[ILUG] Web Access Monitoring

[Kenn Humborg]

> Thanks guys,
> 
> 	We are using static ip addr's, how about some of the commercial
> packages can they do it, i.e. how long someone spent ata website?

You need to understand how HTTP works...

Take these two cases:

Case 1:

1. I go to slashdot.org.  I select an article with a couple
   of hundred comments.
2. I spend 1 hour reading article & comments.
3. I select another article with a lot of comments
4. I spend 1 hour reading article & comments.

Net time reading slashdot: 2 hours out of 2 hours 'worktime'

Case 2:

1. I go to slashdot.org.  I select an article with a couple
   of hundred comments.
2. The article is crap, so I stop reading and work for 1 hour.
3. I select another article with a lot of comments
4. The article is crap, so I stop reading and work for 1 hour.

Net time reading slashdot: 5 secs out of 2 hours 'worktime'

Either way, all you've seen go over the wire is this:

T+0secs:       GET http://slashdot.org
T+5secs:       Connection closed
T+10secs:      GET http://slashdot.org/article/...
T+30secs:      Connection closed

T+1hour0secs:  GET http://slashdot.org
T+1hour5secs:  Connection closed
T+1hour10secs: GET http://slashdot.org/article/...
T+1hour30secs: Connection closed

Both cases will look exactly the same.  All you can say is
"I loaded a page from slashdot at time T and T+1hour."
I might have read them, or ignored them and left the browser
windows open in the background, or gone for lunch, or
whatever.

You tell me how you can get "how long someone spent ata website?"
from this?

Later,
Kenn