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· One min read

Changes compared to 24.12.0

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with free space metrics used by the Comet Server Storage Role homepage widget when using SFTP or SMB storage backend
  • Fixed an issue with Protected Items created by a Policy getting deleted when a Policy is changed or a default Protected Item is deleted

· 4 min read

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.

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.7

New Features

  • 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

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.6

Enhancements

  • Simplified configuration for VMware Protected Items by allowing direct configuration
  • Added support for MySQL backups on Linux without an installed mysqldump binary
  • Changed the behavior of MySQL backups if no installed mysqldump program could be automatically found

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.5

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Backup delegate service crashing when attempting to import a malformed settings file from another product
  • Fixed an issue where requesting a Storage Vault from an IAM compatible Storage Template with a bucket name provided generated a new policy
  • Fixed an issue with Syncro integration where the "Type" field contained too much information and the "Details" field was empty
  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Server Constellation role when using a Custom IAM-Compatible target configured with a Prefix
  • Fixed an issue when listing Microsoft 365 accounts with no SharePoint Online license
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue when setting a preferred language in the Comet Server web interface if multiple languages are allowed in the web browser

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.4

Enhancements

  • Updated super admin policies which have been incorrectly assigned to a tenant will be copied and recreated as tenant owned policies

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.3

Enhancements

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.9.2

New Features

  • Added support for assigning user policies in bulk in the Comet Server web interface
  • Added Test Connections functionality when using the "Log in to a network share" option in a Files and Folders Protected Item

Enhancements

  • Updated the user's profile page in the Comet Server web interface to use colored badges to more clearly distinguish online and offline devices
  • Extended support for resuming large network downloads from point of failure when Comet encounters a "Connection closed by foreign host" network error

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 24.9.1

New Features

  • Added support for restoring Disk Image backups as Hyper-V VHDX file format

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.9.1

New Features

Enhancements

  • Improved the error messages displayed when Storage Role to Direct-To-Cloud conversion fails to better explain the failure reasons

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.8.1

New Features

  • Add new "Allow read-only files to be overwritten" option to bypass read-only file permissions during restore
  • Allow setting quotas for VMware and Hyper-V guests virtual machines
  • Added support for granular restore of files from Hyper-V checkpoint .avhdx files
  • Added option to copy and paste Comet Server admin interface settings between servers

Enhancements

  • Improved Microsoft 365 incremental backups of Calendars, Contacts, and Messages to be more efficient and faster

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.6.8

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.6.7

Enhancements

  • Disabled selecting Hyper-V 'All VM Snapshots' mode on operating systems where it is not supported

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue preventing individual files to be selected during the granular restore process on the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with translations not applying for some detailed error messages

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.6.6

New Features

  • Added SMB Storage Vault option to the Comet Server Service Manager first use wizard

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Microsoft 365 listing that caused processing to fail when SharePoint Sites are locked
  • Fixed an issue with operating system information being incomplete for Windows devices
  • Fixed an issue causing certain Gradient PSA failures to retry for an unnecessarily long time

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.6.5

New Features

  • Added an option to have failed backup jobs retry after a configurable period of time
  • Added ability to bulk convert Storage Vaults created with S3-backed Storage Role templates to direct S3 Storage Vaults
  • Added support for restoring a Windows Disk Image backup from a Linux device
  • Added a Linux ISO option when using the Create Recovery Media feature

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.6.4

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the Users list page in the Comet Server web interface being reverse sorted by default
  • Fixed an issue with the Settings and Admin Account pages failing to render for an admin user in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with Comet Server config files being updated with an invalid Admin Organization
  • Fixed a crash when loading the Comet Server web interface on a Comet Server with Auth Role disabled

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.6.3

Enhancements

  • Added a new log message to backups that indicates that all pre-job steps are complete and backup work has begun

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.6.2

  • 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

New Features

  • Added support for granular restore from FAT32, EXT4, and XFS filesystems

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 24.6.1

New Features

  • Added new "Back up extra system permissions and attributes" option for File and Folders Protected Items

Enhancements

  • Improved the clarity of error messages when data packs are missing from a Storage Vault
  • Improved the clarity of error messages when Comet Backup fails to optimize an existing snapshot during a retention pass
  • Improved the performance of backup jobs that do not take a filesystem snapshot
  • Improved retry behaviour for S3 API requests that fail due to "unexpected EOF" errors

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.6.0

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue causing Comet to occasionally crash when performing a granular restore from an NTFS file system
  • Fixed an issue with the impersonating user banner showing incorrectly for direct user SSO logins
  • Fixed an issue with Windows Server 2008 fallback upgrades where the upgrade fails due to support for TLS 1.2 being dropped
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue where the Tenant name and "Online" status in the User's page were not distinguishable in the Comet Server web interface

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 24.5.1

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.3.8

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with backup jobs to the il-central-1 AWS region always failing
  • Fixed an issue with the Constellation title in the Tenant dialog not showing in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Server web interface violating the strict CSP policy
  • Fixed an issue causing a white background to show on some loading animations when using dark mode in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with missing branding images in Comet Backup desktop app for Linux
  • Fixed an issue with the message This Storage Vault was unlocked ... appearing incorrectly when a backup job was experiencing network issues
  • Fixed an issue causing alternate data streams on NTFS metadata files to cause errors during granular restores
  • Fixed an issue with invalid filenames when switching from a custom-branded client installer to the pre-built Comet Backup-branded installer
  • Fixed an issue with inconsistent validation between configuring custom client branding at the top-level versus for a Tenant's settings

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.7

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.6

New Features

  • Added support for selecting Windows drives by drive letter when configuring a Disk Image Protected Item

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.3.5

Enhancements

  • 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.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue causing a crash when data from multiple disks is selected for restore during granular restore workflows
  • Fixed an issue causing logins requiring 2FA to fail on the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Server web interface settings page to crash when a tenant has been deleted

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.4

Enhancements

  • Added retrying for intermittent errors that occur when restoring data to UNC paths

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed sorting of logs on the Server Logs page on the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue which caused the user detail page to fail to load for usernames with certain lengths in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue where the Comet Server web interface failed to remember column selections for usernames containing an @ symbol
  • Fixed an issue with missing hints for valid usernames in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with missing or misplaced loading animations in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with remote-controlled restores from the Comet Server web interface being unable to write to user home directories
  • Fixed an issue with backup job progress bars being left below 100% after the job completed
  • Fixed an issue with searching for items in Office 365 backup snapshots
  • Fixed an issue with unusable content when attempting to restore EFS-encrypted files to an archive
  • Fixed an issue with failing to restore directory timestamps
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with EFS-encrypted files appearing as directories in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 24.3.3

New Features

  • Added Impossible Cloud as a Storage Template provider
  • Added new "Latest VM State (Changed Block Tracking)" option for Hyper-V for improved backup performance

Enhancements

  • Added "days" as a unit to the Object Lock settings field when configuring a Storage Vault with Object Lock in the Comet Server web interface
  • Improved load performance of Server Logs page on the Comet Server web interface

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with being unable to load a user with an "@" in the username in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with "Test Connection" on VMware Protected Items not working when logged in as a normal user
  • Fixed an issue with some spanned storage targets being absent from the dashboard Storage widget in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with exposing S3-compatible hostnames during an early connection phase in the job logs

