Upgrading Faspex from 4.2.0 or Later

Upgrade Faspex to the latest version from a post-4.2.0 version of Faspex.

Before You Begin...

Before beginning the installation process for Faspex, you must be logged into your computer as an admin (or domain admin if you are in an Active Directory environment).

Important: IBM Aspera supports direct upgrades to the current General Availability (GA) version from only two GA versions prior to the current release. To upgrade to the latest version, you must be within two GA versions of the current version. Upgrading from older version requires upgrading in steps. For example, if you are four GA versions behind, upgrade to two GA versions behind (GA - 2), and then upgrade to the current GA version.
Warning:

Prior to performing any upgrade, IBM Aspera strongly recommends customers:

  1. Perform a full environment back up and ensure the back up is successful. In case the upgrade fails, the only reliable, short-term fix is to roll back the environment using the back up.
  2. Test the upgrade in a test environment comparable to the production environment.
  3. If upgrading the test environment is successful, upgrade the production environment, but do not bring the production environment back online.
  4. Prior to bringing the production environment back online, the customer must test the application to determine if an immediate rollback is needed. Otherwise, customers risk losing all data generated between upgrade and rollback.
  1. Apply the latest Windows update on your server.
  2. Download the latest version of IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server, and IBM Aspera Faspex installers from the following locations:
  3. Make sure your MySQL password and your svcAspera password are easily accessible.
  4. Check the requirements in IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server Admin Guide: Before Upgrading.
  5. Install HSTS.

    Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to upgrade HSTS to the latest version.

Upgrading Faspex from 4.2.0 and Later

  1. Back up your Faspex MySQL database by running the following asctl command: 
     asctl faspex:backup_database

    The asctl command uses mysqldump to backup Faspex's three MySQL databases to C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspera\Faspex\Backup\time_stamp-version_number.revision_number

    For example, the directory name may be 2016-04-15_140547-Faspex.4.0.0.100400.

  2. Stop all Faspex services.

    Before upgrading, stop all services related to Faspex, including Faspex, MySQL, and Apache. Use the following command:

     asctl all:stop
  3. Back up the host before upgrading.

    If Faspex is installed on a physical host, perform a full file-system backup.

    If Faspex is installed on a virtual machine, perform a full virtual-machine backup or take a snapshot.

    In both cases, if a full backup is not viable, back up C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspera\ as a minimal option.

  4. If your server is using a remote database, you must set the SKIP_MYSQL_UPGRADE environment variable to true to perform a successful upgrade. 
     set "SKIP_MYSQL_UPGRADE=true"

    For more information about using a remote database, see Configuring Faspex to Use a Remote Database (Faspex + MySQL).

    Important: If you are using a local database, do not skip the MySQL upgrade.
  5. Launch the Faspex installer.

    Double-click the Faspex installer to begin the installation process.

    Note: If your Windows Operating System has User Account Control (UAC) enabled, confirm or enter the admin password to allow the installer to make changes to your computer.
  6. Click Install.

    Once the IBM Aspera Faspex Setup Wizard completes, you are prompted to finish the installation. By default, the Launch asctl to continue the Faspex setup checkbox is selected. Once you click Finish, the installer automatically runs the setup command. If you do not want to run the setup command automatically, then clear the Launch asctl to continue the Faspex setup checkbox.

    If Faspex doesn't automatically run the setup command or an error halts the process, then you can run the command manually, as shown below.
     asctl faspex:upgrade
  7. If you are upgrading from a version prior to 4.2.x, Faspex prompts you to provide the path to the database backup you made earlier: 
    Please provide the location of the Faspex database backup (e.g. backup/20XX-XX-XX_XXXXXX-Faspex.4.1.1.XXXXXX):
  8. Confirm that your previous Faspex settings are still applicable.
    Faspex prompts you to confirm if your previous Faspex settings are still applicable. Enter y to continue, n to change settings.
  9. If Faspex and HSTS are installed on the same server, restart the service.
    You can restart the Aspera NodeD service from the Computer Management window. Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services. Select Aspera NodeD and click Restart.
  10. If you are using IBM Aspera Validator with Faspex, you must enable the Out-of-transfer file validation (otfv) setting (Server > Security).
  11. If you had the HTTP Gateway [BETA] service installed, and want to use Faspex with HTTP Gateway 2.0 and later, stop the process, and then remove the /opt/aspera/httpgateway from your server: 
     service aspera_httpgateway stop
 rm -rf /opt/aspera/httpgateway

Logging In

  1. Open a supported browser and enter the Faspex hostname or IP address followed by /aspera/faspex in the browser URL. For example:

    http://faspex.asperasoft.com/aspera/faspex

    or
    http://198.51.100.24/aspera/faspex
    Note: For security reasons, Faspex versions 4.0.3 and later by default only allow login using the hostname that is configured in the faspex.yml configuration file (the hostname you designated during installation). If you try to log in to the application from an unlisted hostname or perform a GET request with an unlisted hostname, Faspex returns the error, "Invalid hostname". To access Faspex from an alternate hostname, follow the instructions in Configuring the Faspex Web Server.
  2. Log in with your credentials.
    If SAML configurations are available, you can choose to log in with a configured SAML provider or with your Faspex user credentials.

    If your administrator configured Faspex to use a default SAML configuration, Faspex automatically redirects you to the SAML login page. Login with your SAML credentials or login locally by bypassing the redirect.

    If you need to login with your Faspex user credentials or if you need to log in using another SAML configuration, you can bypass the redirect by adding login?local=true to the end of the URL. For example: https://192.51.100.24/aspera/faspex/login?local=true.

  3. If prompted, install IBM Aspera Connect.

    You must have the latest version of Connect installed to transfer packages using Faspex. Faspex prompts you to install the Connect Browser if you do not have it installed or if your version is not the latest. If you install Connect, refresh your browser to start using Connect.

    For more information, see Faspex and Connect.

  4. If your license is out-of-date or expired, you must first update the license before you can access Faspex.
    Faspex prompts you to update your license . You cannot interact with Faspex until entering and saving a valid license.For more information, see Updating Your License.
  5. If you are upgrading from a version of Faspex prior to 4.0.1 and you had SAML configured, you need to add your SAML configuration metadata to your SAML Identity Provider (IdP) again. Metadata URLs now contain numbers to support multiple SAML configurations.
    For information about configuring the IdP, see Configuring Your Identity Provider (IdP).