your web site’s log file and how to process and filter it.
• Creating a Log Analysis Report explains the WebTrends reporting options.
Adding a Web Log Analysis Profile
Your first step is to tell WebTrends where to find the log file that contains the activity information for your web site.
1. From the WebTrends main console, click New. The Add Log Profile – Title, URL dialog appears.
2. In the Description field , enter a description to identify your Web server log file (for example, “SuperSales, Inc. Web Site”). This description appears in the profile list in the WebTrends main console, and as the subtitle of reports and views that are based on this profile.
3. In the Log File URL Path field, select the ftp:// option to retrieve your log file via FTP since your site is hosted remotely. In the future you may select one of the following:
• File Retrieval Method
Select the file://option from the drop-down list if you have a drive mapped to your web server. Then enter the path to your log file.
Click the Browse button to search for the exact location and file name.
Note: To add multiple log files (rotated log files), enter a pipe character (|) between the log file path names. Or use the wildcard characters (* or ?) to stand for several log files.
• FTP Retrieval Method
Select the ftp:// option from the drop-down list if you must retrieve your log file using ftp (file transfer protocol). For example, if your web site is hosted through an ISP, you may have to retrieve your log file through ftp.
When you specify an ftp URL, you must enter the full path from the root of the ftp server, not just from the default login directory.
To add multiple log files (rotated log files), enter a pipe character (|) between the log file path names. Or use the wildcard characters (*
or ?) to stand for several log files.
To enter your user name and password for the FTP site click Details. Within this login dialog, you can click Browse to search for the each FTP location.
• HTTP Retrieval Method
Select the http option to retrieve your web server log file over the Internet using HTTP. You must enter the username and password information only if you are accessing a secured web site.
• ODBC Retrieval Method
If your web server log file data is stored in an ODBC data source, WebTrends can retrieve the information directly from this source.
Click Browse to search for the exact location of the data source.
Note: You can use wildcards, date macros, multiple logs, and compressed logs in your log file entry. See Examples: Log File Entries later in this chapter for details.
5. Click Details to access the FTP Server Login Info. dialog.
5. Since you are using FTP, you must supply a user name and password for the specified computer. Enter a username and password for the FTP server. Click Browse to specify the exact location and name of the log file, and click OK to continue.
6. In the Log File Format field, specify the log file format if necessary. By default WebTrends automatically detects the type of log file that you are adding, but you can specify one here.
7. When you have completed defining the location of the log file, click Next to display the DNS Lookup dialog. Reverse DNS lookups translates the numeric IP address into a domain name. This can be done either by the web server when logging activity or by WebTrends when it analyzes the log files.
DNS Lookups are performed more efficiently by the web server as the log is created, rather than by WebTrends. However, if you know your web server administrator or ISP disabled DNS Lookups for their servers, you can have WebTrends do them for you.
Since you have determined that your Web server is not performing the DNS lookup, and you would like your reports to display domain names and corresponding geographic information, you will select Resolve Mode.
In the future you can choose one of the following:
• Quick mode, using format from log
Maintains the log format, domain name or numeric IP address, making this the fastest method for creating reports. If your web server doesn’t perform DNS Lookups and you choose the Quick Mode in this dialog, WebTrends reports will display visitor’s IP addresses rather than domain names.
• Resolve mode, lookup all numeric IPS
If your web server does not perform DNS Lookups and you need geographic or other domain-related information, select this option.
Note: Resolve mode may significantly slow reporting. Use it only if DNS lookups cannot be done on the server.
Once a numeric address has been looked up, its text equivalent is stored in a permanent cache to expedite all subsequent reports. The default cache size is 7,000 entries; once this limit is reached, the oldest addresses are replaced with the new entries. You can change the cache size in the Web Log Analyzer General Options tab. See page 132 for details.
• Auto mode, if you’re unsure
If you don’t know whether your log file contains IP addresses or domain names, you can let WebTrends decide. If WebTrends finds a domain name when it begins analyzing the log file, it uses the quick mode. If WebTrends finds an IP address when it begins analyzing the log file, it tries to translate, or resolve, all IP addresses.
Note: For Tips on how to determine if your Web server is performing the DNS Lookup, see Creating a WebTrends View on page 39 later in this chapter.
8. Click Next > to proceed to the Add Log Profile, Home Page dialog.
Although you are not required to complete the following two fields, we strongly recommend that you do. These fields define the location of your web server home page regardless of any sub-domains on which you are reporting.
Note: If you want WebTrends reports to identify Web pages by their <title>, you need to specify the home page directory. See Retrieve HTML Page Title on page 132.
9. In the Home Page File Names field, specify the file names that the web server defaults to when a visitor requests a URL without a specific file name. Separate multiple file names with spaces.
10. In the Web Site URL field, specify the location of your web site. In the first field, select the method of accessing your web site and then enter the path to the web site.
For our example, select ftp:// from the list, and click Details to enter your login information. Then click Browse to specify the exact location and file name of the HTML home page for your web site. Click OK.
In the future you can choose from the following:
• file:///
If you have file system access to your web server log file (on your machine or through a mapped drive), this is the quickest retrieval method. Specify the drive and directory to your web page. For example, c:\inetpub\wwwroot\
• ftp://
If you access your web pages through FTP, select this method and enter the complete path to your web site.
• http://
If you access your web pages through HTTP, select this method and enter the path to your web site. If the web site is secure, click Login to enter username and password information.
Note: If you use http://, each time a web page title is retrieved, it is counted as a new hit. Both ftp:// and file:/// avoid recording these false hits.
Note: If WebTrends reports “N/A” hits to your home page, try specifying the IP address in this field. This field must contain the data as it is recorded in your log file.
11. Click Next > to display the Filters dialog. The filters dialog allows you to specify the log file data that you want to analyze. In this example, you will keep the default Include Everything filter so that all of your log file data will be included. Click Next > to proceed.
For a complete explanation of WebTrends filters, (for example, reporting on one domain housed on a server with many others) see Chapter 4.
Filtering Log Analyses on page 45.
12. In the Database and Real-Time dialog, you can set up analysis caching and real-time analysis and reporting options for your log analysis profile.
See Chapter 7. FastTrends and Real Time Reporting on page 83 for details about FastTrends caching and real-time analysis and reporting options.
13. Click Finish. You are returned to the WebTrends main console, and your new log analysis profile appears in the profile list.
Note: Statistics about the log file corresponding to the highlighted profile appear at the bottom of the main console.
These include the log file size and when it was first and last updated. For remote FTP and HTTP log profiles, these fields will display N/A.
Tip:
WebTrends profiles are text-based to facilitate changing multiple profiles at one time with any text editor. The extension for web log analysis profile is .WLP. Profiles are located in the datfiles subdirectory of the wtm_log directory.