7.3.4. Resource Groups¶

This page allows you to view and manage Resource Groups. A Resource Group is a configured set of one or more resources available on the recorder, and the rules that apply to those resources. Resources are the call sources on a recorder, and they are identified by channel name, physical channel id, and talk groups. Leveraging these rules and groups allows you to gracefully administer your NexLog DX-Series recorders in a powerful and flexible way.

Resource Groups allows you to manage all policy for a set of resources, instead of having a separate channel group for each rule. For example, if you have a group of channels recording Fire Department calls and another set for Police, you can now have a Resource Group named Fire that contains all channels with names that start with Fire, that grants permission to the correct users and follows the legal requirements for keeping Fire recordings, all in one place.

7.3.4.1. Resource Group Rules¶

The rules available are:

Permission

Grant access to these resources to a list of users.

The users can then use these resources when browsing, exporting, searching, live monitoring, etc., based on the other permissions they are assigned on the User: Permissions page or are currently granted by being a member of a User Group.

Archive

By default, an archive drive archives calls from all resources, but when included in an archive rule, only calls from the group’s resources will be archived on the drives configured. This way a recorder that is split between Fire and Police duties can archive its Fire calls to one drive and its Police calls to the other.

Note thatonly one archive group can control a specific archive drive at a time; when a new rule is configured using a drive in use by another rule, it supersedes the previous rule. If you are unsure of which rule is in effect, check the Archive Configuration Edit page for an archive to see which is assigned.

Playback

Groups calls at record time such that they get played back simultaneously in ‘playback group mode’. If a resource in this group type is selected for Evaluation, the other resources will automatically be included in the evaluation form. This is useful for pairing or syncing an audio and screen channel together.

Record

Recording on all resources in the group will start if the configured “Master Channel” starts recording. The Master Channel must be specified by Resource Name.

Retention

Specify duration that the calls from the resources in this group will be retained before deletion. This number must be smaller than the global retention setting for it to take effect.

Fig. 7.41 Resource Groups¶

The main page is divided into two columns: the left displays all the configured groups, and the right shows all available resources, grouped in a tree by Named Resources, Physical Channels and Talk Groups. The groups can be individually filtered at the top, so that you can look only at groups that have Permission rules or Retention rules. The full list of filters is shown below.

Fig. 7.42 Resource Group Rules Menu¶

At the bottom of the left column there is a summary of the currently selected group, showing which rules are currently configured and active for that group:

Fig. 7.43 Resource Group Rules Status¶

7.3.4.2. Creating Resource Groups¶

There are three ways to create a new Resource Group. The easiest way is to use the New Group button at the top of the left column on the Resource Groups page found in the Configuration Manager under Recording. There also two ways to create new groups in right-click menus that are detailed as we encounter them in the discussion below. The New Group button will create a new group and bring up the Group Edit window for that new group. Here you can name the group, select which rules apply, and configure each of those rules.

Fig. 7.44 Resource Group Edit: Permission Group View¶

Here we have a Resource Group named Front Hall, which has an active Permission Rule, granting users DJones, KPark, NLanders and WKing access to the channels in this group. A new group created with the New Group button will have no resources, which can be added in the two column view. Rules can be disabled by unchecking the checkbox; the rule’s configuration will remain saved but not take effect while the checkbox is unchecked.

Fig. 7.45 Resource Group: Empty Group¶

7.3.4.3. Adding Resources to a Group¶

You can add resources to a group in a number of ways:

The named resources and physical channel numbers in the right column can be clicked on to select them. Use Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click to select more than one at a time. Highlight a group in the right column by clicking on it. Then add the selected resources by clicking the leftward facing arrows between the columns.
Select resources and a group in the right column as above, and then

Right-Click them to reveal a pop up menu that allows you to Add to Selected Group.
That pop-up menu also allows you to create a new group with these resources; it will open the group rules editor so that you can name and configure this new group.
You can also select resources and click+drag them from the right column into the group you want them to be added to.
You can right-click the name of the group and select from a menu, as seen in the figure below. From this menu, you can add a Name Filter, using * as a wild card to match multiple resources by name.
This menu also allows you to add a Channel Filter, with which you can specify a range of resources by physical channel ID and their source, which defaults to Local. The source field is only relevant to configurations involving resources on the recorder originating from Centralized Archive sources; if you want to group these, enter the serial number of the Centralized Archiving source into this field. Click the X to cancel and the Checkmark to save.

Fig. 7.46 Resource Groups: Right Mouse Button Menu¶

7.3.4.4. Deleting a Resource Group¶

You can delete a resource group in two ways:

Select the Group in the left column, and click the X button between the columns.
Right-Click on the group and select Delete Group from the pop up menu.

In both cases, you will be prompted to be sure that you really want to delete the group.

7.3.4.5. User Groups and Default Resource Groups¶

Resource Groups integrate with User Groups, in that a User Group can be configured to have User Permission Defaults. These defaults are a template rather than an active rule set. Defaults are granted to users when they are added to the group, but if the group’s defaults are updated, the changes are not applied to the current members of the group.

Fig. 7.47 User Group Edit¶

Following the behavior of previous NexLog DX-Series versions the Browse, Exporter, Researcher and Monitor groups by default have All Resources as a Default Permission. Unless configured otherwise, all users in those groups will have access to all local resources on the recorder.

If there are configured Search Groups on the recorder, you can also assign a selection of these as defaults for the group. The default User Session Inactivity Timeout can also be set here.

7.3.4.6. User Specific Resource Permissions¶

In addition to permissions granted by a Resource Group with Permission Rules including them, a User can be configured to have specific resource permissions. A user may need to be given permissions to fewer resources than are granted by their membership in a user group, and by configuring it here you can narrow those permissions down to the desired set by deleting the set granted by default and recreating it with just the resources needed.

Conversely, a user may have a specific permission to access resources outside the normal scope of their user group, in which case these resources can be added individually.

7.3.4.7. Resource Groups and NexLog Access Bridge¶

When NexLog Access Bridge is configured, Search Filter Groups can include resources and name filters that bridge across multiple recorders. When you load the Resource Groups page, at the top there will be a NAB Connection row that allows you to enter a username and password to login to each NAB source with. This will prompt to reload the page after it succeeds, to update the list of available resources.

Fig. 7.48 Resource Group Including Resources from Multiple Recorders¶

Once logged in, the resources list in the right column will include all available resource names and physical channel ids from these sources. With named resources, if multiple recorders have resources with the same name, you can add all of them at once, or expand the entry to select a specific resource by NexLog DX-Series system name.

For example, in the figure above there is one NAB source configured for this recorder: the host system is named NexLog DX-Series 44 and the NAB is NexLog DX-Series 101. The resource names listed inside the Radio and Screen group tell you which recorder they point to by including the name in parenthesis at the end. In the Global Resource list, you can see that resource names that are present on both are displayed with a tree to expand and when expanded you can select a single entry or both and add them to the selected Resource Group.

NexLog Access Bridge also allows for syncing permission groups. While logged in, any permission group involving channels from remote recorders will be synced to those recorders. For efficiency, groups are only synced to systems that have relevant channels; if group X gives permissions to channels on the host and one source, but not a second source, it is synced from the host to the first source and not the second. If you have made changes while disconnected and want to sync those changes, log in with the NAB Connection tool bar and click the Sync button, which will sync all Permission Groups to all connected NAB sources.