Managing Connections

To connect to a remote computer or to a server in the cloud, you need to add it in the Connection Manager. The sections below describe how to:

Open the Connection Manger
Use the Connection Manager to create or modify connections, with a full connection configuration reference
Connect to a remote host
Import and export connections

Note: If you are planning to perform transfers with cloud storage, you must meet the following prerequisites:

You (username) have permissions to access the cloud storage and the necessary authentication information (depending on the type of cloud storage).
To transfer files with an S3 storage device using an S3 direct connection, you cannot have a local docroot, which will cause a transfer to fail. Be sure to confirm your docroot settings before attempting a transfer.

Opening the Connection Manager

Start the application. . Run the following command:

# asperascp

In the upper-right corner, click Connections to open the Connection Manager.

Note: The Configuration button shown in the screenshots below is only enabled when the application is run as an Administrator.

This opens the Connection Manager dialog.

Using the Connection Manger

Click Add connections to create a new connection. You can also use Duplicate connections to duplicate a selected connection (to copy all information into a new profile) and Remove connections to delete a connection profile.

When you create a new connection, the Create Connection dialog pops up in which you select the type of connection. Select Create a standard connection if you are not using the Aspera Transfer Service (ATS) to authenticate a connection to cloud storage.

Select Create a standard connection for all connections that do not use the Aspera Transfer Service (ATS) to connect to cloud storage.
Select Create a connection with a new Aspera Transfer Service (ATS) Access Key to create a connection to cloud storage and generate a new ATS access key to authenticate the connection. Select the storage type from the drop-down menu, and enter the required authentication information (depending on storage type). Entering a name is optional; it can be edited in the Connection Manager.
Select Create a connection with an existing ATS Access Key to create a connection to cloud storage with an existing Aspera access key. Enter the Aspera access key ID and secret. Entering a name is optional; it can be edited in the Connection Manager.

To name or rename a connection, click the orange connection profile name at the top of the screen to open the Rename Connection dialog. You can also launch the Rename Connection dialog by clicking once on an already selected connection name in the left panel of the Connection Manager. When you have entered the new name, save it by clicking OK (once in the Rename Connection dialog and again in the Connection Manager).

The Connection Manager includes the following configuration tabs:

Tab	Description
Connection	Host information, such as the address, login credentials, and connection ports.
Transfer	Transfer session-related options, such as the transfer speed and retry rules.
Tracking	Options for tracking the transfer session, including the confirmation receipt and the email notifications.
Filters	Create filters to skip files that match certain patterns.
Security	Enable the transfer encryption and the content protection.
File Handling	Set up resume rule, preserve transferred file attributes, and remove source files.

The following tables describe the configuration options in these tabs.

Connection

Option	Description
Host	Required The server's address, such as 192.168.1.10 or companyname.com.
User	The login user for the server.
Authentication	Choose password or public key authentication. To use key-based authentication, see Creating SSH Keys in the GUI.
Storage Type	The default option is local storage. Use the drop-down menu to configure object storage. Connecting to object storage requires an ALEE-enabled Aspera server on the remote storage. Object storage types include the following: Akamai NetStorage Amazon S3: Requires your Access Id, Secret Access Key, and bucket path. The local machine must be reasonably time-synchronized in order to communicate with the Amazon servers. You can also select the Advanced button to modify the following settings: Host: Amazon S3 hostname (default: s3.amazonaws.com). Port: Default is port 443. HTTPS connection for file browsing: Enable for secure browsing. Server-side file encryption: Enable for AES256 encryption. Reduced redundancy storage class: Assign objects to a to the "reduced redundancy" storage class (durability of 99.99%). Google Storage: Requires your Project Number and bucket path. Limelight: Requires your Account, Username, and Password. IBM Cloud Object Storage - Swift: Requires your User name, API Key (Password), and Authentication Endpoint. Rackspace Swift: Requires your Storage Account and Access Key. Windows Azure: Requires your Storage Account and Access Key. Azure storage is set to use the Azure block blob REST API by default. To specify the REST API for page blobs, enter your account credentials then click Advanced. Select PAGE from the dropdown menu next to Api and click OK. Windows Azure SAS: Requires your Shared URL. Note: You can only choose special storage if you have full access to that storage on the cloud-based machine.
Target Directory (or Bucket Path or Path for most cloud storage)	The default directory when connecting to this computer. When left blank, browsing the remote host brings up either the user account's document root (docroot), or the last-visited folder. When a path is set, connecting to the host always brings up the exact directory.
Share this connection ...	Select to share this connection with other users on your computer. When a connection is authenticated through Public Key, the SSH keys used by this connection should be shared as well. For more information, see Creating SSH Keys in the GUI.
Advanced Settings > SSH Port (TCP)	The TCP network port. Default: 33001. Note that if connecting on 33001 fails, the application attempts to establish a connection on port 22. If the connection on 22 succeeds, the setting is updated to 22.
Advanced Settings > fasp Port (UDP)	The UDP network port: Default: 33001.
Advanced Settings > Connection Timeout	Time out the connection attempt after the selected time.
Test Connection	Click this button to test the connection to the remote server with the settings you configured. An alert box opens and reports whether the connection is successful.

