Introduction to Watch Folders and the Aspera Watch Service

Watch Folders

Watch Folders enables large-scale, automated file and directory transfers, including ultra-large directories with over 10 million items and directories with "growing" files. Watch Folders use input from asperawatchd to automate transfers of files added to or modified in a source folder. They can be configured to push from the local server or pull from a remote server. Remote servers can be HST Server, HST Endpoint, and IBM Aspera Shares servers, as well as servers in object storage. Push Watch Folders can use IBM Aspera on Cloud and IBM Aspera Transfer Cluster Manager nodes for a destination.

Watch Folders can be created and managed in the GUI or the command line.

The Aspera Watch Service

The Aspera Watch Service (asperawatchd) is a file system change detection and snapshot service that is optimized for speed, scale, and distributed sources. On file systems that have file system notifications, changes in source file systems (new files and directories, deleted items, and renames) are detected immediately, eliminating the need to scan the file system. On file systems without file notifications, such as object storage, Solaris, AIX, and Isilon, file system scans are automatically triggered.

The Aspera Watch Service monitors changes to the file system by taking snapshots and analyzing the difference between them. Users create watches by subscribing to a watch service and specifying the part of the file system to watch. You can use the output from asperawatchd to generate a source file list for ascp and async sessions.

Watch Services can be started and managed in the GUI or command line. The Watch Service itself and watches can only be managed from the command line.

For more information, see:

• Managing Services in the GUI
• Starting Aspera Watch Services and Creating Watches
• Watch Service Configuration
• Transferring and Deleting Files with the Aspera Watch Service
• Aspera Sync with Aspera Watch Service Session Examples

The IBM Aspera Run Service (asperarund)

Both asperawatchd and asperawatchfolderd are managed by asperarund, which stores asperawatchd and asperawatchfolderd configurations in its database. It automatically starts services when they are added and restarts services if they fail. It also enables admins to start services under different users without switching between accounts, and apply logging and database configurations to all services.

Similar to other Aspera services, asperarund starts automatically upon installation and runs as a system daemon (asperarund).

For more information on asperarund, see Creating, Managing, and Configuring Services.