Metadata profiles

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Metadata refers to the additional information that an Faspex user can include when sending a package. A metadata profile is a set of additional requirements that an admin can apply to all new packages or to specific shared inboxes.

Metadata example

For example, in the context of a media project, to require your audio engineers include additional metadata about the project files they send to you:
  1. Create a metadata profile that requires senders to specify additional field such as sample rate, bit depth, and compression.
    • Sample rate (text input field)
    • Bit Depth (option list that includes 8-bit, 16-bit and 24-bit)
    • Compression (text input field)
    • Date Created (date picker)
  2. Create a shared inbox and apply the newly created metadata profile.
  3. Invite your audio engineers to send packages to the shared inbox.
You can view the metadata by viewing the package in Faspex. You can also save the metadata as an XML file in the package (aspera-metadata.xml) using the Save metadata to file option (available globally and at a per-shared-inbox level).

Forwarding packages with metadata

When you forward a package, the original metadata is preserved in the Note field. The preserved metadata in the Note does not change even if the applied metadata profile has been changed. No new aspera-metadata.xml file is created, even if Save metadata to file is enabled for the metadata.

Metadata and IBM Aspera Console reporting

If a Faspex instance is added to IBM Aspera Console as a managed node, Console monitors transfer details of transfers in Faspex. Custom metadata fields are included as metadata tags in the transfer details and as transfer cookies for Console to use in running reports.

A Faspex transfer cookie is formatted in the following way:

{"aspera": 
  {"faspex": 
    { "key1":"val1", … , "key3":"val3"}
  }
}
The corresponding JSON match value is shown below:
[aspera][faspex][key1]val1