SmarterStats Help
Community Knowledge Base

Adding a Site

System administrators can use this section to add a site to SmarterStats. To access this section, click the Settings icon. Then click Sites in the navigation pane toolbar. To add a site, click the Add button in the content pane. To edit an existing site, select the desired site and click Edit. The site settings will load in a new window and the following options will be available in the toolbar:

  • Save - Saves any changes made to the page.
  • Cancel - Cancels any changes made.
  • View Site Stats - Opens a new tab displaying the statistics for that particular site. NOTE: Displays only when editing an existing site.
  • Actions (...) - Offers a number of actions that can be performed for the site. These include:
    • Import Settings From IIS - Allows you to import a site from IIS. When websites are set up in Internet Information Services (IIS), using this feature allows the system admin to select the site from IIS and have the site name and log path automatically filled out in the site Options.
    • Move Site - Moves the site statistics to another server supported by the SmarterStats Web interface. Note: This option is only available in SmarterStats Enterprise. Selecting this option will only move the SmarterLogs; it will not move the physical site or its standard log files.
    • Re-import Log Files - Deletes the SmarterLog files for the site and re-imports them, starting with the earliest files.
    • Reprocess Log Files - Reprocesses the log file data. Note: This does not re-import log files.
    • Run Diagnostics - Select this option if you suspect one or more files may have gotten corrupted. SmarterStats will run an automated diagnostic of all files required for this site.

The following tabs will be available in the site settings window:

Options

Use this tab to specify the following options:

  • Site ID - The unique identifier for the site in SmarterStats. Site IDs must be integers greater than 0.
  • Site Name - A friendly name for the site. Generally, the domain name for the site, such as example.com.
  • Site URL - Note: This option will only appear if an External Login Provider has been created and configured. For more information see External Providers.The URL used to access the site, such as http://www.example.com
  • User Authentication Method - Note: This option will only appear if an External Login Provider has been created and configured. For more information see External Providers. Whether this site should use internal authentication or an external login provider to validate logins.
  • Site Admin - The username of the site administrator. This individual will be the primary user account responsible for this site. System administrators also have the ability to create a new Site Admin, should they desier. When this option is selected, administrators will fill out some addtional information about the Site Admin, including:
    • Site Admin Username - The username for the new site admin.
    • Site Admin Password - The password associated to the site admin username.
    • Confirm Password - Re-type the password associated to the site admin username.
    • Site Admin Email - The email address associated with the site admin.
  • Server - In a distributed environment, the site may reside on a server other than the web interface. Select the web server on which the site's original logs reside. Note: This option is only available in SmarterStats Enterprise.
  • Current State - The state in which the site should start. Generally, this should remain as "Started." When editing sites, this is where sites are paused or disabled.
  • SmarterLog Path - The full path to the location in which the site's SmarterStats log files will reside. This path must be local to the server and may not be a UNC path. Note: This should be a location dedicated to storing the SmarterLog files on a drive with ample free space.
  • Time Zone - The time zone under which log files are processed.
  • Enable Log Analysis - Select this option to collect and report on log file data for the site. Note: If you do not have the ability to import the site's log files into SmarterStats, this option should be disabled. If this option is disabled, many reports and options will not be available.
  • Enable Site Tuning - Select this option to allow SmarterStats to scan the site for errors and potential issues that could affect its search engine ranking or visitor experience. Note: If this option is disabled, users and site administrators will not have access to the site tuning section of the interface.

Log Analysis

SmarterStats can analyze many different log file types from a variety of locations. Supported log formats include W3C Extended Logs (Default for IIS), Common Log Format (CLF), NCSA Extended/Combined Log Format, and IIS Log Format. Each can be imported into SmarterStats using a local path, UNC path, or via FTP. Use this tab to specify the following options for pulling logs into SmarterStats. Varyious settings will display based on the log location chosen, as detailed below:

Note: The Import menu button in the window toolbar allows you to import a site from IIS. Imported IIS sites will automatically fill in the site name and log path.

