webalizer - A web server log file analysis tool.
SYNOPSIS
webalizer [ option ... ] [ log-file ]
webazolver [ option ... ] [ log-file ]
DESCRIPTION
The Webalizer is a web server log file analysis program
which produces usage statistics in HTML format for viewing
with a browser. The results are presented in both colum
nar and graphical format, which facilitates interpreta
tion. Yearly, monthly, daily and hourly usage statistics
are presented, along with the ability to display usage by
site, URL, referrer, user agent (browser), username,
search strings, entry/exit pages, and country (some
information may not be available if not present in the log
file being processed).
The Webalizer supports CLF (common log format) log files,
as well as Combined log formats as defined by NCSA and
others, and variations of these which it attempts to han
dle intelligently. In addition, the Webalizer also sup
ports wu-ftpd xferlog formatted log files, allowing analy
sis of ftp servers, and squid proxy logs. Logs may also
be compressed, via gzip. If a compressed log file is
detected, it will be automatically uncompressed while it
is read. Compressed logs must have the standard gzip
extension of .gz.
webazolver is normally just a symbolic link to the webal
izer. When run as webazolver, only DNS file cre
ation/updates are performed, and the program will exit
once complete. All normal options and configuration
directives are available, however many will not be used.
In addition, a DNS cache file must be specified. If the
number of DNS children processes to use are not specified,
the webazolver will default to 5.
This documentation applies to The Webalizer Version 2.01
RUNNING THE WEBALIZER
The Webalizer was designed to be run from a Unix command
line prompt or as a crond(8) job. Once executed, the gen
eral flow of the program is:
o A default configuration file is scanned for. A
file named webalizer.conf is searched for in the
current directory, and if found, it's configura
tion data is parsed. If the file is not present
in the current directory, the file /etc/webal
izer.conf is searched for and, if found, is used
o Any command line arguments given to the program
are parsed. This may include the specification of
a configuration file, which is processed at the
time it is encountered.
o If a log file was specified, it is opened and made
ready for processing. If no log file was given,
STDIN is used for input. If the log filename '-'
is specified, STDIN will be forced.
o If an output directory was specified, the program
does a chdir(2) to that directory in prepration
for generating output. If no output directory was
given, the current directory is used.
o If a non-zero number of DNS Children processes
were specified, they will be started, and the
specified log file will be processed, creating or
updating the specified DNS cache file.
o If no hostname was given, the program attempts to
get the hostname using a uname(2) system call. If
that fails, localhost is used.
o A history file is searched for in the current
directory (output directory) and read if found.
This file keeps totals for previous months, which
is used in the main index.html HTML document.
Note: The file location can now be specified with
the HistoryName configuration option.
o If incremental processing was specified, a data
file is searched for and loaded if found, contain
ing the 'internal state' data of the program at
the end of a previous run. Note: The file loca
tion can now be specified with the IncrementalName
configuration option.
o Main processing begins on the log file. If the
log spans multiple months, a seperate HTML docu
ment is created for each month.
o After main processing, the main index.html page is
created, which has totals by month and links to
each months HTML document.
o A new history file is saved to disk, which
includes totals generated by The Webalizer during
the current run.
o If incremental processing was specified, a data
file is written that contains the 'internal state'
INCREMENTAL PROCESSING
Version 1.2x of The Webalizer adds incremental run capa
bility. Simply put, this allows processing large log
files by breaking them up into smaller pieces, and pro
cessing these pieces instead. What this means in real
terms is that you can now rotate your log files as often
as you want, and still be able to produce monthly usage
statistics without the loss of any detail. Basically, The
Webalizer saves and restores all internal data in a file
named webalizer.current. This allows the program to
'start where it left off' so to speak, and allows the
preservation of detail from one run to the next. The data
file is placed in the current output directory, and is a
plain ascii text file that can be viewed with any standard
text editor. It's location and name may be changed using
the IncrementalName configuration keyword.
Some special precautions need to be taken when using the
incremental run capability of The Webalizer. Configura
tion options should not be changed between runs, as that
could cause corruption of the internal data stored. For
example, changing the MangleAgents level will cause dif
ferent representations of user agents to be stored, pro
ducing invalid results in the user agents section of the
report. If you need to change configuration options, do
it at the end of the month after normal processing of the
previous month and before processing the current month.
You may also want to delete the webalizer.current file as
well.
The Webalizer also attempts to prevent data duplication by
keeping track of the timestamp of the last record pro
cessed. This timestamp is then compared to current
records being processed, and any records that were logged
previous to that timestamp are ignored. This, in theory,
should allow you to re-process logs that have already been
processed, or process logs that contain a mix of pro
cessed/not yet processed records, and not produce duplica
tion of statistics. The only time this may break is if
you have duplicate timestamps in two seperate log files...
any records in the second log file that do have the same
timestamp as the last record in the previous log file pro
cessed, will be discarded as if they had already been pro
cessed. There are lots of ways to prevent this however,
for example, stopping the web server before rotating logs
will prevent this situation. This setup also necessitates
that you always process logs in chronological order, oth
erwise data loss will occur as a result of the timestamp
compare.
