easyascp

Easy use of command line Aspera Connect (ascp) for ENA downloads

1. Download IBM aspera connect

as per instructions: https://www.ibm.com/aspera/connect/

2. Find installation location of 'ascp' and 'asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh'

2a. Mac

~/Applications/Aspera\ Connect.app/Contents/Resources/ascp

~/Applications/Aspera\ Connect.app/Contents/Resources/asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh

2a. Ubuntu

/home/$USER/.aspera/connect/bin/ascp

/home/$USER/.aspera/connect/etc/asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh

3. Create script

Substitute in locations of 'ascp' and 'asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh' where appropriate

easyascp (Ubuntu)

#!/bin/bash
# shortcut for ascp downloads
new_ftp=$(echo $1 | sed 's/ftp.sra.ebi.ac.uk\//era-fasp@fasp.sra.ebi.ac.uk:/g')
/home/$USER/.aspera/connect/bin/ascp -QT -l 300m -P33001 -i /home/$USER/.aspera/connect/etc/asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh $new_ftp .

easyascp (Mac)

#!/bin/bash
# shortcut for ascp downloads
new_ftp=$(echo $1 | sed 's/ftp.sra.ebi.ac.uk\//era-fasp@fasp.sra.ebi.ac.uk:/g')
~/Applications/Aspera\ Connect.app/Contents/Resources/ascp -QT -l 300m -P33001 -i ~/Applications/Aspera\ Connect.app/Contents/Resources/asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh $new_ftp .

Example easyascp script in this repo is for Mac

Note that you may want to change the max transfer rate for ascp: -l 300m

3.b Add easyascp to your $PATH

Add script folder location to your .bashrc or .bash_profile e.g. export PATH="/Users/$USER/SOFTWARE_DIRECTORY/easyascp:$PATH"

Change permissions so file is executable chmod +x /Users/$USER/SOFTWARE_DIRECTORY/easyascp/easyascp

4. Run easyascp

easyascp ftp.sra.ebi.ac.uk/vol1/fastq/SRR881/000/SRR8810710/SRR8810710.fastq.gz

signalbash/easyascp