Webalizer
| Original author(s) | Bradford L. Barrett |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1997 |
| Stable release |
2.23-08 / August 26, 2013
|
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Available in | Over 30 languages |
| Type | Web analytics |
| License | GNU General Public License |
| Website | www.webalizer.org |
The Webalizer is web log analysis software, which generates web pages of analysis, from access and usage logs. It is one of the most commonly used web server administration tools. It was initiated by Bradford L. Barrett in 1997. Statistics commonly reported by Webalizer include hits, visits, referrers, the visitors' countries, and the amount of data downloaded. These statistics can be viewed graphically and presented by different time frames, such as by day, hour, or month.
Website traffic analysis is produced by grouping and aggregating various data items captured by the web server in the form of log files while the website visitor is browsing the website. The Webalizer analyzes web server log files, extracting such items as client's IP addresses, URL paths, processing times, user agents, referrers, etc. and grouping them in order to produce HTML reports.
Web servers log HTTP traffic using different file formats. Common file formats are Common Log Format (CLF), the Apache Custom Log Format, and Extended Log File Format. An example of a CLF log line is shown below.
Apache Custom Log Format can be customized to log most HTTP parameters, including request processing time and the size of the request itself. The format of a custom log is controlled by the format line. A typical Apache log format configuration is shown below.
Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) web server logs HTTP traffic in W3C Extended Log File Format. Similarly to Apache Custom Log format, IIS logs may be configured to capture such extended parameters as request processing time. W3C extended logs may be recognized by the presence of one or more format lines, such as the one shown below.
The Webalizer can process CLF, Apache and W3C Extended log files, as well as HTTP proxy log files produced by Squid servers. Other log file formats are usually converted to CLF in order to be analyzed. In addition, logs compressed with either GZip (.gz) or BZip2 (.bz2) can be processed directly without the need to uncompress before use.
The Webalizer is a command line application and is launched from the operating system shell prompt. A typical command is shown below.
Besides the command line options, the Webalizer may be configured through parameters of a configuration file. By default, The Webalizer reads the file webalizer.conf and interprets each line as a processing instruction. Alternatively, a user-specified file may be provided using the -c option.
...
Wikipedia