• Article

Configuring Archiving, Call Detail Recording, and Meeting Compliance

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

To record content, activities, and instant message conversations, Office Communications Server 2007 includes the following features:

  • Archiving enables you to archive instant message conversations for your organization. The Archiving and CDR Server does not capture any meeting data from conferences.

  • Call Detail Records (CDRs) provide a way to collect both IM and meeting data, and generate reports on usage characteristics, which can be used to determine employee usage patterns, and return on investment (ROI). CDRs capture user sign-ins, IM conversations, and conference starts and joins.

  • Meeting compliance provides a way to record meeting activities and the content that is uploaded during a meeting.

To configure these features requires the following:

  • Configuring Archiving

  • Configuring Call Detail Recording

  • Configuring Log Meeting Content for Compliance

Configuring Archiving

The Archiving and CDR Server provides the following data retention capabilities:

  • Archives all instant messaging (IM) conversations for all or specific users. Archiving retains specific conversation data. For example, organizations that are required to store the content of all communications for regulatory compliance can enable archiving. Those organizations typically also configure the servers to shut down if archiving fails because it prevents messages from being exchanged without being archived.

  • Archives call detail records (CDRs) for all or specific users. Call detail recording retains general usage data, not user-specific information. Call detail records are useful for identifying trends in Office Communications Server usage within an organization. For example, organizations that want to track usage data for ROI (return on investment) reports might enable call detail recording.

Note

In order to archive the activities or content of on-premise meetings, see the Configuring Log Meeting Content for Compliance section later in this topic.

In order to archive multiparty IM conversations or meetings with users in a distribution group, the Office Communications Server Archiving and CDR service must be enabled and running on the pool or server of the user who initiates the session.

In a peer-to-peer IM conversation, if at least one of the users is configured for archiving, the entire conversation is archived. The Office Communications Server Archiving and CDR service does not archive audio, video, or file transfers that occur using Office Communications Server 2007. However, general usage information for audio, video, and file transfers can be archived if you enable call detail recording using the information in the Configuring Call Detail Recording section, later in this topic.

Before you can administer archiving, you must first install and configure an Archiving and CDR Server and all its prerequisites according to the instructions in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server Deployment Guide. After installing and configuring the Archiving and CDR Server, you manage archiving settings at the following levels:

  • Global level. Archiving must first be configured at the global level (for the forest). When you configure archiving at the global level, you can choose to enable archiving for all users in the forest, disable archiving for all users in the forest, or enable and disable archiving on a per user basis.

    Note

    Global archiving settings, including those for internal conversations and federated conversations, do not apply to group instant messaging conversations.
    When you configure archiving for all users at the global level, the archiving settings at the user level are not configurable. If you want to implement archiving for some users, but not all, you must configure archiving according to user settings.

  • Pool level. After you have configured archiving at the global level, you must configure it at the pool level. At the pool level, you can activate archiving and call detail recording. If your organization requires it, you can also configure archiving as a critical service that triggers the Office Communications Server service on the pool to shut down if archiving fails or if the messaging queue is unable to encrypt the archived content. Furthermore, it is at the pool level that you associate the servers in an Enterprise pool with the archiving message queue that it will use. When you enable archiving, content that is to be archived is first written to the destination queue in Message Queuing (also known as MSMQ) before it is stored in the SQL Server database.

  • User level. If, at the global level, you select the option to configure archiving on a per user basis, you must then enable archiving for each user or group of users whose activity you want to capture. Archiving settings at the user level indicates whether or not you want to archive internal messages and/or federated messages.

Additionally, the Archiving and CDR Server has the following settings:

  • Server name. The name of the Archiving and CDR Server can only be specified during installation of the Archiving and CDR Server.

  • Message queue name. The message queue path name is the same setting that you provide when you install the Archiving and CDR Server. Although the message queue name is the same as the SQL Server database name by default, the two are not related.

  • SQL Server database settings, including the name of the server hosting the database and the database name, which you initially specified during setup of the Archiving and CDR Server. You can change the database, if appropriate.

  • Maximum days to be logged. When selected, this setting specifies the maximum number of days that messages will be logged. Valid values range from 0 to 2562. The default value is 0.

