6.2. Networking¶
6.2.1. System Identification¶
On this configuration page, information related to the identity of the recorder on the network can be modified or viewed. The network name of the recorder is configured using the hostname field. The hostname may require a naming scheme that is defined by your Network Administrator.
The domain name is configured under Resolve Domain, whereas Resolve Search is used to indicate what domain name should be searched in the event of machine name that is not provided with a complete fully qualified domain. For example, if the “Resolve Search” was set to “bar.org” and you added an SMTP host (see Alerts and Logs: Email) of “foo”, when the machine tries to resolve this name it will append “bar.org” to “foo” making “foo.bar.org” if it cannot initially find the machine under the simple name of “foo”. Usually “Resolve Search” is just set to whatever is in “Resolve Domain”.
This page also provides space to optionally configure to DNS (Domain Name Server) IP addresses, which the recorder will use to look up domain names. If no DNS Servers are configured then any external server configured for the recorder to access, such as an NTP Server or email server, must be provided as an IP Address and not a domain name.
Fig. 6.12 System Identification¶
6.2.2. Network Interfaces¶
Fig. 6.13 Network Interfaces¶
This page allows for the configuration of each Ethernet Port (NIC) installed in the Recorder. You will see one entry on this page for each installed NIC. Depending on your NexLog DX-Series™ Recorder and purchased options, you will have between two and ten NICs available for configuration. For each NIC, you have the following options to configure:
6.2.2.1. Type¶
Static, DHCP, SPAN, Bind, or Disable: This determines how the recorder will acquire its Network settings for the specified NIC such as IP address and Netmask.
Static: If the type is set to Static, NexLog DX-Series™ Configuration Manager will allow you to manually enter all the networking settings for this NIC. This information should be provided by your Network Administrator. The Address field is the IP Address being assigned to the recorder. Netmask, gateway, and broadcast should all be configured as well. The broadcast address is typically the last IP address available in the subnet.
DHCP: If DHCP is selected, the data will be automatically received from a DHCP Server on the Network. If No valid DHCP server is configured on your network, this option will result in no IP address being assigned to the recorder and it will be inaccessible via the network. Note that since remote clients such as MediaWorks and MediaAgent, as well as Web Browsers need to know the IP address of the recorder in order to connect and interact with it, if DHCP is to be used, it is important to configure your DHCP server to be aware of the MAC Address of the recorder and to always assign the same known IP Address to that MAC. If DHCP causes a dynamic IP Address change, clients will no longer know what address to connect to in order to reach the recorder and other recorder functionality may not function as expected.
SPAN: The third possible option is SPAN. A SPAN port is a port on a network switch or router that is “transmit only”. When a recorder’s NIC is connected to a SPAN port, it cannot send any traffic to that port, only receive any traffic that has been configured on the router to be forwarded to the SPAN port. SPAN ports are used for passive monitoring and recording of VoIP or RoIP traffic.
Bind: If at least two NICs are present in your NexLog DX-Series™ Recorder, you will also have a “BIND” option in Type. If BIND is selected on two Ethernet devices, they will be bound together into a single network link which is configured as a unit, rather than separately. This feature is sometimes known as “NIC Bonding” or “Link Aggregation” and is used to provide Network redundancy.
Disable: Disables this NIC.
6.2.2.2. Alias¶
Alias is a field that maps a memorable name to the internal name of each NIC. It defaults to eth0, eth1… eth6 for each installed NIC. This is so you don’t have to remember the real internal name, like “enp7s0,” when configuring other parts of the Recorder, like RTP recording boards.
6.2.2.3. Gateway¶
It is recommended that gateway be set only on one NIC, and 0.0.0.0 entered in the rest. If you need a more complex configuration of gateway settings, use the Advanced Network Configuration option.
6.2.2.4. IPv6 Settings¶
NexLog DX-Series™ can be connected to an IPv6 network for the purposes of using the recorder from IPv6 enabled clients. Administering the recorder through the configuration client and accessing recordings via MediaWorks DX™ are supported over IPv4 and IPv6, however some functionality such as recording voip traffic and receiving IP Metadata feeds are currently only available via IPv4.
IPv4 uses 32-bit values made up of four 8-bit numbers, like 193.3.68.249; IPv6 uses 128-bit values made up of eight 16-bit numbers represented in hexidecimal, for example: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
Note that IPv6 Netmask is just an integer (the number of bits in the netmask) as opposed to the IP-like format in IPv4. So the netmask in IPv4 will commonly be 255.255.255.254, in IPv6 this case would be 1.
Autoconfigure enables “IPv6 Stateless Autoconfiguration”. It is similar to DHCP in IPv4 in that the recorder will automatically get the IP, netmask, and gateway populated, but unlike DHCP, no DHCP server is required; IPv6 stack is capable of figuring out this information by looking at its network peers. DHCPv6 (DHCP for IPv6) is not supported by NexLog DX-Series™.