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.2

New Features

  • Added new SMB Storage Vault type

Enhancements

  • Refreshed the UI for the Protected Item wizard in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • "After" tasks will now run even for jobs which have been cancelled
  • Changed "Job History" on the Comet Server web interface to "Job Logs"
  • Added an option to the IAM-Compatible Storage Template to choose between creating buckets or subfolders
  • Added an option to the IAM-Compatible Storage Template to support Object Lock
  • Added an option to the IAM-Compatible Storage Template to support creating buckets in non-default S3 regions

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue causing File and Folder restores to sometimes hang when cancelled
  • Fixed an issue with Comet reporting the incorrect uploaded total in the backup job report if uploading to an S3 Storage Vault with Object Lock enabled
  • Fixed an issue with missing Comet Storage options in the Constellation dialog in the Comet Server settings page
  • Fixed an issue with "Internal Error" messages when viewing the Constellation Bucket Users report page early after Comet Server starts up
  • Fixed an issue with the Recent Activity page if a job started at precisely midnight
  • Fixed an issue with Comet Server stalling user profile operations if there is a high load of live connected devices

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.1

New Features

  • Added a new permission for enabling/disabling the ability for an admin account to delete a Storage Vault

Enhancements

  • Added "Account Name" as an additional data column to the Devices page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Improved the performance of browsing files and folders for granular restores
  • Reduced the amount of data downloaded while browsing files and folders for granular restores
  • Improved the performance of simulated granular restores
  • Implemented restoration of metadata for files and folders restored during granular restore
  • Improved the performance of granular restores when restoring directories containing few files
  • Improved error handling when a file or folder fails to restore correctly in granular restores

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 24.3.0

New Features

  • Added a new restore option to only overwrite existing files if there is a difference in file content already written to the restore location

Enhancements

  • Backup job logs now appear in the Console app on macOS
  • Installing the Comet Client on Linux devices no longer echoes password characters to the terminal
  • Improved the performance of the Comet Server when a large number of devices resume their live connection

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.9

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the Storage Template dialog for tenant administrators displaying incorrect fields after upgrading the Comet Server version

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.8

New Features

  • Added support for Dark Mode to the Comet Server web interface

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue preventing files from being backed up when stored in a OneDrive folder on MacOS
  • Fixed an issue in new Microsoft 365 SharePoint incremental backups referencing an invalid location in older snapshot formats
  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Server failing to start after deleting a tenant

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.6

Enhancements

  • Added server log messages to Comet Server startup to indicate when certain subprocesses have finished initializing
  • Added a S3-compatible (Object Lock) storage vault template type
  • Improved Microsoft 365 incremental backups of SharePoint Sites and OneDrive to be more efficient and quicker

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue causing the Comet Backup desktop app to enable Object Lock on a Storage Vault when Object Lock was not enabled
  • Fixed an issue with "unknown header" messages when connecting to a Storage Vault that has multiple files in the keys subdirectory
  • Fixed an issue causing some reporting filters to consistently use the first option instead of the selected option
  • Fixed an issue with the Recent Activity Email so it now correctly counts jobs which span multiple days
  • Fixed an issue with the Recent Activity Email so it now matches the same period as the Recent Activity Report in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed an issue with remote software updates for Windows clients
  • Fixed an issue with the Linux deb package not being present when listing the available software downloads via the API

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.12.5

Enhancements

  • Improved the performance of S3-compatible Storage Vaults when Object Lock is enabled
  • Improved the performance of simulated restores for most Protected Item types
  • Added a Job History tab to the User details page which shows jobs for the selected user in the Comet Server web interface

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.4

New Features

  • Added a Debian package for linux clients which installs the Comet Backup desktop app as a systemd service

Enhancements

  • Added support for custom HTTP headers in the "Custom Remote Bucket" Storage Template option

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue preventing restore jobs from completing due to incorrectly measuring the size of a downloaded file
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with confusion between "Comet" and "Comet Storage" in the Auth Role replication, Constellation, and Storage Template dialogs
  • Fixed an issue with the restore dialog becoming unresponsive while browsing a snapshot in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fixed unnecessary buffering when loading data from B2 Storage Vaults
  • Fixed an issue with misleading error messages when a Microsoft SQL Server backup job is misconfigured

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.3

New Features

  • Added the ability for top-level admins to create a new user in any tenant in the Comet Server web interface

Enhancements

  • Improved performance of "Optimizing snapshot" steps during a retention pass for remote Storage Vaults
  • Improved the "Add user" dialog in the Comet Server web interface to allow creating multiple users at once without having to enable advanced options

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.1

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.

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.12.0

Enhancements

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.9.10

New Features

  • 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.

Enhancements

  • Improved the admin accounts dialogue to have a separate Policies tab in the Comet Server web interface.

Bug Fixes

  • 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.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.9.9

Enhancements

  • Significantly improved performance when restoring directories containing only a few files from a File and Folder Protected Item
  • Lowered memory usage when uploading to S3-backed Storage Vaults in some use cases
  • Removed the device dropdown in web UI when adding a protected item when there's only one device

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.6

Features

  • Added support for backing up VMware virtual machines

Enhancements

  • Significantly improved the speed of granular restores from Disk Image backups
  • Improved the performance of restoring files and/or folders from Disk Image backups
  • Updated the Activity browser filter names in the Comet Backup desktop app to better clarify their functionality
  • Slight visual change to the Comet Backup desktop app About dialog

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.5

New Features

  • Added new "Comet Storage" and "Comet Storage (Object Lock)" storage destinations, allowing users to select Comet's new bundled Wasabi storage option for Storage Vaults (including Storage Templates)

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.4

New Features

  • Disk image backups can now be restored as VMware-compatible virtual disks.

Enhancements

  • Added ability to configure server audit file logging from the web UI.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the policy option "Always require password to open the application interface" not being respected during a silent install.
  • Fixed an issue with the Comet Server stats endpoint returning Internal Error in some specific scenarios.

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.3

Enhancements

  • Added a new template for Amazon S3 and Wasabi Storage Templates to make it easier to set Object Lock on a template.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with the Settings button appearing for admins with 'prevent editing settings' restriction.
  • Fixed an issue with the Policy Protected Items getting multiple unknown entries when the dialog for the OS picker is cancelled.
  • Fixed an issue where Microsoft 365 email backups would error instead of warn for server-side retrieval failures
  • Fixed an issue with the desktop application not launching after installation when "Launch Comet Backup" is checked on Windows Server
  • Fixed an issue with some Comet Server features being disabled if a valid license could not be obtained.

