Administration

  • UCX Applications
External Storage

Feature Description

The UCX External Storage allows Call Recordings to be automatically transferred to an external storage device on regular basis. The External Storage application has the following attributes:

  • Configuration is done through the UCX web interface 
  • This feature is designed to use a dedicated Network Attached Storage device configured to only allow access to the IP Address of the UCX server (i.e. IP Address or Peer Authentication), which provides a higher level of security than a basic username/password combination.
  • This feature is designed to use a dedicated Network Attached Storage device configured using the NFS protocol. Please ensure your NAS is able to support configuration as an NFS share device.
  • Once the files are transferred from the UCX to the External Storage device, access to the files are governed by the permissions settings of the storage device. UCX users that have previously been able to access those files while they were stored on the UCX will have to arrange for access permission through the NAS server administrator. See section User and Group Settings on NAS below.

Prerequisites

  1. UCX server is installed with the latest E-Metrotel software.
  2. An updated license to include the UCX External Storage software.
  3. An external network attached storage device with no user authentication required and able to connect as an NFS share.
Call Recordings transferred to an external storage device are typically in compressed format, which require approximately 8 MB/hr of storage. You need to size your Network Attached Storage (NAS) device accordingly.

Update License

External Storage is a licensed feature. You must obtain a license in order to install it. 

Go to Licenses page for details on how to:

  • Obtain a new license for the External Storage
  • Retrieve the updated license. 

Install Addon Package

First you will need to perform a Software Update to have the latest UCX software. 

Next you need to install the External Storage package. 

  1. Navigate to Accessories -> Addon Packages page.
  2. Scroll down the page and look for External Storage.
  3. Click the INSTALL button to install the package

Configure External Storage

To access the External Storage configuration page, perform the following steps:

  1. Refresh the browser page after the successful installation of the package.
  2. Navigate to Accessories -> External Storage page.

The following settings are required.

NAS Connection

Enabled: Select Yes
IP Address: Enter the IP address of the NAS server
Directory: identify the path of the target directory on the NAS server

This section also provides:
Status will indicate a Connected if the NAS directory has been found. 
Storage space will indicate the amount of storage identified on the file server if the connection to the NAS was established successfully. 

Transfer Files to NAS

Start Time: enter the hour of day (using 24 hour clock) that you wish to start the file transfer to the NAS
Frequency: Enter the frequency that you wish to initiate the file transfer to the NAS (Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly/Semi-Annually/Annually or Disabled)
Keep Locally: Enter the period of time for which you wish to retain the recording files on the local UCX server (Last 1, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, 182, or 365 days)

This section also provides:
Last Transfer will indicate N/A (before any transfers have been attempted)
Initial Transfer will indicate when the first transfer will occur
Used Local Storage will indicate the current amount of local storage space on the UCX for the recordings files

When complete, click the Save button. 

The following example below shows a system configured to connect to a NAS at 192.168.1.117, and then transfers the recordings to the /export/nfs_share directory. Recordings are started at 1:00 PM (14:00) on a daily basis, and the recordings are stored locally on the UCX for 30 days.

Once the UCX system has successfully transferred files based on the configured schedule, the Last Transfer information will be updated, and the Next Scheduled Transfer time will be shown.

User and Group Settings on NAS

If the NAS administrator wishes to create the Asterisk User and Group  credentials on the NAS system, the User ID and Group ID must match the IDs used on the UCX software. On the UCX, the ID of the asterisk user is always 100 and the ID of the asterisk group is always 101.

Therefore, to create matching user/group on the NAS, the admin should:

  1. Create a new group asterisk with the group ID 101
  2. Create a new user asterisk with the user ID 100
  3. Set the permissions of the share they want to use to use the asterisk user and group

Disable External Storage

To disable the regular transfer of Call Recordings to the NAS device: 

From the External Storage page:

  1. Set the Enabled field to No
  2. Press the Save button

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