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Analog is an application that can analyse your log files. It runs on Unix, Windows, and Macintosh computers. It can generate HTML or plain text output. All of its options are compiled into the application, can be overridden through a configuration file, or even the command line. Its fast and its free.
The most common structure of HTTP server logfiles is the "common logfile format." This format has the following structure:
remotehost rfc931 authuser [date] "request" status bytes
Where:
remotehost is the name of the computer accessing your server
rfc931 is the name of the remote user (usually blank)
authuser is the authenticated user
[date] is... the date
"request" is the URL requested from the server
status is the error code generated from the request
bytes is the size (in bytes) of the data returned
Analog can read the "common logfile format" (as well as others) and generate reports accordingly.
To use Analog, first you must download and uncompress the archive from the Analog home page or any of its many mirror sites.
If you are using a Unix computer, you will have to edit the analog.h file to define the application's defaults. You must then make (compile) the application. Don't fret. Its easy. The Windows and Macintosh version come pre-compiled and require little extra configuration.
The next step in using Analog is the editing of its configuration file, analog.cfg. This file directs Analog how to process your logfiles. The most important option is LOGFILE telling Analog the exact location of the file(s) to analyse. The next most important option is OUTFILE telling Analog where to save its output. You will also want to edit HOSTNAME, HOSTURL, and BASEURL so your resulting reports make sense.
Next, running Analog will examine your logfile, politely report any errors, create your report, and exit. Furthermore, it will do this quickly!
After playing with Analog for a little while, you may want to explore fine tuning some of its miriade of options thus customizing your reports to your needs. Such options include dates, times, host name exclusion, text/HTML graphic/text output, and browser types, etc.
Analog is worth much more than what you will pay for it.
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