Configuring Wusage 6.0

Wusage 6.0 supports a wide range of options. Fortunately, a friendly graphical user interface is provided, making it easy for you to control the program.

About Configuration Files

Every server analyzed by wusage will need a unique configuration file. Some sites may wish to use more than one in order to study different sections of a website in great detail.

A configuration file contains crucial information such as the name of the directory in which reports should be generated and the name of the file which contains the access log to be analyzed. A configuration file also indicates which documents, sites and domains are of interest to you, and which should be ignored. Last but not least, a configuration file describes the look and feel of your reports.

Creating a Configuration File with Wusage 6.0

SECURITY NOTE
We do NOT recommend running the Wusage web-based user interface as root under Unix, or as the supervisory account under NT. Although Wusage is not designed to provide access to any unrelated information, it is never a good idea to run applications as root when this can be easily avoided by using another account.

Starting Wusage under Windows 95, 98, and NT

If you chose to install Wusage in your startup group, then it is probably already running. Just click on the minimized W6 icon in your task bar to access the Wusage user interface. If you did not install Wusage in your startup group, pick the Wusage group from your start menu and launch the Wusage application from there. Important note to batch file authors and command line fans: yes, it is still possible to use the command line options. You can analyze log files without using the user interface, although you will need it at least once to create a configuration file. For more information, see the command line options section of the manual.

"Why do I get a 'DOS' window?"

This window appears because Wusage supports both a command line interface and the graphical, mouse-driven interface. We apologize for any minor inconvenience posed by the minimized 'DOS' window. That window will display useful messages if you are running scheduled updates.

Starting Wusage under Other Operating Systems

To run wusage, just cd to the directory where you untarred or unzipped wusage 6.0, and type wusage (under OS/2, Windows 95 and Windows NT) or ./wusage (under Unix) to start the program.

If you prefer, you can install wusage as a CGI program, according to the directions for your particular web server. In that case, after installing the program, simply open the URL at which you have installed it and follow the directions in the web page that appears.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUN WUSAGE ON THE SAME COMPUTER AS YOUR WEB BROWSER! For instance, if you have a shell account or the privilege of installing CGI programs on your ISP's website, then you can run the program on your ISP's computer and save the time and grief of downloading log files to your computer. Just be sure to install the correct version of Wusage for your ISP's operating system.

How to Connect Your Browser

A welcoming message will appear, with instructions to connect your browser to the program. WRITE DOWN the user name and password information that appears the first time you run the program, open the URL that appears with your web browser, and enter the correct name and password.

If you are not able to connect, the host name in the URL Wusage has asked you to open may not be exactly correct. This happens when a computer is not configured to supply this information correctly. Just use the correct name or IP address for the computer on which you are running wusage.

Step One: Locating Log Files

A web page will appear, titled Welcome to Wusage. Click on the New Configuration File button to get started!

The next page you see will contain the following prompt:

Create New Configuration
Step One: indicate the location of your web server's log file, or a directory that contains one or more web server log files. Wusage must have a source of log data in order to produce a meaningful analysis.

Click on the Browse Log Files button to begin locating your log files.

Working with Log Files on the Same Computer

The next page will look like this:

Log File or Directory
Select a file or directory and click the OK button.
Browsing Local Files
Current path: file:///home/www/wusage6.0

Beneath this message, a list of files and directories in the current directory appears. Directories appear in brackets. The first item in the list is [Up One Level], which is used to move up to the parent directory.

If You Have Just One Log File

If your log file is in the currently displayed directory, click on it and click the OK button. If not, browse from directory to directory until you find the file. You can change directories by selecting them in the list and clicking on the OK button.

When you have selected an individual file, you will see a message similar like this one:

Log File or Directory
Select a file or directory and click the OK button.
Browsing Local Files
Current path: file:///home/www/wusage6.0/2d.access
You Have Selected This File:
/home/www/wusage6.0/2d.access

If this is the correct file, click on the Done button and move on to the next step. If not, click on the Change Selection button and continue to browse.

If You Have Many Log Files

If you have many log files, you might prefer to select an entire directory. First, travel to the correct directory, by selecting directories and clicking on the OK button until the correct directory is displayed. Then, click on the Select This Directory button to indicate that you want to analyze ALL of the log files in this directory.

Getting Around Faster

To save time, you can enter a complete filename or directory name in the text field above the Open Local button, and then click on that button to move swiftly to that location.

Working with Log Files via FTP

With Wusage 6.0, you are not limited to analyzing only log files that already reside on the same computer. You can also analyze log files remotely via FTP, although it is faster in the long run to install Wusage on the same computer.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you will see the following:

Use these fields to browse by FTP.
_____________________ FTP Site
_____________________ FTP User
_____________________ FTP Password
_____________________ FTP Directory or File
[Open FTP]

Enter the name of the FTP site where your log files are kept, as well as the correct user name and password. Also enter the correct directory, if you know this information already.

You will then be able to browse the FTP site, following the same steps given above for browsing local files. However, please note that directories do not always appear in brackets when browsing via FTP.

