Spotcheck is a handy, freeware program that provides basic site usage statistics
from IIS log files. The user enters a few optional search parameters and
selects a group of log files to be scanned. Spotcheck scans the files, computes
totals, and presents the user with total requests, total (HTTP) errors and
total bytes downloaded and uploaded.
Spotcheck is intended to provide basic site operational data 'on the fly'.
It eliminates the need to sift through lenghy multi-page reports generated
at the weeks/months end. The program reads all 3 log file formats created
by IIS. This includes the custom formats (it parses the format strings) of
the W3C extended format.
Spotcheck is a very simple program to operate. There is no manual.
2 examples of its use are presented.
Upon running the program the user is presented with the screen shown above.
In its basic mode of operation, no match strings, the user selects the log
file format (W3C in this case) and clicks on 'Execute'. A pick file dialogue
appears. The user goes to the directory where his log files reside. He then
picks multiple files by mouse clicking while holding down the 'Control' key:
Clicking 'Open' starts the scan of these files. The following report screen
quickly appears.
All files selected were scanned. This is the total server requests, total
HTTP errors, total bytes sent to browsers, and total bytes received by the
server.
The next example assumes that the user is interested in a particular file.
A wildcard match string is entered into the main screen:
Note that this could have been any match string for requests to the server
(*.gif*, *.jpg*, etc.). Also note that the user could specify a match string
for source IP or service in the case of Microsoft formats. Spotcheck scans
the log files looking for entries that match. The user can put a match string
for all 3 fields if he so desires.
Duplicating the file selection process shown above, the following report
results:
Of the files selected, there was only one request for a file that matched
the search criteria. The totals are shown. |
