Setting Up a Windows Node

A node is any server running IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server. Aspera web applications, such as IBM Aspera Console, communicate with a node through the IBM Aspera Node API.

1. Set up a system account on the node to run Aspera services.

   When you install IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server, the installer automatically creates a system account to run Aspera services. Using the default account (svcAspera) to run Aspera services.

   The examples in this topic use svcAspera as the example transfer user.

   If you do not wish to use svcAspera as the transfer user, create a new Windows system user account. Log in as that user for Windows to set up the user's home folder.

The asconfigurator utility modifies the aspera.conf configuration file, located at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspera\Enterprise Server\etc\aspera.conf.

2. Set the IP address or hostname for the node in the aspera.conf file with the following asconfigurator command:

   > asconfigurator -x "set_server_data;server_name,ip_or_hostname"

   For example:

   > asconfigurator -x "set_server_data;server_name,aspera.example.com"

3. Configure a HSTS transfer user account with a Node API username and password.

   Console communicates to the HSTS transfer user account through the Node API to start and monitor transfers on the node.

   For instructions on adding users to HSTS, see the IBM Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server Admin Guide: Setting Up Users.

   1. Run the following commands to set up the Node API user:

      > asnodeadmin -a -u node_api_username -p node_api_passwd -x system_username --acl-set impersonation,admin

      Note: Use different names for the system user account and transfer user account in order to minimize confusion when tracing transactions and events.
      For example:

      > asnodeadmin -a -u node_user -p XF324cd28 -x svcAspera --acl-set impersonation,admin

      Note:

      You need to escape special characters such as $ to use them in a password. For example, to use XF324$ as the password:

      /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -a -u node_user -x xfer -p XF324\$

   2. Run the following command to check that the system user was successfully added to asnodeadmin:

      > asnodeadmin -l

      Given a node user named node_user and a system user named svcAspera, the output should be:

                      user       system/transfer user                    acls
      ====================    =======================    ====================
                 node_user                  svcAspera    [impersonation,admin]