Good cross reference in log file analyzer

On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 03:59:33 +0100, Jakob Nielsen put finger to
keyboard and typed:

>I am looking for a log file analyzer which will give total cross refernces.
>All, that I have seen so far, can give me the information in various
>groupings, but with no cross reference.
>What I am looking for is a way to for example look at a certain day, see the
>downloads of a specific resource, click a specific user who downloaded it,
>see other activity by this user etc etc.

You can't link specific file requests to specific users unless you're
using cookies or some other state-maintaining method of tracking them
(such as requiring a login). But log files don't contain that
information, so what you want can't be done simply by analysing log
files as the necessary information isn't there.

If you want to be able to track the activity of specific users, then
you really need to build that into your authentication system.

>As a more conrete example, I have a certain pdf online. I would like to see
>all downloads of it. When doing so, I might be currious about the last user
>who doanloaded it and I click him and see what other resources were accessed
>by this user and when.

To do that reliably, you will need to force your users to register and
then login before downloading the PDFs. A less reliable, but also less
intrusive, method is to track user activity via cookies, but that
can't track the same user accessing the files from different computers
or give you any information for people who set their browsers to
refuse or delete tracking cookies.

>This is a feature I have not seen in any log file
>analyzers yet... but I have not seen them all. A free counter service that
>sorta provides this, is statcounter.com. It is however just an ordinary
>counter with embedded links in webpages, and I would much rather use my own
>logfiles.

You can't do it with logfiles.

Mark
--
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"And so we're told this is the golden age"
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On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 05:19:18 -0000, A Wieser put finger to keyboard
and typed:

>
>"Jakob Nielsen" <spam RemoveThis @no.no> wrote in message
>news:45bac015$0$144$157c6196@dreader2.cybercity.dk...
>|I am looking for a log file analyzer which will give total cross refernces.
>| All, that I have seen so far, can give me the information in various
>| groupings, but with no cross reference.
>| What I am looking for is a way to for example look at a certain day, see
>the
>| downloads of a specific resource, click a specific user who downloaded it,
>| see other activity by this user etc etc.
>|
>| As a more conrete example, I have a certain pdf online. I would like to
>see
>| all downloads of it. When doing so, I might be currious about the last
>user
>| who doanloaded it and I click him and see what other resources were
>accessed
>| by this user and when. This is a feature I have not seen in any log file
>| analyzers yet... but I have not seen them all. A free counter service
>that
>| sorta provides this, is statcounter.com. It is however just an ordinary
>| counter with embedded links in webpages, and I would much rather use my
>own
>| logfiles.
>|
>|
>
>Try our product, TopDrop at
>www.wieser-software.com/topdrop?individuals
>
>
>It provides exactly that file centered investigation functionality. You get
>counts of each file, and can find out exactly what an individual user did.

As far as I can see, your software is tracking IP addresses, not
individuals. So, unless I'eg misunderstood him, it isn't doing what
the OP requires.

Mark
--
Visit: http://www.MineOfUseless.info - everything you never needed to know!
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 >> Stay informed about: Good cross reference in log file analyzer 

> As far as I can see, your software is tracking IP addresses, not
> individuals. So, unless I'eg misunderstood him, it isn't doing what
> the OP requires.

In that case, I didn't express myself clearly enough. It is ok to consider
an ip to be one individual. The only way to tract actual indivisuals would
be by cookies, as far as I know, so this is something which is often blocked
by people.
 >> Stay informed about: Good cross reference in log file analyzer 

Jakob Nielsen wrote

> In that case, I didn't express myself clearly enough. It is ok to
> consider an ip to be one individual.

It is?

How on earth do you work that one out?

Seen this lately?:

http://www.analog.cx/docs/webworks.html

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
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