· One min read

​ Changes compared to 23.9.2 ​

Enhancements

  • Reduced memory usage when loading large index files from Comet Server Storage Role-type Storage Vaults
  • Renamed "Restore files and folders" to "Granular restore" when restoring files and folders from a Disk Image or Hyper-V backup ​

Bug Fixes

  • 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 ​

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.1

Enhancements

  • Updated language translations
  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.9.0

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue with Storage Vault configuration if the Object Lock duration was set to zero days
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with displaying the wrong file path syntax for Windows devices when editing a Protected Item in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.8.0

New Features

  • 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.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.6.11

Enhancements

  • Improved performance of cleaning up Object Lock delete markers during retention passes for S3-compatible Storage Vaults
  • Improve initial startup performance of browsing files to restore from a disk image

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.6.7

Breaking changes

  • New, simpler configuration may be required for PKCS11 Authenticode codesigning with a hardware dongle

New Features

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.6.6

Enhancements

  • Changed incremental backups for local file paths to estimate backup size instead of scanning

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.6.4

Enhancements

  • Comet Server quick search can now search user email addresses, device / Protected Item / Storage Vault / job IDs

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.6.3

New Features

  • 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)

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 23.6.3

Notices

  • Mac OS Versions 10.11 and 10.12 are no longer supported. The last releases that can be run on Mac OS 10.11 and 10.12 are 23.5 and 23.6.1

Enhancements

  • Updated the appearance of the quick search results area
  • Disk Image backups and restores will report the required BIOS mode into the job log
  • Improved the entrypoint/startup script for the Comet Server docker container

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.5.0

NOTICE: The "Run when PC Starts" option will now also apply to devices waking up from Sleep

New Features

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.3.8

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with macOS devices failing to log in with an ERR_UNKNOWN_DEVICE error
  • Fix an issue with the Recent Activity and Policies pages not loading correctly when hard-refreshed or loaded directly via URL
  • Fix an issue with Comet default branding not presenting correctly following a server upgrade

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.3.6

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.3.5

Enhancements

  • Enhancement: Significantly improve the performance of restoring files and folders from Disk Image Protected Items.
  • Enhancement: Support application credential authentication for OpenStack Swift storage.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.3.4

Enhancements

  • Add Test Connection button to Storage Template configuration window
  • Apply Authenticode codesigning to the Comet Backup client uninstaller on Windows
  • Minor performance improvement when saving settings changes as a limited admin or tenant admin in the Comet Server web interface

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.3.3

New Features

  • Add the ability to search for items to restore within Storage Vault snapshots via the Comet Server web interface

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with opening the Comet Server web interface for some admin accounts with restricted permissions
  • Fix an issue with pre-configuring backup options when clicking "Run backup" on a Protected Item in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue adding email addresses to user profiles in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue with incorrect Backblaze B2 storage validation
  • Fix an issue with validation on the Storage Role while the Storage Role is disabled
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with widgets on the About This Server page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with widgets on the Comet Server web interface homepage disappearing on page reload

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.3.2

New Features

  • Feature: New Comet Server home page widgets for protected items types, server storage, server self-backup, server replication
  • Feature: Cosmetic overhaul for the Comet Server web interface
  • Feature: Add suggested default exclusion paths, when configuring an exclusion via Policy in the Comet Server Web Interface

Enhancements

  • Enhancement: Show detailed error message in hover tooltip when a Test Connection operation fails in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Enhancement: Include autocert files in Comet Server self-backup
  • Enhancement: Add optional include of Comet Server log files in Comet Server self-backup
  • Enhancement: Add input validation to Storage Vault, Storage Role, and Storage Template configuration windows
  • Enhancement: Add human readable time format to Comet Server self-backup filenames

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 23.3.1

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with detecting Object Lock compatibility on some S3-compatible destinations
  • Fix an issue with locating the correct endpoint for Wasabi Storage Vaults
  • Fix an issue with not being able to perform single-file restore from Hyper-V .vhdx files using a custom path structure
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with not closing the Delete Snapshots dialog in the Comet Server web interface

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 21.3.0

New Features

  • Feature: Added the ability to use S3 object locking.
  • Feature: Added the ability to optionally permanently remove files marked for deletion in versioned S3 storage.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 23.2.0

Breaking Changes

This release makes some changes to how codesigning works in Comet Server, which includes bundling a PKCS#11 engine.

  • If you are using a hardware dongle for Authenticode EV codesigning, you may require an updated codesigning configuration.
  • Performing Windows codesigning from an ARM64 Linux version of Comet Server now requires glibc.

New Features

  • Add support for Azure Key Vault as an option for Windows Authenticode codesigning.

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.12.7

Enhancements

  • Added a toggle for Gradient integrations to enable/disable sending alerts
  • Added a legend to the Recent Activity email report
  • Update Spanish translations

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with unsolicited responses preventing a backup job to start
  • Fix an issue with the report preview for Grouped Status reports
  • Fix an issue where an incomplete email report configuration can break admin web UI
  • Fix an issue with admin email reports listing users excluded by configuration filters

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.12.6

Bug Fixes

  • 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"

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.12.5

New Features

  • Adding support to browse and restore files/folders in Hyper-V snapshot

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with delayed password hashing when resetting a user's password in the Comet Server API
  • Fix an issue with the Office 365 French translation
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with sort ordering of mandatory file and folder exclusions inside a Policy in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with the Polish translation

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.12.4

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.

New Features

  • Adding two new email report templates: Recent Activity Report and Group Status Report

Enhancements

  • Add guidelines for time boundaries when configuring an email report in the Comet Server web interface
  • Added validation to the Protected Item dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app, to stop empty Protected Items from being created
  • If there is no Protected Item when opening the Comet Backup desktop app, automatically open up the new Protected Item dialog

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.11.0

New Features

  • Feature: Comet Server and the Comet Desktop Client is now available in a Polski (Polish) translation.
  • Feature: Admin Email Reporting Options.
    • Allows admins to receive reports on the jobs of their users.

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.9.9

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the "Add Protected Item" button not working in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Fix an issue with Disk Image backups seeking past the end of the partition

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.9.8

New Features

  • Added an API to create a self-backup export for a single tenant

Enhancements

  • Improve performance of Disk Image backup on drives with large amounts of free space sectors

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.9.7

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.

New Features

  • Support Comet Backup on Apple silicon

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.9.5

New Features

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the backup-tool crashing during a single file restore from a Windows Disk Image snapshot.
  • Fix an issue with S3 Storage Templates crashing during the first Storage Vault creation.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.9.4

New Features

  • Added a top-level download button to the navigation bar on the Comet Server web interface.

Enhancements

  • 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

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.9.3

New Features

  • Added the ability to duplicate Protected Items in the Comet Backup desktop app

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.9.2

New Features

  • 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

Enhancements

  • Added separate port dialog for SFTP destination

  • Added "copy to clipboard" button for the Office 365 setup process

Bug Fixes

  • Fix a cosmetic issue with MacOS dialogs being squashed on "New protected item" -> Office 365 -> Azure authentication

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.9.1

New Features

  • Allow direct streaming restore of Microsoft SQL Server backups

Enhancements

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.9.0

Notice

  • 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

New Features

  • Add Backup Now for self-backup targets, in the Comet Server web interface

Enhancements

  • Improve performance when deleting an entire Tenant via the Comet Server API
  • Reduce filesize for downloading the Comet Backup installer for Windows
  • Option to filter live event event messages when constructing a Websocket, by using query parameters (e.g. ?allowList=4100)

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.8.0

New Features

  • New design for the dashboard screen in the Comet Backup desktop app

  • Support Storj.io as a Storage Vault location and as a Storage Template provider

  • Added ability to restore MySQL backups directly into a MySQL server, without spooling

  • Constellation Role is now supported for tenants

Enhancements

  • Webhooks can now be viewed, created, and edited through the Comet Server settings page, including as a Tenant admin

Previously this was only possible through API or hand editing the server config file.

