Installing Faspex with a Remote Node

Faspex is a file exchange application built upon IBM Aspera Enterprise Server and other Aspera transfer products as a centralized transfer solution. In order to make transfers, Faspex communicates with a node through the Node API. The Node API is a daemon on the transfer server that offers REST-inspired file operations and a transfer management API.

When installing Faspex on the same workstation as the transfer server, Faspex automatically configures the local node's aspera.conf configuration file and sets up a Node API user to communicate with the Node API. When installing Faspex on a machine without a transfer server, you must configure a remote transfer node for use with Faspex and connect that node to Faspex during the installation process.

Some use cases may require a user to install Faspex and the transfer server on separate machines. In such a case, first, configure the remote transfer server as a node. Then, install and configure the Faspex application.

Install the Remote Transfer Server and Configuring the Node API

Nodes do not have to run on the same platform as the Faspex server. To set up your machine to run as a node, follow the instructions pertinent to the platform of the workstation.

The following instructions describe how to

Install Faspex on the Workstation

  1. Launch the Faspex installer.

    Double-click the Faspex installer to begin the installation process.

    Note: If your Windows Operating System has User Account Control (UAC) enabled, confirm or enter the admin password to allow the installer to make changes to your computer.
  2. After the license agreement screen, select your desired setup type. You may select Typical or Custom.
    Option Description
    Typical Install all required components, including the Faspex application, common files (Ruby and MySQL) and the Faspex MySQL database.
    Custom Select individual components to install. You may use your existing installations of Ruby, MySQL, or the Faspex MySQL database.
    If you selected the Custom setup type, identify which optional features you want to install.
  3. Associate the Aspera services with the Aspera service account you created before. By default, the user name is "svcAspera".
  4. Click Install.

    Once the IBM Aspera Faspex Setup Wizard completes, you are prompted to finish the installation. By default, the Launch asctl to continue the Faspex setup checkbox is selected. Once you click Finish, the installer automatically runs the setup command. If you do not want to run the setup command automatically, then clear the Launch asctl to continue the Faspex setup checkbox.

    If Faspex doesn't automatically run the setup command or an error halts the process, then you can run the command manually, as shown below.
    > asctl faspex:setup
  5. When prompted to perform a streamlined or detailed setup, choose to perform a detailed (d) setup.

    Follow the configuration instructions to complete the setup. The prompts the installer presents depends on whether this is a streamlined or detailed setup. See the table below for more information.

    Prompt Description Streamlined or Detailed Setup?
    What base port should the Mongrel servers start at? The default is 3000 Detailed setup
    Do you want to run the transfer server locally? (y/n) You must choose n. Detailed setup
    What address or hostname should the Faspex web server use to communicate with the transfer server? The hostname or IP address of your remote transfer node.
    Note: You can change this after installation using a rake command. For more information, see Configuring Server Settings with Rake Tasks.
    		 Detailed setup
    What address or hostname should end users (with Aspera Connect) use to communicate with the transfer server? The hostname or IP address of the remote transfer node. Detailed setup
    Choose a login name for the new admin user The login name for the new Faspex admin user account. Both
    Enter the email address for admin The email address to associate with the Faspex admin user account. Both
    Enter the password for admin The password for the Faspex admin user account.
    Note: When you log in for the first time, Faspex requires you to change your password.
    		 Both
    What port would you like MySQL to listen on? The default is 4406 Detailed setup
    Please enter a new MySQL root password The password for the MySQL user account Both
    Mysql will need to start/restart during configuration. Continue (y/n)? You must choose y. Both
    Enter IP address of network interface for apache to listen on The hostname or IP address of the workstation Detailed setup
    What hostname or IP address should Apache use to identify itself ( in the SSL certificate)? The default is 127.0.0.1 Both
    What port would you like to run Apache http on? The default is 80 Both
    What port would you like to run Apache https on? The default is 443 Both
    Would you like to generate a self-signed SSL certificate, or install your own? ([g]enerate, [c]opy) The default is generate (g) Detailed setup
    Aspera Central will need to restart when setup completes. This will stop any active transfers. Is this okay (y/n)? If you choose n, you must restart these services yourself after installation. See Restarting Aspera Services. Both
    Aspera Node Server will need to restart when setup completes. Is this okay (y/n)? If you choose n, you must restart these services yourself after installation. See Restarting Aspera Services. Both
    Aspera HTTPD will need to restart when setup completes. This will stop any HTTP fallback transfers. Is this okay (y/n)? If you choose n, you must restart these services yourself after installation. See Restarting Aspera Services. Both

First Time Log In and Licensing

  1. Open a supported browser and enter the Faspex hostname or IP address followed by /aspera/faspex in the browser URL. For example:

    http://faspex.example.com/aspera/faspex

    or
    http://198.51.100.24/aspera/faspex
    Note: For security reasons, Faspex versions 4.0.3 and later by default only allow login using the hostname that is configured in the faspex.yml configuration file (the hostname you designated during installation). If you try to log in to the application from an unlisted hostname or perform a GET request with an unlisted hostname, Faspex returns the error, "Invalid hostname". To access Faspex from an alternate hostname, follow the instructions in the Configuring Alternate Addresses section of Configuring the Faspex Web Server.
  2. Enter the login credentials you created for the admin user and click Login.
    When logging in for the first time, you are prompted to change your password and then asked to login with the new password.
  3. Configure a valid license.
    Click Browse to upload a license file from your computer or paste the contents of your license into the box. Then click Update and validate license. You cannot interact with Faspex until configuring a valid license.

Provide Faspex with Credentials to the Remote Node

  1. Go to Server > File Storage.
  2. Select Edit from the drop-down menu.
  3. Enter the Node API user credentials in the Username and Password fields.
  4. Click Test Connection.
    If Faspex displays an error instead of the message "Connection succeeded!", see Troubleshooting File Storage Errors for help understanding the error.
  5. Click Update Node.