2 replies to this topic

[RisaBB]

Hello,

I researched tons of statistics tracking programs and finally decided to give Web Log Expert Lite a try. The first thing the program asks for is the location of the website statistics.

I couldn't find them on the server so I called the web hosting company, who told me that I could not have access to the statistics, only the web administrator of the hosting company has access to them. I told them that I was the webmaster of this website, and they told me to send an e-mail to their customer service dept.

Has anyone ever heard of this? I told the tech support person that if I didn't get access to these reports, I would change hosting companies (which I really don't want to get involved in, but I will if I have to).

They already have Webalizer 1.3 as a default stat program, but they never upgraded to version 2.01 which provides stats on referrers and search words and phrases. Besides, I find Webalizer with its bright colors very difficult to read.

Any input is appreciated.

Risa

[SearchRank]

I would move hosts. They probably keep the log files on a separate server as log files can take up a lot of space. I have seen scenarios where the web host can create a virtual path to the logs even though they are stored on a separate server.

Bottom line is if you want access to raw server logs and they won't give them to you, switch. If you switch, I'd recommend Blue Virtual.

[Vertster]

This is actually quite common, and underlies the difference between the "techy" attitude of most hosts vs. us marketing folks. I have run into it numerous times. Your best bet is to switch hosts.

Furthermore, you will probably want to make sure they will or do rotate the log files on a regular basis. Otherwise, they tend to get really huge and a pain in the you know what to download. Busy sites can easily create 50mb of logs a day. Imagine if you had to download 2 months worth of logs, in one file! Unless you have a REAL fast connection, and there were no worms affecting the internet, you want to avpoid this situation.

I suggest you use a program like FTP Voyager to get the logs. Set it up to run every night automatically. This is important, since a lot of hosts do not keep log files for very long either, due to the disk space they take up. Then you can archive them on your drive. For NT/Windows hosting, I recommend Crystaltech.com. They are one of the top hosts in the world for NT hosting, and the only host I have dealt with that I would actually recommend.