Step Two: Creating a Report Directory

The second step is easier: just choose a directory in which to keep your reports. The following prompt should appear when you are ready for the second step:

Create New Configuration
Step Two: pick a location and a name for the new report directory. Wusage must have a place to keep its reports. You may wish to choose a location which is visible through your normal web server, or you may prefer to view reports only through Wusage.
You may also select an existing report directory if you have already created the directory you want to use. This directory should not be in use by another configuration or a different application.
[Create NEW Report Directory]
[Select EXISTING Report Directory]

Most likely, you will want to pick Create NEW Report Directory. However, if you have already made a new, empty directory to keep your reports in, then pick Select EXISTING Report Directory instead.

The rest of step two is very similar to step one. Locate the parent directory beneath which you would like to create your report directory. You can do this by selecting directories from the list and clicking Change Directory until you reach the appropriate location. Then, add the name for the new directory to the end of the path that already appears in the text field next to the OK button, and click OK.

If you are selecting an existing directory, you will use the OK button to change directories and the Select This Directory button to choose the currently displayed directory as the report directory. Please note that your report directory should not be used for other purposes. Wusage will assume that it owns the files in the chosen directory.

Step Three: Create a Configuration File

The third step is also easy: just pick a location and a name for the configuration file itself. Pick a meaningful name you can recognize later. It is OK to keep your configuration files anywhere you like, such as the directory in which you have installed wusage. (For safety's sake, the program will not let you overwrite an existing file.)

When you reach step three, you will see this display:

Create New Configuration
Step Three: pick a location and a name for the new configuration file.
[Create Configuration File]

Click on the Create Configuration File button to begin choosing a location.

The rest of step three is very similar to step two. Locate the parent directory in which you would like to create your configuration file. You can do this by selecting directories from the list and clicking Change Directory until you reach the appropriate location. Then, add the name for the new configuration file to the end of the path that already appears in the text field next to the OK button, and click OK.

Completing the Process

When you have correctly completed all three steps, you will see the following message:

Configuration Created
A configuration file which is compatible with typical web servers and preferences has been created. There are many, many additional features and settings which you can activate by using the configuration file editor on the next page.
[Continue]

Click on the Continue button to move on to the control page for this configuration file. You are now ready to generate your first reports.

Additional Configuration Options

Wusage has many other useful configuration options. Unless you look at these, you will probably never see many of the program's best features. You can access these options from the configuration file and clicking on the Edit Configuration button. Be sure to check out the configuration reference guide to learn about the many options available.

Moving On

Once you have finished creating a configuration file, you are ready to move on to generating statistics.

Upgrading from Version 3.2

If you are currently using Wusage 3.2, you will want to read this section. If you are upgrading from Wusage 4.0, 4.1, or 5.0, you don't need to take any special steps. Just check out the What's New section to find out about new options you may wish to turn on in your configuration file. Note that you CAN edit your old configuration files with the new user interface.

Wusage 4.0 and up have a new, much improved and much friendlier format for configuration files. To use old version 3.2 configuration files, you will need to run the program upgrade (included in the wusage package). If you are not interested in converting old configuration files, skip ahead to the running wusage section.

Example:

upgrade oldusage.conf (or .con under DOS)

(Important Unix note: Unix users may need to type ./upgrade, not just upgrade, to be sure that the program is found.)

upgrade will convert your configuration file to the new format and save a backup copy of the original.

Taking Advantage of New Features

Keep in mind that version 6.0 includes many new configuration file options. Don't miss out; check out the configuration file reference and the what's new section. If you are using domain pie charts, you will also want to consider copying the new list of continents and national domains from the sample.conf (or sample.con) file. If you wish, paste the domaingroups section of that file into your upgraded configuration file, and delete the outdated list.

Converting wusage 3.2 Report Data

After converting the configuration file, upgrade will ask whether you want to convert your old report data as well.

Do you have all of your old access log data, perhaps in compressed form? If so, you may wish to skip this step and run wusage 6.0 once on all of your old logs at once to produce new reports. Version 6.0 produces more complete and attractive information than version 3.2.

If you decide to convert your data, keep four things in mind:

Keep a backup copy.: Make a backup copy of your usage directory if you want to run wusage 3.2 (the old version) again at some time in the future.
Old reports will be available, but not rewritten.: Wusage will rename the report files and create a database for use with wusage 6.0. However, it will not rewrite the reports themselves, so you will not see a dramatic change in the old reports. Reports for new weeks will take advantage of the new features of wusage 6.0.
You must run wusage 6.0 after running upgrade.: After you run upgrade, be sure to run wusage with your upgraded configuration file in order to create a new index page.
wusage 3.2 recorded overall totals only.: Once you have run both upgrade and wusage, the chart of total accesses over time will be available in the HTML page index.html or index.htm in the report directory. However, you will note that the chart of "Home Page Accesses" is blank. This is normal. This occurs because version 3.2 did not record that information. Once you have run wusage 6.0 for a few new weeks, you will begin to see useful data in this chart. Note that you can add additional charts in the totals section of the configuration file.

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