Raw Web Log Files

[WW MemberName]

Hi All,
How do I "interpret" the raw log files? Is there any software that can provide easy interpretation of the raw web log file?

I need to provide Overture/Yahoo a list of refereeing web sites that I believe are SPAM/fraudulent clicks.

Thanks,

[Matt Probert]

Analog (http://www.analog.cx) is free and widely used.

Matt

[cgrantski]

To do what you want, which is find suspicious visitors or visits or referrers and give that information to Yahoo, you will have to do a somewhat advanced analysis that will incorporate your definition of "suspicious behavior" and isolate the visitors that meet the suspicious behavior criteria, then extract their identities either from the referrer information or the visitor IP information. The long lists you get from Analog are probably going to be no help at all. Since you sound unfamiliar with everything about logs and such, you probably should find a friendly knowledgeable soul who is willing to do this for you. Or talk Yahoo into accepting your raw logs and doing it themselves.

Or open the logs and go over them carefully. You have a reason for suspecting fraud or spam, so the raw logs may help you understand what's going on. If your logs are IIS, then the fields' labels will be in the first 4 or 5 lines of the log. If they are Apache logs, there won't be any labels. Google "Apache log fields" or something like that and you should be able to sort it out.

[phranque]

this might help to start:
[httpd.apache.org...]

[jatar_k]

try a thread from this forum's Library [webmasterworld.com]

Which Stats Package is right for you? [webmasterworld.com]