Media recording involves the BT Heartbeat and Directory service which acts as a proxy/mediator between the Media Recorder and the BT ITS IPSI system. Once the recorder service is started, it controls the state of the BT services as well, i.e. it starts/stops and monitors their state. When the BT service is up, it periodically checks the recorder service for TTPs in interest and establishes PWE3 streams to media ports provided by the recorder service. The configuration consists of configuring the BT services and Media Recorder (Unified Recorder service).
Prerequisites
Create NICs as per failover/redundancy requirements and configure static IP routing
Install BT Voice Recorder Heartbeat service (3.0.0 or newer)
- Create c:\ITS\TFTP_Root\local_ipconfig.txt
The ITS Heartbeat Voice Recorder Service and the ITS Directory Service must set with "manual" startup mode (default after installation). Do not change it to automatic or disabled.
The local_ipconfig.txt file
The config file should enumerate the friendly name of NICs. It tells the BT services which NICs should be used for specific network communications
Example for unicast setup
[Adapters] ITSdataLan=Management LAN ITSVoiceLanA=VLAN A ITSVoiceLanB=VLAN B [Physical] CardId=VoiceRecorder [Unicast Directory Services] VoiceRecorder=ds_proxy.1,ds_proxy.2
Example for multicast setup
[Adapters] ITSdataLan=Management LAN ITSVoiceLanA=VLAN A ITSVoiceLanB=VLAN B [Physical] CardId=VoiceRecorder
The global_ipconfig.txt file
This file is provided by the ITSProfile server via TFTP share and is populated automatically by the recorder service at startup. Please make sure the following setting is present:
[VR] SwapTTPonHealthy=false
Configuring the Unified Recorder service
Mandatory configuration steps
Related configuration can be found under Unified Call Recorder\BT ITS\IPSI
Active the Unified Call Recorder service on the Recording Servers
Step 1 - In the Verba Web Interface go to System \ Servers
Step 2 - Select the Recording Server from the list
Step 3 - Click on the Service Activation tab
Step 4 - Activate the Verba Unified Call Recorder Service by clicking on the 
icon.
Step 5 - Repeat the steps on all Recording Servers (all servers with either a Media Recorder or Recording Director role or both) if there are multiple.
Configure the Media Recorder servers
Step 1 - In the Verba Web Interface go to System \ Servers
Step 2 - Select the Recording Server from the list
Step 3 - Click on the Change Configuration Settings tab and navigate to Unified Call Recorder / Recording Providers / BT ITS/IPSI
Step 4 - Enable Media Recorder mode at Recording Server Role
Step 5 - Configure TTP Codec as per BT side codec being used (TTP Codec)
Step 6 - Configure the IPv4 address of the IPSI Management VLAN NIC at Management VLAN IP*. If the setting is empty, it defaults to "Network \ System \ Server IPv4 Address".
Step 7 - Configure the IPv4 address of the IPSI Voice A VLAN NIC at Voice VLAN1 IP*. If the setting is empty it defaults to "Network \ System \ Server IPv4 Address".
Step 8 - Configure the IPv4 address of the IPSI Voice B VLAN NIC at Voice VLAN2 IP*. If the setting is empty it defaults to "Network \ System \ Server IPv4 Address".
Step 9 - Configure the TFTP address(es) of the ITS Profile server at IPSI TFTP1/2 URL**, where the global_ipconfig.txt file is shared.
Step 10 - Save the changes by clicking on the 
icon.
Step 11 - A notification banner will appear on the top. Click on the click here link, so you will be redirected to the Configuration Tasks tab. Click on the Execute button in order to execute the changes.
Step 12 - Click on the Service Control tab.
Step 13 - Start the Verba Unified Call Recorder Service by clicking on the 
icon.
Step 14 - Repeat the steps on all Media Recorder servers.
* Addresses must be consistent with the NIC names provided in local_ipconfig.txt.
** At least one TFTP URL is required. The config file is retrieved at service startup. If it cannot be retrieved then the previous local copy is used and alert is raised.
