[PHP] I need a good access and error log..
Hi. I've been using Google Analytics, and I'm sure I'm using the analytics code correctly, but when I checked my dev server's apache access logs (dozens of hits per day) against what Google Analytics reports (zip, zero, nada), I realized I needed something different. BTW, I'm not the only one to report this problem (https://www.google.nl/search?aq=fsourceid=chromeie=UTF-8q=google+analytics+lower+number) I thought of rolling something of my own, a PHP-MySQL based access+error log, add a viewer for it (http://dygraphs.com/ perhaps), and spend the next month perfecting it.. But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all what you use to see who's visiting your sites and when. Oh, I need something that will work on shared hosting (php+mysql). Thanks for your input. (and purists; I couldn't think of a better place to post this, as this is a large community of web developers who use the same language as I do. I may even end up writing an opensourced php logging facility for you) -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
RE: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
-Original Message-
From: rene7705 [mailto:rene7...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 3:00 AM
To: php-general
Subject: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
Hi.
I've been using Google Analytics, and I'm sure I'm using the analytics code
correctly, but when I checked my dev server's apache access logs (dozens of
hits per day) against what Google Analytics reports (zip, zero, nada), I
realized I needed something different. BTW, I'm not the only one to report
this problem
(https://www.google.nl/search?aq=fsourceid=chromeie=UTF-8q=google+analyti
cs+lower+number)
I thought of rolling something of my own, a PHP-MySQL based
access+error log, add a viewer for it (http://dygraphs.com/ perhaps),
and spend the next month perfecting it..
But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all what
you use to see who's visiting your sites and when.
Oh, I need something that will work on shared hosting (php+mysql).
Thanks for your input.
(and purists; I couldn't think of a better place to post this, as this is a
large community of web developers who use the same language as I do. I may
even end up writing an opensourced php logging facility for
you)
--
I have seen and dealt with this for a few companies.
I have setup PHP scripting, JavaScript, Perl scripting you name it I have
tried it.
I have NEVER came up with the same number Google Analytics comes up with.
Sporadic behavior from Analytics not tied to a unique browser, OS or time.
Almost like random addition values are just added to the total for no
reason.
I like Google, but the numbers are not real!
When I can track each and every visit, site navigation and the numbers do
not match.
I asked Google for click by click information IP, Time and any other
information they could give me.
I never got that list to this day. Probably because it would allow me to
argue traffic that simply didnt happen!
Suggestions when logging traffic, Avoid JavaScript that relies on the client
side to tell you information. Bad Idea!
Use php, perl or any server side language.
When logging information remember that apache/.NET process web request and
generally the best place to log.
It you log at the process you do not need to have scripting in each landing
page.
Log light information, never request overwhelming amounts of information for
each request you may cause horrid loading results.
PHP example (Just a simple example, there are many ways to do it)
Index.php
?php
$query = INSERT INTO click_log (`ip`,`action_time`) VALUES
('.$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'].','.date(y-m-d H:i:s).') ;
$result = mysql_query($query);
?
I HIGHLY recommend you have a full understand of httaccess or web.config
before you attempt logging from them.
Rick
--
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Re: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
rene7705 wrote: But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all what you use to see who's visiting your sites and when. Oh, I need something that will work on shared hosting (php+mysql). piwik ... http://piwik.org/ A couple of my heavy google users are finding the results much more informative, and we have started switch google analytics off on all the sites. ( And while it says PHP MySQL I'm using it quite happily on Firebird :) ) -- Lester Caine - G8HFL - Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
Lester Caine les...@lsces.co.uk wrote: rene7705 wrote: But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all what you use to see who's visiting your sites and when. Oh, I need something that will work on shared hosting (php+mysql). piwik ... http://piwik.org/ A couple of my heavy google users are finding the results much more informative, and we have started switch google analytics off on all the sites. ( And while it says PHP MySQL I'm using it quite happily on Firebird :) ) -- Lester Caine - G8HFL - Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php Google analytics only tracks when javascript is enabled, so that could account for some of the discrepencies. It also uses cookies, which now have to be legally opted in by the user in the EU (unless they're vital to the functionality of the site, such as for shopping carts, etc) I've rolled my own for these reasons. It's not perfect, but it does a pretty good job at tracking browsers and bits alike. I use the IP to track individual users; its not wholly accurate (people can share the IP in a given day), but it does the trick. The key is using images to track. If javascript is enabled it can add extra info to the url. Obviously it won't work with images turned off, so I'll need to look at that soon too. Thanks, Ash http://ashleysheridan.co.uk -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 11:27 AM, Ashley Sheridan a...@ashleysheridan.co.uk wrote: Lester Caine les...@lsces.co.uk wrote: rene7705 wrote: But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all what you use to see who's visiting your sites and when. Oh, I need something that will work on shared hosting (php+mysql). piwik ... http://piwik.org/ A couple of my heavy google users are finding the results much more informative, and we have started switch google analytics off on all the sites. ( And while it says PHP MySQL I'm using it quite happily on Firebird :) ) -- Lester Caine - G8HFL - Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk// Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php Google analytics only tracks when javascript is enabled, so that could account for some of the discrepencies. It also uses cookies, which now have to be legally opted in by the user in the EU (unless they're vital to the functionality of the site, such as for shopping carts, etc) I've rolled my own for these reasons. It's not perfect, but it does a pretty good job at tracking browsers and bits alike. I use the IP to track individual users; its not wholly accurate (people can share the IP in a given day), but it does the trick. The key is using images to track. If javascript is enabled it can add extra info to the url. Obviously it won't work with images turned off, so I'll need to look at that soon too. Thanks, Ash http://ashleysheridan.co.uk -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php Thanks for the replies, everyone.. I'm going to roll my own as well. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] I need a good access and error log..
Lester Caine les...@lsces.co.uk hat am 7. Mai 2012 um 11:03 geschrieben: rene7705 wrote: But before I start coding, I thought it would be better to ask you all piwik ... http://piwik.org/ A couple of my heavy google users are finding the results much more informative, and we have started switch google analytics off on all the sites. I can support this one too. I have been using for quite a few now. It supports JS and NOSCRIPT. And you can go from Track the visits up to campaign setups and so on. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
