I would like to learn more about how to read my raw referrer logs...

May 16, 2004 6:49 PM

I would like to learn more about how to read my raw referrer logs...

I am currently running a MT blog on my 'free' 1and1 account (thanks to filmgoerjuan). 1and1 provides me with some data analysis of my traffic, but its not very useful (x visits from Source A, Y visits from Source B, zzz visits we couldn't find a source for). They do allow me to download the raw original log files, but I don't have the first clue what to do with them once I have them. Help? Advice?

posted by anastasiav to computers & internet (4 comments total)

i run a program called analog on my logs. you can find more info here (in fact, i just came here to kill time while my logs were downloading!)
posted by andrew cooke at 6:51 PM on May 16, 2004

the easiest thing to do is run them through log analyzers which will aggregate the data and spit out pretty graphs and give useful information.

Here is a huge list; my personal favorite is analog.

Or you can just open it in notepad and look at it yourself. here is a description of all the things you'll see inside and their meanings.
posted by helios at 6:57 PM on May 16, 2004

if you do use analog, don't be surprised if it takes ages to run. it does a reverse-dns lookup on ever distinct address, in series. (twidles thumbs).
posted by andrew cooke at 7:52 PM on May 16, 2004

Yep, Analog is a good choice. Here's how to read the reports (Don't skip the "How the Internet Works" section. Understanding the limitions of stats reporting is invaluable.) Oh, and if the reverse DNS lookup get too slow for you, it can be turned off.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 11:29 PM on May 16, 2004