Transfer Server

Configure Faspex to communicate with a transfer node.

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Preface

Before configuring Faspex to communicate with a remote transfer server, it is important to understand how it is able to do so. Enterprise (or Connect) Server v3.0+ features the Node API, a daemon that offers REST-inspired file operations and a transfer management API. When you install Enterprise (or Connect) Server 3.0+ on a local/remote system or EC2 instance, it becomes an Aspera "node." Faspex can be installed on the transfer node; or it can access the transfer node remotely via the Node API. The instructions below explain how to configure Faspex to access a remote transfer node and directory shares. Before you continue, make sure that you have followed the steps in the topic "Setting up your Remote Server" to prepare your remote machine.

Transfer Server Configuration Screen

Within the Faspex Web UI, go to Server > Configuration > Transfer Server to configure access to the node that manages your Aspera transfers. By default, your transfer server (the node that has Enteprise or Connect Server installed on it) is configured as being on the same machine as your Faspex Web server (by default, 127.0.0.1). When you initially view the Transfer Server page, you will find that the IP address or domain name is the same as that of your Web server.

Field Description
Address The transfer server's IP address or host name.
Status Current status of the transfer server (e.g. active).
Last Successful Poll Time The last time that the transfer server node was polled by the stats collector daemon for new transfer information.
OS The transfer server's operating system.
Active Sessions The number of active transfer sessions occuring on the transfer server.
Node UUID The node's universally-unique identifier.
Errors Transfer-server reported errors.

If you are planning to use a different machine as your transfer server, click the edit link, which takes you to a secondary transfer server configuration screen.

Transfer Server Address for the Web Server

By default, your transfer server address is 127.0.0.1 because Faspex assumes that it is installed on the same machine as your transfer server (i.e. Enterprise or Connect Server v3.0+). If you are running your transfer server on a different machine, you need to tell the Faspex Web server where that machine is located so that Faspex can gather transfer statistics and display them via the Web UI. Please refer to the example below.

Field Description Sample Value
Node API address or name The transfer node's hostname or IP address. In our example, Faspex can access the transfer node at 100.100.100.100. Depending on your own unique setup, this value will be different.
Port The node computer's port number. HTTPS 9092. Depending on your own unique setup, this value may be different.
Username The node API username that was created when Enterprise (or Connect) Server 3.0+ was set up on the node machine. "node-admin"
Password The node API password that was created when Enterprise (or Connect) Server 3.0+ was set up on the node machine. "s3cur3_p433"
Directory Once authenticated, you can select a directory for browsing and transferring to/from on your node machine. You will be able to browse your transfer node's directories using the Browse... button. Note that you will only be able to browse within the docroot that was associated with your transfer service user and API username. If you are not able to browse the node's directories, please check your Node API username and password, as well as your node configuration. When you click the Browse... button, you will be prompted to select a directory in the pop-up window. Here, you have several options:
  • You can perform a simple search for a directory by inputting it into the name field and clicking Search.
  • You can perform an advanced search by clicking the Show Filters link, and inputting your criteria.
  • You can sort the directory list by type, size, size descending, last modified and last modified descending.
  • You can select a radio button next to the directory that you would like to be the share. After clicking the corresponding radio button, click the Select button.
 "/" (docroot on the node machine of my API user and associated transfer-service user)
Use SSL To encrypt the connection to the node using SSL, enable this box. Please refer to the topic Setting up SSL for Nodes for details. Enabled, by default.
Verify SSL Certificate To verify the SSL certificate, enable this box. Please refer to the topic Setting up SSL for Nodes for details. Disabled, by default.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To use HTTP or HTTPS Fallback for a transfer server on a separate (remote) machine, you must configure your transfer server and firewall ports in ONE of the following ways:

Additionally, the transfer server's fallback settings must match Faspex's fallback settings; otherwise, Faspex will return a "Package creation failed" error. This includes ensuring that the transfer server has HTTP/HTTPS fallback enabled; and that (within the Web GUI) Faspex has Server > Transfer Options > Enable HTTP Fallback and Server > Security > Encrypt Transfers (for HTTPS fallback) turned on. For security, Aspera highly recommends using HTTPS fallback. If HTTPS fallback is enabled on the transfer server, then encrypted transfers must be enabled in the Faspex Web GUI.

Transfer Server Address for Users

In the example above, the Aspera transfer server is accessible via a different host name for both internal and external users. Thus, we can complete the "Transfer Server Address for Users" section as follows:

Field Description Sample Value
Primary transfer address or name IP address or host name for users to access the transfer node. xfer2.yourcompany.com
Enable secondary address Check this box if you have a group of external users who must access the transfer node via a secondary IP address or domain name. Disabled, by default.
Secondary address or name Input the secondary address or name in this field. xfer1.yourcompany.com
Use if requestor's address matches Set a condition that the requestor's IP address must match this range for the secondary transfer address to be used. A partial string, with wild cards like "10.10.*"
Use if browser URL matches Set a condition that the requested browser URL must match this value for the secondary transfer address to be used. outside.vendor.com