Use the procedures in this section to configure global level and the pool level archiving settings, as well as to change the maximum days logged. This includes the following procedures:

  • Enabling Archiving at the Global Level

  • Configuring Enterprise Pools and Standard Edition Servers for Archiving

  • Viewing and Changing Archiving and CDR Server Settings

  • Enabling Archiving Disclaimer Notification for Federated Users

To change the SQL Server database for the Archiving and CDR Server, see the Changing the Database Used by an Archiving and CDR Server section of this guide, in Managing Databases. To configure user-level archiving settings, see Configuring Archiving for Individual Users, in Configuring Individual Office Communications Server User Account Properties.

Enabling Archiving at the Global Level

In order to archive communications for your organization, you must first enable archiving at the global level. At the global level, you can enable or disable archiving for all users in the forest or on a per user basis. If you followed the instructions in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server Deployment Guide, you may have already configured global archiving.

When you configure archiving at the global level for all users in the forest, archiving settings are not configurable at the user level. If you want to archive for some users, but not all, you must configure global properties for the forest to archive according to user settings. After you have configured archiving at the forest level, you must also configure it at the pool level. Furthermore, if you configure the forest to archive according to user settings, you must then enable archiving for each user or group of users whose activity you want to capture.

You can use the Archiving tab to change the global-level settings for archiving, including the following:

  • Internal communications. Use this setting to specify the archiving settings for Office Communications Server activity conducted between internal users in your organization.

  • Federated communications. Use this option to specify the archiving settings for Office Communications Server activity conducted between internal users in your organization and users in an organization that is federated with yours.

To enable or disable archiving at the global level

  1. Using an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, log on to a server in the forest where you installed Office Communications Server 2007 that has Office Communications Server 2007 installed.

  2. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  3. In the console tree, right-click the forest node, click Properties, and then click Global Properties.

    df9d3d1c-5336-467e-a1a8-c87e2fdd67cc

  4. On the Archiving tab, under Internal communications, do the following:

    • To archive conversations for all users inside your organization's network, click Archive for all users.

    • To archive conversations for none of the users inside your organization's network, click Do not archive for any users.

    • To archive conversations only for specific users inside your organization's network, click Archive according to user settings.

  5. Under Federated communications, do the following:

    • To archive conversations for all users that are outside your organization but part of a federated network, click Archive for all users.

    • To archive conversations for none of the users that are outside your organization but part of a federated network, click Do not archive for any users.

    • To archive conversations for certain users that are outside your organization but part of a federated network, click Archive according to user settings.

  6. If in steps 4 and 5 you chose the Archive according to user settings option for either internal communications or federated communications, configure the individual user accounts for which you want to archive conversations and usage information. For information about how to configure the individual user accounts, see the Configuring Archiving for Individual Users section of this guide, in Configuring Individual Office Communications Server User Account Properties.

    Note

    Unlike Live Communications Server 2005, in Office Communications Server 2007, you cannot configure an archiving disclaimer notification to federated partners. Group Policy can still be used to configure a warning displayed by Communicator client regarding recorded conversations.

Configuring Enterprise Pools and Standard Edition Servers for Archiving

After you enable archiving at the global level, ensure that you configure archiving on every Enterprise pool and Standard Edition Server for which you want to implement archiving. If you followed the instructions in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server Deployment Guide, you may have already configured your pools and servers for archiving.

To configure an Enterprise pool or Standard Edition Server for archiving

  1. Using an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, log on to a server in the forest where you installed Office Communications Server 2007 that has Office Communications Server 2007 installed.

  2. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  3. In the console tree, expand the Forest node, and then do one of the following:

    • If you are configuring archiving for an Enterprise pool, expand Enterprise pools, right-click Front Ends, and then click Properties.

    • If you are configuring archiving for a Standard Edition Server, expand Standard Edition servers, right-click the name of the pool that you want to archive, click Properties, and then click Front End Properties.

    46f86834-64d1-4b60-942b-8979eb26f17d

  4. On the Archiving tab, in the server list, click the name of the Front End Server or Standard Edition Server with which the Archiving and CDR Server is to be associated, and then click Associate.

