Upgrading Faspex

Faspex is a file exchange application built upon IBM Aspera Enterprise Server and other Aspera transfer products as a centralized transfer solution. In order to make transfers, FOD communicates with a node through the Node API. The Node API is a daemon on the transfer server that offers REST-inspired file operations and a transfer management API.

If an older version of Faspex is already installed on your workstation, upgrade to the newest version.

Warning: Due to incompatible Aspera Common Components, IBM Aspera Console and IBM Aspera Faspex On Demand (FOD) cannot be installed on the same machine. Aspera does not support this combination. If you are running an older version of Faspex and Console on the same machine, contact Technical Support to move one of the applications to another system.
Note: Aspera does not support a direct upgrade from Faspex versions prior to 3.1.1. Instead, first upgrade to 3.9.3 before upgrading to 4.0+.
Note: Before installing Aspera Faspex, make sure you disable SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) on your RedHat, CentOS or Fedora machine. SELinux, an access control implementation, causes the Faspex installation to fail with an error. Disable SELinux on your machine by following the instructions inDisabling SELinux.

Before You Begin...

Before beginning the installation process for Faspex, you must be logged into your computer as an admin .

  1. Download the latest version of IBM Aspera Enterprise Server,Common Components and IBM Aspera Faspex On Demand (FOD) installers from the following locations:
  2. Make sure your MySQL password are easily accessible.
  3. Back up your Faspex database by following the steps in Backup your FOD Database.
  4. Run the latest Enterprise Server installer.
    First see the "Before Upgrading" section in the IBM Aspera Enterprise Server Admin Guide.
    Then run the following command to upgrade Enterprise Server to the latest version:
    $ rpm -Uvh aspera-entsrv-version.rpm 

Upgrading Faspex

  1. Stop all Faspex services.

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

    # asctl all:stop
  2. If your server is using a remote database, you must set the SKIP_MYSQL_UPGRADE environment variable to true to perform a successfully upgrade.
    # export "SKIP_MYSQL_UPGRADE=true"
    Important: If you are using a local database, do not skip the MySQL upgrade.
  3. Launch the Faspex installer.
    Note: The installer attempts to create a faspex system user and the associated /home/faspex directory. If your organization does not allow you to use the /home directory, first create the faspex user and configure the user directory with the following commands:
    # mkdir -p /home/faspex/faspex_packages
    # chown faspex:faspex /home/faspex/
    # chown faspex:faspex /home/faspex/faspex_packages 
    The installer uses the faspex user that you created and does not need to create the faspex user directory.

    Use the following commands with proper administrative permissions to run the installers (replacing version accordingly). Order is important; Aspera Common Components must be installed first.

    # rpm -Uvh aspera-common-version.rpm
    # rpm -Uvh aspera-faspex-version.rpm
  4. 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.
  5. If you backed up your purchased SSL certificate, restore your Apache SSL Certificate.

    Rename your existing SSL files:

    # mv /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf/server.crt /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf/server.crt.org
    # mv /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf/server.key /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf/server.key.org

    Copy your back up SSL files to the /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf folder.

    # cp server.crt /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf
    # cp server.key /opt/aspera/common/apache/conf

    Restart Apache using the following command:

    # asctl apache:restart 
  6. Restart the Apache service with the following command:
    # asctl apache:restart
  7. Restart the asperanoded service.
    Run the following commands to restart the asperanoded service:
    # /etc/init.d/asperacentral restart
    # /etc/init.d/asperanoded restart
    # /etc/init.d/asperahttpd restart