Troubleshooting Watch Folders in the GUI

Troubles with Watch Folders can usually be solved by correcting a configuration error or restarting key Watch Folders services.

Issue: GUI Returns Error "Connection to https://localhost:9092 refused after clicking Watch Folders"

The Aspera GUI does not read asperanoded configuration from aspera.conf. If you have configured the Aspera Node API to use an HTTPS port other than 9092, a host other than localhost, or HTTP instead of HTTPS, the GUI does not know and tries to start the Watch Folders GUI interface on a connection to localhost:9092. You can view these settings by running the following command.

# asuserdata -a

Review the values for server_name, http_port, https_port, enable_http, and enable_https under server option set.

Manually change the port, host, and protocol that are used by the GUI to connect to asperanoded, as needed:

  1. Open the Aspera GUI configuration file:

    /opt/aspera/bin/asperascp.prop

  2. Add the following text to the end of the file and update the values, as needed:
    asperascp.node.port = port
    asperascp.node.host = hostname
    asperascp.node.protocol = {http|https}
  3. Save your changes and restart the GUI.

Issue: Node API user login dialog keeps asking for login

When you first click Watch Folders, you are asked to log in as a node user. If you enter credentials, click OK, and the dialog refreshes rather than closing and allowing access to the Watch Folder management interface, then your node user might not exist. Confirm that the Node API user exists by running the following command:

# /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -l
 List of Node API user(s):
                user       system/transfer user                    acls
====================    =======================    ====================
       node_api_user                system_user    [admin,impersonation]

If the user exists, try resetting the Node API user's password:

# /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -m -u node_username -p node_password

Issue: Cannot create Watch Folders

If the error message, "You cannot create Watch Folders. Please contact your Administrator." is displayed, the Node API user is not configured with the necessary permissions. Node API user permissions can be modified as described in Configuring custom Watch Folder permissions policies in the GUI. To configure a Node API user with all admin permissions, run the following command:

# /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -a -u node_username -p node_password -x transfer_user --acl-set "admin,impersonation"

Issue: Cannot browse localhost

When creating Watch Folders in the GUI, you can click Browse to select the local path. If the error message, "Failed to connect to localhost: Forbidden" appears, confirm that the transfer user is configured with a docroot or a restriction then restart asperarund.

Issue: Watch Folder status is "Impaired"

A Watch Folder can become impaired for several reasons:

Transport error

A red circle under Transport indicates that a transfer error occurred. Hover the mouse over the indicator to view the error. Transfer errors can be caused by expired licenses, incorrect passwords, or targets that are outside the user's docroot or restriction. Check the following points:

  • Valid licenses are installed on the client and server.
  • The authentication method is correct.
  • For pull Watch Folders that are authenticated with a Node API user, the associated transfer user must have a docroot that is configured rather than a restriction.

Once the error is resolved, go to Drops, right-click the drop that failed, and select Retry to transfer the files.

Note: Files in a failed drop are not automatically retried after the transfer error is resolved. The drop must be manually retried to refresh the ascp process.

Watch error

A red circle under Watch indicates that a problem with asperawatchd is impairing the Watch Folder.

  • "… does not respond" indicates that asperawatchd is disabled. Click Services and Policies (Services and Policies), double-click the service, and select Enabled.

Issue: Watch Folder status is "Watchfolderd is down"

This status indicates that asperawatchfolderd is not running. Click Services and Policies and confirm that asperawatchfolderd that is used by the Watch Folder is enabled. If not, double-click the service and select Enabled.