Aspera Connect User Guide
Linux 32/64-bit Browser: Firefox 3+
Version 2.3.1
Aspera Connect is a file transfer browser plugin that allows web applications to take advantage of fasp-enhanced transfers. It includes the following features:
On Linux-based operating system, Connect supports the following web browsers:
If you have a previous version of Connect installed, close the Connect before executing the installer.
Go to the following download page and download the Aspera Connect for your operating system:
To install the Aspera Connect, close your web browsers (Firefox) and execute the following command in the installer's directory to set up the Aspera Connect. Replace the file name accordingly:
$ sh aspera-connect-[version].sh
When installed, Aspera Connect will be initiated when the web browser opens a Connect Server Web UI page.
The following table is a basic guideline and simple instructions to configure your firewall. Please refer to the appropriate documentation for specific instructions on configuring your firewall:
You may want to specify your network's connection speed for better transfer efficiency. To do that, launch Connect in the following location:
~/.aspera/connect/bin/asperaconnect
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When the Aspera Connect is initiated, right-click the Aspera Connect icon in the System Tray, and select Preferences. |
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In the Preferences window, navigate into the Network preferences option, and specify your network speed under the Connection section. |
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To specify the HTTP Proxy server for Connect, in the Connect preferences window (System Tray > Right-click Aspera Connect icon > Preferences.), go to the Network preferences option, and click Settings under the Proxy section. Enter the proxy server's address and port number into the specified fields. |
You can change the Connect application behavior through the preference settings. Right-click the Aspera Connect icon in the System Tray and select Preferences to begin.
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The options in the General preferences tab:
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By default, Connect downloads the files to the path /tmp. To change that, in the Connect preferences window, go to the Transfers tab, and set the download rule under the Downloads section:
You can set a retry rule if a transfer failed. In the Connect preferences window, go to the Transfers tab, and set the retry rule under the Retry section:
To make sure the software is working properly, follow these steps to test transfers with the Aspera Demo Server. Open Firefox and go to the following address. Enter the credentials when prompted:
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In the Connect Server page, browse into the folder /aspera-test-dir-large, click the file's icon directly to download, or check items to download and click Download to transfer multiple files. |
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When clicked a download link, a dialog box will prompt you to confirm the transfer. Select Allow to start. Check the Use my choice for all transfers with this host option to skip this dialog in the future. |
If the test transfer works, you can start transfers with your designated Connect Server. Point your browser to the server's address, for example, http://192.168.1.210/aspera/user, or http://companyname.com/aspera/user.
When uploading files, avoid transferring files with the following characters in the file name:
You may view and manage all transfer sessions in the Transfer Manager. Right-click the Connect's icon in the System Tray and select Transfers to bring it up. The Transfer Manager window contains the following elements:
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When the queuing option is enabled, only a certain number of concurrent transfers are allowed. The additional transfers will be queued in the Transfer Manager and initiated when a transfer is finished. You can manual-start a queued transfer by clicking the  (Resume) button.
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To monitor and adjust the transfer speed, in the Transfer Manager window, click the  (Transfer Monitor icon) to open Transfer Monitor. You can specify the transfer policy and the transfer speed if the Connect Server you are transferring files with allows. For more information about the transfer policies and transfer rate, refer to the Appendix 1. Transfer Policies and Transfer Rate.
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The content protection is a feature that allows the uploaded files be encrypted during a transfer, to protect them while stored on the remote server. The uploader sets a password while uploading the file, and the password is required to decrypt the protected file.
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To enable this feature, in the Connect preferences window (System Tray > Right-click Aspera Connect icon > Preferences.), go to the Security preferences option, and click the Content Protection tab. Enter the Connect Server's address in the Address text field and click Add. The Connect Server should be added to the Host list below. |
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While uploading files to a server that is added to the Content Protection host, a confirmation window will appear and prompt you for a passphrase to encrypt the file. You can enter the passphrase in the text field, or check Continue without content protection to proceed without using this feature. Click Continue to start the transfer. |
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When the server is configured to prompt for a passphrase for downloading files, a confirmation window will appear and prompt you for the passphrase to decrypt the file. Enter the passphrase in the text field, and click Continue to download and decrypt it. |
If you have the encrypted file downloaded without decrypting it, the downloaded file will have the extension aspera-env attached. To decrypt it, use the commands in Terminal:
$ export ASPERA_SCP_FILEPASS=the-passphrase
$ ~/.aspera/connect/bin/asunprotect encrypted-file.aspera-env > the-decrypted-file
For example, if the required information is as follow:
# export ASPERA_SCP_FILEPASS=pwwd
# ~/.aspera/connect/bin/asunprotect ~/Downloads/100MB.aspera-env > ~/100MB
You can manage Connect Servers by adding them to the trusted hosts to avoid the confirmation dialog, or to the restricted hosts to prevent the transfers. To do that, in the Connect preferences window (System Tray > Right-click Aspera Connect icon > Preferences.), and go to the Security preferences option.
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Click to the Trusted Hosts tab to add hosts that you want to always allow transfers. Enter the host's address in the specified text field and click Add. Click to the Restricted Hosts tab to add hosts that you want to permanently deny transfers. Enter the host's address in the specified text field and click Add. If you have the credential saved during a transfer, the information will be saved in the Passwords tab. Here you can remove the saved credentials. |
When a transfer is initiated, and the Use my choice for all transfers with this host option is checked in the confirmation window, the server that you are allowing or denying transferring files with will be added to the Trusted Hosts or Restricted Hosts list, respectively.
Aspera Connect can measure the bandwidth to an Aspera Connect Server during the transfer, and use the cached rate to optimize the transfer speed.
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To manage or configure the bandwidth measurement, in the Connect preferences window (System Tray > Right-click Aspera Connect icon > Preferences.), go to the Bandwidth preferences option. You can remove the cached transfer rate between servers. Check the Automatically cache measurements obtained during transfer to enable the bandwidth measurement. Check the Use cached measurements to optimize transfer rates to apply the cached bandwidth to the transfers with the server. |
The transfer policy and speed determine how you utilize the network resource for fasp™ file transfers. Four transfer policies described below:
The Aspera Connect installs the following files and folders to your computer:
To remove the Aspera Connect, use the following commands to delete these installed files:
$ rm ~/.mozilla/plugins/libnpasperaweb.so
$ yes|rm -r ~/.aspera/connect
If you have the Aspera Connect version 2.1 installed, remove the following files. When finished, restart the Mozilla or Firefox:
Stop the transfer session.