Amethyst 2 Archive service

Voice recording ( Amethyst and iReCall )
1

The new Amethyst 2 Archive service can be used without sharing a windows or network drive.
(The Database archive currently still requires the windows share, but will be changed in future)
Requirements

  • Windows Server with local drives that have storage available for the recordings. The service can’t access mapped drives.
  • HTTPS (TCP Port 443) access between the Amethyst 2 server and the server running the archive service. This allows this service to be hosted anywhere, as long as this access is available. Alternate prts can be used if 443 is already in use. E.g. 4443 or 5443.
  • Remote Desktop (TCP 3389) access to the server, is required, to install the service and possible maintenance.

How does this facility work:

  1. The Amethyst 2 Archive service is installed on a Windows Server and runs in the background all the time.

  2. Amethyst 2 Server is configured and authorized to connect to the Archive service.

  3. Amethyst 2 Archive process runs periodically ( usually once a minute) on the Amethyst 2 server and uploads all the recordings that has not been archived to the archive server. One run will be limited to a configurable number of recordings ( Default 2000)

  4. The Purge process deletes recordings that are flagged as archived successfully and is older than the “Keep Live” period configured. The recordings are removed from the drive, but the meta data stays on the database. The Database state is then marked as Purged. These calls will automatically be retrieved from this archive service, if the recording is accessed via the supervisor.

Purged recordings
Directly after the archive process completes, the Purge process runs. This allows the diskspace to be cleaned as part of the ongoing system maintenance.

Calls that have been archived and purged, will be retrieved from the Archive server as long as the HTTPS connection is available.
The recording must be available on the hard drive of the archive server. *If the files has been removed from the archive server, it will need to be restore to that original location or one of the configured “old recordings locations” *.

The recording will show small hard drive icon next to the recording reference field if the calls is purged.

Database archives

  • The databases are now stored in two separate folders to keep a database per month and one per week day:
  • The databases are overwritten every day to reduce the amount of space used by the databases.
  • The Database on Amethyst 2 is copied to a Windows share.
  • The database is uploaded once a day at 21:00.
  • These are required if the Amethyst 2 server ever has to be recreated. They are not required for the Archive retrieval.

The structure looks like this:

DB\MonthOfYear\202011\
DB\MonthOfYear\202012\

The Month of Year allows at least one database for each month of the year. (YYYYMM)

DB\DayOfWeek\Monday\
DB\DayOfWeek\Tuesday\

The Day of week database allows the last 7 days databases to be available.

2

Over all steps to install the Archive steps:
This can be done without disabling the existing Archiving.

Requirements

  • Server to install the archive service on.
    • Windows or Linux server.
  • Account on the server with admin access to allow installation of software.
    • Need to be able to stop and start the service as well.
  • Space on the archive server to store the recordings locally.
  • Previously archived call location on this same server.
  • Windows share will be opened to allow the Database and config files to be uploaded
  • HTTPS port to use for communication between the Amethyst 2 server and the Archive server.
    • Default 443

Change Control steps
Datatex to perform these steps

  1. Access to the server where the service will be installed.
  2. Install the service.
  3. Configure the historic archived call location in the archive software.
  4. (optional) Change the HTTP port, if it is not default.
  5. Configure the location where the recordings will be stored locally.
  6. Configure the Archive Settings on the Amethyst 2 Webadmin
    6.1 Set Purge to disabled until archiving is working.
    6.2 Set the archive time frame to 00:00 to 23:59 to allow archiving the entire day.
    6.3 Add the IP address of the Archive server to the list of archive servers.
    6.4 Enable the Archiving to iReCall and selected the newly added IP as the destination.
    6.5 Set the number of call to process to 50.
  7. Test that the archive process can archive calls.