Adding an Administrative Account to a Linux Machine

IBM Aspera Console supports Red Hat, Solaris, and FreeBSD managed nodes.
The node machine that you add to IBM Aspera Console as a managed node must have a properly configured administrative account. The following instructions assume that you are logged into the node machine you want to add to Console.
Important: These instructions require that your Aspera service account (svcAspera, by default) be set up as a transfer user on the server. If the node's transfer product was installed by upgrading from a previous installation of IBM Aspera Enterprise Server or IBM Aspera Connect Server, a transfer user corresponding to the service account is created automatically. However, if it was a "clean" install (not an upgrade from a previous installation), only the service account is created, not the corresponding transfer user. In this case, create the transfer user manually using the GUI. For more information on creating the transfer user, see the IBM Aspera Enterprise Server Admin Guide.
  1. Configure the node machine's firewall as described in System and Firewall Requirements.
  2. Create an administrative user account on the Linux node machine.
    # useradd console_username
    Give the user account a password.
    # passwd console_username
    Note: This user is meant to be used for reporting and administrative purposes only. It cannot start transfers.
  3. Add the user to aspera.conf. Execute the following command:
    /opt/aspera/bin/asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,console_username;absolute,/"
  4. Give the user permission to write to the file aspera.conf.
    $ chown console_username:console_username /opt/aspera/etc/aspera.conf
  5. Add a node user associated with the system user.
    Console authenticates to the node machine using a Node API username and password. The following command creates a Node API user and password and associates it with the system user you created.
    # /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -a -u node_api_username -p node_api_passwd -x console_username --acl-set impersonation
    Adding, modifying, or deleting a node-user triggers automatic reloading of the user database and the node's configuration and license files. For more information on the Node API, see your transfer server's administrator guide.
    Note: If the transfer server on your node is running a transfer product before 3.5.5, the node is not recent enough to support setting the "impersonation" ACL. You must upgrade the node to 3.5.5+ or obtain a patch from Aspera Support.
  6. Verify that you correctly added the node user.
    Run the following command:
    # /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -l
    For example, if your node_api_username is node_user and your console_user is console, then the output should look like the following:
                    user       system/transfer user                    acls
    ====================    =======================    ====================
               node_user                    console          [impersonation]
  7. Restart the Aspera Node API and Aspera Central services to load changed settings.
    # service asperanoded restart
    # service asperacentral restart
Now that your node machine is configured for use with Console, open the Console interface and create a new managed node following the instructions in Creating a Managed Node in Console.