Overview: Aspera Node API

The Aspera Node API is a feature of HST Server that provides a REST API for full programmatic control of the Aspera transfer server environment. A daemon, asperanoded, provides node-specific services such as browsing, searching, creating and deleting files and directories, and setting up transfers over HTTP or HTTPS.

The Node API allows you to connect nodes to Aspera web applications, such as IBM Aspera Faspex, IBM Aspera Shares, and IBM Aspera on Cloud, as well as integrate Aspera applications with your web application. It is supported by all Aspera server products and across multi-cloud and hybrid storage systems.

The Node API includes the following features and functionality:

• An HTTPS (by default port 9092) and HTTP (by default port 9091) interface.
• An API that uses JSON data format.
• The API is authenticated and the node daemon uses its own application-level users (node users).
• A node admin utility, asnodeadmin, for adding and managing Node API users and passwords. For more information, see Node Admin Tool.
• It logs to syslog, akin to asperacentral, except for RedHat which logs to /var/log/messages.

Requirements for Node API Use

• The line 127.0.0.1 localhost must appear in the hosts file:

  /etc/hosts

• For UNIX-based nodes, SELinux must be set to permissive or disabled, not enforced. Check the status of SELinux with the following command:

  # sestatus

  If SELinux is set to enforced, see Disabling SELinux. If SELinux is set to disabled or enforced, or if sestatus reports that SELinux is not installed on your system, you do not need to take further action.

• To run node-to-node transfers, the remote node must have version 3.7.4 or later. Earlier versions use an SSH key type that is no longer accepted by servers as of version 3.7.4.