  • Improve performance of compressing data during backup jobs

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.9

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with backup job scheduling if the system timezone is changed to not match the user device profile timezone while Comet is running
  • Fix an issue with using the Test Connections button for a Storage Vault in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.7

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.5

New Features

  • Feature: IDrive e2 can now be used as a storage template and custom vault
  • Feature: Added 'Overwrite if newer' option to allow restore to only update backed up files which are newer than existing
  • Feature: Allow selecting which device is used for testing the connection of a Storage Vault in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.4

Enhancements

  • AdminDispatcherListActive API call now takes an optional UserNameFilter parameter to restrict fetched results

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with Office 365 license calculation
  • Fix an issue with unexpected job history search results when clicking on the "Last 24 hours" homepage widgets in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue with the DSM 7 Synology client package failing to start when the branded name contains an ampersand ('&')
  • Fix an issue with the RPM installer for Comet Server
  • Fix an issue with infinite EndTime / Duration values for incomplete jobs in the AdminGetJobsForDateRange API
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with branding images not displaying with their original aspect ratio
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with showing unbranded error messages from Wasabi in some cases
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with some Wasabi error messages being combined onto the same line

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.3

Bug Fixes

  • Fix a security issue with the Storage Vault Test Connections button in the web editor that might cause credential exposure
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with NaN appearing when clearing fields from scheduler input boxes in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.6.1

New Features

  • Option to download a prebuilt codesigned client installer (Comet branded)
  • New /SERVER= silent install parameter to the Comet Backup on Windows silent install, to override the default login URL

Enhancements

  • Renamed all references of 'Requestable storage' to 'Storage template'

  • Allow reading default URL from Windows installer filename if there is no embedded default URL
  • Show the server login URL field in the Comet Backup desktop app if a 192.168.x.x address is used
  • Tenants can now configure its own SMTP settings to override the default one

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.5.1

Enhancements

  • 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.

· 3 min read

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

New Features

  • Feature: Add Chinese (Traditional) language translation for client-facing text

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.3.5

New Features

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

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.3.4

Enhancements

  • Hourly schedule configuration could be run on specific days and within a specified time

  • Individual paths for Files and Folders Protected Items can now be edited in the Comet Backup desktop app

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the time zone of Synology devices being detected by Comet as UTC even when the device is set to another time zone

  • Fix an issue with email reporting table allowing duplicate email entries

  • Fix an issue with Office 365 where Comet could crash due to incorrect parsing of error response
  • Fix an issue with Office 365 when OneDrive files or folders are restored to filesystem
  • Fix an issue with 'Once Only' schedule type which displays 'Invalid Date' when default values are kept

  • Fix an issue with tab order of the Schedule editor dialog in the Desktop client which now runs from top to bottom, left to right

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.3.3

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the new macOS codesigning toolchain on Comet Server for Linux if the cometd user account has no writeable home directory
  • Fix an issue with panics occurring if there is a network error during the initial login process when installing the Comet Backup desktop application
  • Fix an issue causing the Comet Server web interface to crash when clicking "Restore" on the final page of the Restore wizard
  • Fix an issue with inaccurate subprocess exit codes returned from the backup.elevator service
  • Fix an issue with Utimesnano warnings when restoring the timestamp of the /Users directory on macOS

· One min read

Changes compared to 22.3.2

New Features

  • 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.

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with generating an uncompressed package when signing the macOS client installer by SSH
  • Fix an issue with malformed folder entries inside *.xar archives when creating an unsigned macOS client installer
  • Fix an cosmetic issue with logo positioning on the Comet Server web interface navigation bar
  • Fix an issue with the cancel button on macOS not working due to a missing tmp file
  • Fix a crash that can occur if Comet encounters an error while performing an Office 365 backup

· One min read

This version contains an important security bugfix. Please upgrade as soon as possible.

Changes compared to 22.3.1

Bug Fixes

  • Fix a security issue with cross-Tenant information disclosure
  • Fix an issue where enabling and disabling SSH access on a DSM 6 Synology NAS is necessary to allow the Synology SPK to install correctly

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 22.2.0

New Features

  • Support sending a bulk upgrade to a custom query of users
  • Option to choose whether a bulk upgrade campaign overrides/interrupts any running backup jobs or not
  • Support separate 'Find' and 'Find and Replace' modes on the advanced 'Bulk Replace Addresses' page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Some job and device metadata is now available as environment variables in Before/After commands
  • New backup-tool command to output the unique device ID

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.7

New Features

  • Feature: Support to restore single file and folder from VMDK snapshot as archive (zip, tar, tar.gz, and sqfs) and download only

Disk Image snapshots can now restore individual files as a compressed archive.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.6

New Features

  • 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.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.4

New Features

  • 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.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.3

Enhancements

  • Use more descriptive explanations for special entries in the Storage Vault analysis dialog in the Comet Server web interface
  • Add Storage Vault size as a hidden column on the Job Search page in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.2

New Features

  • 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.

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.1

New Features

  • Added three new S3-compatible storage providers: Digital Ocean, Catalyst Cloud, and Cynny Space
  • Added Test Connection button to verify Storage Role credentials in the Comet Server web interface settings screen

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.12.0

  • 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.

New Features

  • 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

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 21.11.1

  • Terminology: 'Organisations' are now 'Tenants'

New Features

  • Replaced the Comet Server web interface Setup Wizard with a Settings page
  • Add option to create ISO file as the recovery media in the Comet Backup desktop app

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.9.11

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.

New Features

  • New API endpoints added for listing the Office 365 account resources that are available for backup
  • New and improved user interface for the Office365 Protected Item
  • Support the granular Office365 service backup

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.9.8

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.9.5

New Features

  • Support certain new upcoming Wasabi cloud storage regions upon their upcoming availability date
  • Add optional 'Registered' column to the Devices table on a User's profile page in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.9.4

Enhancements

  • Mark job as abandoned if remote device cancellation fails to find a matching process
  • Improve the accuracy of Files and Directories statistic for the Office365 booster

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.9.3

New Features

  • Support running Comet Server on Linux ARM64
  • Option to hide files instead of deleting them on Backblaze B2, for extra ransomware protection
  • Support running backup jobs and retention passes simultaneously

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.9.0

New Features

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.16

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with not generating Missed backup job entries if "Keep Job logs for" was set to Unlimited
  • Fix an issue with excessive job report size when failing to optimize a backup job snapshot

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.14

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.6.11

New Features

  • Support restoring SharePoint lists back to Office 365
  • Option to select non-Public regions for Office 365 backup (including China, Germany, US Government, and US DOD)

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.6.10

New Features

  • Allow to test connection for storage vaults
  • Support two new s3-compatible storage providers "Filebase" and "Storadera"
  • Support to restore Office365 to cloud location from web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.9

Enhancements

  • Prompt more specific error messages while testing connection for Office 365 Protected Item
  • Improve the usability of the Automatic authentication for an Office 365 Protected Item
  • Improve the Office 365 Protected Item memory performance of backing up large OneDrive files

