How do I have EHX set up a follow-me for recording?

Using the Clone Ports tool is fine for static routing, but to persist through Clear Memory Resets and other changes, we should apply the follow-me settings on Apply from EHX.

The Eclipse in the diagram above has been updated to enable HCI (Host Control Interface) functionality. An external program sends short TCP commands which instruct the matrix CPU to:

Route all incoming audio paths to X to Y in addition to the usual routing. This can be verified by the Crosspoint Map, but occurs at a low level, so will be unaffected by EHX actions such as Toggle or Kill.
Route all audio from port X to the output Y. This is easy to check with Crosspoint Map.

The HXN configuration file has had a control macro added to it. Initially this sent the HCI commands directly to the matrix frame, but it now updates the MCM Monitor, a non-Clear-Com application running on the Dante DVS machine.

The update occurs over a raw TCP connection, on port 9999 by default, and contains an XML file formatted as follows

…

</RecordingSetup>

The panels chosen for monitoring are drawn from ports entered once at the top of the Recorder Macro.

// Range of ports to be recorded

private int firstMonitoredPort = 161;

private int lastMonitoredPort = 227;

Additional checks are carried out to exclude certain channels, from a selection of criteria:

The label isn’t blank, or “Spare” or contain “LMB”
“NOREC” or “DNR” doesn’t appear in the description or alt text

The recorder output range is similarly indicated, with each port taken consecutively – meaning that gaps in the monitored port list for non-recorded panels will not show up in the recorder output list.

// Range of ports linked to recording device

private int firstRecordingPort = 97;

private int lastRecordingPort = 160;

We also have to provide the IP address and TCP port of the Conversion MCM Monitor

// IP address or hostname of the SIP recording interface

private static string MonitorIP "10.7.80.32";

private static int MonitorPort = 9999;

All Control Macro activity is logged to a text file in /Desktop/Recording and the port mapping XML file is stored as a .recordingxml file. These can be deleted if necessary, or used with the tools outlined below if required.

Testing for correct operation:

The software has been set up to work without attention, and EHX should be keeping MCM Monitor updated with changes to record ports or panels.

Diagnostics > Crosspoint Map should show a triangle between the monitored panels and the Dante recorder –routes from one panel to multiple Dante ports will indicate an issue.

The Map should also show a talk to a monitored panel being duplicated into a talk to the Dante record port associated with that channel.

Testing TCP / repeating a download

If you need to test that communication from the Control Macro in EHX is getting to the MCM Monitor, or would like to send an XML file created by the Control Macro earlier, the Monitor XML Manual Update tool may be used:

This tool performs the exact same task that the Control Macro does, by taking an XML file and sending it to the MCM monitor over TCP. It is available at SendTelnet.exe .