Introduction

IBM Aspera Shares is a web application that enables companies to share content in the form of files and directories of any size within their organization or with external customers and partners. Shares is powered by IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server, which features the Aspera Node API, a daemon providing REST-enabled file operations and a transfer management API.

Features

  • Intuitive Shares web interface provides secure access to a consolidated, location independent view of all content to which a user is authorized.
  • The administrator role has complete control over user, group, and directory service access to content and can define granular permission settings over all end-user operations such as browsing, uploading, downloading, making new directories, renaming or deleting files and directories
  • Transfers initiated through the Shares web interface are managed by the Aspera Connect Plug-in — users do not need to have a native client application installed.
  • Transfers are powered by Aspera's unique FASP protocol. Attachments are sent securely at high speed, regardless of file size, distance, or network.

Deployment

You can deploy Shares in the following ways:

  • A single server solution that enables gathering or distributing content from a single content store and transfer node.
    diagram of Shares configuration with one node
  • A separate server that consolidates multiple content nodes — local, remote, or cloud-based file systems — into a single view and enables management of user access and file transfers across all nodes.
    diagram of Shares configuration with multiple nodes

Functionality

With Shares you can perform the following tasks:

  • Use search, filtering, and sorting to find individual files or folders in content stores.
  • Transfer single files, individual directories, or batches of files and directories of any size over any distance.
  • Direct drag-and-drop transfers between shares to move files between globally dispersed nodes.
  • Provide secure authenticated access with support for users, groups, and directory services.
  • Manage access and visibility of nodes and directories.
  • Manage user activities at the directory level.
  • Set up a real-time activity feed that keeps track of user actions and operations such as creating, deleting, and renaming files and directories. Also keep track of all administration and management functions.
  • Configure system logging levels.

Aspera security considerations

Shares file transfers do not include anti-virus and malware scanning before or after the transfer. If your business security requirements include anti-virus and anti-malware scanning, you must implement a separate process for the scan before you transfer files using Shares.

If your business security requirements include restrictions for uploads and transfers by file extension type, you must create your own policies in the High Speed Transfer Server aspera.conf file. See the aspera.conf - Filters to include and exclude files section for instructions.