Architecting a Multi-Region SIP Recording Gateway using SIPREC and AWS Chime SDK

How-To-Articles
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Architecting a Multi-Region SIP Recording Gateway using SIPREC and AWS Chime SDK

What This Guide Covers

  • Architecting a scalable, multi-region voice recording solution for Genesys Cloud using SIPREC (RFC 7866).
  • Implementing an external recording gateway using AWS Chime SDK to capture and store interactions in your own S3 buckets.
  • Designing a high-performance media forking strategy that maintains 100% recording compliance during cross-region failover.

Prerequisites, Roles & Licensing

  • Licensing: Genesys Cloud CX 1/2/3 with BYOC (Cloud or Premise).
  • AWS: Active AWS Account with Chime SDK and S3 permissions.
  • Permissions:
    • Telephony > Trunk > Add/Edit
    • Recording > Policy > View/Edit

The Implementation Deep-Dive

1. The Strategy: The Media Fork

Standard Genesys Cloud recording is easy but keeps your data within the Genesys infrastructure. For massive enterprises with strict data residency or custom AI requirements, you may need to “Fork” the audio stream to your own infrastructure in real-time.

The Strategy:

  1. The Source: The Genesys Cloud Edge acts as a Session Recording Client (SRC).
  2. The Destination: The AWS Chime SDK (or a custom SIPREC server) acts as the Session Recording Server (SRS).
  3. The Protocol: SIPREC creates a secondary SIP session. The audio from the agent and caller is mixed (or sent as separate tracks) to the SRS.

2. Implementing SIPREC on Genesys Cloud Trunks

You must configure your trunk to “Invite” the recording server to every call.

The Implementation:

  1. Navigate to Admin > Telephony > Trunks.
  2. Under the External Trunk settings, go to the Recording tab.
  3. Recording Destination: Enter the SIP URI of your AWS Chime SIP Media Application (SMA) or your recording gateway (e.g., sip:recorder@recording.example.com).
  4. The Trap: Ensure your firewall allows outbound SIP (5061) and RTP (10000-20000) from your Edges to the AWS Chime IP ranges.

3. Architecting for Multi-Region Resilience

If your recording gateway in us-east-1 goes down, you must not lose the ability to record calls in eu-central-1.

The Implementation:

  1. The Regional Pool: Deploy a recording gateway in every AWS region where you have agents.
  2. Global Server Selection: Use a SVR (Service Record) in your DNS that returns the recorder closest to the Edge.
  3. The Workflow:
    • London Edge queries _sip._tcp.recorder.example.com.
    • DNS returns the London Recording Gateway IP.
    • If the London Gateway fails, DNS returns the Frankfurt Gateway as a secondary.
  4. Architectural Reasoning: This minimizes “Media Hair-pinning” across the Atlantic, reducing latency and ensuring compliance even during regional cloud outages.

4. Integrating with AWS Chime SDK for S3 Storage

AWS Chime SDK provides a serverless way to handle the SIPREC stream and write it directly to S3.

The Strategy:

  1. SIP Media Application (SMA): Create an SMA in the AWS Console.
  2. The Lambda Handler: Write a Lambda function that responds to the INVITE with an ACTION_RECORD command.
  3. The Benefit: You don’t have to manage EC2 instances or disk space. AWS handles the scaling, and the audio files appear in your S3 bucket as high-quality WAV or Opus files.
  4. The Security: Enable S3 Object Lock (Compliance Mode) on the recording bucket. This prevents even an admin from deleting a recording until the retention period (e.g., 7 years) has passed.

Validation, Edge Cases & Troubleshooting

Edge Case 1: Metadata Desync

Failure Condition: You have the audio file in S3, but you don’t know which agent or customer it belongs to because the SIPREC metadata was lost.
Solution: Use the SIPREC Metadata XML body. Genesys Cloud sends a detailed XML payload in the SIPREC INVITE containing the conversationId. Your Lambda should parse this XML and save it as S3 Object Metadata alongside the audio file.

Edge Case 2: SDP Negotiation Failure

Failure Condition: The recorder rejects the call with a 488 Not Acceptable Here.
Root Cause: Genesys is trying to send G.729 audio, but the recording server only supports G.711.
Solution: Explicitly configure your Recording Trunk in Genesys to only use G.711u. Since it’s an internal-to-VPC connection, bandwidth is not a concern, and G.711 provides better quality for AI transcription.

Edge Case 3: Late Media Forking

Failure Condition: The recording starts 5 seconds late, missing the initial “Hello” from the customer.
Solution: Ensure Early Media is enabled on the recording trunk. This ensures the SIPREC session is established during the “Ringing” phase, so the audio capture is ready the millisecond the call is answered.

Official References