Alaska Satellite FacilityBulk Download of the ASF Datapool
ASF has chosen to deliver the bulk download capacity of the ASF datapool to our users via Metalink files. The Metalink files generated during a bulk download request contain all of the information needed to deliver your chosen data files from ASF to your computing system. This file delivery mechanism increases the speed, reliance and security of ASF data delivery in a one-click experience for the user. Metalink files require a download client to be ingested by any given recipient for SAR data file transfers to be successful. ASF has identified a few download clients that work with the major browsers that URSA is currently supporting.
All download clients recommended by ASF are free. All download clients will take a few minutes to install. There are other download clients that support the Metalink file format; those download clients will be added to the list of ASF supported download clients as their functionality increases to serve our user community efficiently. For more information about Metalink files and download clients which support them, please visit the Metalink Web site.
Download Client Quick Reference Table
| FireFox | Internet Explorer (IE7, IE8) | Command Line | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows |  DownThemAll! |  Free Download Manager | Aria2 |
| OSX | DownThemAll! | Not Applicable | Aria2 |
| Linux | DownThemAll! | Not Recommended | Aria2 |
DownThemAll (Windows) - Mozilla FireFox
This is the download client preferred by ASF staff working in Windows and using Mozilla FireFox as a web browser, as it is a simple add-on in this browser. DownThemAll will become an option when downloading any type of file and can be defined as your default download client whenever opening Metalink files when you select the “always use this program when opening this type of program” radio button, creating a seamless download experience each additional time you bulk download data from ASF. An additional feature you can choose with this download client is to be notified when the data you are downloading already exists in the file or directory to which you are downloading additional ASF data to.
Installation guidance: To install, follow the link to the DownThemAll Web site, click green “download now” button which will launch and installation gui, click the “install” button, and finish the process with a restart of FireFox.
Free Download Manager (Windows) – Internet Explorer
This download client is recommended for those users who prefer to use Internet Explorer (IE) as their web browser. Once installed, this download client offers a true one-click bulk download experience. An additional feature you can choose with this download client is to be notified when the data you are downloading already exists in the file or directory to which you are downloading additional ASF data to.
Installation guidance: Follow the link to the Free Download Manager (FDM) Web site, click on the blue and green “DOWNLOAD FDM FREE” bar, choose the top green download bar (not FDM Lite), you will be informed that this type of file could harm your computer, but yes you do want fdminst.exe so choose “Save”, download progress can be monitored in bottom left corner of the screen, once complete click on this icon and proceed through the promptings of the installation wizard, finish with a restart of IE.
Aria2 (UNIX, Windows, Open Source) – Command line high speed download utility
Aria2 is the recommended download client for those that prefer the command line environment instead of a typical web browser for data streaming. Though there are a number of clients available through the aria2 download platform, we prefer version 1.10.9. Access to the ASF datapool through aria2 requires an authentication cookie; you must save the ASF datapool session cookie to file and provide it to aria2 with the –load-cookies command line option in order to download the ASF datapool via the Metalink mechanism. Basic commands for using aria2 to access the ASF datapool can be found at the SDC Data Access web page.
Authentication requirements – To access the ASF datapool SAR data collection, you will need to be an approved and authenticatable user; i.e. an URSA account holder with a valid proposal on file. The ASF API authenticates against our internal system with a series of cookies which will need to be acquired every time one performs a batch download. Below are the required statements to obtain the cookies.
From the command line utilizing wget:
wget --save-cookies cookies.txt --post-data='user_name=CHANGE_ME&user_password=CHANGE_ME' --no-check-certificate https://ursa.asfdaac.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/login -o /dev/null -O /dev/null
This will save your authentication cookie into a file called cookies.txt.
Installation guidance: Follow the link to the aria2 Web site, choose preferred format to download based upon your operating system, click on chosen link, either save file or download the compressed file to you directory of choice.
