Remote archiving of call recordings confusion

[Lee Cramman]

Our businesses policy on the retention of recordings is changing which will result in us needing to retain far more data for far longer. We currently just keep the recordings on the PBX but that's going to become impractical / expensive following the change. As we're on Gcloud, the logical thing would seem to be to dump them to a Google storage bucket (probably coldline as they are infrequently accessed) and stop storing them locally.

I've read this page: https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/call-recording/ which seems to not quite line up with our (V18) system - for example our system has local recording options and the manual does not. Possibly the manual has been changed to reflect V20 but I'm stuck with V18 until V20 update 1 is released as we need to use call reports.

I feel it does not give a clear explanation as to whether, when you enable archiving, it becomes secondary storage where your local recordings are moved to after a retention period / your quota is full or if it's a full replacement for storing them locally and quotas / retention periods apply to the archive.

I'm also unsure as to what happens to current recordings if I enable archiving. Will they be moved, will I have to move them manually, will they just sit on the PBX forever without my intervention...

Could anyone shed some light beyond what is in the manual for me please?

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

Once you enable this, locally stored recordings can be archived manually to Google Storage.
In version 20 you also have the option to archive the calls immediately after the call is complete.
Archived recordings are still available for download from the 3CX apps if you need to. The difference between a local recording and the archived ones is that you will be able to playback a recording to your phone, as the PBX can stream it directly. It will not be able to do this from the archive, so only the download option is available.

The recordings are archived either immediately, or on a schedule. There is no correlation between the available quote and the archiving process.

 

[Lee Cramman]

Once you enable this, locally stored recordings can be archived manually to Google Storage.
In version 20 you also have the option to archive the calls immediately after the call is complete.
Archived recordings are still available for download from the 3CX apps if you need to. The difference between a local recording and the archived ones is that you will be able to playback a recording to your phone, as the PBX can stream it directly. It will not be able to do this from the archive, so only the download option is available.

The recordings are archived either immediately, or on a schedule. There is no correlation between the available quote and the archiving process.

Thank you - we'll probably use that new 'instant archive' option in V20 once we have upgraded as we don't really stream recordings back, we to download them.

Can you clarify whether quotas / retention periods apply to the archive or is that just to local storage?

I don't really want an infinitely growing archive, or to have to manage it manually.

 

[Evolute IT]

Thank you - we'll probably use that new 'instant archive' option in V20 once we have upgraded as we don't really stream recordings back, we to download them.

Can you clarify whether quotas / retention periods apply to the archive or is that just to local storage?

I don't really want an infinitely growing archive, or to have to manage it manually.

Quotas/Retention is for local only.

Run the retention rules on the Google/SharePoint storage directly.

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

Thank you - we'll probably use that new 'instant archive' option in V20 once we have upgraded as we don't really stream recordings back, we to download them.

Can you clarify whether quotas / retention periods apply to the archive or is that just to local storage?

I don't really want an infinitely growing archive, or to have to manage it manually.

Once we give it to the archive it's a no backsies type of thing.

There is no control over the remote archive location. Its all yours!

 

[Lee Cramman]

Thanks guys - solved

 

[VoIPTools]

I would offer a different provider/approach. Perhaps this is also possible on Google? With AWS they offer a file gateway service. The gateway provides what appears to be a local drive, but in truth is uses an automated migration policy that takes "local" files (on-line storage) and moves the files to "near-line" storage, and eventually to archive storage based on how frequently the file is accessed.

To 3CX the storage looks like local storage. The advantage to this approach is cost. As the file moves from one tier to the next, the cost of storage decreases. However, even files in archive storage (called glacial) are effectively instantly available and 3CX is none the wiser. It just thinks the files are local. This means there is no need to archive at all. This is what we do for our 3CX hosted customers.