Re: UKNM: Re: UKNM Digest V1 #220

[Duncan Clubb]

The host figures in logs refer to the number of distinct IP addresses that

have made requests of the web server.  The number of visitors will be at least

the number of hosts, and often considerably more.  The reason that they are

not the same is that most ISPs will only appear to the outside world as a

limited number of addresses (they use proxy servers, or DHCP to re-allocate

addresses to users).  Thus, for example, 1000 aol users may only appear in the

logs as 100 different addresses.  Unless you use log analysis software that

tracks 'sessions' by making general assumptions about the way most people use

web sites, you will not be able to tell how many visitors you have had, only

the number of machines that they get filtered through.  As an example, we have

a site that registers 40,000 hosts under the normal method, but 100,000 if

session-based software is used.  There is no analysis package (that does not

rely on user registration or use of cookies) that can actually tell you the

number of distinct people that have used your site, by the way, only the

number of distinct visits - someone looking at the site at two different

points of the day will be logged as two visits.


Hope this helps

Duncan

aaaatl [dot] uk [dot] com

 wrote:


> Subject: Question on logs

> From: Anthony Appleby

>

> If I have 200,000 unique hosts a month, (according to Analog log

> data) how many unique visitors do I have?

>

> (Thanks to Tristan Palmer at Corpex for the enlightenment :)

>

> Anthony Appleby

>

email aaaworldsoccernews [dot] com

>

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> Welsbach House

> Broomhill Road

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