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SVLive2 FAQs

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Q. Does Serraview Presence Service (SPS) send presence data when the user is working remotely from the office?

No. SVLive2 servers are configured to only accept SPS data from your corporate network (based on an IP whitelist). When users are working remotely from the office (and not connected to your VPN), SPS will not be able to send data to the SVLive2 server. When this happens SPS goes into a ‘remote working’ mode. Whilst in this ‘remote working’ mode it stops sending messages through to the server, and instead just checks to see if it can connect to the server every minute. When the user returns to the corporate network, SPS will detect that it can reconnect to the SVLive2 server and change back into ‘office working’ mode and automatically start sending through data again.

Q. Can SPS be closed by the user or is there a service running so it cannot be stopped?

SVLive Presence Service is a passive, background application that is launched when a user logs in and is closed when the user logs out again. There are no configuration screens or administrative controls for the application. The only way for a user to stop the service would be for them to open the Task Manager and kill the application (assuming they have permission).  

For more information, refer to SVLive2 Presence Service Maintenance.

SPS is not a windows service it is an executable that is launched when a user logs in, due to a registry entry added in the startup path (Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run). It runs in the user context. The switch scanner is a windows service. It does not require administrative privileges. The installation does require administrative privileges.

Q. Will the SPS be auto relaunched if terminated by users?

It auto-launches the next time the user logs into their computer.

Q. What are the minimum permissions for Switch Scanning Service?

The Switch Scanning Service needs to be able to communicate with each network switch in scope (those used by workstations & docking stations) via SNMP v2 or v3.

For more information, refer to Switch Configuration and SVLive2 Network Access and Ports.

Q. How does the SPS service authenticates to its SVLive endpoints?

IP Whitelist is applied at the SVLive endpoint. The endpoint only accepts connections from the IP Ranges provided by the client. Also, SSL Certificates, authored by AWS, and stored with encryption at rest in Serraview’s AWS Account (S3 & IoT).

Authentication methods are listed in SVLive2 Network Access and Ports

Q. What are the maximum memory usages of SPS service?

Memory usage is almost negligible. By design, SPS is extremely lightweight and consumes very few resources.

SPS is essentially a ‘dumb software-based sensor’. Its only job is to send small packets of information to the cloud. It’s in the cloud where the heavy lifting is done to process the raw data into meaningful utilization data that is leveraged throughout Serraview to drive business outcomes.

Q. Does every office location need to have a Virtual Machine (VM) to install the Switch scanner and Wire up service?

It depends on your network design. If your VM is able to connect to all switches over SNMP, then you will only need one. If your network is partitioned, then you might need multiple Switch Scanners to collect the information from each set of switches.

Q. The requirement for the VM is to have it connected to our environment (VPN connected to cloud environments) or is it mandatory to be in on-premise environment?

The VM should be hosted within your network. It does not need to be physically on-premises, the requirement is just for it to be able to connect to your switches via SNMP

The Switch Scanner and Wireup service apps themselves are installed by your business, with instructions provided by Serraview. Our Onboarding Project Manager will guide your technical team through installation, so your team can always reach out for help.

During installation, SNMP Authentication is configured, using keys created by your team. SVLive supports SNMP V2 and SNMP V3. 

Q. There seems to be a latency for real-time data based on the protocol used. Can we have some numbers around the expected latency for each combination of protocols?

MQTT is the faster protocol, however, it cannot be proxied through a HTTPS/Web Proxy server and some customers have a hard requirement that all outbound traffic be proxied through such a server.

Wi-Fi dominant environments will benefit most from MQTT and low-latency strategies as more traffic are transmitted to the server to triangulate positions based on changing signal strengths

In our testing, you will expect:

  • Wi-Fi location updates in under 60 seconds.
  • Wired location updates in under 3 minutes.

This is based on typical large-scale deployments with over 30,000 end-user devices.

That said, the speed of location updates is limited by the scale of your deployment (in terms of the number of devices and network switches) and for wired data, the performance of your network switches (performance varies across different makes, models, and operating systems).

Smaller customers and those leveraging the MQTT protocol will likely see even faster results (typically ~ 30% faster for wifi data).

Q. What is the size of data that gets transferred from SPS service?

For a typical deployment, where each device can see 10 WAPs, 5KB/device/minute is sent from the SPS service.

In a non-typical deployment, where each device can see an incredibly large number of access points (eg 300 WAPS) this could be as large as 50KB/device/minute.

Q. Does SPS service collects and sends data only when the employee is in office? 

The SVLive server endpoint is IP whitelisted to your set of office IPs, so any data that SPS attempts to send from outside of the office is automatically discarded by the firewall.

We are exploring ways to stop SPS from sending data altogether when users are remote.