Mach5 FastStats Analyzer Configuration

Analyzer And Specific Web Servers
    Optimal IIS 7.0, 6.0, 5.1, 5.0 and 4.0 Configuration
    Optimal Apache Configuration
    Apache Multiple FileFormat

Analyzer and Specific Web Hosting Providers
    How Do I Configure FastStats To WorkWith Best Internet?
    How Do I Configure FastStats To WorkWith Pair Networks?

FastStats Analyzer and IIS 7.0, 6.0, 5.1, 5.0 and 4.0

FastStats is compatible with any log file that contains a very bare minimum of data. You should only read this web page if you are getting a FastStats error or warning. The log file format described on this web page is the most optimal you can get -- it contains the least amount of information that will completely utilize all FastStats features.

IIS 7.0, 6.0, 5.1, 5.0, and 4.0 web servers allow you to pick and choose what information is put into your log file. Follow these steps to properly configure Microsoft Internet Information Services:

1. Open the IIS Manager ( from the Start menu, click Run. Type inetmgr and click OK. ) Expand the local computer.
2. Select a Web or FTP site, right-click, and then click Properties.
3. On the Web Site tab, select the Enable Logging check box.
4. Choose W3C Extended Log File Format as the Active log format.
5. Click the Properties button.
6. Select the Extended Properties or Advanced tab and make sure the following fields are selected:
   Date, Time, Client IP Address, Method, URI Stem, HTTP Status, Bytes Received, Bytes Sent, User Agent, Referrer, Cookie.
   Any additional fields will not affect the analysis process. Order is not important. If Authenticated User is present, you can add that as well.
7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK until you have closed all dialog boxes.
    

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Configuring Apache

This help topic is for people who host their own web site or are allowed to configure their Apache log file format.

Apache lets you specify a custom log file format in the "httpd.conf" configuration file. Although there are a large number of log file formats you can specify, FastStats only supports three of them. However, they are standard formats and contain all of information you need to provide useful data about your web site. Apache can be configured to place the log file information in multiple log files (generally "access.log", "referer.log", and "agent.log"). This is not the most convenient format, although FastStats does support it.

The best format is known as Combined Log File Format and looks like the following:

207.34.71.205 - - [18/Jan/1998:00:02:22 -0500] "GET /index.html HTTP/1.0" 200 16384 "http://www.windows95.com/apps/encrypt-file.html" "Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Update a; AK; Windows 95)"

It is important to note the referrer and browser information at the end is enclosed by quotation marks. You can configure Apache to generate combined log files by editing the "httpd.conf" file in the \Apache\conf\ directory. Find the following lines in your .conf file (you may want to do a search for the string "LogFormat"). You should change the log file to read as follows:

# The following directives define some format nicknames for use with
# a CustomLog directive (see below).
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\" \"%{cookie}i\"" combined

# Specify that we want to store the combined log file in the location "logs/combined.log".
CustomLog logs/combined.log combined

Apache should now generate FastStats-readable data in the combined.log file. The other two log file formats are either inconvenient (Apache Multiple Log File Format) or will produce reports that do not contain some very useful information (Apache Common Information).

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All About Apache Multiple File Format

How do I Tell If My Logs Are in Apache Multiple File Format

Most of the time, all of the log file data is stored in one log file. There may be a new log file for each day, but all of the information about each hit is generally stored in the same file. Apache multiple file format, as the name implies, stores log file data in multiple files:

1. access_log - general information about the page requested, time of the request, etc.
2. agent_log - information about the browser and operating system used to request the file 
3. referer_log - information about the pages that refer (i.e. link) to your web site.
4. error_log - this log is not used. If you tell FastStats to parse this log, it may crash!

Note: Mach5 FastStats Analyzer no longer supports the Apache Multiple File Format. If your logs are in this format, please contact your web hosting provider and have it changed to W3C Extended or Apache Combined format per the above instructions.

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This technical support topic describes how to configure FastStats to automatically analyze and download your log files from your account at Best Internet (www.best.com).

1. Make sure that your web site is configured to generate log files. Best has a web page on this topic.

2. Start FastStats.

3. Click Add Report

4. We will be downloading the log files from the Best Internet FTP server, so choose The log files are stored on a FTP site and click Next.

5. Best does not store the log files in the Apache Multiple File Format. So leave the checkbox empty and click Next.

6. FastStats will download your log files from the Best FTP server. For FTP Site Name, type the shell account address Best provided you. This will look like ftpX.ba.best.com or fpage1.ba.best.com. In the Username and Password fields, type your username and password.

7. Best stores its log files in the public_html directory. The log files look like this: httpd_access.x, where 'x' is generally a number from 1 to 30. If your log files are compressed, they will have a .gz file extension. FastStats will automatically recognize and decompress these .gz files. So select Parse all logs that match this wildcard and type public_html/httpd_access.*

8. The rest of the report should be relatively straightforward to configure. You can read a walkthrough here.

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How Do I Configure FastStats Analzyer to Work With Pair Networks?

This technical support topic describes how to configure FastStats to automatically analyze and download your log files from your account at Pair Networks (www.pair.com).

1. In order to get the most out of FastStats (and any other log file analysis tool, for that matter), you should configure your log files to generate Agent and Referrer information. Pair has a technical support document on this.

2. Start FastStats.

3. Click Add Report

4. We will be downloading the log files from the Pair Networks FTP server, so choose The log files are stored on a FTP site and click Next.

5. Pair  does not store the log files in the Apache Multiple File Format. So leave the checkbox empty and click Next.

6. FastStats will download your log files from the Pair FTP server. For FTP Site Name, type the shell account address Pair  provided you. This will look like gao.pair.com or upsilon.pair.com. In the Username and Password fields, type your username and password.

7. Pair stores its log files in the www_logs directory. The log files look like this: www.date. Pair will automatically compress your log files if they are greater than a threshold (typically 100 kilbytes). Compressed log files have .gz at the end of their filenames. FastStats will recognize and automatically decompress any .gz files. Select Parse all logs that match this wildcard and type www_logs/www*

8. The rest of the report should be relatively straightforward to configure. You can read a walkthrough here.

If you have any questions, e-mail analyzer -at- mach5.com. We'll get back to you ASAP.

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