Transfer

Option	Description
Transfer Name	Select from the following options: Automatically generate allows the user interface to generate the transfer name; Automatically generate and add prefix uses auto-generated name with a customizable prefix; Specify uses the user-specified name.
Policy	Select the FASP transfer policy. `fixed` Attempt to transfer at the specified target rate, regardless of network capacity. Content is transferred at a constant rate and the transfer finishes in a guaranteed time. The `fixed` policy can consume most of the network's bandwidth and is not recommended for most types of file transfers. It requires setting a maximum (target) rate (`-l` option). `high` Adjust the transfer rate to fully utilize the available bandwidth up to the maximum rate. When congestion occurs, the transfer rate is twice as fast as a fair-policy transfer. The `high` policy requires the setting of maximum (target) and minimum transfer rates (-l and -m). `fair` Adjust the transfer rate to fully utilize the available bandwidth up to the maximum rate. When congestion occurs, bandwidth is shared fairly by transferring at an even rate. The `fair` policy requires the setting of maximum (target) and minimum transfer rates (-l and -m). `low` Adjust the transfer rate to use the available bandwidth up to the maximum rate. Similar to fair mode, but less aggressive when sharing bandwidth with other network traffic. When congestion occurs, the transfer rate is reduced to the minimum rate until other traffic decreases.
Speed	Select to specify the transfer rate. The target rate is constrained by the global bandwidth in the Preferences window. Refer to Global Bandwidth Settings.
Retry	Select to automatically retry the transfer after a recoverable failure for a set amount of time, in seconds, minutes or hours. You may set the initial and maximum retry intervals by clicking the More Options button. Initial interval: The first retry waits for the initial interval. Input in seconds, minutes or hours. Maximum interval: After the initial interval, the next interval doubles until the maximum interval is met, and then stops retrying after the retry time is reached. Input in seconds, minutes or hours. For example, if the retry is set for 180 seconds, the initial interval is 10 seconds, and the maximum interval is 60 seconds, then the transfer will retry at 10, 30, 70, 130, and 180 seconds after the first try, such that the interval progression is 10, 20, 40, 60, 60, and 50 seconds. The last interval is not the maximum because the retry period ends with a final retry. As another example, if the retry is set for 600 seconds, the initial interval is 30 seconds, and the maximum interval is 120 seconds, then the transfer will retry at 30, 90, 210, 330, 450, 570, and 600 seconds after the first try, such that the interval progression is 30, 60, 120, 120, 120, 120, and 30 seconds. Again, the last interval is not the maximum because the retry period ends with a final retry.
Show Advanced Settings	Click the Show Advanced Settings button to reveal the following options: Specify FASP datagram size (MTU): By default, the detected path MTU is used. Select this option to specify a value between 296 and 10000 bytes. Disable calculation of source files size before transferring: Select this option to turn off job size calculation on the client-side (if allowed by the server).

Tracking

Option	Description
Generate delivery confirmation receipt	Select this option to create the delivery receipt file in the specified location.
Send email notifications	Send out email notifications based on specified events (start, complete, and error).See Using Transfer Notifications for more information.

Filters

Click Add and enter the pattern to exclude files or directories with the specified pattern in the transfer. The exclude pattern is compared with the whole path, not just the file name or directory name. Two special symbols can be used in the setting of patterns:

Symbol	Name	Description
`*`	Asterisk	Represents zero to many characters in a string, for example `*.tmp` matches `.tmp` and `abcde.tmp`.
`?`	Question mark	Represents one character, for example `t?p` matches `tmp` but not `temp`.