Configure the Recording Director servers
Step 1 - In the Verba Web Interface go to System \ Servers
Step 2 - Select the Recording Server from the list
Step 3 - Click on the Change Configuration Settings tab and navigate to Unified Call Recorder / Recording Providers / BT ITS/IPSI
Step 4 - Enable Recording Director or Recording Director & Media Recorder mode under Recording Server Role. In case both Recording Director and Media Recorder roles are required, configuring the Media Recorder component as well.
Step 5 - Configure the list of the Voice Recorder IDs (previously configured on the BT side) the service should handle. It must contain both primary and secondary IDs in case of 2N recording.
Step 6 - Set 2N mode depending on the deployment architecture at IPSI / Media Recording 2N Mode.
Step 7 - In case it is a Standby Recording Director, define the API address of the Active Recording Director at Active TTP Manager.
If TTP Manager redundancy is configured (standby Recording Director), there must be a very stable network connection between the two hosts. NIC teaming or crossover cable connection is required. If the network is lost between the two servers but both have an active connection to the BT infrastructure and to the Media Recorder servers, it could lead to unexpected situations and possible media loss, because both Recording Directors will actively try to control TTPs.
Step 8 - Save the changes by clicking on the icon.
Step 9 - A notification banner will appear on the top. Click on the click here link, so you will be redirected to the Configuration Tasks tab. Click on the Execute button in order to execute the changes.
Step 10 - Click on the Service Control tab.
Step 11 - Start the Verba Unified Call Recorder Service by clicking on the icon.
Step 12 - Repeat the steps on all Recording Director servers.
Configuration reference
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Recording Server Role | Defines the role of the server:
For Recording Director functionality either TMS or LDAP based BT ITS platform provisioning and Voice Recorder IDs must be configured |
| Voice Recorder IDs | New line separated list of the Voice Recorder IDs configured in the BT ITS switch. The Recording Director will allocate only the TTPs to the Media Recorder(s) which are assigned to the configured Voice Recorder IDs in the BT ITS configuration. |
| TTP Codec | Voice codec which is being used to compress voice streams, it can be G.711 A-Law or U-Law |
| IPSI / Media 2N Recording Mode | Defines if this Recording Director should deal with primary or secondary TTPs for 2N recording, or no 2N recording is configured. The following valid values apply:
|
| Active TTP Manager | Defines the IP address / hostname (and port number) of the active Recording Director in case it is a Standby Recording Director. The standby Recording Director monitors the state of the active Recording Director and once there is no connectivity, it takes control over for TTP management across the Media Recorders. In case the default API port (10031) is configured on the active Recording Director, only the IP address /hostname has to be defined. In case the API port is not the default 10031 on the active Recording Director, define the port number as well: ip_address_or_hostname:port |
| Management VLAN IP | IPv4 address of the NIC connecting IPSI management LAN. If it is not defined, it defaults to Server Local IPv4 address configuration. |
| Voice VLAN1 IP | IPv4 address of the NIC connecting IPSI VLAN A. If it is not defined, it defaults to Server Local IPv4 address configuration. |
| Voice VLAN2 IP | IPv4 address of the NIC connecting IPSI VLAN B. If it is not defined, it defaults to Server Local IPv4 address configuration. |
| Number of Media Processing Threads | Number of media processing threads to be used by the Media Recorder component |
| BT Heartbeat Listening Port | UDP port on which the Media Recorder listens to BT Heartbeat Service requests |
| TTP Timeout (seconds) | Defines media timeout in seconds on a TTP. After the timeout value, it is considered unhealthy and, if possible, the Recording Director moves the TTP to another Media Recorder. |
| TTP Distribution Timer (seconds) | Defines how often the Recording Director checks the state of the TTPs on the Media Recorders and changes TTP allocation when needed. The value should be set to TTP Timeout / 2 or less. |
| BT Heartbeat Service Timeout (seconds) | The timeout value in seconds for the BT Heartbeat service. The Media Recorder controls when the BT Heartbeat and Directory services should start and stop and also monitors their state. If the BT service is not responding within the configured timeout value, the BT services will be restarted to recover from error states. |
| IPSI TFTP 1 URL | TFTP address on the IT Profile server where the global_ipconfig.txt is downloaded from. tftp://itslnkserver/global_ipconfig.txt |
| IPSI TFTP 2 URL | TFTP address on the IT Profile server where the global_ipconfig.txt is downloaded from. tftp://itslnkserver/global_ipconfig.txt |