Analog configuration and use

Newbie can't even find the config file..

[ScottM]

I feel a little strange coming to such an experienced forum to ask such simple questions, but I have grown weary of trying to understand the help files for Analog.

Background:

I know next to nothing about Unix/Linux etc. and I'm running my new website at pair.com. I see they have Analog 5 already installed. After about 3 hours I finally figured out how to look at the raw stats on IE 6. I had to manually enter my password in the URL to get it to work.

I still can't see the larger files, because they are zipped. I give up.

I felt it was a breakthrough just seeing raw logs, now I can't figure out anything about unzipping it, configuring it(Can't even find the cfg file...)

I would like to get it delivered to me daily, in a format I understand.

Does this require extensive programming or is it easy and I just don't 'get it'?

I must have read 8+ hours on this thing...and I'm getting more confused.

Anyone care to help a newbie through this step-by-step?

[pshea]

Reading your post probably caused everyone here to shudder at so many memories of so many hours trying to burst through comprehension of a new item. Analog is right up there with them.

You can download Analog for yourself here [analog.cx]. You will also need to unzip the files you pull off your server by using a program called gzip located here [gzip.org]. The Analog instructions (going from memory here) are not clear about the unzipping process being dependent on this gzip program. Once you have that, I'm pretty sure the rest will fall into place for you.

[ScottM]

Analog is already installed by virtue of the graciousness at 'pair'.

I'm looking to make it work. I have to jump through about 70, no make that 72, (ok, only 3 or 4) screens to get to the page where I can check the unzipped files.

I realize Analog is powerful, but just getting it to work for me is mind-boggling!

Am I just in over my head?

[pshea]

Lots of times, in order to get one thing to work, you have to learn two or three other things to attain the original goal. I poked around the pair tutorial for a few minutes. In order to configure the stats the way you want them, you are going to have to telnet into your site and upload a custom analog.cfg file. So you may have to take some time to understand the whole telnet process first. In this custom file you create, you would have to include an UNCOMPRESS command which contains the specific path location of the .gz files. Your hosting package may not allow you to UNCOMPRESS these types of files. All in all, it sounds like the tech support at pair should have those key answers.

If you're going to be in the net game to stay, I would suggest downloading analog. You can download your own site statistics and play with them when you're offline.

[ScottM]

That's just it...I don't know how to download my site statistics!

If Analog is installed at my web host....why would I need it installed on my main computer at home?

(Serious question)

[Son_House]

If Analog is installed at my web host....why would I need it installed on my main computer at home?

You don't have to but analog is very configurable and your host may not let you make changes to the analog.cfg file to change things. With it being on your own computer, you can change whatever you like.

What I do is download the logfiles in binary with Ws_ftp (it's free) and save them to the hard drive. Unzip them with Winzip (also free) and I'm good to go.

In your Analog.cfg file you will need to add a line like: LOGFILE c:\Logs2002\April\yourwebsite.log

That tells analog where to find your log file.

You may or may not need to add a LOGFORMAT. Try running analog (I just double click the analog icon in the analog folder) without one first and if the report is blank or it reports a large number of Corrupt logfile lines, you will need to add a LOGFORMAT. The analog help docs explain how to make one but I had a hard time doing it so I just posted a few logfile lines to the analog-help email list and they helped with it. You can find out about the list by going to the analog home page and clicking on "free support".

[chiyo]

pshea. we are at pair for some domains too. For us it is working fine just using the way pair automatically runs analog for you. It does sometimes miss a few hours, that is why we also have an analog local set up where we just downlaod the log file and analyse on our own computer.

You dont need telnet to upload a .cfg file. you can ftp instead.

From memoey if you go to the "help" files in the pair website and search for analog the instuctions are there. Also pair has their own protected usenet discussion facility. You can get answers there quickly and easily. sorry i cant help off hand where these help files and discussion board is.. but again best to ask pair.

Like any host, some features are only available depending on the "plan" you are paying for.

[ScottM]

Whew!

Ok, I downloaded all my stuff, WinZip, FTPExplorer, my logs AND Analog 5.22.

Now I'm close to what I want, but I still have a question.

My log files are in a folder on my C: drive. There is one file for each day. It seems Analog only looks at a SINGLE file at a time. Can I get it to look at the entire contents of a folder?

If not, how do I combine the files in my www_logs/ into one single file?

I really appreciate the help.

[Son_House]

Glad to hear you have things working ScottM :)

I get analog to look at the contents of a folder by doing this:

LOGFILE c:\Logs2002\April\*.log

[ScottM]

And I'm there!

Thanks so much, guys!

(Scott wipes the sweat from his brow, grabs a beer and a smoke and thinks about getting some pizza...:>)