[thelist] Web Stat Software

[Anthony Baratta]

At 02:26 PM 6/12/2001, you wrote:
> >
> > What would you recommend for hard core analysis?
>
>hmm ... if you can get it tweaked out, the SiteServer stuff isn't bad; it is
>pretty flexible, though it tends to bias the other SiteServer components ...
>There's the package Dan uses for evolt (Dan?)... I've played with WebTrends,
>and it seems pretty fricken cool too, but LiveStats takes care of what we're
>required to provide, so we use it...

I'm currently using WebTrends (Log Analyzer) and I find it "lacking". It 
does not appear to support archiving of your stats. I've had to write VBS 
scripts to song and dance the directory names in order for us to "archive" 
a set of logs on a monthly basis. (It's options for Pre and Post execution 
of VBS scripts is painfully counter intuitive and poorly documented.)

WebTrends is VERY picky about log file types. I've tried to get it to run a 
yearly report on my zipped logs AND my non-zipped logs, and it failed 
saying I can't do multiple servers. (What? They are all from the same ISS 
service!) By default, version 6.5b does not allow you to have ANY time 
discrepancies in your logs. If you have a few records out of order, for 
what ever reason, it bails on the whole job. There is a fix for this, but 
you have to "manually" change an INI file.

I can't seem to make it do compares between months (e.g. trend analysis - 
hence my beef with the name WebTrends ;-). Maybe I am just reading the 
wrong documentation.

It does nice monthly reports and has a nice scheduler, but I felt I hit the 
wall pretty quickly on what I found it could or could not do. And for 
$500-700 that's pretty disappointing.

---
Anthony Baratta
President
Keyboard Jockeys