Installation

Before you begin

OpenSSL

Depending on your Linux distribution and version, you might need to update your OpenSSL installation to allow Connect to start. The required minimum version of OpenSSL is 1.0.2g. To determine which version of OpenSSL is installed on your machine, run:

$ openssl version 

For information on how to download and install the latest version of OpenSSL, see the KB article Upgrading OpenSSL on Linux for Connect 3.7.x.

Mesa EGL

Connect requires Mesa EGL to be installed on your machine. If you are unable to start Connect, and you encounter an error about libEGL, it generally means that the Mesa EGL package is not installed. To confirm this, run the following:

$ ldd ~/.aspera/connect/plugins/platforms/libqxcb.so

If you then see the following, you need to install the Mesa EGL library on your machine:

libEGL.so.1 => not found

To install the Mesa EGL libraries on Debian (for example), run:

$ sudo apt-get install libegl1-mesa

Then restart your machine.

For other Linux OSs, run the equivalent command.

Guided installation

If you do not have Connect installed and you attempt to transfer packages or files that use an Aspera web application (such as Faspex or Shares), the Connect Welcome screen appears and prompts you to install Connect:

Depending on your browser/platform combination, the screens that are shown in these instructions might vary.

1. To begin, click Install Extension.

   Your browser's page for the Connect extension opens. See the instructions for your browser in Adding the Connect Browser Extension to install the Connect extension. If successful, you'll see the message confirming the extension was added.

2. The welcome screen now prompts you to install the Connect application:
   

   When you click Install Connect the installer image is downloaded to your Downloads directory. Once downloaded, close your web browser and run the following commands in the installer's directory, replacing version+platform with the equivalent from the file name of the installer you downloaded:

   $ tar -zxvf ibm-aspera-connect-version+platform.tar.gz
   $ ./ibm-aspera-connect-version+platform.sh

   Note: Do not run the Connect installation script as the root user. Connect on Linux might only be installed per user, as opposed to system wide. To avoid errors, install Connect per user, excluding user root.

Manual installation

Step 1 - Install the Connect extension for your browser.

For instructions about obtaining the Connect extension for your browser, see Adding the Connect Browser Extension.

Step 2 - Download and run the Connect application installer.

You can download the tar.gz file that contains the Connect installer for your Linux platform directly from https://www.ibm.com/aspera/connect/. Once downloaded, close your web browser and run the following commands in the installer's directory, replacing version+platform with the equivalent from the file name of the installer you downloaded:

$ tar -zxvf ibm-aspera-connect-version+platform.tar.gz
$ ./ibm-aspera-connect-version+platform.sh

Adding the Connect Browser Extension

For supported web browsers, this section explains how to obtain and add the IBM Aspera Connect extension to the browser that you are going to use. The Connect extensions are specific to the browser; the procedure for adding an extension to a browser is the same regardless of which OS platform that browser is running on. With a guided install, clicking Install Extension opens the extension link for the browser you are using. With a manual install, be sure to download the extension for the browser you intend to use with Connect.

Chrome

To obtain and install the Connect extension for Chrome, follow the following procedure:

1. Click Install Extension (guided install method), or open the IBM Aspera Connect page on the Chrome Web Store (manual install method). The following page opens:
   
2. Click Add to Chrome. The Add "IBM Aspera Connect"? window appears.
3. Click Add extension.
   

   If successful, you'll see the message "IBM Aspera Connect has been added to Chrome".

Note: The extension is activated only by websites that have integrated IBM Aspera for file transfers. The extension never reads or stores any personal information or history.

Incognito Mode: By default, the Connect extension is disabled in Chrome's incognito mode. To enable the Connect extension, right-click the Connect icon that is in the extensions bar of your browser. Then open Manage extensions and scroll down to the heading Allow in incognito. Then set the switch to ON as shown in the following image.

After Installation

Once Connect finished installing, it runs automatically when you access a Connect, Faspex, or IBM Aspera Shares web page. Look for the Connect icon in your menu bar to confirm that it's running.

If Connect does not start automatically (or if you need to restart it), you can run the application manually with the following command:

$ ~/.aspera/connect/bin/asperaconnect