6.2.2.5. Diagnostics¶
This button opens a scrollable window showing the output of the command line tools ifconfig, ethtool and lldp. These are useful for troubleshooting network issues.
Fig. 6.14 Network Interface Expanded to show IPv6 Settings and Diagnostics¶
6.2.2.6. See Also: Advanced Networking Configuration¶
Standard network configuration such as default gateways can be configured on the Network Interfaces page. This file is for adding additional configuraton not covered above. The format of the lines in this file is identical to Linux networking commands.
Note that changes made to this file will not take effect until the next reboot. Use caution when editing this file, as mistakes may make the recorder unreachable. Valid commands are “route”, “ifconfig”, and “iptables”
Example:
route add -net 10.14.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 gw 10.14.47.254 eth1
6.2.2.7. Considerations When Using a Static IP Address¶
When using static IP addresses, the network parameters must be set manually from the front panel. There are some things you must consider when setting these parameters:
The IP address must not be in use by another device. If it is, then the address may not be accepted, and even if it is accepted, operation will be unreliable.
If you need the recorder to communicate with other devices on the network, such as an administration client, an NTP server, or the Internet, then the devices must either be on the same subnet, or on a different subnet that can be reached over a gateway. In the latter case, the address of the gateway must be added to the recorder.
The subnet is determined by the Netmask setting. Your subnet is the result of an AND operation between the 4-octet net mask and the 4-octet IP address. See the Sample Net Mask and Subnet Settings table below for common examples of netmasks. Your facility’s network administrator should be able to help you in assigning the proper IP address, netmask, broadcast address, and if necessary, gateway address for the recorder. If the recorder will be sending email, one or more DNS servers must be entered on the System Identification page.
Table: Sample Net Mask and Subnet Settings
Network/Subnet | IP Address | Netmask | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
192.168.0.0/16 | 192.168.1.3 | 255.255.0.0 | 192.168.255.255 |
192.168.1.0/24 | 192.168.1.1 | 255.255.255.0 | 192.168.1.255 |
6.2.2.8. Dual NICs with Bonding Operation¶
When configured with NIC bonding, the dual network interface devices provide failover operation. Because they share the same IP address, if one of the devices or its connection should fail, the other device will maintain the network connection. Each bonded pair can only be made from two physical NICs, but there can be two separate bonded NIC pairs per system.
To configure two network devices with NIC bonding, change the Type to Bind on each device, then save. The Bind setting is only available on devices already configured for DHCP or Static.
Once you have bound two devices together, they will be presented as a single device, set to DHCP (and can be configured for Static or SPAN), with an additional menu for Bond Type. This will let you configure the kind of device bonding used.
Note: After you have configured the network interface devices for NIC bonding operation, if you change them back to separate operation, you will then have to reboot the recorder for the changes to take effect.
There are three types of NIC Binding available. Be sure to select the type that matches the requirements of your network’s configuration.
0 (balance-rr): Round-robin policy: Transmit packets in sequential order from the first available slave through the last. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
1 (active-backup): Active-backup policy: Only one slave in the bond is active. A different slave becomes active if, and only if, the active slave fails. The bond’s MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adapter) to avoid confusing the switch. This mode provides fault tolerance.
2 (balance-xor): Transmit based on (source MAC address XOR’ed with destination MAC address) (modulo slave count). This selects the same slave for each destination MAC address. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
6.2.3. VNC Settings¶
VNC stands for “Virtual Network Computing” and is a standard protocol widely used for accessing PC Desktops remotely over the network. If enabled, you will be able to connect to the recorder over VNC using any standard VNC Client such as RealVNC or TightVNC. When you connect to the Recorder via VNC, you will be able to remotely view and interact with the Recorder’s Front Panel. You will not be able to hear audio over this link as the VNC Protocol does not provide audio forwarding. To use VNC, you must first enable the service by selecting the relevant check box on this page, and enter a password that VNC Clients will be expected to provide to gain access. The password must be entered twice to make sure it is entered correctly. Once enabled, NexLog DX-Series™ VNC access is provided over port 5900.
6.2.4. VPN Settings¶
NexLog DX-Series™ can join a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to make the recorder accessible via the internet to Eventide technicians or certified dealers in the case assistance is required. Here you can enable that setting and enter the port and host, which would be provided by the remote technician if necessary.
6.2.5. SNMP Settings¶
SNMP stands for “Simple Network Management Protocol” and provides a standard mechanism for System Administrators to manage devices over an IP Network. Many third party commercial and free utilities and consoles exist for monitoring systems using the SNMP Protocol. Eventide NexLog DX-Series™ provides a simple subset of SNMP Functionality (with Linux and SQL notifications) which can be configured here. First, you must choose to enable SNMP on the recorder and provide a community to join. An SNMP community is similar to a Workgroup. Only SNMP Clients in the same community will be permitted to query the recorder via SNMP to retrieve information.