    358adfcf-01cc-4b8e-82f8-a03fc67a5e43

  5. In the Associate Queue Path dialog box, in Message queue path name, type the message queue path name that you configured when you installed the Archiving and CDR Server. This is the hostname of the computer running the Archiving and CDR Server followed by the name of the Message Queuing queue used by the Archiving and CDR Server. The string consists of a maximum of 380 characters: 115 for the queue, 255 for the hostname (either NetBIOS name or FQDN) of the Message Queuing server, and 10 for "\private$\". The Archiving and CDR Server reads the instant message data from this queue and writes it to the Microsoft SQL Server database. The default message queue path is .\private$\LCSLog. An example message queue path name is **ArchivingServiceHostName\private$\**ArchivingServiceHostMessageQueuingQueueName.

  6. On the Archiving tab, do the following:

    • To enable archiving on each specified pool or server, select the Activate content archiving check box and the shutdown options, as appropriate.

    • To also enable call detail recording (CDR) for instant messaging conversations and meetings conducted using Office Communications Server 2007, select the Activate call details recording check box. For information about how to configure CDRs, see the Configuring Call Detail Recording section, later in this topic.

      Note

      Archiving and call detail records are not supported on Proxy Servers.
      Call detail records pertaining to meetings are not supported on servers that are configured with the Director role.

    • If your organization requires archiving for regulatory compliance, select the Shut down server if archiving fails check box.

    • If your organization requires encrypted archiving for regulatory compliance, select the Shut down server if MSMQ encryption fails check box.

Any change that you make to the pool-level archiving and CDR settings does not take effect until you restart the Office Communications Server Front End service. If you change any of the archiving or CDR settings for a pool, you should restart all Front End Servers in the pool to ensure that the settings take effect uniformly. If you mark archiving as critical on your Front End Servers and you then disable the Archiving and CDR Server, you must restart all Front End Servers. Otherwise, one or more Front End Servers might stop running.

Note

In addition to the archiving settings that can be configured using the administrative tools, there are two settings that can be configured only by using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Use WMI to configure the following properties of the MSFT_SIPLogSetting class:
   TimeToBeReceived - defaults to 45 minutes; time to wait for a message to be archived after reaching the destination queue before shutting down the Office Communications Server service when archiving is marked as critical.
   TimeToReachQueue - defaults to 30 minutes; time to wait for a message to reach the destination queue before shutting down the Office Communications Server service when archiving is marked as critical.
Any changes to either of these settings will not take effect until you restart the Office Communications Server Front End service.

Viewing and Changing Settings for an Archiving and CDR Server

You specify Archiving and CDR Server settings when you initially install and configure the Archiving and CDR Server. After installation, you can use the Office Communications Server 2007 administrative snap-in to view settings for the Archiving database and to specify how long you want to retain logged events.

To view the settings for the Archiving database

  1. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  2. In the console tree, expand the forest node, expand Archiving and CDR Servers, right-click the server name, and then click Properties.

    490a48df-ef48-407b-a2d3-6af17e706748

    The following settings are displayed in the Properties dialog box. Only Maximum days logged can be changed in the dialog box.

    • Server name. The FQDN of the computer that is running the Archiving and CDR Server. You specified this name during installation of the Archiving and CDR Server.

    • Message queue name. The name of the Message Queuing (also known as MSMQ) queue that is used by the Archiving and CDR Server. The Archiving and CDR Server reads instant message data from this queue and writes it to the Microsoft SQL Server database. The default queue path is .\private$\LCSLog. The name of the queue can only be specified during installation of the Archiving and CDR Server.

    • SQL Server. The name of the server that is hosting the database and the name of the database. To change this database, you must deactivate the Archiving and CDR Server and then activate it again, specifying the database to be used. For more information, see Changing the Database Used by an Archiving and CDR Server earlier in this guide, in Managing Databases.

      Note

      By default, the Message Queuing queue name and the SQL Server database name are the same, but the queue and the database are not related.

    • Maximum days logged. If selected, event logging is limited to the specified number of days.

To configure the maximum days to be logged

  1. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  2. In the console tree, expand the forest node, expand Archiving and CDR Servers, right-click the server name, and then click Properties.

  3. On the Service tab, select the Maximum days logged check box. In the corresponding box, type the number of days to be logged. Valid values are from 0 to 2562. Records that are older than the specified maximum are automatically deleted.

    Note

    We recommend that the maximum days logged be a minimum of 7 days and that record purging be scheduled during off-peak hours, when fewer instant messages and conferences are in progress. The default time is 4 a.m. but you can change this setting using the MSFT_SIPLogServiceSetting WMI class, PurgeTime property.