REVERSE DNS LOOKUPS
The Webalizer supports reverse DNS lookups through a DNS
has been previously created, either by a previous run of
the webalizer, or by running the stand-alone version,
webazolver. In order to perform reverse DNS lookups, a
DNSCache filename must be specified. In order to cre
ate/update the cache file at run-time, the DNSChildren
number must be non-zero. The DNSChildren value specifies
the number of children processes to fork, each of which
will perform reverse DNS lookups in order to create/update
the DNS cache file. See the file DNS.README for addi
tional information.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
The Webalizer supports many different configuration
options that will alter the way the program behaves and
generates output. Most of these can be specified on the
command line, while some can only be specified in a con
figuration file. The command line options are listed
below, with references to the corresponding configuration
file keywords.
General Options
-h Display all available command line options and
exit program.
-v -V Display program version and exit program.
-d Debug. Display debugging information for errors
and warnings.
-i IgnoreHist. Ignore history. USE WITH CAUTION.
This will cause The Webalizer to ignore any previ
ous monthly history file only. Incremental data
(if present) is still processed.
-p Incremental. Preserve internal data between runs.
-q Quiet. Supress informational messages. Does not
supress warnings or errors.
-Q ReallyQuiet. Supress all messages including warn
ings and errors.
-T TimeMe. Force display of timing information at
end of processing.
-c file Use configuration file file.
-n name HostName. Use the hostname name.
-o dir OutputDir. Use output directory dir.
-t name ReportTitle. Use name for report title.
LogType. Specify log type to be processed. Value
can be either clf, ftp or squid format. If not
specified, will default to CLF format. FTP logs
must be in standard wu-ftpd xferlog format.
-f FoldSeqErr. Fold out of sequence log records back
into analysis, by treating as if they were the
same date/time as the last good record. Normally,
out of sequence log records are simply ignored.
-Y CountryGraph. Supress country graph.
-G HourlyGraph. Supress hourly graph.
-x name HTMLExtension. Defines HTML file extension to
use. If not specified, defaults to html. Do not
include the leading period.
-H HourlyStats. Supress hourly statistics.
-L GraphLegend. Supress color coded graph legends.
-l num GraphLines. Specify number of background lines.
Default is 2. Use zero ('0') to disable the
lines.
-P name PageType. Specify file extensions that are con
sidered pages. Sometimes referred to as
pageviews.
-m num VisitTimeout. Specify the Visit timeout period.
Specified in number of seconds. Default is 1800
seconds (30 minutes).
-I name IndexAlias. Use the filename name as an addi
tional alias for index..
-M num MangleAgents. Mangle user agent names according
to the mangle level specified by num. Mangle lev
els are:
5 Browser name and major version.
4 Browser name, major and minor version.
3 Browser name, major version, minor version to
two decimal places.
2 Browser name, major and minor versions and
sub-version.
1 Browser name, version and machine type if pos
sible.
-g num GroupDomains. Automatically group sites by domain.
The grouping level specified by num can be thought
of as 'the number of dots' to display in the
grouping. The default value of 0 disables any
domain grouping.
-D name DNSCache. Use the DNS cache file name.
-N num DNSChildren. Use num DNS children processes to
perform DNS lookups, either creating or updateing
the DNS cache file. Specify zero (0) to disable
cache file creation/updates. If given, a DNS
cache filename must be specified.
Hide Options
-a name HideAgent. Hide user agents matching name.
-r name HideReferrer. Hide referrer matching name.
-s name HideSite. Hide site matching name.
-X name HideAllSites. Hide all individual sites (only
display groups).
-u name HideURL. Hide URL matching name.
Table size options
-A num TopAgents. Display the top num user agents table.
-R num TopReferrers. Display the top num referrers
table.
-S num TopSites. Display the top num sites table.
-U num TopURLs. Display the top num URL's table.
-C num TopCountries. Display the top num countries
table.
-e num TopEntry. Display the top num entry pages table.
-E num TopExit. Display the top num exit pages table.
CONFIGURATION FILES
Configuration files are standard ascii(7) text files that
may be created or edited using any standard editor. Blank
lines and lines that begin with a pound sign ('#') are
ignored. Any other lines are considered to be configurga
tion lines, and have the form "Keyword Value", where the
´Keyword´ is one of the currently available configuration
to that particular option. Any text found after the key
word up to the end of the line is considered the keyword's
value, so you should not include anything after the actual
value on the line that is not actually part of the value
being assigned. The file sample.conf provided with the
distribution contains lots of useful documentation and
examples as well.
