Aspera Sync Command Reference

-A
--version

-h
--help

-q
--quiet

-L log_dir
--alt-logdir=log_dir

--watchd=datastore:host:port[:domain]

--watchd=redis:localhost:31415

The optional domain argument allows you to specify if the domain is other than the default root. For more information see Working with the Aspera Watch Service.

--apply-local-docroot

-N pair
--name=pair

-N must precede any combination of the options below.

-d ldir
--local-dir=ldir

-r rdir
--remote-dir=rdir

--host=host

--remote-dir user@host:/rootdir # (old method)  
--user user --remote-dir host:/rootdir  
--host host --user user --remote-dir /rootdir  
--remote-dir host:/rootdir  # (uses $user)  
--host host --remote-dir /rootdir # (uses $user)

The following means the same as the first three lines above:

 -r /rootdir --user=user --host=host

For backward compatibility, -r A:/rootdir for any single letter A is still taken as a Windows path, not as --host A -r /rootdir. To specify a one-letter host name A, use an explicit --host=A.

-w pass
--pass=pass

-W token_string
--token=token_string

-i file
--private-key-path=file

--check-sshfp=fingerprint

-K direction
--direction=direction

-k type
--checksum=type

-P port
--tcp-port=port

-O port
--udp-port=policy

-a policy
--rate-policy=policy

-l rate
--target-rate=rate

-m rate
--min-rate=rate

-g size
--read-block-size=size

-G size
--write-block-size=size

-H val
--scan-intensity=val

-R rem_log_dir
--remote-logdir=rem_log_dir

-Z mtu
--datagram-size=mtu

-X size
--rexmsg-size=size

-c cipher
--cipher=cipher

-b ldbdir
--local-db-dir=ldbdir

You may relocate the snapshot database to a different location than the default one under the ldir specified with -d. This allows placing the database away from the main data files. This is useful for performance tuning. It is also useful when -d ldir is located on a network share volume that does not reliably support database locking. For further usage information, see Multiple Databases (Snap DB).

-B rdbdir
--remote-db-dir=rdbdir

-I file
--include-from=file

-E file
--exclude-from=file

--include=pattern
--exclude=pattern

After the initial Sync scan, do not scan directories during subsequent syncs if they or their parents have a recursive modified time older than the specified value. The recursive modified time of a directory is the most recent modification time of it or any of its children (file or directory). This option is used to avoid rescanning directories that are known to have not changed since the previous Sync, such as a monthly archive directory structure in which only the most recent subdirectory is being modified.

MTIME may be specified in any one of the following ways:

• As a positive number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00, for Unix and POSIX-compliant operating systems.
  Note: Some file servers, such as Windows NT, use a different epoch for the recursive modified time. In this case, MTIME should be specified as a duration relative to present or UTC timestamp.
• As a UTC timestamp with the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS, such as 2015-01-01T08:00:00.
• As a duration formatted as DDd HH:MM:SS or WWw DDd HHh MMm SSs. Directories whose "mtime" is older than Now minus MTIME are not scanned. Input requirements: Leading zero fields and spaces may be omitted. The leftmost fields are optional, but fields to the right of the largest unit specified are required. For example, to exclude directories older than 24 hours, you could specify 1d 0:0:0, 24:00:00, or 24h 00m 00s, but not 1d.

This option does not apply to the root directory.

-n action
--symbolic-links=action

Treat symbolic links per the specified action. Permitted values are:

copy - create (or update) the link at the destination. (Not valid for Windows source or destination.)

skip - ignore the link altogether.

follow - treat the link as if it were the file (or directory) it points to, so that at the destination, what was a link will now be a copy of the file (or directory). (Functions as skip if source is Windows.)

(Default: copy)

-C
--continuous

If you receive an inotify error when attempting to run continuous synchronization, see Error Troubleshooting.

If a file is open, async cannot transfer the file due to sharing violations and may ignore the file if it is closed without changes. To specify the maximum number of retries after a sharing violation, use the --sharing-retry-max=N option. To enable periodic scans that detect when an opened file has been closed and can be transferred, use the --scan-interval=duration option.

-t
--preserve-time

-u
--preserve-uid
-j
--preserve-gid

--write-uid=uid
--write-gid=gid

--write-uid=uid conflicts with --preserve-uid and --write-gid=gid conflicts with --preserve-gid.

-o policy
--overwrite=policy

--overwrite=older is only accurate if the user also specifies --preserve-time (preserve timestamps).

To resolve conflict and error situations in a uni-directional sync, “touch” the problem files on the source and run async with --overwrite=always. This clears allconflict and error states as the problem files are synced.

-x
--reset

Available modes are hardlink, inode, or copy (Default: hardlink).

• hardlink - When two or more source files are duplicates, a hardlink is created between them on the target. This saves storage by preventing multiple copies of the same file from accumulating on the target. The files on the target have the same inode, even if the source files have different inodes. The target must be running a Unix-based operating system.
• inode - When two or more source files have matching inodes, a hardlink is created between them on the target and the target files have matching inodes. This is only supported between Unix-based platforms. If --dedup=inode is used in a continuous sync, Aspera recommends using the scan-interval option.
• copy - After a file is synced on the target, the synced file is copied to the duplicate. This saves bandwidth by not transferring duplicate files. This mode is useful when the target is Windows.

Without the dedup option, all duplicate files are synced.

Duplicates may still be synced, rather than hardlinked or copied, if one of the duplicates has not yet been synced on the target.

If mode is native, async expects that the destination supports the same native ACL format as the source; if not, it generates an error and exits.

If mode is metafile, async writes the access data to a separate file in the same location; the file has same name but with the added extension .aspera-meta. Metafile data is in a generic format that can reside on any platform and also be reconverted to native form if the file is again synced with a system that supports it.

If mode is none, no ACL data is preserved at all.

This feature is only meaningful if both hosts are in a common security domain. If a SID (security ID) in a source file does not exist at a destination, the sync proceeds but no ACL data is saved and the log records that the ACL could not be applied.

Note: Both --preserve-acls and --remote-preserve-acls must be specified in order for the target side of the pull to apply the acls.

Preserve OS X extended attributes data (xattr) if preservation mode is native or metafile. (Default: none)

If the sync is run by a regular user, only user-level attributes are preserved. If run as superuser, all attributes are preserved.

If mode is native, async expects that the destination supports the same native xattr format as the source; if not, it generates an error and exits.

If mode is metafile, async writes the xattr data to a separate file in the same location; the file has the same name with the added extension .aspera-meta. The aspera-meta files are platform-independent and can be copied between hosts without loss of data. They can be reconverted to the native form if the file is again synced with an OS X system.

If mode is none, no xattr data is preserved at all.

Note: Both --preserve-acls and --remote-preserve-acls must be specified in order for the target side of the pull to apply the acls.

For example, to use 2 transfer threads to transfer files with a size smaller than 128 bytes and all other files with 6 transfer threads, use the following options:

--transfer-threads=2:128 --transfer-threads=6