Traffic collector manual

The Media collector module gathers media packets in real time for pre-defined IP addresses and number masks, either fully or randomly, and allows users to listen to the recorded media in most commonly-used codecs.

Capturing can work in 2 modes:

• You may set up signaling IPs and number masks for which the media will be recorded randomly. To insure that small customers, vendors, or areas get a certain number of calls recorded each hour, you may set this minimal number of calls per each object. Thus, small objects will have at least the minimum, large object with a lot of traffic will have hundreds or thousands of calls recorded every hour.
• You may force the system to record the next 5/10/20 calls in a row for specific IPs/numbers, for instance, if you are making a call and want to be sure it will be recorded.

Since media is recorded randomly and only for a short initial interval (we recommend 60-120 seconds) - it won't create too much additional load to the system, even if you want to monitor quality for all your customers and vendors.

Usually, 10-20 calls per hour is enough to understand what is going on with a specific vendor->area combination, there is no need to record absolutely every call.

The Media collector module requires the Signaling collector module installed to function.

IPs and number masks to collect media for are configured in the Media conf table.

The resulted raw packets can be viewed in the Media logs table, and full recorded calls can be listened to in the Media calls table.

The Media conf table allows you to set up the SRC/DST signaling IP addresses and/or number masks to record only the calls that match these criteria.

The system will filter the signaling logs first, figure out the media IPs, and then start recording of the media stream for the configured calls in a random or full mode. The user may define the following settings:

• SRC/DST signaling address / net - the calls from/to these addresses will be considered for media recording.
• SRC/DST number pattern - the calls with these SRC/DST number patterns will be considered for media recording.
• Min recorded calls per hour - the sniffer will try to record this number of calls each hour. Without this setting, objects with small traffic may not have enough calls recorded in a random mode, as they will be competing for the recording slots with much larger objects.
• Record time per call, sec - the duration of a sample to be recorded, we recommend 60-120 seconds. The longer are the recorded calls, the less calls will be recorded per hour.
• Capture each of next X calls - when recording calls, the system may work in two modes. In the Random mode calls to be recorded will be chosen randomly. In the Next 5/10/20 calls mode the system will record the next 5, 10, or 20 calls in a row once the setting is applied, and then switch to the Random mode again.

Please note that if you change the settings, it may take up to a minute for a sniffer to pick them up.

With the help of a right-click menu, you may view pre-filtered recorded calls by clicking on the View in Media calls menu option.

The Media calls table contains recorded calls in a playback-ready format. You may easily find a call you need filtering by IPs or numbers. To display the recorded calls, click the period you want to investigate in the interval selector.

You may play back the call by clicking the play/pause button in the Audio play column. The system will display the graphical representation of a sound stream. To pause the file, click the field again. Ctrl-click on the sound bar will jump playback to a click position.

You may also download the file by clicking the Get file link in the Audio get file column.

With the help of a right-click menu, you may view the call in Media logs or Signaling logs and display the Call flow for its signaling packets.

This table contains data on raw media packets collected by the system. To export the filtered data for the chosen interval into a Wireshark-readable PCAP format, please choose File-PCAP in the row count selector and click GO.