General Configuration Keywords
LogFile name
Use log file named name. If none specified, STDIN
will be used.
LogType name
Specify log file type as name. Values can be
either web, squid or ftp, with the default being
web.
OutputDir dir
Create output in the directory dir. If none spec
ified, the current directory will be used.
HistoryName name
Filename to use for history file. Relative to
output directory unless absolute name is given
(ie: starts with '/'). Defaults to ´webal
izer.hist' in the standard output directory.
ReportTitle name
Use the title string name for the report title.
If none specified, use the default of (in english)
"Usage Statistics for ".
Hostname name
Set the hostname for the report as name. If none
specified, an attempt will be made to gather the
hostname via a uname(2) system call. If that
fails, localhost will be used.
UseHTTPS ( yes | no )
Use https:// on links to URLS, instead of the
default http://, in the 'Top URL's' table.
Quiet ( yes | no )
Supress informational messages. Warning and Error
messages will not be supressed.
ReallyQuiet ( yes | no )
Supress all messages, including Warning and Error
messages.
Print extra debugging information on Warnings and
Errors.
TimeMe ( yes | no )
Force timing information at end of processing.
GMTTime ( yes | no )
Use GMT (UTC) time instead of local timezone for
reports.
IgnoreHist ( yes | no )
Ignore previous monthly history file. USE WITH
CAUTION. Does not prevent Incremental file pro
cessing.
FoldSeqErr ( yes | no )
Fold out of sequence log records back into analy
sis by treating them as if they had the same
date/time as the last good record. Normally, out
of sequence log records are ignored.
CountryGraph ( yes | no )
Display Country Usage Graph in output report.
DailyGraph ( yes | no )
Display Daily Graph in output report.
DailyStats ( yes | no )
Display Daily Statistics in output report.
HourlyGraph ( yes | no )
Display Hourly Graph in output report.
HourlyStats ( yes | no )
Display Hourly Statistics in output report.
PageType name
Define the file extensions to consider as a page.
If a file is found to have the same extension as
name, it will be counted as a page (sometimes
called a pageview).
GraphLegend ( yes | no )
Allows the color coded graph legends to be
enabled/disabled.
GraphLines num
Specify the number of background reference lines
displayed on the graphs produced. Disable by
using zero ('0'), default is 2.
VisitTimeout num
Specifies the visit timeout value. Default is
by looking at the difference in time between the
current and last request from a specific site. If
the difference is greater or equal to the timeout
value, the request is counted as a new visit.
Specified in seconds.
IndexAlias name
Use name as an additional alias for index.*.
MangleAgents num
Mangle user agent names based on mangle level num.
See the -M command line switch for mangle levels
and their meaning. The default is 0, which
doesn't mangle user agents at all.
SearchEngine name variable
Allows the specification of search engines and
their query strings. The name is the name to
match against the referrer string for a given
search engine. The variable is the cgi variable
that the search engine uses for queries. See the
sample.conf file for example usage with common
search engines.
Incremental ( yes | no )
Enable Incremental mode processing.
IncrementalName name
Filename to use for incremental data. Relative to
output directory unless an absolute name is given
(ie: starts with '/'). Defaults to ´webal
izer.current' in the standard output directory.
DNSCache name
Filename to use for the DNS cache. Relative to
output directory unless an absolute name is given
(ie: starts with '/').
DNSChildren num
Number of children DNS processes to run in order
to create/update the DNS cache file. Specify zero
(0) to disable.
Top Table Keywords
TopAgents num
Display the top num User Agents table. Use zero to
disable.
AllAgents ( yes | no )
Create seperate HTML page with All User Agents.
Display the top num Referrers table. Use zero to
disable.
AllReferrers ( yes | no )
Create seperate HTML page with All Referrers.
TopSites num
Display the top num Sites table. Use zero to dis
able.
TopKSites num
Display the top num Sites (by KByte) table. Use
zero to disable.
AllSites ( yes | no )
Create seperate HTML page with All Sites.
TopURLs num
Display the top num URLs table. Use zero to dis
able.
TopKURLs num
Display the top num URLs (by KByte) table. Use
zero to disable.
AllURLs ( yes | no )
Create seperate HTML page with All URLs.
TopCountries num
Display the top num Countries in the table. Use
zero to disable.
TopEntry num
Display the top num Entry Pages in the table. Use
zero to disable.
TopExit num
Display the top num Exit Pages in the table. Use
zero to disable.
TopSearch num
Display the top num Search Strings in the table.
Use zero to disable.
AllSearchStr ( yes | no )
Create seperate HTML page with All Search Strings.
TopUsers num
Display the top num Usernames in the table. Use
zero to disable. Usernames are only available if
using http based authentication.
Create seperate HTML page with All Usernames.
