Requirements

Stats does not require you to install any software or make any changes to your web site. When you register, you tell us how to find your log files and Stats downloads and manages your web statistics as long as you subscribe.

Most web hosting companies store your log files in a place where you can download them by FTP or with a web browser (HTTP). Sometimes you may have to ask your hosting company to release or publish them for you.

Getting logs with FTP

For FTP access you can create a URL from the server name, folder name and (optionally) file name where the log files are stored. e.g. ftp://ftp.server.com/logs/access would download the file 'access' from the 'logs' folder on the 'ftp.server.com' server.

Getting logs with Secure FTP (SFTP)

Stats also supports SFTP (Secure FTP) protocol, which protects your username and password from snooping when logging in. For SFTP, use an 'SFTP' URL much as you would an FTP one, with the server name, folder and optional file name. Note however, that under SFTP, folders usually begin at the root of the server. So you may have to use a URL like sftp://www.domain.com/home/username/logs/access_log to get the file. If you have an SFTP client program, you can use that to find the path and name needed.

Setting up your server for FTP or HTTP access to logs

If your log files are not available by FTP and are not already somewhere on your web site (or another web site), you may have to do some re-configuration to make them available. If you can customize your FTP server, you can usually set up a user with access to just the log files on your server. You can then give us access to that user and the log file name that way. Another option is to configure your web site to provide a folder (or virtual folder) that points to your log file. Then give us the URL of that. If you want to keep other web users out, just add a username and password (for example, with .htaccess on Apache, or by setting permissions on IIS) to that folder.

If you need specific help in setting up a user on your server, we have created some tutorials to guide you through the process:

• Cobalt server
• Limiting HTTP with htaccess

Other access methods

If your hosting provider delivers logs in another fashion or you are not sure how to make them readable, feel free to contact us with questions. We are happy to assist you in getting your log files read.