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.8

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with running out of memory when backing up large files from OneDrive in a Microsoft Office 365 backup job
  • Fix an issue with sending scheduled summary-table email reports with the top-level Organization's From address
  • Fix an issue with applying incorrect Organization for user profiles received by replication
  • Fix an issue with not loading the default port for MySQL when using the 'Test Connections' feature
  • Fix an issue with high CPU load when generating many custom branded installers, by restricting the total simultaneous processing level
  • Fix an issue with very large job logs, by restricting to reporting a maximum of 15000 file-based errors
  • Fix an issue with using special characters in password when installing Comet Backup for Linux
  • Fix an issue with Comet Backup crashing when trying to display certain contact- or calendar- related errors from Microsoft Office 365
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with stating both "Error for..." and "Warning for..." the same file in backup job logs
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with 'context cancelled' error messages hiding the real error message in retry attempts

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.7

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with generating too many Missed backup job report emails
  • Fix an issue with Office 365 snapshot create if one or more accounts has error
  • Fix an issue with example text when configuring Pattern/Regex include paths in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue with loading SMTP sending details for scheduled email reports as an Organization

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.6

Enhancements

  • Minor performance increase for job database files in Comet Server by increasing page cache size
  • Faster cleanup of temporary files when generating a Comet Server Self-Backup

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.6.5

Enhancements

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.6.4

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.3

New Features

  • Support 'Advanced Filter' to include all files matching pattern or regular expression
  • Allow specifying target operating system when configuring a Default Protected Item in a Policy in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.2

  • Move Comet Backup for Windows' saved username/password for auto-logon from AppData into the registry

Enhancements

  • Allow specifying custom Office 365 application credentials for restore in the RestoreJobAdvancedOptions API

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.6.1

Enhancements

  • Add version number information to more Windows exe files
  • Minor performance improvement for loading very large number of Office 365 mailboxes in the Comet Backup desktop app

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.5.0

New Features

  • Support backing up Microsoft Office 365
  • Use two-pane widget when choosing files to restore in the Comet Server web interface, improving performance and allowing sort and search filters

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.3.7

Enhancements

  • Allow sorting columns in the Restore dialog in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Minor performance improvement when loading any data-driven view in the Comet Backup desktop app

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.3.6

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the Comet Server API when setting policies as a top-level administrator on behalf of a different Organization
  • Fix an issue with Comet Server if there are missed email reports due to be generated for Organization user accounts
  • Fix an issue with uninstalling the backup application on macOS if --also-removed-saved-passwords was supplied but no saved passwords were found

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.3.4

Enhancements

  • 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.

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.3.2

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with web browser compatibility for the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue with top-level administrators modifying policies belonging to other Organizations
  • Fix an issue with failing to register a new device from some very old (17.2.x) versions of Comet Backup

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.3.1

New Features

  • Redesign restore dialog and job report's 'File' tab to use two panes, improving performance for very large numbers of files
  • Redesign Protected Item configuration to separate 'Authentication' and 'Items' tab (in the Comet Backup desktop app)
  • Allow supplying a custom *.icns branding image to use for the Menu Bar icon for the Comet Backup desktop app on macOS
  • Show the status of last/current Self-Backup jobs on the About This Server page in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 21.3.0

Enhancements

  • Improve performance of authenticating a large number of admin API requests
  • Prevent creating blank paths in the Mandatory File and Folder Exclusion policy section in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 21.2.1

  • The top-level administrator user accounts can now only log in to the Comet Server web interface at a non-Organization URL

New Features

  • Support suspending an Organization
  • Support advanced search queries when restoring files in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Allow multiple admin users to have the same username if they belong to different Organizations

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.11.3 and 20.12.2

New Features

  • Support editing advanced email settings from the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Support Static Locations for new Spanned targets, improving performance in limited situations
  • Support requesting a "Custom Remote Bucket" from an API endpoint

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.12.1

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.11.2 and 20.12.0

Enhancements

  • Reduce memory usage in the Comet Backup desktop app when communicating with the background service
  • Reduce memory usage when uploading replacement index files during a Retention Pass
  • Reduce memory usage when loading index files from a Storage Vault
  • Improve performance when deleting single files from large directories within a past backup job snapshot
  • Improve performance when processing Storage Vaults containing a large number of snapshots
  • Improve performance of user profile operations if a Storage Vault contains a lot of shared data, by truncating deduplication analysis data
  • Reduce peak server load in Comet Server by extending the reconnection time window for live device connections
  • Automatically clean up packindex files if a consistency issue is detected, and during reindex operations

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.11.1

New Features

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.9.10

New Features

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.9.9

New Features

  • Support adding custom files, directories, and startup commands when creating USB Recovery Media
  • Add a "Run" dialog to the USB Recovery Media boot environment

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.9.7

New Features

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.9.5

New Features

  • Prompt for Full Disk Access permission on macOS
  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.9.4

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.

Enhancements

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.8.4 and 20.9.3

Enhancements

  • Add new AdminStorageBucketProperties API for individual properties and re-measuring bucket size
  • Minor performance improvement for restoring only selected items from a backup job snapshot containing large directories

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.9.1

Enhancements

  • Add Properties tab on the Live Connected device dialog in the Comet Server web interface
  • Reduce Comet Server's peak memory requirements for producing large user/device lists, large job search results and large job reports
  • Minor performance improvement for generating backup job email reports
  • Store Comet's generated device ID in the Windows registry, for correlation with other software such as an RMM agent

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.8.3 and 20.9.0

New Features

  • Support new "Rebrand Storage" option on individual Storage Vaults, to prevent users from viewing the actual storage type
  • Support preconfiguring the Rebrand Storage option for new Storage Vaults created via the Request system

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.8.2

  • Change some Windows Event Log event IDs used by the background service manager (56, 57)

New Features

  • 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)

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.6.7

Enhancements

  • Reduce memory usage required for Storage Role replication in Comet Server
  • Reduce memory usage for generating email job reports in Comet Server
  • New Comet Server API to retrieve job reports as JSON format instead of plaintext
  • Use more specific Comet Server API error code when trying to create a user with an existing username
  • Cosmetic rename 'Account' to 'Settings' in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Cosmetic hide unavailable Protected Item types on macOS in the Comet Backup desktop app

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.6.2

Enhancements

  • Show exact size tooltip when restoring files in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Show "advanced options" on login screen by default if the Comet Server address is localhost or 127.0.0.1 in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Try to use Microsoft Edge (Chromium) instead of IE as the rendering engine for the embedded Help page in the Comet Backup desktop app

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.6.0

New Features

  • Updated Italian translation
  • New webhook API for live change notifications in Comet Server
  • Support viewing and basic editing of Hyper-V and Application-Aware Writer Protected Items in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.5.0

New Features

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.3.5

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with saving the "hide cloud storage branding" policy option when in group context
  • Fix an issue with direct-to-Wasabi bucket requesting outside of the default us-east-1 region
  • Fix an issue with direct-to-Wasabi bucket requesting after the first subfolder is already created

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.3.4

New Features

  • Option to automatically request new buckets on Wasabi Cloud Storage
  • Add a new policy to hide all cloud storage branding from client-side interfaces
  • Add a live-connection action to remotely uninstall Comet Backup software
  • Add a new Command-line option to remove saved credentials when using the Comet Backup silent uninstaller
  • Offer to remotely uninstall the Comet Backup software when deleting an account or revoking a device from the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 20.3.3

New Features

  • Option to require user account to change password on next login
  • Option to generate a random password when creating a new user account in the Comet Server web interface
  • Policy option to enforce that password entry is required into the Comet Backup desktop app

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.3.2

PLEASE NOTE: For privacy reasons, these features may be disabled by the customer using the "Allow administrator to view file names" option.

