Overview
Microsoft provides 2 set of Graph APIs to archive chat and channel messages for Microsoft Teams. The Verba system supports both integrations. The following table provides a comparison for the 2 integration options.
| Feature | Webhook/DLP API | Export API | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capture | Internal chat (peer-to-peer and group) messages and files | Supported | Supported |
| External chat (peer-to-peer and group) messages and files | Supported Files can only be archived if the chat is started by an internal party | Supported Files can only be archived if the chat is started by an internal party | |
| Internal channel messages and files | Supported | Supported | |
| Internal meeting messages and files | Supported | Supported | |
| External meeting messages and files | Supported Files cannot be archived unless the meeting is hosted by an internal party | Supported Files cannot be archived unless the meeting is hosted by an internal party | |
| Replies | Supported | Supported | |
| Reactions | Supported | Supported | |
| Emoticons | Supported | Supported | |
| Animated GIFs, Stickers, Praises, and other rich content | Supported | Supported | |
| Send email to channel | Supported | Supported | |
| Participant Join/Leave Events | Supported based on periodic membership queries and message sender information (there is a chance that this is not 100% accurate all the time. VFC data is only as accurate as the information returned in the periodic query). | Supported based on periodic membership queries and message sender information (there is a chance that this is not 100% accurate all the time. VFC data is only as accurate as the information returned in the periodic query). | |
| Selective Capture | Supported for both chats and channels with limitations, participant information is not 100% accurate all the time (see below) | Chat: supported Channel: supported, but the API only offers team based queries (user based queries are not available, teams have to be configured as recorded extensions) | |
| Participant information | Chat and channel membership information is collected by periodically querying Graph API endpoints and caching the data on the Media Recorders. When selective capture is configured, the system could over-record or lose data if the system did not recognize on time if the configured user has left a group/channel or joined it. Join and leave times stored by the user are not 100% accurate for the same reason. | Chat and channel membership information is collected at the point when the Export API is queried. The accuracy of the chat and channel membership information has no effect on the selective capture, there will be no data loss (unlike with the webhook/DLP based capture). However, due to the periodic query nature, the membership information might not be accurately reflected in the database for the chat and channel conversations. Microsoft has a feature on the roadmap to include join/leave system events in the exported messages which can resolve this issue in the future. | |
| Disclamier notification | Not supported | Not supported | |
| Architecture | Data segregation, access to regulated users' data only | Not supported, the webhook sends data for every user in the tenant which is filtered on the Media Records only, the files in the file queue are encrypted automatically | Supported |
| Load balancing for Recording Director | Supported via load balancers | Supported by automatic allocation of archived users and teams to file queues Note: Recording Director and Media Recorder roles are always co-located for Export API based deployments | |
| Load Balancing for Media Recorder | Supported via file queues | ||
| Failover for Recording Director | Supported via load balancers | Supported by deploying standby servers Note: Recording Director and Media Recorder roles are always co-located for Export API based deployments | |
| Failover for Media Recorder | Supported by deploying standby servers | ||
| Scalability for Recording Director | Scales by adding more servers behind a load balancer | Scales by adding more servers Note: Recording Director and Media Recorder roles are always co-located for Export API based deployments | |
| Scalability for Media Recorders | Scales by adding more servers | ||
| Possible data loss scenarios |
| No data loss since the queries can be executed at any time. Microsoft stores messages for the defined retention period (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/retention-policies). Deleted messages are kept for 21 days only. | |
| Multi-tenancy | Supported | Supported | |
| Data duplication | No duplication, messages and files are stored only once even where there are multiple archived users in the same chat or channel | Chat: data duplication, messages and files are multiplicated based on the number of archived users in the chat Channel: no duplication, messages and files are stored only once even where there are multiple archived users in the same channel | |
| Export | Export | SMTP based export only User/participant based or conversation/chat based export | SMTP based export only User/participant based or conversation/chat based export |
| Licensing | Microsoft Licensing | Instant message, and attachment archiving requires one of the following user licenses for bot Webhook/DLP and Export API deployments for all archived users:
In addition to the user license requirements above, the owner of the application registration must define the licensing model for the deployment. Model A is required for Security and Compliance (S+C) and general usage scenarios. The licensing model is configurable in the VFC system. For more information about seeded capacity and consumption fees, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/teams-licenses. | |
Deploying Microsoft Teams chat and channel archiving
The following section contains all the necessary steps for setting up a Microsoft Teams chat and channel archiving infrastructure.
