Planning for Apsera FASP for Connect:Direct for z/OS
Aspera FASP is a high-speed transport for file transfer that avoids some of the slow-downs
experienced with TCP, especially in networks with high latency and/or high packet loss.
IBM® Connect:Direct® UNIX (Linux and AIX)
and IBM Connect:Direct Windows provide
native support for utilizing FASP for the COPY step of a PROCESS. In order to support FASP with IBM Connect:Direct , the user must purchase and
install a High Speed Adapter Option (HSAO) license.
Figure 1. Install a High Speed Adapter Option (HSAO) license
Support is being added to IBM Sterling Secure Proxy (SSP) that will allow IBM Connect:Direct FASP transfers to pass
through SSP. Since HSAO licenses are required at each end of the transfer, no additional HSAO
license is needed in SSP. Figure 2. FASP transfers through SSP
SSP is designed in such a way that there is a complete session break between the two IBM Connect:Direct nodes. In this way, SSP
offers the capability of having one side of the session using Secure+ while the other side of the
session is not. This way, an internal IBM Connect:Direct can eliminate the overhead
of encryption/decryption when passing through SSP and have SSP encrypt/decrypt that data this going
over the public internet. Since SSP does a complete session break, there should be some way provided
for SSP to use FASP protocol for one side of a session and the IBM Connect:Direct TCP protocol for the other
side. Figure 3. FASP transfers and session break between two IBM Connect Direct nodes
It should also be possible to allow two SSPs to use FASP across the public network without the
two IBM Connect:Direct having to use FASP. Figure 4. SSPs using FASP across public network
The Connect:Direct
for z/OS® Server requires
the following definitions. See, Connect:Direct
for z/OSAdministration Guide
for detail description of the FASP Initialization parameters.
Note: A HSAO license must be obtained
and stored in the zOS files system and available to the IBM Connect:Direct Server during
initialization.