New Features

  • Support remote browsing a customer's PC when selecting files for backup
  • Support remote browsing a customer's PC when selecting a restore path in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 20.3.1

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.

New Features

  • Support TOTP 2FA for customer accounts
  • Support an end user changing their own password, language, account-name, TOTP when logged in to the Comet Server web interface
  • Support an admin changing customer's password without recovery code, if they otherwise know the customer's password
  • Prompt for one valid TOTP code before enforcing it for future logins in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.12.7

  • The Comet Backup uninstaller on macOS was moved to the Resources subdirectory of the .app package, to comply with Apple TN2206.

Enhancements

  • Improve performance of logging large job reports
  • Improve detection of Synology DSM operating systems on the Connected Devices page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Cosmetic display Linux distribution icon on the Connected Devices page in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.12.6

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.12.5

  • Comet Server now requires TLS1.2 for HTTPS connections, for improved PCI compliance. Windows Server 2008 users may be required to install KB4019276.

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.12.4

  • Remove IE8 support for the Comet Server web interface

Enhancements

  • Minor reduction in web browser memory usage when browsing the Comet Server web interface
  • Include the total retry duration in retried error messages
  • Add warning message when removing a Spanned storage target

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.12.3

New Features

  • Support deleting files/folders from inside a past backup job snapshot
  • Support custom codesigning and notarising of the Comet Backup for macOS installer, by configuring a Mac SSH server
  • Retrieve detailed operating system version, show on the Connected Devices page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Show free disk space and Spanned balancing information for Comet Server Storage Role on the About This Server page

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.12.1

  • Comet Backup for macOS now requires OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher (increased from 10.9 Mavericks)

New Features

  • Support remotely deleting historic backup snapshots from the Comet Server web interface
  • Periodic schedule type
  • Show upcoming schedule times when configuring a new schedule time, in Comet Backup and in the Comet Server web interface
  • Option to allow backup jobs to have Success status even if they didn't back up any files

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.12.0

Enhancements

  • Update Croatian translation
  • Add banner warning to the Vault Analysis dialog in the Comet Server web interface if the information is definitely outdated
  • Support preserving any customized LOCAL SYSTEM user account for Delegate service when upgrading from 19.12.1 or later
  • Add Version column to job history tables in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Add hover tooltip to "outdated" badge showing outdated version number, on the Recent Activity page in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.9.6

  • Renew our company's codesigning certificate for Windows. This may cause temporary SmartScreen popups for 1-2 weeks while reputation is rebuilt

  • Hide Android 'coming soon' message in the Comet Server web interface, as this doesn't need to be customer-facing at this stage

New Features

  • Support custom Windows authentication credentials for Microsoft SQL Server backups
  • Support importing "Windows Server System State" and "Windows System Backup" Protected Items from Ahsay v6

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.9.4

New Features

  • Update Croatian translation
  • Option to send test email in the Comet Server setup wizard
  • Support copy/paste of policies in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.9.3

  • Comet Server no longer includes a copy of the "help translate Comet" files - please see the latest copy on github.com/CometBackup/translations

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with stuck loading animation when attempting to login to the Comet Server web interface with two-factor authentication enabled
  • Fix an issue with determining the global location of a Wasabi bucket if their us-east-1 region is inaccessible
  • Fix an issue with using client SSL certificates to connect to a MongoDB server
  • Fix an issue with delayed freeing of user web session IDs in Comet Server
  • Fix an issue with not correctly applying Authenticode signing if certificates were uploaded via the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix an issue with "database is locked" error messages on some busy Comet Server Auth Role servers
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with non-integral numbers in port fields in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with tab stops when configuring MongoDB settings in the Comet Backup desktop app
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with row spacing when configuring FTP settings in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with changing dialog widths when switching tabs in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with inconsistent style of reset buttons in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with some missing translated strings when configuring MongoDB settings
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with unclear explanation text in the policy settings for retention

· 3 min read

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.

Changes compared to 19.9.2

New Features

  • MongoDB Protected Item type

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.9.1 and 19.8.2

Enhancements

  • Improve performance of writing to comet-xx.db files in Comet Server, especially large and/or fragmented files
  • Improve performance of the "prefer temporary files instead of RAM" option by up to 20%

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.9.0

New Features

  • Support FTPS storage
  • Support customising the Comet Server web interface session timeout
  • Option to set maximum number of connections to the FTP server (default 5)
  • Option to skip invalid SSL certificates for LDAP integration

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.8.1

  • Reinstate additional warnings from the automatic retention system, as part of the Voyager release transition

Enhancements

  • Include upload resources in Server Self-Backup archives
  • Clean up temporary upload files inside Storage Vault during retention pass
  • Clean up temporary upload files inside Server Self-Backup storage directory during Server Self-Backup retention pass
  • Cosmetic add message to suggest using Master keys for B2 requestable storage vaults in the Comet Server setup wizard

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.6.3

New Features

  • Support requesting new direct-to-cloud credentials for Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage
  • Support Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage as a Constellation target, to clean up directly requested credentials

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 19.5.1

New Features

  • Option to choose whether to overwrite files when restoring
  • Option to specify SSL intermediate certificate file, instead of having to manually create a combined file
  • Option to perform a download-only restore, without saving restored files, for test purposes
  • Option to restore to Program Input
  • Option to restore multiple files as a streaming tar file
  • Allow uploading SSL certificate files in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface
  • Support direct hotlinks to client software downloads
  • Display available network interfaces as dropdown in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 19.3.12

New Features

  • Display the device's online/offline status in Missed backup job reports
  • Optimize backup performance if Windows Defender is installed
  • Support editing Authenticode codesigning settings in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.3.10

  • Support fallback method for software upgrades from 19.3.9 / 19.3.10 with "stuck" upgrade path

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with not reporting software platform, affecting the Connected Devices page and the software updater
  • Fix an issue with occasional crashes when opening the Protected Item dialog pane in the Comet Backup app since 19.3.8
  • Fix an issue with binary differences in the Comet Server RPM installer package

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.3.9

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with the Save button when editing user accounts in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with not redirecting to new user account page after creation in the Comet Server web interface
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with form field alignment when creating a new user account

· One min read

Changes compared to 19.3.5

New Features

  • Support starting backup jobs from the Comet Server web interface when logged in as an end-user
  • Support specifying advanced options when running a custom backup job via the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.3.3

Bug Fixes

  • 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

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.2.2 and 19.3.1

New Features

  • Support LDAP login for administrator accounts
  • Support previewing custom email reports in the Comet Server web interface
  • Option to delete remote user accounts as part of Auth Role replication

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 19.2.0

  • Exclude ".dropbox.cache/placeholder.***" reparse points

  • Downgrade-incompatible on Linux

New Features

  • Support browsing files in job reports in the Comet Server web interface and in the Comet Backup app
  • Support selecting files to restore in the Comet Server web interface
  • Option to indicate whether the customer has consented to the MSP browsing their files (+ Policy control)
  • Option to set MySQL isolation mode
  • Add new backup-daemon-start-background helper script in Comet Backup for Linux

