#84 Exploring the Apache access_log
If you're running Apache or a similar web server that uses the Common Log Format, there's quite a bit of quick statistical analysis that can be done with a shell script. The standard configuration for a server has an access_log and error_log written for the site; even ISPs make these raw data files available to customers, but if you've got your own server, you should definitely have and be archiving this valuable information.
Table 10-1 lists the columns in an access_log.
| Column | Value |
|---|---|
| 1 | IP of host accessing the server |
| 2–3 | Security information for https/SSL connections |
| 4 | Date and time zone offset of the specific request |
| 5 | Method invoked |
| 6 | URL requested |
| 7 | Protocol used |
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