[asterisk-users] CDR

Thu Dec 27 11:44:01 CST 2007

On Thu, 2007-12-27 at 07:07 -0800, Grey Man wrote:
> Hi Steve,
> 
> > .. I'll try to sort all this out, and then I'll attack
>  this
> > problem. Hopefully, I get it all into svn before the next release of
> > 1.4...!
> 
> Just wondering if any new CDR functionality made it into the 1.4.16.2 release? I have looked through the ChangeLog for the 1.4.15 and 1.4.16.2 releases but didn't spot anything to do with changes in CDR handling.
> 
> I for one still have big problems with CDR's for blind transfer and attended transfer calls.
> 
> - For Blind Transfers the destination in the CDR ends up being the destination transferred to. This means you could ring a mobile and when finished blind transfer to a free number and get a free call.
> 
> - For Attended Transfers it's all very confused. I get two CDR's both with the destination of the latest call in the transfer. I've got some users that have cottoned onto this and not only ring the low value destination second but then email in complaining about duplicate billing to try and get one of the CDR's refunded.
> 
> On a separate note does anyone know how to block transfers on a SIP channel? I can block REFER requests from my SIP Proxy but I have to support some transfers so that's not an option.
> 
> Regards,
> 

Greyman--

No real new functionality in 1.4, except a cdr.conf option that lets you
control whether you see one-channel cdrs.

I haven't been working on CDR's the last few months in favor of other
projects that seem a little more urgent. Plus, I have some folks urging
me NOT to proceed until some architectural issues are discussed, which
might be wise. I have been working on one bug where I did make some
substantive changes to how the CDR's are generated, but it is almost
certain that these changes will only show up in trunk.

I've reached the limit of what I can do in 1.4; it is simply impossible
to do anything with CDR's in 1.4 without tearing the very fabric of time
and space, and just plain getting everybody upset... at least, those who
were not erased from existence by the tear... on a more serious note,
the changes are intrusive enough, the behavior changes big enough, that
they really don't qualify to be applied to a current release.

It's a huge job! My past work was just in the ZAP channel driver code,
and because it's so asynch, and all split up into different code, it's
really tough to get the right pieces in the right places at the right
time in the right way.

What this all says is that I'm most likely NOT doing it the right way.
And what worries me most is that there might not be any "right" way. But
I'm still new to this, and will get back around to it hopefully fairly
soon.

murf

> Greyman.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Steve Murphy <murf at digium.com>
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion <asterisk-users at lists.digium.com>
> Sent: Monday, 15 October, 2007 6:22:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] CDR
> 
> Sorry!
> 
> I've gotten some complaints on this; I will try this week to 
> mod 1.4 so that you can choose to see the single-channel unanswered 
> CDR's, in a new config file option. I've gotten complaints both ways,
> tho, so pardon me if I get a little confused about what users out there
> want from CDR's.
> 
> My biggest trouble is that by forcing all channels to have a CDR at
> creation time
> solves problems with missing CDR's, but creates a problem by generating
>  
> extra unanswered CDR's that weren't generated before... for instance,
> when you
> ring three phones via a dial command, you then get 3 CDR's, including
> the
> two phones that were rung, but not answered.
> 
> Another problem is with Zap-based phones; you take the handset
>  off-hook,
> and 
> a channel is created and dialtone generated. If you hang up, you get a
> CDR there, also.
> 
> I have not found an easy way to detect and drop these kinds of CDR's,
>  as
> most folks really do not find them very useful.
> 
> And, I've gotten a complaint that you end up with 'duplicate' CDR's,
> which is also an artifact of forcing all channels to have a CDR
> associated. If anybody 
> thinks they have a magic spell that will calm down the CDR's, I will
>  not
> mind the information at all! I worked all last week to try to iron out
> the 1.4 zap-transfer CDR issues. I have 12 cases I test with involving
> hook-flash and #-blindxfers, and so far, I've got 9 of the 12 working
>  OK
> (as far as I'm concerned.), but I have 3 cases that come up with
> problems. For instance, if you hookflash, and dial a number, the CDR's
> will be different, if you hang up before the dialed party answers,
> versus hanging up afterwards... The diff between a blind xfer and an
> attended xfer (without the 3 way), I guess, but I lose the calling
> channel name... I'll try to sort all this out, and then I'll attack
>  this
> problem. Hopefully, I get it all into svn before the next release of
> 1.4...!
> 
> As far as xfers in 1.4 go, I'm trying to make sure that the source and
> destination channel names reflect the true dialing party, as this makes
> more sense from a billing perspective, at least to me.  So, if A calls
> B, and B forwards the call to C, then the CDR's need to reflect a call
> from A to B, and a call from B to C, which you may or may not be seeing
> right now. AFAICT, transfers pretty much result in confused CDR's. I
> gave up totally on generating separate CDR's for any 3-ways that might
> occur. Such 3-ways will end up being billed to the dialing parties.
> 
> Here's an interesting situation: A calls B, A then hookflashes, and
>  then
> A calls C, and hookflashes again. It's now a 3-way call, between A, B,
> and C. A then drops out and B and C converse.  My goal with this
> situation was to have two CDR's, one for A->B and one for A->c. Since A
> placed both calls, it seems only just that A pay for B's and C's
> conversation. Especially if A is in the US, for example,  and B is in
> Uganda, and C is in Bangladesh!
> 
> Getting the right info in the right field from the driver level is
> pretty tricky, and you can add the fact that there's definite timing
> issues at play. If I make changes to CDR's in channels A and B, near to
> the time a hangup occurs (and it's very commonly the case), I can end
>  up
> with some pretty strange stuff happening! I found that adding debug
> logging statements to the driver can affect the way the CDR's are
> generated! I solved some of this by locking channels (which to me is
> pretty ugly, considering the number of locks involved).
> 
> So, please, cut me some slack... and keep me informed about your
> "happiness" levels. I want this stuff to be good, solid, and useful to
> the majority. But also keep in mind that I fix something, someone out
> there is going to be unhappy, because they have code/backends/whatever
> that depends on the borked behavior!
> 1.4 ***IS**** a release, and I dare not do ANYTHING but fix bugs. But,
> wow, fixing a bug changes behavior, and my goal is minimal impact, but
> real and useful fixes.
> 
> 
> murf
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2007-10-15 at 10:40 +0200, Andrew Nowrot wrote:
> > Hi
> > 
> > Thanks for reply
> > 
> >         Yes, there's a change. For me it's completely unacceptable,
>  so
> >         i 
> >         reverted the patch
>  (http://bugs.digium.com/view.php?id=10659).
> > 
> > 
> > For me too. This bug occur in September. Is it still present in
> > asterisk 1.4.12.1. I also have asterisk 1.4.4 on a different box and
> > there everything works like in 1.2.21. 
> > I need the old behaviour to have everything working flawlessly. 
> > 
> > Thanks
> > 
> > Andrew 
> > 
> > 
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