Re: [Summary-Talk] Many log files

[Jason Linhart <jason@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/8/03 11:01 AM Nitai @ ComputerOil (nitai@computeroil.com) wrote:
>On 8.9.2003 16:06 Uhr, "Jason Linhart" <jason@summary.net> wrote:
>
>> Summary will directly read logs that are compressed with Zip, GZip, or
>> BZip2. Zip and GZip compress log files about ten to one, while BZip2 can
>> compress log files closer to twenty to one, which should be sufficient
>> for your application. You could also use incremental mode, which does not
>> require that you keep the old log files once Summary has read them.
>
>But, compressing has to be handled by us, meaning some external use and 
>then give Summary the path to the compressed file?

Yes, you have to do the compression before giving the logs to Summary. 
Most log rotation/archiving systems support this directly, if not it is 
usually a simple script to write.

>> If you are using incremental mode, be careful not to give Summary logs
>> that are not compressed and subsequently give it the same logs
>> compressed. Summary will think that they are different files and double
>> count them.
>
>For the incremental mode to work properly, does Summary need to ftp the 
>logs and the still store them on the server or how does it work?

There are many different combinations, depending on how your server 
software is setup and if Summary is running on the same machine as the 
server or not. Some of the basic principals include:

If you are compressing the logs, you need to compress them before Summary 
sees them. If the server is running on a different machine and you are 
using Summary's log downloading that means compressing them on the server.

Incremental mode remembers old log files, so you can delete them after 
Summary finishes reading them. In order to not miss any log entries, this 
normally means keeping at least the current log file and the most recent 
previous log file and having Summary process logs more frequently than 
the log rotation software runs.

If the log rotation software gives each log file a unique name, and you 
are using Summary's log downloading, and you don't have enough space to 
keep all of your log files, you will need to manual delete the old log 
files (or setup a script to do it).

Jason

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Jason@Summary.Net
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Dr. Seuss books . . . can be read and enjoyed on several levels. For
example, 'One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish' can be deconstructed
as a searing indictment of the narrow-minded binary counting system.
  -- Peter van der Linden, Expert C Programming, Deep C Secrets
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