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.12.1 and 18.11.4

New Features

  • Option to keep deduplication indexes in on-disk temporary files instead of RAM
  • API to list all available software platforms
  • API to download more platform-specific variants of Comet Backup installer, for smaller filesize
  • Unbranded registry option for mixing in additional entropy for differentiating device IDs
  • Optional new Device ID column on the Connected Devices page

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.12.0 and 18.11.3

New Features

  • New "Recent Activity" page in the Comet Server web interface
  • New "Account Name" field for users
  • Policy option to set default retention policy
  • Policy options to enforce retention policies in Storage Vaults, and to prevent overriding retention policies in Protected Items

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.11.2

  • Change Event IDs used by Comet's service manager process

New Features

  • Portuguese (Europe) translation
  • Add Last Job column to the Protected Items table in the Comet Server web interface

· 3 min read

Changes compared to 18.9.8

New Features

  • Allow administrators to change their own security settings, passwords, and U2F registrations on the My Account page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Support configuring default email reports via Policy
  • Diagnostic option to separate devices that were incorrectly identified as the same on Windows

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.9.7

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with Policy groups created via API containing null arrays
  • Fix an issue with Constellation not canonicalizing default http/https ports in URLs
  • Fix an issue with calculating timezones in Brazil and elsewhere, by updating timezone library from 2018e to 2018g
  • Fix an issue with installing Comet Backup packages on macOS 10.14 Mojave
  • Fix an issue with wrong directory permissions in the Linux (generic) installer for Comet Server
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with non-smooth upload/download progress information for FTP Storage Vaults
  • Fix a cosmetic issue with disabling "default settings" policies when a policy group is enforced in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.9.5

New Features

  • Allow editing existing Mandatory Exclusions in policies in the Comet Server web interface
  • Allow uploading branding files directly in the Setup Wizard in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.9.2

New Features

  • New custom email report system
  • Allow defining a job filter for email reports
  • Allow defining multiple email reports per recipient email address in a single user account

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.9.0

New Features

  • Allow browsing snapshots for restore in the Comet Server web interface
  • Display email queue length and success/failure statistics on the About this Server page in the Comet Server web interface
  • Add optional "simple" mode to Comet Server stats API endpoint, to coalesce some redundant data points

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.8.3

  • Remove support for Internet Explorer 8 (IE 9 or later is now required; IE 9 can be installed on Server 2008 via Windows Update)

  • Remove support for replacing CSS in the Comet Server web interface (may be reinstated in a better way in the future)

  • Remove support for TOTP-only logins with no supplied administrator password

New Features

  • Support FIDO U2F keys for two-factor login to the Comet Server web interface as administrator

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.6.8

New Features

  • Support Comet Backup on Linux ARMv8 (Aarch64) and ARMv6kl, no glibc required. Best compatible ARM build will be autodetected at install
  • Policy option to set the "Skip if already running" option on backup schedules
  • Advanced diagnostic option to regenerate index directory in Storage Vault

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.5.8 and 18.6.7

Enhancements

  • Reduce class B transactions needed for Backblaze B2
  • Improve performance when backing up to Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi, and other S3-compatible destinations

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.6.5

  • Display more detailed explanation when Let's Encrypt refuses to provide you an SSL certificate

  • Display more detailed explanation when the Delegate service fails to launch from saved credentials

Enhancements

  • Enable the "Take filesystem snapshot" (VSS) option by default for new "File and Folder"-type Protected Items
  • Auto-detect bucket region for Wasabi storage
  • Support maximising the report dialog window in Comet Backup
  • Improve backup performance on Windows by supplying more accurate hints to the OS disk cache
  • Improve performance of compressing new data chunks for backup

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.5.7 and 18.6.4

New Features

  • Support setting Windows Network Authentication credentials for "File and Folder" Protected Items
  • Support copying multiple selected rows from the Comet Backup report dialog, including timestamps

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.6.3

New Features

  • Support setting Windows Network Authentication credentials for Comet Backup Storage Vaults and for Comet Server Storage Role storage
  • Built-in support for Wasabi Cloud Storage (S3-Compatible)

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.5.6 and 18.6.2

  • Display original error message in addition to fallback error message on Backup Operators-mode read failure

Bug Fixes

  • Fix an issue with upgrading installed Pre-Logon Service to the new Delegate service

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.5.5 and 18.6.1

  • 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.)

New Features

  • Track bucket / user / device / booster numbers over time, for a new homepage widget in the Comet Server web interface
  • Redesign server log page - search, navigate between log days

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.5.4 and 18.6.0

New Features

  • Policy options to hide Import feature, software version and codename in Comet Backup
  • Easy weekday picker for backup job schedules
  • Support "log" and "other" VSS modes for Application-Aware Writer backups

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.5.3

  • Remove the "Pre-logon service" because the functionality is now automatic. Any installed services will be automatically upgraded to the new "delegate" system

New Features

  • Automatic service mode
  • Support pre-logon backup on macOS
  • Hebrew translation (BETA)

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.3.13

New Features

  • Support backing up "Access denied" files in Comet Backup for Windows if the user account is in the Backup Operators group
  • Updated Spanish translation
  • Allow configuring storage during the initial setup wizard in Comet Server Service Manager

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.12

  • 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

New Features

  • Client web interface
  • Allow importing settings from CrashPlan
  • Policy option to prevent users from logging in to the client web interface
  • Raw policy editor in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.3.11

New Features

  • Group Policy option for mandatory, OS-specific exclusions from "Files and Folders" Protected Items
  • Option to toggle whether the embedded Help page in Comet Backup is embedded, opens in a popup window, or is disabled (leave URL blank)

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.3.10

Enhancements

  • Improve page load performance of the Job History page in the Comet Server web interface by up to 10x
  • New workflow for managing multiple email addresses for users in the Comet Server web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.3.7

New Features

  • Option to configure new Comet Server for Windows installations using your cometbackup.com credentials instead of a serial number
  • Write job report logs to Windows Event Log in Comet Backup for Windows

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.6 and 18.2.6

New Features

  • Support importing Microsoft SQL Server Protected Items from AhsayOBM 6.x
  • Option to display ID on job list page, advanced option to navigate directly to job report by ID in the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.5 and 18.2.5

Enhancements

  • Improve responsiveness of cancelling some types of backup jobs
  • Improve webfont loading performance for the Comet Server web interface
  • Add tooltips for navigation bar icons in the Comet Server web interface
  • Cosmetic toggle extraneous columns in the Comet Server web interface, to better fit mobile devices
  • Display an explanation message when failing to take a VSS snapshot of a non-NTFS filesystem
  • Improve compatibility with some types of FTP server

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.4 and 18.2.4

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

New Features

  • Support cancelling a running job from the Comet Server web interface
  • Support Hyper-V backup on Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, where Hyper-V module for Powershell is unavailable
  • Automatically clean up old "In Progress" job records that are no longer running

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.3 and 18.2.3

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

New Features

  • Display pie-chart rings for Storage Vault quotas in Comet Backup
  • Support "Copy (as cURL)" / "Copy (as wget)" when downloading Comet Backup for Linux
  • Support renaming devices in the Comet Server web interface
  • Display user account creation time, and allow searching/sorting by user account creation time in the Comet Server web interface
  • Display Protected Item sizes on user detail pages in the Comet Server web interface, linking to job that produced the information
  • Display IP address of live-connected devices in the Comet Server web interface (column is hidden by default)
  • Automatically unlock Storage Vaults when safe to do so

