# Genesys Quality Management Suite 8.1.520 : Hardware Requirements

In the sections that follow, there are examples of the components and hardware requirements for different sizes of call recording solutions.

However, critical factors related to network and I/O conditions are examined first.

## IOPS

A very important parameter in Genesys Quality Management Suite storage performance is Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS).

Recording is the most demanding operation for storage systems in Genesys Quality Management Suite. Recording storage should always be independent from other storage if the IOPS limit is being approached.

Each call recording requires around 4 IOPS, so for 500 concurrent calls this is around 2000 IOPS.

The Decoder requires 3 I/O operations during operation, while a local database and Screen Capture add further I/O operations.

The Genesys Quality Management Suite database is very demanding on both storage and CPU capacity, particularly if Quality Manager is installed and is heavily used for evaluations. We recommend that for large installations, the database should be running on a separate server.

Typical IOPS values for current HDD drives are as follows - only fast SAS drives should be considered for call recording storage.

7,200 rpm SATA drives HDD ~75-100 IOPS SATA 3 Gb/s

10,000 rpm SATA drives HDD ~125-150 IOPS SATA 3 Gbit/s

10,000 rpm SAS drives HDD ~140 IOPS SAS

15,000 rpm SAS drives HDD ~175-210 IOPS SAS

Solid State Drives (SSD) offer much higher IOPS performance, so are an ideal candidate for the role as a call recording cache (short term storage, before calls are archived to permanent storage consisting of slower HDD drives).

## Network Requirements

The following factors are critical in determining the response and quality of an IP-based call recording system:

- Latency: Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system.
- Jitter: Jitter is the variability over time of the packet latency across a network.
- Bandwidth: Bandwidth is rate of data transfer, bit rate or throughput, measured in bits per second (bps).

Good network throughput in a multi-server environment is essential, particularly where the NFS (Network File System) is used. Network throughput is characterized by a combination of the bandwidth – usually 100 Mbit/sec or 1 Gbit/sec – and the latency. Higher jitter factors, where in the worst case packets are lost during transit, also negatively affect the throughput.

Resources shared between servers can also affect throughput, such as:

- A decoder loading recorded calls over the network
- SQL queries and result sets
- Call data in transit to network storage

## NFS Performance

NFS (Network File System) performance degradation is caused by the following:

- Network connection speed much lower than the local disk connection (SAS has 3-6 Gbits / sec).
- No caching (the file being loaded over the network could be modified any time by another process).
- Network latency being much higher than local latency (all switches / routers on the way, and so on).
- Network overhead being much higher than local transfer. The worst case is transferring a large number of small files.

## Database Performance

Database performance is dependent on the distribution of CPU, RAM and storage:

- Small database queries (SQL Selects) produce potentially huge results, that need to be transferred across the network.

## Call Data

- Calls that are delivered to recorders over the same network interface reduce the network bandwidth available for other network services.
- There is always a tradeoff between sharing resources (CPU, RAM, storage) and limitations imposed by the network.

In summary, it is beneficial to ensure that a multi-server implementation shares resources and distributes load (to obtain more CPU horsepower, for example), but this is dependent on the servers being connected to a network that is fast enough to deliver data without allowing servers to enter an idle state, waiting for further tasks.

## Acronyms for Call Recording Services

In the following hardware configurations, Call Recording services are referred to by the following acronyms:

- RMI: Remote Method Invocation. The RMI is used to communicate between modules.
- CONFIG: The Configuration Manager.
- CORE: The central Call Recording control module.
- RS: SPAN recorder.
- SLR: Active recorder.
- DECODER: decoder server.
- CC IM: Contact Center Integration Module, for example, Genesys CIM.
- TOOLS: Media Lifecycle Management tools, for example, the Archive utility.
- WEB UI: Call Recording Web-based user/administration interface.
- DATABASE: The main call information database.
- RTS: Real-time protocol sniffer (for example, JTAPI, SIP, Skinny).

## Recommendations for All Configurations

If a server with CentOS or RedHat 32 bit has more than 4 GB RAM, make sure that the Physical Address Extension (PAE) enabled kernel is installed.

If the storage system causes a bottleneck in Call Recording performance, especially during peak hours, use a fast SLC SSD as a write through cache where the recorded files are stored in addition to the slower permanent storage (based on HDD).

The size of the SSD cache should be at least as large as the amount of data recorded during the peak hours of one business day.

