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Monitor 10.1

Release Notes

Released: June 2025
Previous version: 5.3

Monitor 10.1 is a major milestone — the first version released as a fully standalone product, decoupled from the SBC and its releases. This marks a significant transformation of the Monitor platform, both in its architecture and user experience.

1. Highlights​

  • Comprehensive Code Refactoring
    Internal components have been fully refactored and migrated to TypeScript, improving maintainability, consistency, and long-term scalability.

  • Redesigned User Interface
    The entire UI has been overhauled to deliver a cleaner, more intuitive, and modern user experience, with streamlined navigation and clearer visual organization.

  • Real-Time RTP Monitoring
    A new RTP Dashboard provides live statistics for media streams, including jitter, packet loss, and currently active calls — helping teams detect quality issues as they happen.

  • Notification Channels System
    Monitor now supports routing system alerts and scheduled reports to Email, Matrix, SNMP Traps, HTTP endpoints, and browser push notifications.

  • Enhanced System Health Monitoring
    Improved visibility and alerting for Elasticsearch, Logstash, local disk usage, and PCAP/recording storage.

  • Advanced Alerts with Cause Analysis
    A new real-time alerting engine enables highly customizable alert conditions with event transformation logic and multi-channel output. Alerts are paired with a Cause Analysis dashboard for deep contextual insight.

  • Remote Elasticsearch Support
    Elasticsearch can now run as an external, separately managed container — improving scalability, performance, and deployment flexibility.

  • Automated Report Scheduling
    PDF reports of system dashboards can now be automatically generated and delivered daily, weekly, or monthly via configured Notification Channels.

  • UI and Usability Enhancements
    Chart options, filter redesign, customizable table columns, better time navigation, and relocated controls for a more consistent and efficient interface.

2. Major New Features​

2.1 Real-time RTP Statistics​

Monitor 10.1 introduces a new RTP Dashboard that provides live visibility into media stream performance for ongoing calls. This powerful addition allows you to monitor key RTP metrics in real time, helping teams detect and respond to media quality issues while calls are still active.

Available metrics include:

  • Jitter
  • Packet loss
  • Sent/Received bytes and packets
  • Gaps (recv)
  • Number of currently active RTP-reporting calls

These metrics are visualized through real-time graphs and a detailed rtp-stats event table, making it easier to troubleshoot and analyze call quality at a glance.

To enable this feature, you must configure your SBC (requires SBC version 5.4 or higher): Navigate to: SBC → Global Config → Events and Enable: "Periodic RTP Statistics"

Once enabled, the SBC will generate an rtp-stats event every 10 seconds per active call. These events are ingested by Monitor and displayed in the RTP Dashboard.

⚠️ Performance Note: In environments with a high number of concurrent calls, this feature can lead to increased data volume and may affect performance of the Monitor UI and Elasticsearch backend. Use with caution in large-scale deployments.

2.2 Notification Channels​

A flexible Notification Channels system has been added to route system-generated notifications to a variety of external platforms and endpoints. This allows users to stay informed about system health and activity through their preferred communication tools.

Supported notification methods include:

  • Email – receive notifications and scheduled PDF reports directly in your inbox
  • Matrix – receive system notifications and reports via decentralized messaging
  • SNMP Traps – forward system notifications to network monitoring systems
    (does not support PDF delivery)
  • HTTP API (REST) – send structured HTTP POST notifications to external systems
  • Browser Push Notifications – display real-time messages in the user's web browser (when Monitor is open)

Notification Channels are used for:

  • System Health Monitoring
  • Basic Alerts
  • Delivery of scheduled PDF reports (daily, weekly, monthly)

Configuration is available under the Channels dashboard.

⚠️ Note: Notification Channels are not used for Advanced Alerts, which have their own dedicated integration outputs (e.g., Slack, ServiceNow, custom REST APIs).

2.3 System Health Monitoring​

The System Health Monitoring subsystem has been redesigned to provide deeper insight and better reliability checks for core infrastructure components.

The system now monitors:

  • Connectivity to Elasticsearch
  • Connectivity to Logstash
  • Storage consumption of Elasticsearch
  • Free disk space on local partitions used for PCAP and recording files

As Elasticsearch can now be separated from the Monitor container, its data consumption is monitored independently. In addition, the system continues to monitor the local storage used for PCAPs and recordings, ensuring visibility into both remote and local resource usage.

All detected issues—whether related to connectivity or storage thresholds—are automatically reported via the configured Notification Channels, enabling timely alerts and proactive system maintenance.

