Provides information on techniques for measuring system performance and traffic from server logs. Frequently Asked Questions About Analyzing Server Log Files
What are server log files and how can they be used to measure system performance and traffic? Server log files are records of Web server activity (or server activity for any digital medium). They provide details about file requests to a server and the server response to those requests. Collecting and analyzing these files can provide:
What types of data you collect on your server depends on how it has been set up and defined by the technical staff. The ideal log file for performance and traffic analysis should contain the following data: Types of log data to collect
|
Moving Forms to the Web - Thursday-Friday, October 14-15, 2004 Goal Oriented Planning and Testing October 21, 2004
New Fall 2004 Schedule:
|
Here is an example of a log file: Time | IP Address | Server | Action | Object | Result code and size | Browser / version and platform | Refering URL 01:50:17 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /pdq.html - 200 16391 295 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov/pdqsrch.shtml 01:50:17 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/pdq.gif - 200 793 290 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:18 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/banner1.gif - 200 4067 294 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:18 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/news.gif - 200 1054 291 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:18 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_top.gif - 200 277 293 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:19 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_visitor.gif - 200 767 297 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:19 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_rule.gif - 200 371 294 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:19 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_new.gif - 200 911 293 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:19 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_about.gif - 200 720 295 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:20 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_ways.gif - 200 1066 294 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:20 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_cis.gif - 304 139 379 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:20 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_short.gif - 200 578 295 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:20 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_trials.gif - 200 590 296 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:20 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_espanol.gif - 200 538 297 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:22 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_pdq_search.gif - 200 775 300 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:28 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_search_clin.gif - 200 739 301 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:30 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_bott.gif - 200 354 294 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:30 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/gray_hrule.gif - 200 268 297 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:30 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_links.gif - 200 749 295 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:30 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_view.gif - 200 981 294 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:30 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/red_square.gif - 200 314 297 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html 01:50:31 216.126.148.89 - ICICWEB1 GET /images/sn_nci.gif - 200 1302 293 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+4.01;+Windows+98) http://128.231.164.190/pdq.html |
How do you analyze server log files? Depending on the size of your server, log files can contain extreme amounts of data that may be irrelevant to what you're looking for. Work with your technical staff to identify software that analyzes and summarizes the log data, a variety of tools are available. Technical staff can also help set the log files to capture data of most importance to your organization.
If your log files are small, you might be able to work with the raw data using a tool like a spreadsheet program.
|
Home
Dictionary
Site
Map
Frequently
Asked Questions About This Site Privacy Policy Contact Us Accessibility |
|