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Overview

Session recording is the complete recording of a desktop or application session in HyWorks. The recording is needed for auditing and monitoring. In the latest HyWorks Controller, a session recording feature is integrated, which can be used to enable/ disable session recording, play and manage the recorded files from the management console.

  • Application and desktop sessions can be recorded using the new session recording feature.

  • Admin, having Session Recording Auditor role, can play user session recording from HyWorks management console.

  • Session recording is supported on Windows-based Applications and Desktop sessions only.

Port Requirements

Session recording modules deployment will have the following port requirements:

From To Port# Use / If not opened
Virtual Machines (DVMs) SRMS 38893 To session recording aggregator
Recordings will not be uploaded.
HyWorks Controller (Management Console) SRMS 38893 To stream recordings.
Recordings will not be played.
HyWorks Controller (Service) SRMS 38892 To list recordings.
Recordings will not be listed.
SRMS SQL Server (Controller) 1433 To write recording details. In the case of primary/ secondary configuration, it will need access to both primary and secondary SQL servers.
Recordings will not be listed.
Admin Browser HyWorks Controller 443 Accessing HyWorks Controller Management Console
The recording auditor user will be unable to work on the HyWorks Management Console.
Admin Browser SRMS 38893 Playing recording
Recordings will not be played.

Recording Profile

  • Session Recording Profile is a group of settings and configurations enabling administrators to configure best-suited attributes for recording and control the recording behavior.

  • Session Recording Profile can control the behavior of session recording, e.g., recording format MKV/MP4, Frame rate, Recording visual, Scale (Resolution), Enabled transcript, etc..

  • For more details on recording profiles, please refer to the section Session Recording Profile.

Session Recording Profile can be managed from HyWorks Controller Management Console Policies > Profiles > Session Recording Profile.

Session Recording Management Server (SRMS)

  • Session recording management server is a group of Windows services to manage the Session Recordings.

  • SRMS has the following core functions:

    • Listing of recorded session files on the HyWorks management console

    • Streaming: Playing the recorded video files on the HyWorks management console.

    • Recording Aggregator: Uploading user session recording on the server from desktop VMs.

  • For more details, refer to the section SRMS Configuration.

Recording View (Listing and Video Player)

Session Recordings Grid

Session recording grid at Monitor > Session Recordings lists the session recordings, fetched from Session Recording Management Server(SRMS).

HyWorks Controller must point to Session Recording Management Server listing endpoints URL (in format of IP:Port) to load/fetch session recordings list from SRMS. The configurations are provided in Recording Configurations document.

If recording listing is not visible, please follow below points.

Recording list is displayed with following columns in recording grid:

Sr. No. Column Name Description
1 User Id Displays the username of recorded user session. If login username and RDP username is different then showing Login username along with RDP username in bracket.
2 Pool / Application Name Display pool name and its type(Shared/Dedicated Desktop) if recording session is desktop session. Display Application name if recording session is application session.
3 DVM Hostname Displays the hostname of machine where recording done on logged-in user session
4 User IP Address IP address of the machine where recording done on logged-in user session
5 Recording Start Time Displays Timestamp of first recording instance.
6 Duration Length of recording, e.g., 5 min 26 sec.
7 Status and Action Prepare to download: For recordings not downloaded.
Ready to download: For recordings ready for download.
New Recordings available: When more recordings are available for already downloaded recording.
8 Eye (icon) to view recording Displays Recording eye icon. If icon is greyed out, user will not be able to play recording because of role permissions. Only Session Recording Auditor role users will be able to play recordings.

Note

  • Signed trusted certificate required on SRMS to play recording.

  • If SRMS streaming endpoints is not configured then on recording will not be played.

  • Only Super-admin role and Admin role have permission to view recording listing on grid.

Filters for Session Recordings

For ease of listing relevant recordings, filters are provided in recording grid. These filter can be applied to search specific recordings.

Following data filters are available:

  • Login Username [User Id]: To view recordings filtered by login username of the user.

  • RDP Username [User Id]: To view recordings filtered by RDP username of the user.

  • Pool Name: To view recordings filtered by the desktop pool name.

  • Application name: To view recordings filtered by application name accessed by users.

  • DVM Hostname: To view recordings filtered by specific host.

  • IP Address: To view recordings filtered by specific IP address.

  • Date filters are also available:

    • From (start) date

    • To (end) date

    • Start time is taken as 12:00 AM and end time is taken as 11:59 PM by default.

Important

  • All filters work with Equal Operator only.

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Playing Session Recordings

As specified in session recording document, that if appropriate recording profiles are created and assigned, SRMS server details are configured in HyWorks appropriately, then sessions will be recorded and uploaded to SRMS servers and users having Session Recording Auditor role will be able to view and play recordings.

To play a session recording:

  1. Go to HyWorks Management Console > Monitor > Session Recordings

  2. Click on icon to play recording

  3. Popup will open and will start to play recording.

    1. In recording popup, recordings of same user are listed.

    2. Click on a list item to play the recording in the same popup window.

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Download Session Recording(s)

HyWorks v3.6-HF1 or later provides the option to download session recordings from the HyWorks Controller Management Console. This option is available by default to the Recording Auditor role and can also be added to custom roles.

Following are some specifications and details of the download feature:

  1. Administrator can download recordings of a complete user session:
    If the recording file size exceeds the configured threshold (default 1 GB, maximum 2 GB), the system downloads a ZIP file containing multiple recording files.

  2. ** Download small chunks of the same session**:
    To download parts of a recording, click on the user session to view the list of recording segments. Individual segments can be downloaded directly.

Download Recording Workflow:

  1. Administrator with session recording view and download rights logs in to the HyWorks Controller Management Console.

  2. Go to Monitor > Session Recordings to view the list of session recordings.

  3. To download the complete recording of a user session:

    1. Click on Prepare download shown against the user’s recording entry.

    2. Recording preparation will start and the button will reflect the current status. Click Refresh to update the status.

    3. Once the file is ready, the button changes to Ready to download. Click to download the recording.

    4. The system downloads a single recording file (Name format: Rec_UserId_YYYY-M-DD_HH-MM-SS.mkv/mp4)

      1. If the recording file size exceeds the configured maximum size, a ZIP file is downloaded containing multiple recording files, each up to the configured size.

        • Configuration path:: Management Console > Settings > General > Advance Settings > Use Tags Filter as SRMS > Recording File Download Size Limit (Default: 1024 MB, Maximum: 2048 MB)

  4. To download a specific part of a recording:

    1. Click on the Eye icon against the user session.

    2. This displays all available recording segments for that session.

    3. Click on the Download icon against the required recording segment.

    4. The selected recording part is downloaded directly (Name format: DD_MM_YYYY_HH_MM_SS_UserID_36-char-Id.mkv/mp3)

New Recordings Uploaded for Sessions with Recording Already Downloaded

In cases where additional recording parts are added to a session after the administrator has already downloaded the recording:

  • The button displays New Recording Available.

  • Clicking this opens a dialog with the following options:

    • Download already available file: Click Ready to download to download the previously prepared recording file again.

    • Include the new data and download: Click Prepare downloadd to merge the new recordings with the existing merged file.

      • Once the new merged recording file is ready, refreshing the list displays Ready to download.