## Record up to 50 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording Only

The recommended server hardware configuration for 50 concurrent calls is as follows:

Call Recording Only - 50 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, DECODER, CC IM, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE, RTS
CPU | Dual core (Intel CORE2) processor 2.0Ghz or better
RAM | 4 GB RAM minimum
HDD | 2x Drives RAID 1, 7,200 rpm (approximately 200 IOPS required)
Network Cards | 2x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Passive recording 1x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Active recording
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds ( 90 seconds After Call Work)
Maximum concurrent calls | 50
Number of calls a day | 4800 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 86 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 1 TB +20 GB for system

## Record up to 100 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording Only

The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Call Recording Only - 100 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG, CORE, RS/SLR, DECODER, CC IM, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE, RTS
CPU | Quad core (Intel CORE2) 2.0Ghz or better
RAM | 4 GB Minimum, 8 GB Recommended
HDD | 4x 10,000 rpm Hard Drive, RAID 10 (approximately 400 IOPS required)
Network Cards | 2x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Passive recording 1x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Active recording
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds ( 3 minutes)
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 100
Number of calls a day | 9600 for an 8 hour day
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 180 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 2.2 TB + 20 GB for system

## Record up to 100 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording and Quality Manager

This scenario assumes that there will be around 10 supervisors (one supervisor to every ten agents) accessing Quality Manager simultaneously. The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Call Recording and Quality Manager - 100 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, DECODER, CC IM, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE, RTS
CPU | Intel Quad Core 55XX 2.0Ghz or better (4 Cores)
RAM | 16 GB RAM
HDD | 4x RAID 10, 10,000 rpm Hard Drive
Network Cards | 2x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Passive recording 1x 100 Mb Ethernet minimum for Active recording
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 (3 min)
Average handle time | 270 seconds (4.5 minutes)
Maximum concurrent calls | 100
Number of calls a day | 9600
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 180 GB + 20GB for System
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 2.2 TB + 20GB for System
Storage required for Quality Manager Database | 20 GB

## Record up to 250 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording Only

The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Call Recording Only - 250 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, RTS, DECODER, CC IM, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE
CPU | Intel Quad Core 55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 8 GB Minimum
HDD | Two options for recording cache (approx 1000 IOPS required): 1. SSD having a total minimum 1,000 IOPS using 4 kB blocks 2. 4x SAS 10,000 rpm for RAID 10 partition with write cache enabled to decrease HDD IOPS Dedicated HDD for permanent storage: 4 x 7200 rpm for RAID 10
Network Cards | 2x 1 Gigabit Ethernet
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 250
Number of calls a day | 24,000 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 450 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 5.4 TB + 20GB for system

## Record up to 250 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording and Quality Manager

This scenario assumes that there will be around 25 supervisors (one supervisor to every ten agents) accessing Quality Manager simultaneously. This solution requires two servers:

- Server 1: Call Recording recording and decoding modules
- Server 2: Quality Manager including database, MLM Tools and Call Recording Web GUI

The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Server 1: Call Recording - 250 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, RTS, DECODER, CC IM
CPU | Intel Quad Core 55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 8 GB Minimum, 16 GB Recommended
HDD | Two options for recording cache (approx 1000 IOPS required for recording, additional IOPS produced by Quality Manager) 1.SSD having a total minimum 1,000 IOPS using 4 kB blocks 2. 4x SAS 10,000 rpm for RAID 10 partition with write cache enabled to decrease HDD IOPS Additional HDD requirements are produced in relation to how heavily (and when - if off peak or during peak hours) Quality Manager is used. If more concurrent users use Quality Manager, it is recommended to deploy the database on a separate HDD. Dedicated HDD for permanent storage: 4 x 7,200 rpm for RAID 10
Network Cards | 2x 1 Gigabit Ethernet
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 250
Number of calls a day | 24,000 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 450 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 5.4 TB + 20GB for system

Server 2: Quality Manager
Running Services: | RMI, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE
CPU | Intel Quad Core 55XX 2.0Ghz or better
RAM | 16 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10
Storage required for Quality Manager Database | 200 GB to support external data.

