"real-time" Website Stats

[rnmcd]

It look like cPanel's Awstats has a delay/lag.

 

Is there anyway a person can have real-time stats for their site?

 

For example, I would like to see the IP of folks visiting a certain page at the present time. How could that be accomplished?

[TCH-Tim]

Awstats stats are run once daily, so yes there is a lag.

 

You can go to Web/FTP Stats --> Latest Visitors to see the most recent visitors to your site, where they came from, etc.

[rnmcd]

Awstats stats are run once daily, so yes there is a lag.

 

You can go to Web/FTP Stats --> Latest Visitors to see the most recent visitors to your site, where they came from, etc.

Are you sure it is called "Latest Visitors"? I can't seem to find it. I do see a "Last Visit" though but it looks like there is a delay for those.

 

EDIT--->You are correct. I was looking for Latest Visitors under "Awstats". Is that real-time?

Edited July 11, 2006 by rnmcd

[TCH-Tim]

edit: I see we posted at the same time.

 

Yes, that should be real time. Or at least really, really close.

[slobjones]

Talk about a "lag" -- awstats seem to be reported later and later each day. As of 3:43 a.m. CDT, they're still not in. Not long ago, they were coming in two hours before that.

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forums slobjones

 

AwStats is a server intensive process and many things can affect when it is run. If backups are being run they will take precedence over the stats.

 

As sites continue to grow on a server the stats will take longer to run.

[Deverill]

I would guess that as we get further along in a month there are more entries to process too which may make it slower.

[rnmcd]

What time zone are the "Awstats" and "Latest Visitors" are displayed in?

[TCH-Tim]

The time zone your server is in.

[rnmcd]

The time zone your server is in.

Where do I find that? I have multiple TCH accounts/servers.

[TCH-Tim]

DNSstuff is a good resource for that kind of thing. s345, for example, is in Colorado:

 

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/city.ch?ip=72.18.130.72

 

The city isn't always right, but it should at least put you in the right timezone.

[slobjones]

I would guess that as we get further along in a month there are more entries to process too which may make it slower.

Don't think so. My August 7 stats came in at 8:23 a.m. CDT August 8. That is approximately 8 hours later than they were being reported only two months ago.

 

Statcounter reports statistics almost immediately. Why is Awstats so slow?

 

Whatever the explanation, this system is proving to be extremely inefficient.

 

Is the subject really all that important? No. Then why am I complaining? Because I'm cranky from staying up all night, waiting for Awstats!

Edited August 9, 2006 by slobjones

[TCH-Carl]

Stats are not updated in a specific time frame. The stats daemon runs continuously on the server and checks the files if it was updated. If the time stamp is less than 24 hours, it skips and takes the next account. If the file was not updated in 24 hours, it takes the account and updates the stats. Now imagine that an account got a huge surge in traffic the other day. Naturally, it will take more time to get the stats generated. Moreover, stats generation is a resource consuming process and will skip its run if the load on the server goes high. Once it comes back, it resumses from where it was suspended. Please be patient and let the process complete its run. If you see a lag of more than 2 days, just drop in a ticket with the help desk to update the stats, we will do it manually from the backend.

[Deverill]

Whatever the explanation, this system is proving to be extremely inefficient.

It may not be so inefficient as it is that the management have priorities set for serving up sites and backing up our accounts instead of reporting stats.

Is the subject really all that important? No. Then why am I complaining? Because I'm cranky from staying up all night, waiting for Awstats!

I have an idea. Go to sleep. When you wake up you'll feel better and your stats will be done.

 

Seriously, if you need more up to date stats you may want to invest in a pay service that will take care of that for you. That is, if it's that important to ya.

[abinidi]

If you are looking for a third-party external stat counter, can I recommend Google Analytics?

 

You can sign up for and be accepted to the Google Analytics beta test. You place a bit of code on each page (*very* easy if you have a blog or CMS with a template), and then sit back and let the stats accumulate on Google's server.

 

Their stats program, Analytics, is very powerful, and includes a TON of information.

 

As with other Google beta tests, it is free, but you have to wait to join. I think I waited a couple of weeks for my invitation, but that was about 3 or 4 months ago. I have no idea how long waits are right now.

 

Anyway, I've found that Analytics and Awstats aren't exactly the same, but they are in the same ballpark. Its a powerful stats processor that doesn't take up your server time or resources to process. Even better!

 

Hope that helps.

[rnmcd]

Paul, any idea what google does with the stats they get from your site?

[TCH-JimE]

I believe its never made truely clear, I am sure it all gets added into some database somewhere about what generates what click, after all, thats what google is intrested in.

 

JimE

[Deverill]

If you are looking for a third-party external stat counter, can I recommend Google Analytics?

 

Remember though that Google Analytics will not meet your requirement of real-time stats. I'm not sure the delay but I know it's not real-time. It does give some very nice statistics in a well presented way though.

[katgal]

Are there different versions of awstats out there in TCH land? My boyfriend's awstats give him the option to "update now" and he gets what seem to be real time stats. I don't know if they're truly "real time" but when he clicks update the numbers bump up nearly every time.

[TCH-Bruce]

There is only one version. He (or someone) has modified the configuration file to enable that option. Remember sitting there tapping that button will force AwStats to be run and if run too often will cause high loads on the server. AwStats is set to run once a day because of the loads it puts on the servers.

 

I am not saying that you cannot enable that option. I am just making you aware of the consequences.

[katgal]

I promise you he wouldn't know how to configure it to do so. Guess it was just a happy accident for him. I wish I knew how to configure it to update with a click. I would of course never abuse the privilege , but it's very frustrating that my stats update at around 10 am. I'm much rather be able to run my own daily stat check on my own schedule.

[TCH-Bruce]

You can change the behavior by modifying the awstats.yourTCHdomain.conf file

 

# When this parameter is set to 1, AWStats add a button on report page to

# allow to "update" statistics from a web browser. Warning, when "update" is

# made from a browser, AWStats is ran as a CGI by the web server user

# defined in your web server (user "nobody" by default with Apache, "IUSR_XXX"

# with IIS), so the "DirData" directory and all already existing history files

# (awstatsMMYYYY[.xxx].txt) must be writable by this user. Change permissions

# if required.

# Warning: Update process can be long so you might experience "time out"

# browser errors if you don't launch AWStats enough frequently.

# When set to 0, update is only made when AWStats is ran from the command

# line interface (or a task scheduler).

# Possible values: 1 or 0

# Default: 0

#

AllowToUpdateStatsFromBrowser=0

 

Changing the value to a 1 will add the button.

 

As I said, beware of the consequences.

[TCH-Don]

I am happy to look at my stats now and then,

but if you really need to see stats more often, you could use statcounter.com