LOCAL PATH

  • Log Location - The location of the log files. Select Local Path if the log files are stored on the same server where SmarterStats is installed with no special permissions.
  • Log Wildcard - The log file wildcards (i.e. the format of the log titles, with dates or other variable information removed: *.log ).
  • Log File Paths (one per line) - The directory in which the site's log files are stored. Enter only one path per line break.
  • Look for logs in .gz and .zip archives - Select this option to look for logs in compressed archives.
  • Include logs stored in subfolders - Select this option if your logs are stored within sub-folders inside a root log folder.

UNC PATH

When selecting UNC Path for the Log Location, the following fields are available in addition to those listed above:

  • Use Default UNC Settings - Checkmark this option if this site should use the UNC credentials configured within the General Settings. When checked, the UNC Username, Password and Domain fields below will become disabled.
  • UNC Username - The identifier used to authenticate with the UNC account.
  • UNC Password - The corresponding password used to authenticate with the UNC account.
  • UNC Domain - The corresponding domain used to authenticate with the UNC account.

FTP

When using FTP as the Log Location, the following fields are available in addition to most of those listed above:

  • FTP Connection Type - The type of connection FTP will use. FTP supports connections through Standard FTP, FTPS - Implicit, FTPS - Explicit or SFTP. Depending on the connection type selected, varying settings may display.
  • Server - The location path to the FTP server. Depending on the FTP server setup, this could be entered as a full URL or IP address.
    • Test - After the FTP server path and authentication credentials have been completed, use this button to test the connection to the FTP server.
  • Paste or Upload OpenSSH Key File - In this textbox, paste the OpenSSH Key File or upload the file containing it. The OpenSSH Key File can be obtained from your FTP provider. Note: This setting will only display when SFTP has been selected for the FTP Connection Type.
  • Port - The port the FTP server uses to communicate. The standard port for FTP connections is 21.
  • Username - The identifier used to authenticate with the FTP server.
  • Password - The corresponding password used to authenticate with the FTP server.
  • Directory - The directory, or location, in which FTP logs are stored on the server.
  • Interval - The rate at which logs are pulled from the FTP server.
  • Enable FTP resuming if available - If the server supports the resume command, select this option to allow the FTP connection to be automatically resumed when the FTP server becomes available again.
  • Look for logs in .gz and .zip archives - Select this option to look for logs in compressed archives.

Site Tuning

Use this tab to specify the following site tuning options:

  • Max Pages To Crawl - The maximum number of pages SmarterStats should scan for errors and performance issues. By default, this is set to 10,000.
  • Max Pages Per Minute - The maximum number of pages SmarterStats crawls per minute. This setting is used to control the load put on Web server. By default, SmarterStats will crawl 120 pages per minute. The maximum is 600 pages per minute.
  • Max Query Pages - The number of query string variants that will be inspected on each page of a site. By default the max query pages is 10. The maximum is 1,000 pages. Highly dynamic sites, such as those with a forum, may want to increase this number to ensure all pages of the site are crawled.
  • Use Default Settings - Clicking this button will reset all of the above information back to their default values.

Advanced

Use this tab to specify the following options:

  • Compress Log Files - The amount of time to wait before compressing original log files.
  • Log File Auto-delete - The maximum amount of time original IIS or Apache log files will be stored.
  • SmarterLog Auto-delete - The maximum amount of time SmarterLog files will be stored. SmarterLog files are in a compressed format, which allows you to store a wider date range of logs versus saving the standard web server log files.
  • Export Directory - When exporting log files for a site, this is the location the exported file(s) will be saved to.
  • Export URL - This is the absolute URL that is set up in order to allow users to retrieve the log file(s) when the export is complete. Typically, you'll use the full RUL for the website the log files are affiliated with, such as https://www.smartertools.com. The download path is then appended to the end of the URL.
  • Enable removal of URL items after semicolon (used for jsessionid) - Certain sites can generate logs where the page that SmarterStats tries to parse includes a semicolon with some extra information after it. Check this box to automatically remove this extra information when applicable.
  • Default Documents (one per line) - Type the default documents for the website in the text box. Any hits to pages that match these filenames will be grouped into a root hit instead. For example, if you enter default.aspx and index.htm, both of these pages will register as page hits to "/".
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