Hi Community, I have been using ascp to download SRA data from EBI without any issues until recently. Starting from March 2026, the same command began failing with an authentication error.
Command that worked before (March 2026): ascp -Q -l 300m -P 33001 -k 1 -i /path/to/asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh era-fasp@fasp.sra.ebi.ac.uk:/vol1/fastq/SRR165/002/SRR1658702/SRR1658702_2.fastq.gz /target/dir
Current error: ascp: failed to authenticate, exiting. Session Stop (Error: failed to authenticate)
What I have confirmed: The private key file (asperaweb_id_dsa.openssh) has not changed. ascp version is 4.0.0. I tried installing the latest Aspera Connect, but it fails due to low GLIBC version on the server.
My question: Is there any way to resolve this authentication issue without upgrading ascp or system libraries? For example, can I force the client to use older encryption protocols or adjust settings to restore compatibility with EBI servers?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
•
written
by
wzzzling •
If you can install Apptainer, try nf-core/fetchngs with --download_method aspera.
Install Apptainer without root privileges: https://apptainer.org/docs/admin/main/installation.html#install-unprivileged-from-pre-built-binaries
That's really helpful!!!!!I knew about this method, but I never thought to use it. You're brilliant!
fetchngs also not work
nextflow run fetchngs -profile docker --input tmp.tsv --outdir output --download_method aspera
Command error:
Unable to find image 'quay.io/biocontainers/aspera-cli:4.14.0--hdfd78af_1' locally
4.14.0--hdfd78af_1: Pulling from biocontainers/aspera-cli
642efca944a0: Pulling fs layer
bd9ddc54bea9: Pulling fs layer
7b8e1e5ce0be: Pulling fs layer
bd9ddc54bea9: Verifying Checksum
bd9ddc54bea9: Download complete
642efca944a0: Verifying Checksum
642efca944a0: Download complete
642efca944a0: Pull complete
bd9ddc54bea9: Pull complete
7b8e1e5ce0be: Verifying Checksum
7b8e1e5ce0be: Download complete
7b8e1e5ce0be: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:07678dfe3a66d095861841dd147739d0acdfe4b96fca339d68acb3050f12aac2
Status: Downloaded newer image for quay.io/biocontainers/aspera-cli:4.14.0--hdfd78af_1
ascp: failed to authenticate, exiting.
Session Stop (Error: failed to authenticate)
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I have no answer, other than, for example, entering the SRR IDs into sra-explorer.info and get the bash script for downloading via wget/curl which in most situations is sufficiently fast as well.