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.2

Enhancements

  • Display (always-enabled) compression and deduplication status in Storage Vault property dialogs
  • Display number of databases and backup mode in Microsoft SQL Server backup job reports
  • Improve performance for loading the Comet Server web interface
  • Rename backup types for Microsoft SQL Server, to clarify the behaviour

· One min read

Changes compared to 18.2.1 and 18.3.1

  • In Comet Server's web interface, prevent closing dialogs when clicking the background, to avoid accidentally closing dialogs when only refocusing the window

Enhancements

  • Reduce idle memory consumption of Comet Server web interface
  • Allow configuring the option to reduce number of disk access threads in the Comet Server web interface
  • Write Comet Server log files in Notepad-compatible format on Windows
  • Add proactive defence layers against possible clickjacking and XSS attacks against the Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 18.3.0

New Features

  • Updated Croatian translation
  • Option to reduce number of disk access threads during backup
  • Auto-refresh button when viewing backup job reports in Comet Server web interface
  • Button to copy backup job report content in Comet Server web interface

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.12.7

Enhancements

  • Enable downloading Comet Backup for macOS
  • Support importing MySQL-type Protected Items from Ahsay v6
  • Word-wrap long lines in the report dialog in Comet Backup
  • Remove trust confirmation prompt when automatically logging in to Comet Server from a trusted website
  • Allow configuring ICNS and Package ID for Comet Backup for macOS in the Setup Wizard in Comet Server

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.11.3 and 17.12.2

Enhancements

  • New storage format for auto-login password in Comet Backup for Windows (downgrading to older versions of Comet Backup will require logging in again)
  • Basic exclusion patterns are now case-insensitive on Windows

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.8.7 and 17.9.6

Enhancements

  • Enable backup of system tables for MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL 'master' table is always backed up in FULL mode)
  • Improve startup performance of VSS-Aware Component backup jobs and of browsing VSS components in Comet Backup
  • Support Exchange EDB enumeration and backup operations in environments where powershell execution is blocked
  • Automatically select port 3306 if no MySQL port is configured

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.8.6 and 17.9.5

  • Change identification that Comet reports to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage

New Features

  • Bulk Update
  • Option to skip this scheduled backup if a job is already running for the same Protected Item and Storage Vault
  • Option to stop a scheduled backup if it runs for longer than a certain time limit
  • Browse and create new B2 buckets from within Comet Backup
  • Allow editing email addresses from within Comet Backup
  • New account policy option to prevent editing email addresses within Comet Backup
  • New account policy option to prevent end-users from opening the Comet Backup application interface
  • Options to display Protected Item count, Storage Vault count, Storage Vault quota, and online device count on the Users page in Comet Server
  • Display current/outdated software version status on the homepage online status widget in Comet Server

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.9.3

New Features

  • Change user account password in Comet Backup
  • Policy option to prevent changing user account passwords
  • Policy option to prevent viewing other device computer names
  • Advanced option to remotely unlock Storage Vault for a live-connected device

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.8.5 and 17.9.2

New Features

  • Start a restore on Comet Backup, remotely via Comet Server's web interface
  • Option to hide Comet logo in the top-right corner of the Comet Backup interface
  • Allow editing Before/After commands in Comet Backup

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.8.4 and 17.9.1

New Features

  • German translation
  • French translation
  • Support Comet Backup for Linux on ARM CPU (armv7l +vfp)
  • Display replication speed and ETA in Comet Server
  • Display change-direction indicator for the replication queue in Comet Server

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.9.0

New Features

  • New Spanish translation
  • Option to revoke a device from Comet Server
  • Policy option to prevent users from deleting single snapshots from a Storage Vault
  • Display live upload/download amounts in Comet Backup during backup and restore tasks
  • Display live progress status in Comet Server for user's backup and restore tasks

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.8.3

New Features

  • Italian translation
  • Copy and paste Protected Item configurations between devices and accounts in Comet Server
  • Support multiple SSL certificates on the same IP/port pair in Comet Server

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.6.10

Enhancements

  • Remember the rows-per-page setting for tables when navigating in Comet Server
  • Improve VSS reliability in Comet Backup for Windows by always using the system VSS provider
  • Additional instructions when using the Setup Wizard to configure custom branding in Comet Server
  • Include full installer log in Comet job log when updating Comet Backup on Linux

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.6.9

Bug Fixes

  • Fix a minor performance regression with API response latency, client software download throughput
  • Fix an issue with invalid Content-Length responses from Comet Server causing "unexpected EOF" errors during software update

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.5.5 and 17.6.8

New Features

  • Analyse content of storage vaults (scanned during retention pass; visible in Comet Server)
  • Remotely initiate a "Apply retention rules now" pass
  • Support Comet Backup on Linux x86_32 CPU architecture
  • Display the time at which a Storage Vault's size was measured in Comet Server

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.5.3 and 17.6.2

New Features

  • Support sending email via Gmail account in Comet Server
  • Add Device name, Protected Item name, Storage Vault name to the Job History page in Comet Server
  • Option to toggle displayed columns in Comet Server

· 2 min read

Changes compared to 17.6.0

  • Reduce scope of the Setup Wizard in Comet Server Service Manager - Use the full settings wizard in the web interface

New Features

  • New backup type "VSS-Aware Component"
  • Option to install pre-logon service in Comet Backup
  • Option to log out of Comet Backup
  • Display file sizes, total file size when selecting files in Comet Backup

· 2 min read

New Features

  • Support Comet Server on Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 16.04, Debian 6, Debian 7 in addition to current Debian 8 support
  • Allow restricting Comet Server administrators by whitelisting IP addresses

· One min read

New Features

  • New interface design for Comet Server
  • Filter tables in Comet Server
  • Export tables to clipboard, CSV, XLS in Comet Server
  • Display news and update information on the dashboard in Comet Server

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.3.9

  • Improve Amazon S3 support

Enhancements

  • Display both old and new software versions as part of upgrade log report
  • Reduce memory usage for some types of backup and restore operations
  • Attempt to apply remaining file attributes during restore even if some permissions are not held
  • Add new API properties allowing callers to identify cross-server replication topology

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.2.9 and 17.3.6

New Features

  • User policies to restrict Protected Item creation/edit/deletion or using specific types
  • Bundle translation files with Comet Server. Help Comet by supplying translations
  • Option to download 32/64-bit only version of Comet Backup, for smaller download size

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.2.7 and 17.3.4

New Features

  • Allow storing Comet Server Storage Role data on cloud and FTP locations
  • Support expanding existing disk-based storage in Comet Server to spread over cloud storage
  • Span Storage Vault data cross multiple location providers in Comet Backup
  • Allow sending email reports to customers
  • Send branded bulletin emails to all customers
  • Allow specifying a custom SMTP server for email delivery
  • MX Direct for sending email reports without an SMTP server
  • Option to remove all news items from Comet Server
  • Translation support for Comet Server's web interface

· One min read

Changes compared to 17.2.2

New Features

  • Support backing up to FTP servers
  • Support custom subdirectory paths in Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and S3-compatible Storage Vaults
  • Support password and external authentication for SFTP Storage Vaults
  • Option to re-scan unchanged files (e.g. VeraCrypt containers with 'Preserve Modification Timestamp' enabled)