  4. If you changed the maximum days logged setting, restart the Office Communications Server Archiving and CDR service for the change to take effect.

  5. Restart the Office Communications Server Archiving and CDR service.

Enabling Archiving Disclaimer Notification for Federated Users

You can enable the archiving disclaimer notification to be sent to federated users. If you archive communications from federated users, you should enable archiving disclaimer notification to warn partners that their messages are being archived.

To notify federated users that their communications are being logged

  1. On the Access Edge Server, open Computer Management.

  2. In the console tree, expand Services and Applications, right-click Office Communications Server 2007, and then click Properties.

    548d0606-48e0-46cb-8f80-e49459cb72be

  3. On the Access Methods tab, ensure that the Federate with other domains check box is selected, and then select the Enable archiving disclaimer notification to federated users check box.

Configuring Call Detail Recording

Call detail recording is a feature of archiving that records usage information about instant message conversations and meetings. Some organizations use the usage data obtained from call detail records (CDRs) to calculate their return on investment (ROI).

The following usage information can be recorded:

  • Peer-to-peer call details - Details of all peer-to-peer sessions, including instant messaging, audio/video, file transfer, application sharing, and remote assistance sessions.

  • Conferencing call details - Details of all multi-party sessions, including instant messaging and audio/video sessions, and details of all conferencing sessions conducted using the Office Live Meeting client.

  • Voice call details - Details of all Enterprise Voice calls.

Before you administer call detail recording, you must first install an Archiving and CDR Server and all its prerequisites as well as enable call detail recording according to the instructions in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server Deployment Guide.

To configure call detail recording

  1. Using an account that is a member of the RTCUniversalServerAdmins group, log on to a server in the forest where you installed Office Communications Server 2007 that has the Office Communications Server 2007 administrative tools installed.

  2. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  3. In the console tree, right-click the forest node, click Properties, and then click Global Properties.

    1e4eb35f-ff27-44d3-b05f-58f454ce4fdf

  4. On the Call Detail Records tab, select the check boxes that correspond to the usage information that you want to archive.

Configuring Log Meeting Content for Compliance

Meeting compliance enables logging of meeting content to a secure location. This information is not archived by the Office Communications Server 2007 Archiving and CDR Server. If your organization must comply with regulatory requirements for the archiving of meeting content, you can enable and configure meeting compliance.

Configuring log meeting content for compliance involves the following steps:

  1. Stopping the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing service.

  2. Preparing the meeting compliance folder.

  3. Configuring compliance settings.

  4. Restarting the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing service.

Step 1 Stopping the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing Service

Stop the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing service on your Standard Edition Server or on all servers in the Enterprise pool that are running the service.

Step 2 Preparing the Meeting Compliance Folder

Preparing the meeting compliance folder requires creating a shared folder on a dedicated file server, setting correct access control (permissions) on the folder or share:

  • Ensure that you grant the RTCComponentUniversalServices group Full Control on the share.

  • Remove Read permission from the Everyone group.

There is no automatic cleanup of this content.

Step 3 Configuring Compliance Settings

Configuring compliance settings includes verifying that meeting compliance is enabled and specifying the path to the existing compliance folder.

To configure compliance settings

  1. Log on to the Web Conferencing Server using an account that is a member of the RTCComponentUniversalServices group.

  2. Open Office Communications Server 2007.

  3. In the console tree, expand the forest node, and then do one of the following:

    • For an Enterprise pool, expand Enterprise pools, expand the pool that contains the Web Conferencing Server, right-click Web Conferencing, and then click Properties.

    • For a Standard Edition Server, expand Standard Edition servers, right-click the pool, point to Properties, and then click Web Conferencing Properties.

    4a5d970d-18a9-4332-8d59-896b84158989

  4. On the Meeting Compliance tab, select the Enable meeting compliance check box.

  5. To end meetings when meeting compliance cannot be fulfilled, select the Shutdown Meetings, if compliance fails check box.

  6. In Location of meeting compliance logs, type the path to the compliance folder you created. This can be a UNC path. For instance, C:\CommunicationsServer\Compliance or \\contoso\CommunicationsServer\Compliance.

Step 4 Restarting the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing Service

Restart the Office Communications Server Web Conferencing service on your Standard Edition Server or on all servers in the Enterprise pool that are running the service.