For more information on filter rule syntax, see Applying Filters to Include and Exclude Files.

Security

Option	Description
Encryption	Select Encrypt data in transit to encrypt files during transfer. Encryption may decrease performance, especially at higher transfer speeds and with slower computers.
Content Protection	Select Encrypt uploaded files with a password to encrypt the uploaded files with the specified password. The protected file has the extension `.aspera-env` appended to the file name. Select Decrypt password-protected files downloaded to prompt for the decryption password when downloading encrypted files.

File Handling

Option	Description
Resume	Select Resume incomplete files to enable the resume feature. Select the file comparison method from the When checking files for differences dropdown menu: Compare file attributes - Compares the sizes of the existing and original file. If they are the same, then the transfer resumes, otherwise the original file is transferred again. (Default) Compare sparse file checksums - Performs a sparse checksum on the existing file and resumes the transfer if the file matches the original, otherwise the original file is transferred again. Compare full file checksums - Performs a full checksum on the existing file and resumes the transfer if the file matches the original, otherwise the original file is transferred again. Under When a complete file already exists at the destination, select an overwrite rule when the same file exists at the destination. By default, files on the destination are overwritten if different from the source.
File Attributes	Select Preserve Access Time to set the access time of the destination file to the same value as that of the source file. Select Preserve Modification Timeto set the modification time of the destination file to the same value as that of the source file. Select Preserve Source Access Time to keep the access time of the source file the same as its value before the transfer. Note: Access, modification, and source access times cannot be preserved for node and Shares connections that are using cloud storage.
Source Handling	Select Automatically delete source files after transfer to delete the files that transferred successfully from the source. Select Delete empty source subdirectories to also remove the folder. Select Automatically move uploaded source files to a directory after transfer and specify the location on the source machine to which they should be moved. Only a path to an existing location on the client can be specified.

Option

Description

Resume

Select Resume incomplete files to enable the resume feature. Select the file comparison method from the When checking files for differences dropdown menu:

Compare file attributes - Compares the sizes of the existing and original file. If they are the same, then the transfer resumes, otherwise the original file is transferred again. (Default)
Compare sparse file checksums - Performs a sparse checksum on the existing file and resumes the transfer if the file matches the original, otherwise the original file is transferred again.
Compare full file checksums - Performs a full checksum on the existing file and resumes the transfer if the file matches the original, otherwise the original file is transferred again.

Under When a complete file already exists at the destination, select an overwrite rule when the same file exists at the destination. By default, files on the destination are overwritten if different from the source.

File Attributes

Select Preserve Access Time to set the access time of the destination file to the same value as that of the source file.
Select Preserve Modification Timeto set the modification time of the destination file to the same value as that of the source file.
Select Preserve Source Access Time to keep the access time of the source file the same as its value before the transfer.

Note: Access, modification, and source access times cannot be preserved for node and Shares connections that are using cloud storage.

Source Handling

Select Automatically delete source files after transfer to delete the files that transferred successfully from the source. Select Delete empty source subdirectories to also remove the folder.

Select Automatically move uploaded source files to a directory after transfer and specify the location on the source machine to which they should be moved. Only a path to an existing location on the client can be specified.

Important: When managing connections, changes are not saved until you click OK. Selecting Cancel will discard any unsaved changes made in the Connection Manager, including the addition and removal of connections.

Connecting to a Remote Host

To connect to this remote host, double-click the connection in the Connection panel, or select it and click Connect.

Importing and Exporting Connections

You can also export and import your connection list to and from a text file. To export your connection list, right-click the remote server panel and select Export. To import your connection list, right-click the remote server panel and select Import. Both options are shown below (with "export" selected).

Note:

Exported and imported connections do not include passwords. Because the password encryption uses a per-user/per-machine cryptographic key, the encrypted passwords cannot be used on other machines. Since the passwords are not transferred, they must be re-entered once the connection has been imported.
If you are exporting a connection that uses keys, then you will need to back up those keys manually and import separately.
A shared connection that is exported or imported by a non-administrator will import as a regular connection (not as a shared connection).
Email templates are not exported with the connection.