## Record up to 400 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording Only

The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Call Recording Only - 400 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, RTS, DECODER, CC IM, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE
CPU | Intel 8 Core XEON (or dual socket Intel XEON Quad Core) 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 16 GB
HDD | Two options for recording cache (approx 2000 IOPS required by recording in peaks): 1. SSD having as a total minimum 2,000 IOPS. 2. 4x SAS 15,000 rpm for RAID 10 partition with write cache enabled to decrease HDD IOPS to acceptable levels or a combination of both as an ideal candidate: SSD as a fast write through cache and HDD RAID 10 as a permanent storage.
Network Cards | 2x 1 Gigabit Ethernet
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 400
Number of calls a day | 38,400 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 720 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 8.8TB + 20GB for system

## Record up to 400 Concurrent Calls - Call Recording and Quality Manager

This scenario assumes that there will be around 50 supervisors (one supervisor to every eight agents) accessing Quality Manager simultaneously.

This scenario requires two servers:

- Server 1: Call Recording recording and decoding modules
- Server 2: Quality Manager including database, MLM Tools and Call Recording Web GUI

The recommended server hardware configuration is as follows:

Server 1: Call Recording - 400 Calls
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, RS/SLR, RTS, DECODER, CC IM
CPU | Intel 8 Core XEON (or dual socket Intel XEON Quad Core) 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 16 GB
HDD | Two options for recording cache (approx 2000 IOPS required by recording in peaks): 1. SSD having as a total minimum 2,000 IOPS. 2. 4x SAS 15,000 rpm for RAID 10 partition with write cache enabled to decrease HDD IOPS to acceptable levels or a combination of both as an ideal candidate: SSD as a fast write through cache and HDD RAID 10 as a permanent storage.
Network Cards | 2x 1 Gigabit Ethernet
Storage Example
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 400
Number of calls a day | 38,400 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 720 GB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 8.8 TB + 20GB for system

Server 2: Quality Manager
Running Services: | RMI, TOOLS, WEB UI, DATABASE
CPU | Intel XEON Quad Core 2 Ghz or better
RAM | 32 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10
Storage required for Quality Manager Database | 400 GB to support external data.

## Additional Screen Capture Requirements

Screen Capture deployments require the following hardware specifications in addition to the Call Recording or Call Recording + Quality Manager scenarios outlined earlier.

The following figures are calculated using the assumption that the estimated bandwidth required for one Screen Capture session is 400 Kbps.

Screen Capture Sessions | CPU | MEM | HDD
--- | --- | --- | ---
Up to 500 | 1x Quad (2.5GHz+) | 8GB RAM | 2xHDD [RAID 1]
Up to 1000 | 2x Quad (2.5GHz+) | 8GB RAM | 4xHDD [RAID 10]

## Modular Solution for 1000 Concurrent Calls

This scenario distributes Call Recording, Quality Manager and Screen Capture modules (if required) between four or five servers, which have a similar hardware configuration, differing only in allocated RAM. It is assumed that active recording will be implemented:

- Server 1: Config, Call Recording Core, Decoder, Active Recorder
- Server 2: Decoder, Active Recorder
- Server 3: Decoder, Active Recorder
- Server 4: Web Server including Quality Manager, Database, MLM Tools. If Quality Manager is not required, only half the RAM is needed.
- Server 5: Screen Capture Media Upload Server

The recommended server hardware configuration for these servers is as follows:

Server 1: Main Recorder / Decoder
Running Services: | RMI, CONFIG,CORE, SLR, DECODER
CPU | Intel XEON Quad Core E55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 16 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10

Servers 2 and 3: Recorder / Decoder
Running Services: | RMI, SLR, DECODER
CPU | Intel XEON Quad Core E55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 8 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10

Server 4: Web Server, Database, Tools
Running Services: | RMI, DATABASE, WEB, TOOLS
CPU | Intel XEON Quad Core E55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 32 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10

Server 5: Screen Capture
Running Services: | RMI, Screen Capture
CPU | Intel XEON Quad Core E55XX 2.3 Ghz or better
RAM | 8 GB RAM
HDD | Fast storage: 4 x 10,000 rpm for RAID 10

The overall recording parameters and storage requirements for this configuration are in the table below.

Recording Parameters
Average length of calls | 180 seconds
Average handle time | 270 seconds
Maximum concurrent calls | 1000
Number of calls a day | 96,000 for an 8 hour day
Percentage of calls recorded | 100%
Storage required for one month of mp3 media | 1.8 TB + 20GB for system
Storage required for 12 months of mp3 media | 22 TB + 20GB for system

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