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126 Part 1 Introduction
ment implications since it enables analysis of the performance of e-business systems. This
information can be analysed to assess the success of the web site, as explained in Chapter 12
(p. 711). The box on transaction log files gives some background information on transaction
log files and the type of information they contain that managers of a site can act on if they
have the correct processes in place.
Box 3.2 Inside transaction log files – why hits stands for ‘how idiots track success’
Figure 3.8 shows the detail recorded within a transaction log file. This shows the level
of work that web servers have to do. This server extract is from DaveChaffey.com
which uses the open-source Apache server to serve content. This example shows 10
requests received over a period of 5 seconds. Each line represents a GET request from
a web browser for a file on the server. For each page, there are multiple lines or hits
since each image or an embedded reference to a script or stylesheet in the page is
downloaded separately. In Chapter 12 we show how hits should not be used as a
measure for success since it is more useful to know the number of unique visitors and
page views – the number of pages they access. So now if you hear site owners talking
about ‘hits’ to their site they are looking to inflate the numbers or they don’t understand
the technology!
Figure 3.8 Transaction log file example
Looking at individual lines shows the information collected available from each trans-
action:
