job database and another less regular backup that includes all databases.
We have also improved the onboarding experience for DSM-7. There is added guidance on how to configure permissions in the DSM 7 Synology SPK for the Comet client
Comet Backup supports many different cloud storage providers (e.g. SFTP or S3-compatible) if you bring your own storage credentials. If you have configured Comet Backup to back up directly to a cloud storage provider, you should avoid reusing storage credentials across customers. For each customer, you should either create new cloud storage credentials manually; or proxy the data through Comet Server Storage Role; or ideally, have Comet Server allocate new cloud storage credentials automatically. Previous versions of Comet Server supported this "Requestable" provisioning for Backblaze B2, Wasabi Cloud Storage, and custom HTTP integrations. The latest version of Comet Server extends this support to Amazon AWS and to custom IAM-compatible cloud services.
Feature: Allow selecting Amazon AWS as a Requestable storage target
Feature: Allow selecting "Custom IAM-Compatible" as a Requestable storage target
Option to codesign macOS client software installer directly. When this option is enabled, Comet Server will perform macOS codesigning locally, without requiring SSH access to a macOS system.
Added a new Getting Started guide which walks new Comet Server admins through the first steps of running a Comet Server, from adding their first user to downloading and installing the Comet Backup desktop client to running a backup job. This guide appears the first time an admin logs into a new server and can be dismissed at any time.
Support for generating Synology SPKs for DSM 6 and DSM 7 for the Comet command line client, which can be used instead of the generic .tar.gz installer for Synology NAS devices. SPKs integrate with the Synology package center and are not removed by DSM upgrades.
Add a quick search component to the admin web interface. Storage Vaults, Protected Items and User Profiles can be searched for
Allow configuring how often a retention pass runs after a backup job
You can get started with Synology by downloading your .spk package from the Comet Server downloads page. For more details, check out the documentation.
The quick search component is now available in the header bar of your Comet Server. You can search for Storage Vaults, Protected Items and User Profiles.
Support to restore single files and folders from Disk Image backup on both Comet Backup desktop app and Comet Server web interface (current only support for NTFS)
You can browse and restore single files and/or folders from Disk Image backup by selecting "Restore files and folders" from the restore method wizard. The feature currently only supports for NTFS.
Add the new schedule option "If last job was Missed" to allow a backup job to run as soon as the Comet client is reconnected when there are missed jobs
You can now select "If last job was Missed" from the schedule dialog.
When a device re-connects to the server and detects that it has recently missed a backup, it will immediately start a new backup job.
This replaces the previous option "When PC starts, if last job was missed". The "If last job was Missed" option bypasses any issues with fast startup, hibernation or sudden power off interrupting a backup schedule.
Deprecation: Comet Server no longer supports Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. Note that the Comet Backup desktop app continues to support Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008; this only affects Comet Server. Windows Server 2008 R2 is still supported for both Comet Server and the Comet Backup desktop app.
Deprecation: Removed support for U2F for two-factor authentication for admin users due to the impending removal of U2F from browsers (see !https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/xHC3AtU_65A). Existing U2F 2FA will be automatically migrated to use WebAuthn when the Comet Server instance is upgraded; this requires no action on an admin's part, and the same U2F devices can continue to be used.
Added support for WebAuthn for two-factor authentication for admin users, including support for Windows Hello Face / Fingerprint / PIN, Android Safetynet / Fingerprint and other Hardware Security Keys
Add new wizard for synchronizing time zone in the recovery environment
This release includes a change to the format of Comet Server's comet-jobs.db3 file. When upgrading to this version, there may be a one-time startup delay of around ~30 seconds as the database file format is migrated.
Fix an issue with running simultaneous backup and retention passes if deleted data is re-added with precise timing, that could cause the concurrent backup job to be unrestorable
Add three new retention rules. "Last [...] backups, at most once per day", "Last [...] backups, at most once per week", "Last [...] backups, at most once per month"
Add timezone to each device, schedules will now honour the device specific timezone instead of the User Profile timezone
Fix an issue with incomplete optimization coverage for past Office 365 backup job snapshots, that could cause unrestorable data. All past Office 365 backup job snapshots will be scanned and re-optimized
Fix an issue with very large job reports generated when failing to optimize a past backup job snapshot
Support restoring Office 365 Calendar events to Office 365 cloud
Show a different icon for Microsoft Teams folders when restoring data in the Comet Backup desktop app and in the Comet Server web interface
Update the style of Two-Factor Authentication configuration when configuring Admin user accounts in the Comet Server setup wizard, to match the user's own settings page
Improve performance of backup jobs by skipping the initial file scanning phase, if the information is not needed for quota enforcement nor for the Comet Backup desktop app interface
Uncover the error when the Wasabi bucket location is discovered
Add more detailed information about generating new custom serial numbers during the Comet Server install process on Windows and Linux (deb)
Add the new ap-northeast-1 Japan region URL into the searching list of Wasabi regions
On the server web interface add a new button for testing the connection of MySQL, MongoDB and Microsoft SQL Server protected item types.
On the server web interface Improve the protected item dialog to have a tab for authentication configuration of MySQL, MongoDB and Microsoft SQL Server protected item types.
Fix an issue with hanging when performing any operation on a Storage Vault with a large number of index files
Fix an issue with using the Setup Wizard to edit the Requestable Storage Vault configuration for an Organization when logged in as the top-level administrator
Allow configuring isolated Organizations in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface
Support new /ISLOCALSYSTEM="yes" silent installation flag to force the Comet Backup desktop app's background service to use LOCAL SYSTEM authentication
Support new TrustXForwardedFor option in cometd.cfg to support customer IP addresses behind a reverse proxy such as nginx
Support jpg/gif/png files when setting a custom application branding icon for the client software, by automatically converting to the required ico/icns format internally
Support /TRAYICON=disable command-line parameter and HKLM\Software\backup-tool\TrayIcon registry key, to prevent creating tray icon when installing Comet Backup on Windows
Support /SHORTCUT=disable command-line parameter and HKLM\Software\backup-tool\Shortcuts registry key, to prevent creating desktop and Start Menu shortcuts when installing Comet Backup on Windows
Switching to use the PAX format causes spurious "PaxHeaders.0" directories to appear in current (19.00) versions of 7-Zip. This should be resolved soon by a new 7-Zip update. There is no such problem using GNU Tar or bsdtar/libarchive.
Perform network time sync when booting the USB Recovery Media
Ensure more fidelity for restoring non-ASCII filenames, atime/ctime, and timestamps with sub-second precision inside TAR archives by switching to PAX format
Automatically select USB device if only one is available when generating USB Recovery Media
Support sub-organizations in Comet Server. Each organization has their own private set of users, policies, branding, news entries, and storage buckets
New boot experience for the USB Recovery Media, with cosmetic redesign and easy access Tools menu
Option to add additional custom drivers to the USB Recovery Media
Support a token system to silently install the Comet Backup desktop app without specifying the username/password in plaintext (AdminCreateInstallToken API used with /TOKEN= parameter)
Option to quickly select common backup source paths when creating new Protected Items in the Comet Backup desktop app. This currently includes Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Favorites, Outlook, and Windows Mail
Allow restricting Comet Server admin accounts to access the branding and/or Requestable Storage parts of the Setup Wizard only
Allow restricted Comet Server admin accounts to change the branding and/or Requestable Storage server settings without requiring a full daemon restart
Allow preventing other Comet Server admin accounts from changing their own password via their My Account page. When coupled with the pre-existing ability to prevent access to the Setup Wizard, this can entirely prevent a Comet Server admin account from changing their own password
Option to reset a customer's 2FA from the Actions menu in the Comet Server web interface
Show the number of users using the corresponding policy in group policy page in the Comet Server web interface
PLEASE NOTE: this is a limited-security feature only, protecting only (A) registering new devices; (B) opening the desktop app; and (C) logging in to the Comet Server web interface as an end user. Because backup jobs need to run unattended without 2FA prompting, this feature does not provide full 2FA protection in all cases.
Fix an issue with json unmarshalling error for files with invalid date.
Fix an issue with the fallback software upgrade system that could cause multiple job schedules to be created for the fallback Protected Item
Fix an issue with the fallback software upgrade system interacting incorrectly with the Protected Item type restrictions policy
Fix an issue with the fallback software upgrade system starting all jobs simultaneously as a thundering herd instead of staggering
Fix an issue with SSL connections to some Microsoft SQL Server databases using self-signed certificates
Fix an issue that could cause Comet Server to fail to start up randomly
Fix an issue with editing existing HTTPS network addresses in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface
Fix an issue with "Internal Error" messages if changing the type of existing Protected Item to File without configuring any File settings in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with left-click on an uninitialized Storage Vault in the Comet Backup desktop app still showing an (un-saveable) Vault settings dialog even if the Prevent Editing Storage Vaults policy was set
Fix a cosmetic issue with additional popup messages for outstanding network actions when logging out of the Comet Server web interface
Fix an issue with "failed parsing LIST entry" error messages when using an FTP storage connection to Microsoft IIS
Fix an issue with "Another device modified the settings at the same time" error messages that could occur during some internal operations in Comet Server
Fix an issue with checking explorer.exe status during software upgrades on 64-bit Windows
Fix an issue with Comet Server error messages not appearing in the Server Log if the server shuts down unexpectedly
Fix an issue with not preventing the Storage Role from using invalid location targets within the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface, causing Comet Server to fail to restart
Fix an issue with not persisting detailed device operating system information
Fix an issue with the Comet Server self-backup system leaving files in the system temporary directory
Fix an issue with the fallback Powershell-based system for upgrading from Comet 19.12.4 requiring .NET Framework 3.5, by developing a replacement fallback upgrade system that does not require .NET/Powershell
Fix an issue with excessive Missed backup job reports being generated for virtual Protected Items created by the fallback software upgrade system
Fix an issue with the Comet Server web interface hanging when viewing the next upcoming schedule time for a Periodic schedule with zero offset
Fix a cosmetic issue with layout of custom backup job advanced option checkboxes at small screen widths and in CloudView
Fix a cosmetic issue with extra '>' characters in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with 'NaN:NaN:NaN' dates appearing when viewing a job report with no log entries in the Comet Server web interface
This update introduces a new file storage format for Comet Server's jobs database file. The previous file format will be upgraded on first run. Older versions of Comet Server cannot read the new format; if you want to roll back the Comet Server version, you will lose job history unless you first recover the comet-jobs.db file from either the .old file (produced by the upgrade process) or from your Server Self-Backup archives.
Fix an issue with backing up and restoring paths containing trailing spaces
Fix an issue with listening on an IPv6 literal address on Comet Server on Linux
Fix an issue with forgetting changes to the Protected Item dropdown in the Run Backup wizard in the Comet Backup app
Fix an issue with unresponsive backup job cancellation in some specific situations
Fix a cosmetic issue with error messages when attempting to restore from an uninitialised Storage Vault
Fix a cosmetic issue with Backblaze B2 storage instructions being below the visible fold in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with obscuring text entered into the Subdirectory field when editing a Wasabi, S3-Compatible, or Google Cloud Storage location in the Comet Server web interface
Fix a cosmetic issue with inconsistent "Blob Prefix" naming scheme for Azure, OpenStack Swift, and Backblaze B2 storage locations, by standardising on "Subdirectory" for all types
Fix a cosmetic issue with nonspecific error messages when Comet Server fails to parse an IP address to listen on
Fix a cosmetic issue with editing IPv6 listen addresses in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface
Remove "Run in popup" from Comet Server Service Manager (it can be misleading as it runs as a different Windows user account; better to check the log files.)
Remove the "Pre-logon service" because the functionality is now automatic. Any installed services will be automatically upgraded to the new "delegate" system
Rename the Protected Item type "VSS-Aware Component" to "Application-Aware Writer", to more clearly indicate that VSS is a base feature of "Files and Folders" Protected Items
In Comet Server's web interface, prevent closing dialogs when clicking the background, to avoid accidentally closing dialogs when only refocusing the window