Creating push Watch Folders in the GUI

The GUI enables you to easily create Watch Folders that automatically push files and directories to a remote server as they are added to a local directory.

About this task

Restrictions on all Watch Folders

Only local to remote (push) and remote to local (pull) configurations are supported. Remote to remote and local to local are not supported.
Growing files are only supported for local sources (push Watch Folders) and must be authenticated by a transfer user (password or SSH key file). The transfer user cannot be restricted to aspshell and the source cannot be in object storage. Growing files are only supported for local sources and nonobject storage-based destinations.
Source file archiving is not supported if the Watch Folder source is in object storage.
IBM Aspera Shares endpoints must have version Shares version 1.9.11 with the Watch Folder patch or a later version.

Compatibility

Push Watch Folders are compatible with previous versions of HSTS and HSTE on the remote server.

Note: While Watch Folder use involves a server-to-server transfer, the server on which the watch folder is configured is referred to as the client.

Procedure

Prepare the client as described in Getting started with Watch Folders in the GUI.
If you want to create the Watch Service and Watch Folder service under the current user, go on to step 4. If you want to create a Watch Service and Watch Folder Service for a different user, take the following steps:
1. Open the Services & Policies window by clicking .
2. To create a new pair of services, click .
3. Select Watch Folder for the service type and enter the username and password under which to run the services.
  Both a Watch Service and Watch Folder service are started. For more information about choosing a user to run services, see Choosing user accounts to run Watch Folder services.
  If you do not want the services to be enabled immediately, such as if you need to configure user policies first, clear Enabled.
4. Click OK.
  The list of services now shows one Watch service and Watch Folder service. Initially the state of the service is reported as Starting, but changes to Running. If the services list does not update automatically, click to refresh the list.
  Close the Services & Policies window.
To create a Watch Folder, click .
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:
```
> asnodeadmin -a -u node_username -p node_password -x transfer_user --acl-set "admin,impersonation"
```
Configure Watch Folder settings.
1. Watch Folder Service: If no Watch Folder services exist, one is created for the transfer user that is associated with Node API username that was used for login; enter the password for the transfer user. To create a Watch Folder service under a different user, click Create and follow the substeps in step 2. If a service exists for the transfer user, it is automatically populated. To run the Watch Folder under a different user or service, click Change and select the correct user and service combination.
2. Watch Folder name: A unique name for the Watch Folder.
3. Watchd scan period: Set the amount of time between assessments of the watch (from end of one to start of the next). The value can be specified with units, such as 30 m for 30 minutes, or 24-hour clock, such as 01:00:00 for 1 hour. Watches are assessed for change by the Aspera Watch service independent of the snapshot minimum interval and snapshot minimum changes to ensure that changes are captured.
  On file systems without file notifications, such as object storage, mounted storage (NFS), and AIX® file system scans triggered by the scan period are used to detect file changes. In this case, set the scan period to frequently scan for changes. On operating systems that support file notifications (Linux®, Windows™, macOS), the Aspera Watch service uses the file notifications as the primary means for detecting changes, and the scan period serves as a backup. In this case, the default value of 30 minutes is usually acceptable and no change is necessary. To never scan, and rely entirely on file notifications, set to "infinite".
  Shorter scan periods detect changes faster but can result in greater resource consumption, particularly for object storage.
4. Direction: Select Push to transfer from the local computer to a remote server.
5. Source path: Click Browse to select the local source path.
6. Host (and authentication): The IP address, DNS, hostname, or URL of the remote server. Click Import to import connection information from the Connections list. The username, authentication, and target path are automatically populated from the connection settings, as are settings under Transfer and File Handling.
  If you enter the host manually, use the following syntax based on the type of remote endpoint and authentication method:
  - HSTS or HSTE authenticated with an SSH user: Enter the IP address or hostname of the endpoint for the host, then enter the SSH user and their password or public key.
  - HSTS or HSTE authenticated with Node API or access key credentials: Enter the node URL as https://ip_address_or_server_url:9092/. If a different HTTPS port is configured, replace 9092 with the correct port. Enter the Node API username or access key ID as the User and the Node API user's password or the access key secret as the Password.
  - IBM Aspera on Cloud (including IBM Aspera on Cloud transfer service nodes) and IBM Aspera Transfer Cluster Manager nodes: Enter the endpoint URL as https://ip_address_or_server_url:443/ and provide the access key ID and secret for the User and Password.
  - IBM Aspera Shares: Enter the URL of the Shares server as https://ip_address:443 and provide the Shares login credentials.
7. Target path: Click Browse to select the remote directory.
8. Configure other Watch Folder settings, if needed.
  For more information about all Watch Folder settings, see Watch Folder configuration reference.
Once all required fields are set, click OK to create the Watch Folder.
If the source directory contains files, the Watch Folder collects them into a drop and begins the transfer to the target. If the transfer does not start, see Troubleshooting Watch Folders.
When you create a Watch Folder, a Watch service subscription is automatically created to monitor the source directory. In the rare case that the subscription is somehow deleted or impaired, Watch Folders automatically creates a new subscription; however, the new subscription does not retain the file change history and all files in the source directory are retransferred.