Overview

Microsoft provides 2 set of Graph APIs to archive chat and channel messages for Microsoft Teams. The Verba system supports both integrations. The following table provides a comparison of the 2 integration options.

Deploying Microsoft Teams chat and channel archiving

The following section contains all the necessary steps for setting up a Microsoft Teams chat and channel archiving infrastructure.

Server sizing

The IM recording architecture includes two server roles: Recording Director and Media Recorder. These roles have different sizing numbers and different factors have to be taken into account. Since the Recording Director has a small footprint compared to the Media Recorder, they are usually not separated but deployed as a single recorder.

Rule of thumb for server sizing

The following table shows the expected incoming message rates at different user numbers:

*Based on Slack usage statistics

**Based on Cisco IM/P sizing

Based on the statistics above, if the daily IM message rate has to be processed within 8 hours, then a single recorder core can handle 13K users.
If it is enough to process the messages within 16 hours, then a single recorder core can handle 26K users.
For more real-time processing during peak hours, extra CPU cores can be added:

• In the case of the real-time processing of the low message rate, a single CPU core can handle 8K users.
• In the case of a medium message rate, a single CPU core can handle 5K users.
• In the case of a high message rate, a single CPU core can handle 3K users.

For requirements for other components and server roles, see Server sizing and requirements

For the detailed sizing guidelines of the different Recording Server components, see the paragraphs below:

Recording Director

In the case of the Webhook/DLP API, the Recording Director component has to be sized based on the real-time incoming load. The minimum CPU requirement is 4 CPU cores. It can process 1500 messages every second with a single CPU core, and 6000 messages every second with 4 cores.

In the case of higher incoming loads, the network bandwidth also has to be considered. 1000 messages per second incoming load generate 48 Mbps traffic (or 6 MB/s) between the Teams side and the Recording Director, and 42 Mbps traffic (or 5.2 MB/s) between the Recording Director and the file queue storage.

Media Recorder and SQL Server

The Media Recorder component does not have to be sized for real-time processing, since the recorded data is stored already in the file queue storage. Instead, the Media Recorder can be sized based on the overall message count a day. If there are more incoming messages than the real-time processing capacity of the Media Recorder(s), then the messages will be inserted into the database later, so they will be also available for search and replay through the web interface later. However, sufficient processing capacity should be provided so it can process the daily message load at least within 16 hours.

The minimum CPU requirement is 4 CPU cores. It can process 22 messages every second with a single CPU core. In the case of multiple Media Recorder servers, all servers have to have the same number of cores.

The Recorder Director and the Media Recorder components can be co-located on the same server. In this case, the resources will be shared between them.

The SQL Server has to be sized based on the fully utilized CPU cores of the Media Recorder server(s). The SQL Server needs to have one and a half times more CPU cores than the Media Recorder server(s). On the SQL Server physical disk, every fully utilized Media Recorder CPU cores generate 100 IOPS.

Load-balancing and Failover

Large deployments may require multiple VMs and other Azure components. In the case of the Webhook/DLP API, a load-balancer has to be placed in front of the Recording Servers (Recording Directors).

If the Recording Director and Media Recorder roles are separated, multiple Media Recorders can be deployed behind the Recording Director(s).

In the case of the Webhook/DLP API, only one of the Recording Director components is writing into the file queues at once, depending on which one receives the events from the Application Gateway. The other Recording Director(s) will be on standby.

In the case of the Export API however, the active Recording Director components divide the user list amongst each other equally, and only query the chats of their own portion of the user list. The standby Recording Director(s) will become active only if an active one goes down. In that case, it takes over the user list portion of the server that went down.

The Media Recorder component works the same way regardless of the API being used. File queues are distributed between the active Media Recorders equally. Standby Media Recorders will become active only if an active Media Recorder goes down. In that case, it takes over the file queues of the server that went down.

Highly available setup with separated server roles:

Preparation

Make sure that all the required prerequisites are installed on each server prior to the installation.

• Prerequisites
• Installing the required prerequisites

For guidance on configuring the necessary firewall port, visit Firewall configuration for Microsoft Teams recording deployments

Installation

The following articles contain all the steps for installing the various server roles:

• Installing a Verba Single Server solution
• Installing a Verba Media Repository
• Installing a Verba Recording Server

Configuration

For chat and channel archiving, see Configuring Microsoft Teams Chat and Channel Archiving.