LogDoor User's Guide

Troubleshooting

As a general troubleshooting hint, remember that a LogDoor task's output is always derived from that task's input log file. If something goes wrong with the processing, you can always start the processing over from the beginning (see Input Log Files). Although doing so may take some time, you can never lose any data as long as you keep the original log file around.

The line graph in my HTML reports isn't using the graphics file I specified.

• The URL specified in the "Report Options" dialog is not pointing to the graphics file than you intended. See Line Graphs in the LogDoor Summaries chapter for a discussion of line graph URLs.

LogDoor is not producing logs or summary reports for a particular site.

• Verify that the site's output options have not turned off logs or reports for that particular site.
  
  
• Check to make sure that there is not an alias for that site in the output folder, with that alias pointing to somewhere other than where you expect these files to go.
  
  
• If all accesses to the site produce errors (ERR! log lines), no logs or reports will be created for that site, as indicated in the Output Files section of LogDoor Basics. The information will be written to the "Root" output folder instead.

Visits are not being accumulated

• Verify that the visit period is not zero (use the Processing Options dialog). A visit period of 0 has the effect of turning off the visits feature.
  
  
• Check that:
  • log lines contain a HOSTNAME field
  • the log file has a !!LOG_FORMAT line, which tells LogDoor about that hostname field

The task status window display seems out of date.

• Check the display to make sure that LogDoor has processed all of the current input file. If the "Processed" line indicates less then 100% of the input file has been processed, you need to wait for LogDoor to process the rest of the log file.
  
  
• Check the access popup at the top of the site-by-site display to ensure that it is set as desired. Also check your Macintosh's clock to be sure that it is set to the correct date and time.
  
  
• Be sure the task is in run mode. If the task is suspended, it will not update the status window display.
  
  
• If you are using WebSTAR, it may be holding the latest logging data in its cache. In this case, you can use a periodic AppleScript to cause WebSTAR to flush its cache every 30 minutes. See LogDoor & AppleScript in the LogDoor Basics chapter..

LogDoor can not open an input log file.

• If the log file is actively being written, LogDoor may only be able to open that file if it is running on the Macintosh on which that file resides. On some servers, LogDoor can not open active log files over the network.
  
  
• Check to be sure that some other application does not have the file open for exclusive access.

LogDoor can not find a previously processed input log file.

• Check to make sure that the log file has not been deleted or moved to another disk.
  
  
• You cannot move a task file from one Mac to another without reselecting the input file.
  

LogDoor can not create an output file or folder.

• Check to make sure that the disk to which LogDoor is writing its output is not full or write-protected.

LogDoor can not write to a specific output file.

• Be sure the file has not been opened by some other application.

LogDoor is not producing any output log files.

• Check to make sure the output log files have been selected in the Output Files dialog box.
  
  
• Make sure that the selected output folder is where you think it is by looking at the Output Files dialog box.

LogDoor is not producing any output summary reports.

• Check to make sure the output log summary reports have been selected in the Output Files dialog box.
  
  
• Check to be sure that you have enabled the periodic writing of summary reports in the Scheduling dialog box.

The information in the "Root" output folder seems very large

• Remember that LogDoor writes out all error entries for sites which it has not previously encountered to files in the root folder.

When site owners download their log files over the Web, the files come up with all their lines run together in the site owner's Web browser.

• You may want to configure your Web server to transfer log files with a custom MIME type. See Appendix 1 for details.

The summary reports for a particular site do not match that site's output log file.

• The summary reports reflect the processing performed to date by a particular task. If that task has ever performed processing which it output to different output log files, or to no log files at all, then the summary information will not match with the information in the output log.
  
  
• Information could have been output to the log file by another task in addition to the current one.
  
  
• If the task's summary data was ever reset, the summary information will not match with the output logs.
  
  
• Under rare conditions, due to crashes or unexpected shutdown of the Macintosh on which LogDoor is running, some data could be written to the output log but not stored in the task's processing state, or vice versa.

The task status window is showing zeroes or wrong amounts for a particular field in the site-by-site display.

• If you are running WebSTAR, check to make sure that the first line in WebSTAR's output log is a formatting line (beginning with !!). If not, especially if you have changed your log file format from the default, it is possible that LogDoor can not correctly determine the format of the log file. You may wish to manually add a formatting line to the start of your log file, using a text editor. The structure of a formatting line is described in the WebSTAR reference manual.
  
  
• Logs from HomeDoor 1.2 do not contain information about bytes transferred or errors, so these fields will be zero if LogDoor is processing a HomeDoor 1.2 log.

A LogDoor task creates a new Output folder, even though there's already one available.

• If you move the Output folder while a task is running, a new output folder will be created whenever a new site is processed.
  
  
• Check the Output files lines in the task status window to make sure the desired output folder is selected.

I have created a task for a subsite. In that subsite's task status window the total number of visits is one number, but in the main task's status window the total number of visits is a smaller number.

• Visits in the main task's status window are counted based on hits to that site as a whole, while in a subsite's tasks status window visits are counted separately for each item in the site. Thus, total hits in a subsite's status window may be greater than the total shown for that site in the main task window.

I am using a reporting AppleScript. Whenever reports are run, reporting hangs for about a minute on each site.

• If the file chosen as the reporting AppleScript is not a valid AppleScript document, LogDoor will wait up to 60 seconds for the "document" to respond.

Back to Table of Contents
Back to Menus
Forward to Appendix 1