As part of the CDRM feature, a resident component on the server or node within a Unified Communications Manager installation acts as the CDR Agent. On the server or node where both Unified Communications Manager and the CDR Agent are running, Unified Communications Manager writes the CDRs into CDR flat files in comma separated value (CSV) format. A special control character ("_") that is prefixed to the filename by the call processing module that indicates that the file is not available for transfer. If this control character is not present, the system assumes that the file is available for transfer, and the CDR Agent then SFTPs those files to the designated CDR repository node. Upon successful transfer, the system deletes the local copy of the file.

Reliability gets the highest priority for the CDRM feature. CDRs comprise very important financial data, so the goal of this feature is to guarantee that no CDR is lost. The Unified Communications Manager continuously writes CDRs to flat files, closes existing flat files, and opens new ones. The number of records that are written varies by the type of call and the significant changes that occur during a call: such as, ending the call, transferring the call, redirecting the call, splitting the call, or joining the call.

Note

On Linux platforms, the CDR Agent collects the CDR/CMR flat files that the Unified Communications Manager generates and sends these files to the publisher through SFTP. The Windows versions of do not support SFTP. On Windows platforms, the CDR Agent copies the files directly from the subscriber disk to the shared publisher disk.

Within a Unified Communications Manager server or cluster, one instance of the CDR Repository Manager runs on the CDR Repository server or node. It manages CDR files that are received from the Unified Communications Manager nodes and periodically sends the files to the specified customer/third-party billing servers via FTP/SFTP.

When the file arrives on the CDR Repository server or node, the CDR Repository Manager detects it. The system archives the file in a directory that is dedicated to the date that is indicated by the UTC timestamp that was placed in the file name when the file was created.

If any external billing server is specified in the CDRM configuration, the system creates an empty file in each of the corresponding folders for CAR and the billing servers, if CAR or the corresponding billing server is activated. The CDR Agent monitors new CDR/CMR files that are generated on CallManager servers or nodes by the call processing component. It sends the files to the CDR Repository node and then deletes the local copy after the file is pushed out. The file sender component of the CDR Repository Manager detects these empty files and sends the file to the destination with the specified method. If the delivery is successful, the system removes the empty file in the destination directory.

Every Unified Communications Manager can generate one CDR file and one CMR file every minute for up to 1hour. You can configure the maximum disk space that is used for storage of CDR files in the CDR Repository through provisioning.

The File Manager component of the CDR Repository Manager runs hourly. When the File Manager runs, it deletes files with dates outside the configured preservation duration. It also checks whether disk usage has exceeded the high water mark. If so, the system deletes the processed CDR files until the low water mark is reached, starting with the oldest files. However, if any CDR file to be deleted was not successfully sent to the specified billing server, the system leaves it in the CDR Repository and raises a notification or alarm. The system creates a flag file during the configured maintenance window, which denies access to the CDR files for the CDR onDemand Service. The system removes the flag file after the maintenance window expires.

For detailed procedures on configuring the CDR Repository Manager and customer billing servers, see the "CDR Repository Manager Configuration" section in the Cisco Unified Serviceability Administration Guide.

The CDR onDemand Service, is a SOAP/HTTPS-based service, that runs on the CDR Repository server or node. It receives SOAP requests for CDR filename lists based on a user-specified time interval (up to a maximum of 1hour) and returns all lists that fit the duration that the request specifies.

The CDR onDemand Service can also handle requests for delivering a specific CDR file to a specified destination through an SFTP API. All SFTP connections require userid and password information for each session setup. A separate SFTP session gets set up for every file that is sent, and the session is closed after the file has been sent. The system can activate the CDR onDemand service on the CDR Repository node because it has to access the CDR files in the repository. The system prohibits service during the maintenance window. For detailed information on the CDR onDemand Service, see the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Developers Guide.

For Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 10.x and later releases, CDR onDemand Service is not enabled by default. If you want to enable the CDR onDemand service, the service should be activated manually. Execute the following command at the root level to activate the CDR onDemand service: /usr/local/cm/bin/soapservicecontrol2.shCDRonDemandServiceCDRonDemanddeploy8443.