Server sizing
The IM recording architecture includes two server roles: Recording Director and Media Recorder. These roles have different sizing numbers and different factors have to be taken into account.
Recording Director
The Recording Director component has to be sized based on the real-time incoming load. The minimum CPU requirement is 4 CPU cores. It can process 1500 messages every second with a single CPU core, and 6000 messages every second with 4 cores.
In the case of higher incoming loads, the network bandwidth also has to be considered. 1000 messages per second incoming load generate 48 Mbps traffic (or 6 MB/s) between the Teams side and the Recording Director, and 42 Mbps traffic (or 5.2 MB/s) between the Recording Director and the file queue storage.
Media Recorder and SQL Server
The Media Recorder component does not have to be sized for real-time processing, since the recorded data is stored already in the file queue storage. Instead, the Media Recorder can be sized based on the overall message count a day. If there are more incoming messages than the real-time processing capacity of the Media Recorder(s), then the messages will be inserted into the database later, so they will be also available for search and replay through the web interface later. However, sufficient processing capacity should be provided so it can process the daily message load at least within 16 hours.
The minimum CPU requirement is 4 CPU cores. It can process 22 messages every second with a single CPU core. In the case of multiple Media Recorder servers, all servers have to have the same number of cores.
The Recorder Director and the Media Recorder components can be co-located on the same server. In this case, the resources will be shared between them.
The SQL Server has to be sized based on the fully utilized CPU cores of the Media Recorder server(s). The SQL Server needs to have one and a half times more CPU cores than the Media Recorder server(s). On the SQL Server physical disk, every fully utilized Media Recorder CPU cores generate 100 IOPS.
The following table shows the expected incoming message rates at different user numbers:
1K Users | 10K Users | 100K Users | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average during the day* | 1.6 msg/s | 16.6 msg/s | 166.6 msg/s |
| Low message rate** | 2.7 msg/s | 27.7 msg/s | 277.7 msg/s |
| Medium message rate** | 4.1 msg/s | 41.6 msg/s | 416.6 msg/s |
| High message rate** | 6.9 msg/s | 69.4 msg/s | 694.4 msg/s |
*Based on Slack usage statistics
**Based on Cisco IM/P sizing
Based on the statistics above, if the daily IM message rate has to be processed within 8 hours, then a single recorder core can handle 13K users.
If it is enough to process the messages within 16 hours, then a single recorder core can handle 26K users.
For more real-time processing during peak hours, extra CPU cores can be added:
- In the case of the real-time processing of the low message rate, a single CPU core can handle 8K users.
- In the case of a medium message rate, a single CPU core can handle 5K users.
- In the case of a high message rate, a single CPU core can handle 3K users.
For requirements for other components and server roles, see Server sizing and requirements
Load-balancing and Failover
Large deployments may require multiple VMs and other Azure components.
In the case of IM and attachment recording, multiple Media Recorders can be deployed behind the Recording Director(s). If multiple Recording Directors are required, then a load-balancer has to be placed in front of them.
Preparation
The Microsoft Teams integration requires additional prerequisites and configuration on Azure and O365, see Configuring Microsoft Teams Recording for more information.
Make sure that all the required prerequisites are installed on each server prior to the installation.
For guidance on configuring the necessary firewall port, visit Firewall configuration for Microsoft Teams recording deployments
Installation
The following articles contain all the steps for installing the various server roles:
- Installing a Verba Single Server solution
- Installing a Verba Media Repository
- Installing a Verba Recording Server
Configuration
For chat and channel archiving, see Microsoft Teams Chat Recording.