A typical sequence of BBR operations works as follows:
- Through the Portal UI, a Tealeaf user makes a request to open a session.
- Replay Server prepares a query and submits it to Search Server to look for the session in the canister. If the requested session exists, Replay Server retrieves the data and returns a handle to the Portal UI, which is used for subsequent calls.
- The Replay Server starts a thread to examine the pages in the session and to build the NavList.
- The NavList is the list of viewable pages that the user can replay.
- When the Portal UI makes a request to obtain the NavList, the returned information indicates a completion percentage for building the NavList. The Portal UI continues to make requests until the NavList is complete.
- Based on the NavList, the Portal UI can start requesting specific pages, generally starting with the first page in the NavList.
- When the Replay Server gets a request for a page, it prepares the page for replay and delivers it for display.
- The Portal UI displays the page.
- The Portal UI continues to request pages based on user actions.
- When user review is complete, the Portal UI tells the Replay Server to close the session, which frees up all required memory.
How BBR accesses images
When a session is replayed, it often contains references to static content, such as stylesheets, JavaScripts, and images. Since images are repetitive and can be large in terms of data storage, Tealeaf provides mechanisms for managing image content so that BBR minimizes the transfer of data across the network and the impact on the server of origin.
When BBR detects a reference to an image file, the following sources are checked for a current copy of the image, in the order listed below.
- Internal splicing. Depending on Replay Server and BBR settings, there may be replay-specific replacements made to referenced images.
For example, when
FakeImagesonRenderis enabled, the Replay Server generates a stub image for each requested image file, which reduces the amount of data across the network. - Replay Server cache. The Replay Server maintains a cache of content that is from external third-party servers. This cache is queried for a reference to the requested image.
- BBR cache. The Internet Explorer instance inside of BBR retains a cache, which may be used to retrieve content.
- Origin server. If all of the above steps fail to retrieve the image, BBR queries the server of origin.
Replay configuration
Browser-Based Replay can be configured through the Replay Server configuration in the Portal.
Replay rules: Replay rules are used to modify a session for viewing in BBR.
Because BBR is executed within the browser, the replayed session can have more impact on the browser window than in RTV. The replay rules are mapped to a domain, and the rules for that domain are applied to any replayed sessions that match.
Replay Rules Text File: On the master Replay Server, you can optionally edit the replay rules configuration file directly.
Masking on-demand: You may define and apply a set of privacy rules to data delivered from Replay Server to BBR users. These rules are useful for blocking or encrypting data that you wish to retain in the session but do not wish to expose through replay. They are applied to BBR only by the Search Server at the time of request from a Canister or archive. These rules are managed and applied through the Search Server.
Configuring the Portal for native replay
To replay sessions from mobile devices, you need to configure the portal for native replay.
Use the following procedure to configure the portal for Native Replay.
- Using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), access the Replay Server.
- Open the browser and enter localhost:38000 in the address bar.
- Enter sysadmin in the user name field and sysadmin as the password.
The ReplayServer page is displayed.
- Click Global Options.
- On the Global Options page, set NativeReplayEnable to 1.
- On the port 38000 UI (replay server) at the top of the screen, verify that Mobile: Valid is displayed.
The text Mobile: Valid indicates that the Replay Server has a valid license for CX Mobile.
Note: If the Replay Serve does not pick up the license, you will see Mobile: None at the top of the screen. If this happens, you must restart the Data Service and then restart the Replay Server. - Save the configuration.
You have enabled native replay. You can now replay sessions from mobile devices.