Getting Started Guide - Introduction To Statistics Programs

What statistics programs are pre-loaded?
Raw Log Files

Domainz Premier Hosting solutions provide you with easy access to information enabling you track the performance of your website – there are a number of different options available to you and these are described below. Before the statistics become available, you will need to select and activate the statistics package.

• Urchin v.3.x - Urchin provides you with the most detailed statistical summaries, and is the most adept at handling large amounts of data. Domainz recommends that you use Urchin as your statistics package. Urchin compiles statistics from the log files stored in the stats directory of your account. Urchin contains up to twelve months of processed log files in UDB files. Urchin is available for accounts on UNIX or Windows/2000 servers.
   

• Analog v2.11 - Analog compiles statistics from the log files stored in the stats directory of your account. Analog only retains statistical information for a 90-day sliding window of time.
  
  A "90-day sliding window of time" means that, as time progresses, the data early in that span begins to drop off as new data for the current month is added.
  
  For example, you select Analog as your statistics program and begin reporting statistics on January 1. When you view the report on the 95th day, Analog will display statistics for days 5 through 95 (a span of 90 days). Day 5 is still January, but as you can see, the data for January 1 through 4 have dropped off. On the 96th day, you would see statistics for days 6 through 96 and so on. Thus, gathering statistics is similar to using a sliding scale or a window of time.
  
  Analog is only available for accounts on UNIX servers.

• MKStats v1.0/v2.3 - MKStats compiles statistical reports based on an ongoing file that stores all data from the time MKStats is selected in the Control Panel. Therefore, if you choose MKStats, you will capture data from the time you selected your program to the current time.
  
  MKStats is only available for accounts on UNIX servers.

Raw log files - If you prefer not to use a statistics package, you still can view the raw log files generated by the Web server. This raw data is compiled into text documents that are accessible via FTP or through your Control Panel.

The raw logs files are stored in the stats directory of your account as .gz files (the UNIX version of ZIP compression known as GZIP). The logs are kept for up to 3 months. If you would like to retain the logs longer, FTP a copy of the logs to your local PC. The logs are not owned by your User ID and do not count against the disk quota for your account.

Although the statistics packages above offer some data transfer monitoring, they are all limited to monitoring only "HTTP" traffic. Thus, while very useful for determining Web site "hits," they do not provide a full accounting of your data transfer totals. For example, those statistics programs do not monitor data transfers resulting from anonymous FTP downloads and uploads, nor do they monitor e-mail usage.