Documentation: Chapter 2
Installation for WebSTAR on the Macintosh
FlashStats runs on any Macintosh, and is accelerated for Power Macintosh. In order to install FlashStats on a Macintosh for use with WebSTAR, just follow these instructions.
These instructions also apply to Quid Pro Quo, since it is fully WebSTAR-compatible.
Step 1: Install the Files
Download the original distribution .hqx file from the Maximized Software download site. After is has finished downloading, it should automatically decompress and unstuff; if it does not, then manually unstuff the contents.
After unstuffing, you will have the following items in a folder called "FlashStats 1.5 Folder":
- A folder titled "FlashStats"
- A document named FlashStats.ini
- A program named FlashStats.acgi
- A document named FlashStats Read Me
- A document named FlashStats License
Be sure to read the Read Me file for any last-minute information.
Now you need to install certain files into your WebSTAR folder. Open the folder titled "FlashStats 1.5 Folder," select the FlashStats.acgi program, FlashStats folder, and FlashStats.ini file, and move them into your WebSTAR folder. (Do not move the folder containing these items, just the items themselves.) You should now have the following items in your WebSTAR folder:
- A program named FlashStats.acgi
- A document named FlashStats.ini
- A folder titled "FlashStats" which contains the following files:
- default.html
- advanced.html
- networks.txt
- FlashStats License
- fs15-reg.gif
- blue2x5.gif
- red2x5.gif
You have successfully installed the FlashStats files. The next step will help you to edit the FlashStats.ini file to properly configure FlashStats for your system.
Step 2: Configure a User Account
FlashStats uses the concept of a "user account" to control who has the abililty to run reports. These user accounts are private to FlashStats, and do not relate to any other type of user account that your web server or operating system may maintain, such as user name or account name (under Mac, Windows NT, or UNIX). You edit the FlashStats.ini to create accounts for each user that you would like to be able to run FlashStats.
Of course, several end users can share the same FlashStats user account. And if you'd like to do away with user accounts entirely, you can just set up one account named something simple like "public" and no password and then always use that account. We'll get to those details later. For now, let's go ahead and create a basic user account so that you can begin using FlashStats.
We're going to create a user account named "sample". The FlashStats.ini file that you installed to your WebSTAR folder in Step 1 already contains a "sample" user account with some "dummy" values; let's modify those dummy values to reflect your system's configuration.
Locate the line that begins with user=sample. This is a user account line. Note that all parameters for this user account must be placed entirely on one line, with each key=value separated by a semicolon; do not press Return to wrap the text to a new line. If the text breaks onto a new line, then FlashStats will not see any text on lines other than the first line, and therefore the user account will not be configured properly. Of course, if your text editor wraps lines "logically" so that they fit on the screen, without actually breaking the lines by inserting a carriage return, then that's okay.
Notice that parameters on the user account line are separated by a semicolon. Find the password= parameter for the "sample" user account. The value of the password is preset to no string so that this user account does not require a password. This is fine for our purposes right now, so you don't need to change that parameter.
Now look at the third parameter: url=. Change the value after the equal sign to be the base URL for the web site that you'll be generating statistics for. For example, if your web site's home page is http://www.mydomain.com, then use that as the value of the url= parameter. Or, if your home page is http://www.myisp.com/mycompany, then use that. Here are some examples of what the url= parameter might look like:
url=http://www.mydomain.com
url=http://www.myisp.com/mycompany
url=http://www.myschool.edu/~username
Note that you don't need to end the value with a slash, and that you don't need to specify the filename of your home page, just its URL base location.
Next, give your report a title. This simple title will print at the top of the summary report generated by FlashStats. Keep the parameter relatively short, something like: title=My Domain Analysis.
Next, you need to specify the location of the log files generated by your WebSTAR server. If you run WebSTAR in its default configuration, all hits go into a file named WebSTAR.log in the WebSTAR folder. Make sure that the user account line includes a parameter that reads like accesslog=WebSTAR.log.
The WebSTAR.log file will grow quite large unless you rotate it periodically. Therefore, you should enable the log rotation utility that comes with WebSTAR. If you have done so, you'll see that the rotated log files get placed into a folder called Archived Logs in your WebSTAR folder. You now need to tell FlashStats where to find these rotated logs. Simply make sure that there's a parameter on the user account line that reads like logs=:Archived Logs:log*.
That's it! You should now have a user account line for an account named "sample" that looks something like this:
user=sample;password=;url=http://www.mydomain.com;title=My Domain Analysis;accesslog=WebSTAR.log;logs=:Archived Logs:log*
Save and close the configuration file.
Now you need to make one change to your WebSTAR configuration, and then you'll be ready to run your first FlashStats report.
Step 3: Configure Logging Options
FlashStats can read all of the log file formats generated by WebSTAR. We recommend that you use one of the custom formats, rather than the Common Log Format, since the custom formats will allow you to generate advanced reports such as Search Phrases and Most Common Browser.
Use the WebSTAR Administration program to configure your WebSTAR logging options. Choose all of the fields listed in the following table. Note that some fields give you a choice of which value to choose, although one field is usually preferable over another field. Also, you can include more fields than those listed below if you so desire, although FlashStats won't use them. Finally, it doesn't matter what order the fields are listed.
Once you've set up your logging options, you may need to restart WebSTAR for the changes to take effect.
You will see the FlashStats report form. Later you may want to change some of the fields on this form, but for now just accept the defaults. Hit the Generate Report button, then wait for FlashStats to generate the report.
That's it! You've successfully run your first FlashStats report. If you'd like to customize your FlashStats installation, you should continue on to Chapter 3.
