HowTo - Setup the PBX Simulator

Article ID: 51207 - Last Review: July 18, 2019

INFORMATION

You can demonstrate the real-time and reporting functionality or play back historical MiVoice Business data to test real-time issues on a MiContact Center Business lab system using the PBX simulator packaged with the installation.

NOTE: The simulator should only be used on non-live systems as it will interrupt data collection from any live MiVoice Business.

Collecting the data to be simulated

The simulator can play back up to one full day's data.  It can be played back in real-time or a multiplied speed.  It can also be repeated several times if needed.

The simplest way to collect the simulation data is to collect a support package from a live server.  More information on this can be found in the following knowledgebase article.  Ensure that you specify the date for the telephone data to be simulated so that it is included in your package.

Installing the PBX Simulator

1. Log into the MiContact Center Business server you wish to use for simulation as a local administrator and/or service account.
2. Navigate to [InstallDir]\Support\PBX Simulator .
3. Double-click the PBXSimulatorSetup.exe .
4. Follow the on-screen prompts to install the service.
5. When finished you should see a prairieFyre PBX Simulator Service listed in the services control panel.

Preparing the server for simulation

On your MiContact Center Business lab system you will need to ensure that it has sufficient licensing to perform the needed tasks.  Simulation mode treats the data as live, so it uses the same licensing as the live server did.  More information on this can be found in the following knowledgebase article.

1. Restore the backup from your live server source
1. Launch Contact Center Client as an administrator
2. Go to Tools>Management>Configuration >Back up/Restore configuration data.
3. Select Restore>Lab Restore and then select from this file and browse to your support package.  Click Next and wait for the process to complete.

• NOTE:  Immediately after restoring a package the CPU usage on the server may climb for a few minutes as the Configuration Manager service caches the new configuration.  If performance is poor, just wait until the CPU usage comes back down before proceeding.

• NOTE: real-time uses MiTAI heavily, and as such you should simulate every media server that your simulated calls may touch.  Trying to simulate only an Agent controller when a separate queueing gateway was present on the live source will result in unpredictable results.
• In YourSite Explorer each media server is given a Media Server ID number.  This is the Node folder number.  eg:  The raw data for Media Server ID 3 would be in the Node_03 folder.
• For the media servers being simulated you will need to browse to [InstallDir]\DataDirectory\ and each of their node folders.  Unzip the raw data files for the day to be simulated (filenames are dates. A for ACD stream, S for SMDR stream, and you can ignore T files as they do not simulate.  eg: a20190621.zip is the ACD data for 2019, June, 21st.).  You should now have both the ZIP and TXT for each of these files.  Repeat for every Node you need to simulate.

Configuring a media server for simulation

1. Launch YourSite Explorer as an administrator.
2. Go to Media Servers and select the media server to be simulated.

• NOTE: If this lab is on the same network as the live source server, or the MiVoice Business can be reached from this network address you should start by changing the IP address of the media server to an unused placeholder IP (if only one media server is being simulated, feel free to simply configure it as 127.0.0.1).

• NOTE: If watching for a specific event or state change you must start far enough back to have a valid state change before it in order for the simulation to have a starting state.  One 15 minute interval is usually far enough.

Repeat the above process for every media server to be included in the simulation.  Note that they will need to be pointed to their own S and A files (Node_## matching their Medi Server ID ##), and all other settings should match, otherwise the data will be coming in out of order.

Starting the actual simulation

1. Open the Services Control Panel.
2. Restart the MiContact Center Data Collection service.
3. Restart the MiContact Center MiTAI Proxy service.
4. Restart the MiContact Center Enterprise service.  Wait 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Launch your real-time applications and get the appropriate monitors for playback opened.
6. In the Service Control Panel restart the prairieFyre PBX Simulator Service.

• NOTE: This service will now pre-cache all raw data needed for the simulation, then start playback.  The caching process can take several minutes depending on the amount of data involved.

Additional information

The PBX simulator can be used to demonstrate real-time monitors and activities in Contact Center Client, Desktop Ignite, and Web Ignite.  For example if you have an agent logged into Web Ignite and simulate a day where they were genuinely logged in, the display will keep up to date.  The Inbox will show calls as they are simulated, and screenpops will attempt to launch as normal.  You cannot interact, of course as there is no live PBX to receive commands.

Since the server treats the simulated data as if it was live, the current day's A and S files will populate with the records as they are played back.