How do I record ShoreTel VoIP phone calls by sniffing packets ?

CallRex works very well.  There are also other ways to record phone calls depending on how many you need to record, type of PSTN connections etc.  Though ShoreTel does talk SIP in some respects it also uses proprietary call control mechanisms.  Often when call recording integration is needed a license is also needed on the IP-PBX (depending on manufacturer) to "unscramble" the conversations so they can be recorded.   I don't think it would be simple to write a quick program to do this.  At least it wouldn't be for most people!

Another option is trunk side recording.  If you have analog lines you can get some pretty simple devices to bridge on the incoming telco connection.  same thing for T1/PRI but this gets expensive.

Another alternative if you just need to record conversations occassionally is to just intercept the analog signal between the handset and phone instrument.  Even with IP phones the signal going through the handset cord is analog audio.  Radio Shack and other electronic stores have very inexpensive ($10 USD) devices that plug between the phone and handset and then have a mini phono plug to run to your sound card.  Then you can use media recorder or any other program to record calls right to your hard drive.

Should probably say that it is illegal in some States to record a conversation without consent on both ends.  Some States only one side and others there is no legislation.

Hope this helps and good luck!

You have used CallRex then?

I understand what your saying with the unscramble as well...  Probably need a shoretel SDK kit in order to handle that decode aspect.  However general packet recording and splitting out the voice data packets from the rest is what I'm really looking for.

The other recording options won't really provide the review that we will need easily or in the format that will work in our environment.

--John

kode99,  wow... thanks for the information!  I'm going to review and get back with you.

We actually have a shoretel system here so the testing could be pretty quick.  :)  I completely understand about using the shoretel SDK and/or the price to purchase the other software... this is more of a personal knowledge of how-to and if it grows from there then great!

Thanks again,
--john

You can record calls right through the ShoreTel System (if you are the one who is the Administrator of the system, and access ShoreTel Director) you can set this up.  Do you have access to this?

If you do, you can set up individual users to be "recorders"...
But you should note a few things...
*it does not tell the parties that they are being recorded.
*it has a loud beep which you can disable if you wish.
*it records it to where the VM is stored... so if you record, you make sure there's enough free space.
*it doesn't seem to be able to record over 1 hour.

If you have a Converged conferencing conference bridge there is another way to record, that is a little less administrative.

So, to set it up... login to ShoreWare Director as an adminstrator.
Go into users / Class of service.
Click "Add New" under Voice Mail Permissions.
I named it something obvious... "For Recording" with settings of 3600 in incoming/outgoing message length.  500 for incoming max. messages.  And I've checked off all the boxes.
Click Save.
Go into users / User Groups.
Set up a new user group called "Recorders" (or whatever you'd like to remember that they are recorders).
Under COS - Voice Mail select "for recording" (or whatever you've named the class of serivce).
You can make everything else whatever you want, but I just have everything else set as the default permissions.
Click Save.
Go into Users / Individual Users.
Click on the user who you want to make the recorder.  This will open their profile for editing.
Under General / User Group make user your recording group (in this case, "Recorders").
Click Save.
...
Now... when the user is on a call to someone outside the company (either incoming or outgoing)... they will be able to right click on the person in the Personal Call Manager, and select "Record".  it will show an icon that looks like the VM icon next to their name.  When the recording is done, you can simply hang up or right click and "Stop Recording".

After the recording is done, they will get notified of a new VM.  That VM will be the recording that they have made.

CG_HD thank you for your input.  Unfortunately the phone users don't always 'remember' to click on 'record', by the time they do it's usually too late.  This results in the inability to recover the entire message hence the reason for needing something that would record everything.

In this scenario, the problem with quality assurance is that by the time that the call escalates and the user remembers to hit record the critical information that you would want to review has been lost.

In training you would be able to show why the call problem existed and what methods should have been used to steer the conversation to mutually beneficial ground.  In a perfect world we wouldn't need any of this but unfortunately no one is perfect.

Or worse, it could turn out that a user isn't doing their job at all and customers are fleeting from what is being said.  In this case the manager would need to perform random monitoring.

Although your use of the shoretel system is great information I awarded kode99 the points because he supplied the information that best matched the question.  Sniffing packets allows me to setup an auxiliary system to record all calls 100% of the time both internal (ip-to-ip phone) and external (ip-to-POT/T1/etc) to/from the company.

Thank you,
--john