vqServer Log files


vqServer maintains a set of logs for each server. Each log can be switched on and off independently. In addition, all of vqServer's log files can be reset simultaneously by clicking on Other in the control centre menu and then clicking on Reset logs.

The five logs for each server are:

  1. Access log: Every HTTP request to the server is logged in this file unless the request results in an error and error logging is enabled. The log file conforms to the NSCA combined log file format.
  2. Error log: Each HTTP request which results in an error is logged in this file. The log file conforms to the NSCA combined log file format.
  3. Hits log: This maintains a count of the number of times each page or file on your web site has been requested. You can view the contents of this log from the control centre. This type of log and its format is unique to vqServer.
  4. Referers log: This maintains a list of web pages which refer to your web site. This can help you figure out who is interested in your site and is also useful if you want to inform authors of refering pages of changes to your site. You can view the contents of this log from the control centre. This type of log is unique to vqServer. The information for this log is stored in the same file as the hits log in a format unique to vqServer.
  5. Servlet log: Servlets can write to this log using the log() methods of the ServletContext interface.See JavaSoft's servlet documentation for more information about these methods. The format of the servlet log is determined by the servlets which write to it and is not standardised.
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Contents

Aliases
Security

Hits page
Access log format
Hits log format
Logs settings

Hits page

This page is shown when a server's hits link in the control centre menu is clicked provided that the server's hits log is enabled.

For each file for which a request has been recorded, the hits page shows:

  • Alias: the file's alias.
  • Hit count: the number of times the file has been requested.
  • Referers: the number of web pages which refer to the alias. Clicking on the number links to the referers page for the alias.

Files are listed in most frequently requested order.

Referers page

This page is shown when the number of referers on a server's hit page or the number of hits on a server's files page is clicked. The page lists the URLs of HTML pages which contain references to the alias. Each URL is linked to the corresponding page making it easy for you to find out who is refering to your web site and in what context.

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Contents
Logs

Aliases
Security

Access and Error log file format

The default file for these log files for the main web server are access80.log and error80.log in the vq/sever/logs subdirectory of your website directory.

The files conform to the NSCA combined log format and can be read by most log file analysis utilities. They can also be viewed in a text editor.

Within these files, each HTTP transaction is recorded as a single line. Each line consists of a number of elements separated by a space:

  1. The host name of the computer making the request or, if vqServer can't determine the host name, the computer's IP address or, if vqServer can't determine the IP address, Unknown.
  2. A hyphen (-).
  3. The vqServer user ID of the user making the request or, if no user is logged in, a hyphen (-).
  4. The date and time the request was made in the format dd/Mon/yyyy:hh:mm:ss +0000 in GMT, enclosed in square brackets ([...]).
  5. The first line of the HTTP request, enclosed in double quotes ("...").
  6. The HTTP error code.
  7. The number of bytes in the response body returned by the server.
  8. The URL of the referring page as provided by the browser, enclosed in double quotes ("...").
  9. Information about the browser making the request, enclosed in double quotes ("...").
  10. An HTTP response message or a vqServer error message. This is not part of the log file format standard but does not seem to interfere with log file analysis programs and is useful for debugging purposes.

vqServer
Contents
Logs

Aliases
Security

Hits and Referers log file format

The default file for this log for the main web server is hits80.log in the vq/sever/logs subdirectory of your website directory.

The file consists of an alphabetically ordered list of the aliases of the pages or files requested from your web site.

Underneath each alias, the line starting with hits tells you how many times the page or file was requested.

Underneath each alias, the lines after the referers line list the pages which contained the alias.

The characters : and ; and & have special meanings within this file. You should ignore them unless they are preceded by &.

Do not edit the active log file. vqServer may not be able to use it if you do this.

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Contents
Logs

Aliases
Security

Log settings page

This page is displayed by clicking Log files in the control centre menu. There is a different log settings page for each server.

You can:

  • Switch a log on or off by setting or clearing the corresponding check box.
  • Specify a file name for the log. The default location is the vq/server/logs subdirectory of your website directory. Note that the log file names are automatically reset to the default when a server's port is changed.

Any changes you make come into effect as soon as you press the Ok button.


vqServer version 1.9. Copyright © 1997-2000 Steve Shering and vqSoft. Last updated 16 March 2000.

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