Meeting Recording not available when Remote Call Control (RCC) is enabled

So regardless of Conferencing policy settings, Meeting Recording is not available (recording options are not just greyed out, they are completely hidden) when Remote Call Control (RCC) is enabled.  I have to enable Enterprise Voice instead, or disable RCC (i.e. back to PC-to-PC audio/video only), then Meeting Recording options are available and work as expected.

For various internal reasons, this organization will be forced to disable RCC for users, rather than enable Enterprise Voice, in order to get Meeting Recording working.  As an organization that previously used RCC in OCS and Communicator, having to trade off RCC OR Meeting Recording in Lync is a frustration for them.

I can't imagine there is any technical/coding limitation for this, like there is with not being able to have an RCC call with video (i.e. media streams from two different SIP endpoints for the same user).  And it is self-evident that if computer audio is not being used for the participant trying to record, then the audio stream would not be recorded.  But then if RCC is disabled, and I record a non-audio joined meeting I get the same results, so clearly that's not the reason.

Any chance of seeing this fixed in the next CU please?

Running Lync Enterprise Edition, current CU build 197 from March 2012, users are running Lync client build 4103 from June 2012.



June 29th, 2012 4:35am

If you use RCC, the Mediasteram goes over your legacy PBX, so it is not possible for the Lync Client to start the recording. I think this is the Default behavior for RCC.

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June 29th, 2012 3:07pm

Hi,Ben,

Agree with Holger,meeting recording is client side features for Lync activity,if you enabled RCC the media will go through legacy PBX which will not be able to record by Lync client.

Regarding the video support in RCC,the KB2666709 released in Feb update package support this features already,you can check it with the link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2670326

BTW,the last update package is CU6 which is released in June and the latest build version is  4.0.7577.4098

B/R

Sharon

July 2nd, 2012 6:44am

Well hang on a second, if we enable RCC, the media CAN go through the legacy PBX, but not necessarily!!!  I understand that if Lync is not handling the audio, Lync cannot record the audio (by the same logic, nor can it make me a coffee).  What I am referring to (as per the subject of this post) is recording MEETINGS.  If we're not using Lync-integrated audio/video, then we can't record those (obviously), but that's no reason to make the recording controls disappear completely.  The correct user interface feedback is that the recording menu options should be greyed out, with a message indicating that Lync is not handling the audio.  However, the real-world application for this request is for when we ARE using Lync for the audio/video, either for a peer-to-peer Lync call, or for a Lync meeting.  The issue is that Lync CAN AND SHOULD be able to record audio and meetings in this scenario, but the recording controls are not visible when RCC is enabled.  Explanation?
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July 9th, 2012 8:10am

Sorry again, If you use a Lync user with RCC configuration it is a normal behavior, if you want to change this behavior, you should open a PSS call to clarify.

1 year before it was also not possible to make a Video call with a RCC configured user, now it is possible to make a video call for a RCC user.

With RCC you don't have all Features in

July 9th, 2012 9:32am

Thanks Holger.  We've already confirmed that this is by design, my question is, what is the logic behind this design, and can we stir up the vendor to change the design, as they did for video calls with RCC recently (many customers happy after this!)  Understand that with RCC you don't get all features in Lync (like say, Enterprise Voice!), however I see no technical reason why Meeting Recording would be disabled when RCC is enabled, this appears to be a random design choice, and I'm not seeing the logic behind it.  If I am enabled for Enterprise Voice, and join a meeting without using Lync-integrated voice and video (i.e. join from telephone using dial-in numbers), I can still record the meeting, albeit without audio.  Why has the product been designed to prevent me from doing the same when enabled for RCC instead of Enterprise Voice?
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July 10th, 2012 6:48am

I think the RCC has no priority for Microsoft and they will do not more invest to change function in RCC. RCC was not really available in the first beta of Lync 2010, Video comes end of 2011. So maybe MS will change something in RCC, if a MS important customer wants some more features. but from my opinion we don't need to integrate a legacy PBX with Lync anymore, because Lync and additional software solutions, have enough functions to replace a legacy PBX.
July 10th, 2012 9:12am

Understand MSFT's point of view on RCC Holger, but based on feedback from our customers, I would say that organizations are not ditching the PBX in favour of Lync just yet.  Enterprise Voice for mobile users and teleworkers sure, but there are a lot of things Lync doesn't do well enough yet, Contact Centre being a big one.  I think it will get there soon, but for now our customers demand tight integration, and RCC is still very popular, as evidenced by MSFT's realization during the beta process that they will not get away with removing it just yet!

I have opened customer support request # 1180208622 for this issue, would appreciate updates in this thread from any MSFTers who can escalate this to the product team, thx.

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July 11th, 2012 5:08am

We are in a similar situation with Cisco Call manager as our voice vendor. We are not ready to throw away our investment in Physical phones and servers for voice just yet. We tested with CUPS (cisco presence) but the functionality wasn't there, so I looked at Lync. If RCC was not available we would not be doing Lync at all. With no video over RCC we came to another stop, but the update was already available (probably just a switch in code to enable/disable for RCC).

Seems like recording is another deliberatly disabled feature to push MS Voice (Enterprise Lics/Multiple servers...), which I really think in 3 year time (cisco contract renewal) we might really consider to replace Cisco. Especially if Lync is fully deployed by then.

So ditto on the request to "MSFTers who can escalate this to the product team, thx."

July 11th, 2012 9:00pm

We are facing this tricky predicament as well.

We have allot of traditional pbx customers wanting to make the jump to lync but dont trust the voice platform yet. We need to go with hybrid installations first to get the foot in the door.

The conferencing features with rcc are very poor. If call out to a number isnt available as a function but the lync client displays it as available for an rcc user, it becomes very confusing and clunky for the user and a training perspective. Its basically a broken feature of a UC product. And it definitely could be the deciding factor on whether a customer decides to go with lync or not.  Having the options available but broken is poor for a UC solution. At least give an option to grey the options out. The amount of customers that ask the question why it doesn't work is extremely high. 

This needs to be resolved, and would like a response from Microsoft.


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November 15th, 2012 6:53am

We are upgrading from OCS to Lync 2013 and have found the same limitation as Ben describes.  No recording of Lync meetings because RCC enabled for click to call through PBX and phone presence.

We have also filed a design change with Microsoft.

Anyone out there come up with a decent work around?

July 3rd, 2013 9:40am

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