These settings can be managed under the System Health section in Monitor's configuration.

2.4 Alerts​

Alerting has been redesigned with two distinct modes:

Basic Alerts​

Basic Alerts are triggered by simple, periodic Elasticsearch queries. Currently supported types include:

  • SIP Response Code Alerts
  • Registration Lost Alerts (from the Call Agent's Register Agent)

When triggered, alerts are delivered via the configured Notification Channels. More alert types will be added in future versions.

Advanced Alerts​

Advanced Alerts are processed in real-time by a dedicated Alerting Engine, which receives events directly from the ingestion pipeline. This enables immediate, highly customizable alerting.

Key capabilities:

  • JavaScript-based transformation scripts for manipulating event structure
  • VoIP-specific alerts such as:
    • Low ASR
    • Excessive call minutes from URI/IP
    • Authentication failures
  • Generic alert types:
    • Ratio evaluation, high-rate detection, value changes (all with configurable keys)
  • Experimental detection methods:
    • Sudden change, Bloom filters, parallel calls (Hopping Window algorithm)
  • Multi-channel notifications via:
    • REST API, Slack, Matrix, OpsGenie, ServiceNow

Cause Analysis Dashboard​

With the introduction of Advanced Alerts, a new dashboard called Cause Analysis has been added. This dashboard provides users with a deeper, more detailed view into each triggered advanced alert.

It delivers a comprehensive analysis of the alert's context, including:

  • A timeline of related events that contributed to the alert condition
  • Multiple levels of time series data (long-term, mid-term, and recent)
  • Key values logged by the alerting engine during event processing
  • A complete state snapshot captured just before the alert was triggered

The system also performs a comparative analysis between the current alert's state and the historical profile, helping users quickly identify anomalies or shifts in behavior.

For a demo or more details, contact FRAFOS Support.

Removal of Legacy Logstash Alerts​

Legacy alerts based on Logstash have been fully removed in this release. These alerts were seldom used and had notable limitations — including single-threaded processing, which caused performance bottlenecks, and restricted support for alarm types.

Administrators are now required to reconfigure their alerting setup using either Basic or, preferably, Advanced Alerts, which offer improved flexibility and performance.

If you need assistance with the migration or would like guidance on setting up new alerts, please reach out to FRAFOS Support.

2.5 Remote Elasticsearch Support​

You can now run event database as a dedicated, external Elasticsearch instance, allowing deployments to scale more flexibly and operate more robustly in distributed environments.

Previously, Elasticsearch was typically bundled and managed alongside the Monitor container. With this release, it's now fully supported to run Elasticsearch remotely—outside of the Monitor container—whether on a separate host or as an independent container within your environment.

This separation offers several advantages:

  • Improved performance and resource isolation
  • Easier scaling and tuning of Elasticsearch independently of the Monitor
  • Better infrastructure control

⚠️ Note: It is recommended to run Elasticsearch as a separate container, especially in production deployments with higher traffic or storage demands.

Authentication to Elasticsearch is handled via Basic Auth using a username and password.

Configuration of the remote Elasticsearch database is done as part of the Monitor initialisation screen or under the Events DB section in the Monitor settings.

2.6 Automated Report Generation & Scheduling​

This release introduces support for automatically generating PDF reports on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. Reports are rendered using a headless Chrome engine, ensuring consistent formatting and easy sharing.

Currently, the generated reports include a print snapshot of the Home dashboard, offering a quick overview of system activity and performance. This capability will be expanded in future versions to support additional dashboards and more customization options.

Once generated, reports are automatically delivered via the configured Notification Channels, keeping stakeholders informed without manual effort.

3. Chart Improvements​

Each chart now includes a chart options menu (accessible via the three dots icon in the top-right corner) that provides various actions and settings specific to the chart. These options include:

  • Export: JSON – export the chart's underlying data
  • Info – view a short description of the chart
  • Settings – access per-chart settings such as animation toggle or "Number of Items to Display" - a new configuration for donut charts, allowing users to specify the maximum number of items to display.
  • ES Request/Response – view the exact Elasticsearch query and its corresponding response used to generate the chart

Additional improvements:

  • Scrollable legend – improves usability when there are many data series shown in a chart
  • Fullscreen chart expansion – enlarge any chart for easier analysis
  • Autodetects new event types – newly detected event types are marked with !New. These are automatically added to the user profile and once acknowledged, they are not highlighted again.

4. Table Enhancements​

  • Table columns can now be reordered using drag & drop, allowing users to customize column layout based on their preferences.
  • The "Advanced" column has been moved to the beginning of each row and given a fixed width for consistent alignment and visibility.