In addition to allowing third party utilities to monitor basic recorder status, you can configure an SNMP Trap, upon receiving which, the recorder will shut down. This can be used with a UPS which can be configured to generate a trap upon power failure (Though Eventide recommends using one of the UPS’s listed earlier in this manual which provides a USB connection to the recorder, since more information is available to the recorder in that case). If this feature is used, the system generating the trap must be a member of the same community as the recorder. In addition, you can limit what IP address the recorder will allow the trap to be sent from by replacing the ‘*’ (meaning any) with the IP address in the “Trap from IP’ field. Finally, you must provide the OID (Object Identifier) of the trap upon which you wish the recorder to shut down upon receiving, in the “Trap from OID” box.
6.2.6. NexLog Access Bridge¶
NexLog DX-Series™ Recorders can be bridged together to integrate multiple recorders for unified user administration and client access. NexLog Access Bridge (NAB) allows for sync of users (including user groups and permissions), and access to call records across multiple recorders from one MediaWorks Plus session.
For example, a site may have two NexLog DX-Series™ Recorders, one a dedicated screen recorder, and the other recording related phone calls, and both sets of recordings can be browsed and played back at the same time, from the same MediaWorks Plus window. The user accounts for both systems can be administered on the first system and synchronized in real time to the other. This section covers the basics about NAB but for comprehensive information about NexLog Access Bridge and how it works with MediaWorks Plus and User Configuration Sync, please consult the Eventide NexLog Access Bridge Manual (part number 141307-01.)
NexLog Access Bridge is configured here:
Fig. 6.15 NexLog Access Bridge¶
Click Add Bridge to configure a new Access Bridge. Enter the serial number and address of the source NexLog DX-Series™ Recorder you want to access from the recorder you are currently configuring (the primary). Then save the configuration. You can modify and delete configured Access Bridges here as well.
Fig. 6.16 New NexLog Access Bridge¶
For NexLog Access Bridge to work, the systems configured must be able to reach each other over the network. The required open ports are 2022, and 5432. Additionally, it is recommended that Session Timeouts and Users be configured to be the same across all Access Bridge systems, whereas Channel names and Recorder Names should ideally be unique across all systems.
There are four options for each NAB:
6.2.6.1. Com Link¶
The Com Link option allows Resource Groups for Recording to work across NAB. The primary use for this is when there is a NexLog DX-Series™ dedicated to screen recording, which records only when phone calls come in, which are recorded on another NexLog DX-Series™. With this option enabled, a resource group on this recorder can be configured to link the two channels across systems.
6.2.6.2. Enable Redundant NAB Base¶
By default, NAB User Management Sync only propagates configuration information relevant to each Source recorder; information about a Resource Group that only involves Recorder A and B will not be synced to Recorder C. Enabling this option will instead sync all information to this base. This includes:
All Users, their settings, user group memberships and resource permissions.
All User Groups
All Resource Permission and Search Groups
And finally, all NAB sources
This last step means if the Primary system in a current NAB set up has a hardware failure, one can switch over to the Redundant NAB Base, enable Primary status and then deal with addressing the problem with the now- previous Primary system without interruption to client access nor configuration. NexLog Access Bridge requires a NAB License on the primary recorder and to use it with MediaWorks Plus, a MediaWorks Plus license must be available for each concurrent source recorder user.
6.2.6.3. Enable SSL¶
With this enabled, NAB will work over HTTPS connections.
6.2.6.4. Enable Host Authentication¶
Host Authentication allows for better performance with more concurrent MediaWorks Plus users. This setting should be considered when the system has more than 32 simultaneously connected users. In order to enable the feature you must enable “Exempt NexLog Access Bridge Hosts from Database Authentication” on the source recorders System Security page and enable “Enable Host Authentication” on the base recorder for the source recorder on the NAB configuration page. The feature works by enabling a large connection pool of anonymous database users. Database access permissions will be controlled on the base recorder instead of by the individual source recorder.
NexLog Access Bridge requires a NAB License on the primary recorder and to use it with MediaWorks Plus, a MediaWorks Plus license must be available for each concurrent source recorder user.
For more information on how to use NexLog Access Bridge in MediaWorks Plus, please consult the MediaWorks Plus manual for more information.
For more information about how to use NexLog Access Bridge to sync Users and Permissions, see the Users and Security chapter below.
6.2.6.5. NAB Connection Toolbar in Configuration Manager¶
There is a NAB Connection Manager at the top of pages with NAB sync features (Resource Groups, Users, User Groups). This tool allows you see how many NAB sources you are logged into at any given time, and if expanded will show the status of each connection.
When expanded, the X beside each connected NAB source can be clicked to disconnect that source. If an error occurred while trying to connect, that error will be shown here.
Fig. 6.17 NexLog Access Bridge Connection Manager¶