Setting Up Email Notifications

The email notification feature is a built-in pre- and post-processing application that generates customized emails based on transfer events. To enable email notifications, HST Server must be configured for pre/post-processing and have network access to an open SMTP relay server.

1. Prepare the email notification configuration template.
   Open the aspera.conf file:

   /opt/aspera/etc/aspera.conf

   Locate or create the section <EMAILNOTIF>...</EMAILNOTIF>:

   <CONF version="2">
      ...
      <EMAILNOTIF>
        <MAILLISTS
           mylist = "asperausers@example.com, admin@example.com"
           myadminlist = "admin@example.com"
        />
   
        <FILTER
           MAILLISTS = "mylist"
           TARGETDIR = "/content/users"
        />
   
        <MAILCONF
           DEBUG = "0"
           FROM = "asperaserver@example.com"
           MAILSERVER = "mail.example.com"
           SUBJECT = "Transfer %{SOURCE} %{TARGET} - %{STATE}"
           BODYTEXT = 
            "Aspera transfer: %{STATE}%{NEWLINE}%{TOTALBYTES} bytes in 
            %{FILECOUNT} files: %{FILE1}, %{FILE2}, ...%{FILELAST}."
        />
      </EMAILNOTIF>
   </CONF>

2. Set up the basic notification function in <MAILCONF/>
   <MAILCONF/> defines the general email configuration, including the sender, the mail server, and the body text. In the SUBJECT and BODYTEXT options, the pre- and post-processing variables can be used with the format %{variable}, such as %{STATE} for the variable STATE. For the complete list of the variables, see Pre/Post Variables.

   MAILCONF Field	Description	Values	Example
   FROM	The email address to send notifications from. (Required)	a valid email address	FROM="admin@example.com"
   MAILSERVER	The outgoing mail server (SMTP). (Required)	A valid URL	MAILSERVER="mail.example.com"
   SUBJECT	General subject of the email.	text string	SUBJECT="Transfer:%{STATE}"
   BODYTEXT	General body of the email.	text string	BODYTEXT="Transfer has %{STATE}."
   DEBUG	Print debugging info and write to the logs.	"0" = off, "1" = on	DEBUG="0"

3. Create mailing lists in <MAILLISTS />.
   <MAILLISTS /> defines sets of mailing lists. For example, to create the following mailing list:

   Item	Value
   Mailing list name	list1
   Emails to include	janedoe@companymail.com, johndoe@companymail.com

   Specify the mailing list in the following form:

   <MAILLISTS
      list1 = "janedoe@companymail.com, johndoe@companymail.com"
   />

4. Set up mailing filters in <FILTER />.
   <FILTER /> defines email notification conditional filters. When the conditions are met, a customized email is sent to the indicated mailing list. Multiple filters are allowed.

   The values in the filter are matched as substrings, for example, USER = root means the value would match strings like root, treeroot, and root1. The pre- and post-processing variables can be used with the format %{variable}, such as %{STATE} for the variable STATE. For the complete list of the variables, see Pre/Post Variables.

   FILTER Field	Description	Values	Example
   MAILLISTS	Required The email lists to send to. Separate lists with comma (,).	text string	MAILLISTS="mylist"
   USER	Login name of the user who transferred the files.	text string	USER="aspera_user_1"
   SRCIP	Source IP of the files.	a valid IPv4 address	SRCIP="10.0.1.1"
   DESTIP	Destination IP of the files.	a valid IPv4 address	DESTIP="10.0.1.5"
   SOURCE	The top-level directories and files that were transferred.	text string	SOURCE="/folder1"
   TARGETDIR	The directory that the files were sent to.	text string	TARGETDIR="/folder2"
   SUBJECTPREFIX	The email subject, preceded by the SUBJECT in <MAILCONF />.	text string	SUBJECTPREFIX="Sub"
   BODYPREFIX	The email body, preceded by the BODYTEXT in <MAILCONF />.	text string	BODYPREFIX="Txt"
   TOTALBYTESOVER	Send email when total bytes transferred is over this number. This only applies to emails sent at the end of a transfer.	positive integer	TOTALBYTESOVER="9000"
   SENDONSESSION	Send email for the entire session.	yes / no	SENDONSESSION="yes"
   SENDONSTART	Send email when transfer is started. This setting is dependent on SENDONSESSION="yes".	yes / no	SENDONSTART="yes"
   SENDONSTOP	Send email when transfer is stopped. This setting is dependent on SENDONSESSION="yes".	yes / no	SENDONSTOP="yes"
   SENDONFILE	Send email for each file within a session.	yes / no	SENDONFILE="yes"