Re: log analysis

From: Jim Stiles <jwstiles_at_winbatch.com>
Date: Mon 19 Mar 2001 11:23:28 -0600

LAUREN HOBSON-HOLLAND <lauren_at_sparrowvalley.com> WROTE:

>Well the time has come for us to purchase log analyzer
>software, and I was hoping I could get some advice on
>what the best options are.

TO WHICH ADAM STRONG <adam_at_strongvisuals.com> REPLIED:

>I wanted to add to this conversation and question and
>maybe "recommend" another product. I tried a trial of
>Funnel Web and it seemed better than Web Trends from
>an advertising persons standpoint, but I would be
>interested to know what others think of this too .


Is WebTrends better than Funnel Web? Don't know.
The last time PC Mag looked at them, they liked
WebTrends. I use WebTrends and have these comments.

1. The docs do not explain how the software works. This
makes it unnecessarily tough to customize reports.
The company apparently wants you to subscribe to their
support services in order to figure out how to handle
things.

2. Reports are printed out for one of three formats:
HTML, Word, Excel. If you want all three, you have to
mouse around with the interface 3 times. I can use our
system automation software, WinBatch, to get around this.
But most WebTrends users aren't programmers and cannot
automate their work. WebTrends should do this for them.

3. I can't seem to get WebTrends to report the number
of times users link to our commerce server. I use the
ad link reporting function just fine. Don't know the
problem. The lack of documentation in depth doesn't
help. (Point 1)

4. I just spend 1/2 day to find one line in our log file
that was causing WebTrends to crash. The line had a
corrupt source URL at the start of the line. Don't you
think that this software should test for weirdness on
a line and simply skip that line? Why should it crash?
Why doesn't WebTrends report the line number of the
error? It is nuts to have to slice a huge file into
smaller and smaller bits to find the source of a crash.

5. Log file analysis takes a LOT of work. To do it
right, it needs to be done over a time period to spot
trends. It pays to follow only the things that will
make a difference. But, it takes a LOT (sorry for
repeating this) of work and time to do this. Ideally,
this should be outsourced to a company that can do it
right, and knows how to find significant data.

I have used both WebTrends and Marketwave's now defunct
HitList. Neither was nirvana. Nirvana would be dealing
with a service company that dished up the reports I need,
and made sure that I knew what it was that I needed.

Jim Stiles



Received on Mon Mar 19 2001 - 11:23:28 CST