5. Settings Overhaul​

Redesigned Monitor Page (Formerly Settings Page) - the Monitor (Settings) Page now features a cleaner tab-based design, where related settings are grouped together for better navigation, together with a robust input validation across all configuration areas.

Key configuration parameters — such as the CCM location or Elasticsearch URL — can now be provided via environment variables when launching the Monitor container, allowing you to skip the initialization screen entirely.

6. Other UI Improvements​

  • Initial Time Range - a new setting that allows users to define the initial time range for data display when logging into the Monitor. Users can now choose their preferred default time range (e.g., Last 15 minutes, 1 hour, 5 minutes, etc.) instead of the default 6 hours which helps improve load performance by limiting the initial data fetched.
  • User Account Now in Top Navbar - the user account section has been relocated from the sidebar to the top navbar for easier access and a more consistent UI.
  • Time Navigation Controls Moved to Filter Bar - the time navigation dropdown has been moved from the navbar to the filter bar for an intuitive experience.
  • Refresh Data Interval Now in Top Navbar - the refresh interval setting has been moved from the time navigation panel to the top navbar, making it easier to access and manage.
  • New Popup Design for Stored Filters - a new design for managing stored filters, providing a clearer interface for saving, listing and managing saved filters.
  • Improved Notifications UI & Functionality - we enhanced notifications to be more user-friendly and interactive.
  • Batch actions have been added for easier managing multiple filters (e.g., clear all, enable/disable all).

7. Minor Dashboard Changes​

Home Dashboard​

We’ve made several improvements to the Home Dashboard to provide more real-time insights, better navigation, and improved clarity of key metrics.

  • The dashboard now displays live updates for actual incidents, active calls, and current registrations at the top of page.
  • Users can now click on Critical/High or Medium/Low Alerts metrics to be redirected to the Alerts Dashboard with the respective severity filter applied.
  • A dedicated Call Agent Availability chart has been added to the Home Dashboard for better visibility into agent status.
  • Type Date Heatmap Chart Relocated - The chart has been moved to the end of the dashboard for better organization.
  • Terminology Refinements:
    • "# Attempts" → Now called "Call Attempts"
    • "# Finish" → Now called "Calls Finished"

Calls Dashboard​

  • Renamed metrics for clarity:
    • "Attempts" → Call attempts
    • "Ends" → Calls finished
    • "Starts" → Calls started
    • "Events over time" → Events over time with ASR
    • "Sip-code count" → SIP-code

Registration Dashboard​

  • Added two new event types: Reg-lost and Reg-alive (Requires SBC version 5.4 or higher)
  • Renamed "Types" to TOP 10 Types Count

Alerts Dashboard​

  • Introduced a dedicated dashboard focused on alert visibility and metrics

Security Dashboard​

  • Renamed:
    • "Types" → Top X Types count
    • "Top Subnets" → Top Subnets /24 exceeded

Microanalysis Dashboard​

  • Added new charts for:
    • Distinct From URI
    • Versions (from connected nodes)
    • SRC CA ID
    • Calling countries
  • Renamed:
    • "Source IP address" → Event by IP addr

Connectivity CA Dashboard​

  • Removed the duplicate Sessions by CA chart
  • Renamed the table from States CA events to CA monitoring events

Network Dashboard​

  • Enhanced interface-related charts to include data grouped by SBC and interface name

8. Bug Fixes​

  • Different general settings like Monitor Name, Default records visible in tables are now applied instantly without requiring a manual refresh.

  • Fixed SRC/DST Realm Dropdown Filters in Connectivity CA were not functioning correctly.

  • The long list of call agents is now scrollable, ensuring better navigation and usability.

9. Online Help​

A new help section is available via the "?" icon in the menu.

10. How to Upgrade​

Monitor 10.1 is available as an OCI container and can be pulled from FRAFOS registry the same way as the CCM or SBC images.

registry.frafos.net/abc/mon:10.1

You can start it in the same way as previous versions.

⚠️ Note: We strongly recommend running Elasticsearch as a separate container, rather than embedded inside the Monitor container. This setup improves performance and maintainability. The only supported Elasticsearch version is 7.X, specifically:

docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.17.28

If you're upgrading from version 5.3 and plan to re-use your existing volume, the first time you start Monitor 10.1 it will display an initialization screen. This interface will walk you through the required setup steps — such as entering the Elasticsearch URL — before the system is fully operational.

Need help upgrading or deploying Monitor 10.1? Contact Support.