Setting Up a Windows Node

A node is any server running IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server. Aspera web applications, such as IBM Aspera Faspex, communicate with a node through the IBM Aspera Node API. When a node is added to Faspex, it is called a tethered node.

The instructions below assume you have already installed HSTS on your server. For instructions on installing IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server Admin Guide: Installing HSTS.

Verify that the node is running IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server with a valid Connect Server license on your transfer server:
Run the following command:
```
> ascp -A
```
In the resulting output, look for the following phrase:
```
Connect Server License max rate
```
If you need to update your transfer server license, follow the instructions in IBM Aspera Enterprise Server Admin Guide: Updating Product License.
Create the faspex system user account on the node.
Click Control Panel > User Accounts and add a new account named faspex. This system user account is associated with the Node API account in the steps below.
After creating a Windows user account, log in as that user at least once for Windows to set up the user's home folder.
Create and configure the faspex_packages directory.
Create the following directory:
```
> cd C:\
> mkdir faspex_packages
```

The asconfigurator utility modifies the aspera.conf configuration file, located at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspera\Enterprise Server\etc\aspera.conf.

Add the transfer user to aspera.conf and set the docroot.
The directory you choose for the docroot is the absolute path for the transfer user. When this node is added to Faspex, users cannot access files or folders outside of the docroot.
CAUTION:
Aspera recommends that you not use spaces in your docroot. If your docroot contains spaces, you may not receive all email notifications relating to transfer activity.
Run the following asconfigurator command with the transfer username and the docroot path:
```
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,username;absolute,/docroot/path"
```
For example:
```
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,faspex;absolute,/home/faspex/faspex_packages"
```

Set up token authorization for the user in aspera.conf.

Run the following asconfigurator commands to set the encryption key for the user:

> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,username;authorization_transfer_in_value,allow"
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,username;authorization_transfer_out_value,allow"
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,username;token_encryption_key,encryption_key"

The encryption key can be any string of numbers. Aspera recommends a string that is at least 20 characters long. For example:

> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,faspex;authorization_transfer_in_value,allow"
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,faspex;authorization_transfer_out_value,allow"
> asconfigurator -x "set_user_data;user_name,faspex;token_encryption_key,gj5o930t78m34ejme9dx"

Set the IP address or hostname for the node in the aspera.conf file with the following asconfigurator command:
```
> asconfigurator -x "set_server_data;server_name,ip_or_hostname"
```
For example:
```
> asconfigurator -x "set_server_data;server_name,aspera.example.com"
```
Enable HTTP and HTTPS fallback.
The fallback settings on the node must match the fallback settings on Faspex. If the settings don't match, Faspex returns a "Package creation failed" error. Set the HTTP and HTTPS ports to the ports you configured in Faspex. For more information about HTTP fallback, see Configuring HTTP and HTTPS Fallback.
```
> asconfigurator -x "set_http_server_data;enable_http,true"
> asconfigurator -x "set_http_server_data;http_port,8080"
> asconfigurator -x "set_http_server_data;enable_https,true"
> asconfigurator -x "set_http_server_data;https_port,8443" 
```
Restart the asperahttpd service. Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services, click Aspera HTTPD, and click Restart.
Configure a HSTS transfer user account with a Node API username and password.

Faspex communicates to the HSTS transfer user account through the Node API to start transfers on the node.

For instructions on adding users to HSTS, see the IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server Admin Guide: Setting Up Users.
1. Run the following commands to set up the Node API user:
```
> asnodeadmin -a -u node_api_username -p node_api_passwd -x system_username 
```
  Note: Aspera recommends that you use different names for the system user account and transfer user account in order to minimize confusion when tracing transactions and events.
  For example:
```
> asnodeadmin -a -u node_user -p XF324cd28 -x faspex 
```
2. Run the following command to check that the system user was successfully added to asnodeadmin:
```
> asnodeadmin -l
```
  Given a node user named node_user and a system user named faspex, the output should be:
```
                user       system/transfer user                    acls
====================    =======================    ====================
           node_user                  faspex                            
```
Copy the IBM Aspera Connect public key to authorized_keys to allow Connect to connect to Faspex.
1. If the .ssh folder does not already exist in the system user's home directory, run the following commands to create the folder:
```
> cd "C:\Documents and Settings\username"
> mkdir .ssh
```
  For example:
```
> cd "C:\Documents and Settings\faspex"
> mkdir .ssh
```
2. If the authorized_keys file does not already exist, use a text editor to create or edit the following file: C:\Documents and Settings\username\.ssh\authorized_keys.
3. Copy the contents of the aspera_tokenauth_id_rsa.pub (C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspera\Enterprise Server\var\aspera_tokenauth_id_rsa.pub) public key to the file.
  The file must be named "authorized_keys" without file extensions. Some text editors add a .txt extension to the filename automatically. Be sure to remove the extension if it was added to the filename.

You can now add this node to Faspex.