Server logs
Most servers (if not all) create logs of their usage. This means that every time the server gets a request it will add a line in its log, which gives information about the request. Below an excerpt from an actual log:
rip.axis.se - - [04/Jan/1998:21:24:46 +0100] "HEAD /ftp/pub/software/ HTTP/1.0" 200 6312 - "Mozilla/4.04 [en] (WinNT; I)"
tide14.microsoft.com - - [04/Jan/1998:21:30:32 +0100] "GET /robots.txt HTTP/1.0" 304 158 - "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; MSIECrawler; Windows 95)"
microsnot.HIP.Berkeley.EDU - - [04/Jan/1998:22:28:21 +0100] "GET /cgi-bin/wwwbrowser.pl HTTP/1.0" 200 1445 "http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsga/download/stats/" "Mozilla/4.03 [en] (Win95; U)"
isdn69.ppp.uib.no - - [05/Jan/1998:00:13:53 +0100] "GET /download/RFCsearch.html HTTP/1.0" 200 2399 "http://www.kvarteret.uib.no/~pas/" "Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; I)"
isdn69.ppp.uib.no - - [05/Jan/1998:00:13:53 +0100] "GET /standard.css HTTP/1.0" 200 1064 - "Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; I)"
This log is in the extended common log format, which is supported by most web servers. The first hit is from Netscape 4.04, the second from some robot version of MSIE 4.0, while three to five are again from Netscape 4.04. (Note that the MSIECrawler got a 304 response, which means that if used the If-modified-since header.)
A server log can be useful when debugging applications and scripts or the server setup. It can also be run through a log analyzer, which can create various kinds of usage reports. One should however be aware that these reports are not 100% accurate due to the use of caches.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.