Hide/Ignore/Group/Include Keywords
HideAgent name
Hide User Agents that match name.
HideReferrer name
Hide Referrers that match name.
HideSite name
Hide Sites that match name.
HideAllSites ( yes | no )
Hide all individual sites. This causes only
grouped sites to be displayed.
HideURL name
Hide URL's that match name.
HideUser name
Hide Usernames that match name.
IgnoreAgent name
Ignore User Agents that match name.
IgnoreReferrer name
Ignore Referrers that match name.
IgnoreSite name
Ignore Sites that match name.
IgnoreURL name
Ignore URL's that match name.
IgnoreUser name
Ignore Usernames that match name.
GroupAgent name [Label]
Group User Agents that match name. Display Label
in 'Top Agent' table if given (instead of name).
GroupReferrer name [Label]
Group Referrers that match name. Display Label in
'Top Referrer' table if given (instead of name).
GroupSite name [Label]
Group Sites that match name. Display Label in
'Top Site' table if given (instead of name).
GroupDomains num
Automatically group sites by domain. The value
num specifies the level of grouping, and can be
played. The default value of 0 disables domain
grouping.
GroupURL name [Label]
Group URL's that match name. Display Label in
'Top URL' table if given (instead of name).
GroupUser name [Label]
Group Usernames that match name. Display Label in
'Top Usernames' table if given (instead of name).
IncludeSite name
Force inclusion of sites that match name. Takes
precedence over Ignore# keywords.
IncludeURL name
Force inclusion of URL's that match name. Takes
precedence over Ignore# keywords.
IncludeReferrer name
Force inclusion of Referrers that match name.
Takes precedence over Ignore# keywords.
IncludeAgent name
Force inclusion of User Agents that match name.
Takes precedence over Ignore* keywords.
IncludeUser name
Force inclusion of Usernames that match name.
Takes precedence over Ignore* keywords.
HTML Generation Keywords
HTMLExtension text
Defines the HTML file extension to use. Default
is html. Do not include the leading period!
HTMLPre text
Insert text at the very beginning of the generated
HTML file. Defaults to a standard html 3.2 DOC
TYPE record.
HTMLHead text
Insert text within the <HEAD></HEAD> block of the
HTML file.
HTMLBody text
Insert text in HTML page, starting with the <BODY>
tag. If used, the first line must be a <BODY ...>
tag. Multiple lines may be specified.
HTMLPost text
Insert text at top (before horiz. rule) of HTML
HTMLTail text
Insert text at bottom of the HTML page. The text
is top and right aligned within a table column at
the end of the report.
HTMLEnd text
Insert text at the very end of the HTML page. If
not specified, the default is to insert the ending
</BODY> and </HTML> tags. If used, you must sup
ply these tags yourself.
Dump Object Keywords
The Webalizer allows you to export processed data to other
programs by using tab delimited text files. The Dump*
commands specify which files are to be written, and where.
DumpPath name
Save dump files in directory name. If not speci
fied, the default output directory will be used.
Do not specify a trailing slash (/fP).
DumpExtension name
Use name as the filename extension for dump files.
If not given, the default of tab will be used.
DumpHeader ( yes | no )
Print a column header as the first record of the
file.
DumpSites ( yes | no )
Dump the sites data to a tab delimited file.
DumpURLs ( yes | no )
Dump the url data to a tab delimited file.
DumpReferrers ( yes | no )
Dump the referrer data to a tab delimitd file.
This data is only available if using a log that
contains referrer information (ie: a combined for
mat web log).
DumpAgents ( yes | no )
Dump the user agent data to a tab delimited file.
This data is only available if using a log that
contains user agent information (ie: a combined
format web log).
DumpUsers ( yes | no )
Dump the username data to a tab delimited file.
This data is only available if processing a wu-
ftpd xferlog or a web log that contains http
DumpSearchStr ( yes | no )
Dump the search string data to a tab delimited
file. This data is only available if processing a
web log that contains referrer information and had
search string information present.
FILES
webalizer.conf Default configuration file. Is
searched for in the current directory
and if not found, in the /etc/ direc
tory.
webalizer.hist Monthly history file for previous 12
months. (can be changed)
webalizer.current Current state data file (Incremental
processing). (can be changed)
xxxxx_YYYYMM.html Various monthly HTML output files pro
duced. (extension can be changed)
xxxxx_YYYYMM.png Various monthly image files used in
the reports.
xxxxx_YYYYMM.tab Monthly tab delimited text files.
(extension can be changed)
BUGS
Report bugs to brad@mrunix.net.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 by Bradford L. Barrett. Dis
tributed under the GNU GPL. See the files "COPYING" and
"Copyright", supplied with all distributions for addi
tional information.
AUTHOR
Bradford L. Barrett <brad@mrunix.net>
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