[asterisk-dev] The New CDR system

[Nicholas Campion]

Would it be possible to include the capability for channels to put out
channel specific information?  For example, it would be really nice if the
SIP channel would put out the $RTPAUDIOQOS as you currently have to store
this information in the userdata field in a CDR to get it to store with the
CDR information.  Essentially, I think we need a better way to extract the
SIP (and hopefully other channels) quality of service information.  It seems
like the CDR is at least a "semi-logical" location for this to reside
currently.

I think the new scheme should try and make this, and other channel dependent
information, more easy to access.

On 3/29/07, Steve Murphy <murf at digium.com> wrote:
>
> FYI--
>
> I've been collecting all the CDR related bugs. I have a branch,
> team/murf/bug8221-1.4, where I've been testing out fixes to problems
> reported.
> I'm about to clean it up and commit it to 1.4 and trunk.
>
> If there's one thing I've concluded, it's that there are some problems
> with the CDR system, and something different is in order.
>
> And, after yesterdays "Oldest 15" phone conference, with the CDR
> discussion afterwards, just what exactly the "new CDR" system should be,
> is beginning to gel.
>
> First of all, why a **new** CDR system? Well, to put it plainly, the old
> days of "one call", and it's corresponding "one CDR", are over. It might
> have been fine for Ma Bell to bill from when all that happened was, you
> dial a number, and two
> people talk, then you both hang up. But things aren't that simple any
> more!
> There's parking lots, 3 way conferences, conference rooms, transfers,
> blind and attended, call forwarding, findmefollowme, masquerading,
> queues, etc. etc., and the billing requirements can get quite tricky!
>
> 1. There will be a configuration file choice, as whether to use the
> "OLD" CDR
>    system (the current one we all know and love), and the "NEW" config
> system,
>    the one I'm about to describe. By default, in trunk, it will be
> "OLD". Maybe
>    in 1.8, it will default to "NEW", and in 1.10, OLD will disappear,
> maybe.
>    Maybe not.
>
> 2. The record format will change. Currently, each CDR has room for 3
> events:
>    start (usually channel creation), answer (from a dial operation), and
> end
>    (usually when the CDR is to be closed and posted, usually a hangup,
> or
>    transfer, etc.).
>
>    The new CDR record will record only 1 event, and be immediately
> posted.
>
>    For the sake of the database backends, these fields are currently
>    output:
>
>    calldate (date/time)     (odbc, pgsql, mysql)
>    start (date/time)    (tds, radius, sqlite
>    answer (date/time)    (tds, radius, sqlite
>    end (date/time)    (tds, radius,
>    clid     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    src     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    dst     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    dcontext     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    channel     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    dstchannel     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    lastapp     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    lastdata     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    duration (int)     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    billsec  (int)     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    disposition     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    amaflags  (int)     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    accountcode      (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql)
>    uniqueid     (odbc, tds,  pgsql, mysql, sqlite(option), )
>    userfield     (odbc, pgsql, mysql, sqlite(option), )
>
>    The calldate timestamp vs. start, answer, end timestamps was a bit of
> mystery
>    to me, so I checked it out... in mysql,pgsql,odbc, it's the start
> time; my
>    guess is that billsec/duration fields are the important ones, and the
> calldate
>    maybe just serves to help sort the records.
>
>    The new CDR output format will drop the start/answer/end/calldate
> fields, and
>    instead have a single "eventdate" field instead. It will add an
> "eventtype"
>    field that contains a standardized event name, "START", "HANGUP",
> "ANSWER",
>    "APP", "BRIDGE", for now, with possibilities like "PARK", "TRANSFER",
>    "CONF_START", "CONF_END", and others, that we should nail down
> completely
>    before beginning.
>
>    Some of the other fields don't make sense any more in this sytem.
> "dst" might
>    not be known until after a dial, say. "lastapp" and "lastdata" would
> most
>    likely turn into just "App" and "AppData", and only be meaningful if
> the event
>    type is "APP"; "duration" and "billsec" would disappear, as the users
> would
>    have to the calc themselves, based on their own criteria; disposition
> would
>    probably only be meaningful with certain eventtypes; amaflags,
> accountcode,
>    userfield would probably be output with every event-type. The
> software to
>    generate billing data would probably get a little more complex, but
> should be
>    able to generate the proper numbers from much more accurate and clear
> data.
>
> 3. CDR's would follow the life and activity of a channel in Asterisk.
> Each
>    channel is assigned its uniqueid, and BRIDGE and CONF_START events,
> and
>    similar, will record both channels so channel activity can be linked.
> The
>    uniqueid field in the cdr records can be used to link all the events
> that
>    happened on a channel for a particular call. When two channels are
> linked,
>    the necessary uniqueid's will be available to link things up.  A
> confID might
>    be necessary to tie calls into conference rooms together.
>
> 4. Either we can assign events a level number, and allow the user to
> specify via
>    the config file, at what level they wish to log, or we can allow the
> user to
>    specify in the config file exactly what events they wish to track,
> and even
>    restrict which apps they wish to track as well, if not all of them.
> Only those
>    events specified in the config file would be logged, hopefully
> reducing
>    storage requirements and clutter. For those interested in Deep
> Dialplan
>    Debugging, requesting info on ALL apps, would provide a complete
> record of all
>    dialplan functions executed on a channel-- right down to NoOps and
> Goto's,
>    if such are desired...
>
> 5. Some (but not all) apps currently provided by asterisk for CDR
> manipulation,
>    like ForkCDR, for instance, should be unnecessary, and would not
> apply to the
>    "new" system any more.
>
>
> Hate it? Love it? Have suggestions?
>
> murf
>
>
>
>
> --
> Steve Murphy
> Software Developer
> Digium
>
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