Web server (IIS) log file information

Introduction

This article explains about web server log files and how they are used

What are web server log files?

Whenever someone visits a website hosted by us, the web server records or logs information about the visitor. This includes the date/time of the visit, the visitors address and the address of the requested web page.

Answers to common questions

What are IIS log files?

Our hosting servers use Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) as the web server software, so the web server log files are often referred to a IIS Log Files.

What is recorded?

As log files can get fairly large, we recorded activity on a per day basis. i.e. one log file is generated for each day. If there is no log file for a particular date, then there were no website visitors on that day.

The fields record in the log are

• Date
• Time
• Client (visitor) IP Address
• Username
• Method
• URI Stem
• Protocol Status
• Bytes Sent
• Protocol Version
• User Agent
• Referer

These values are standardised across all sites and cannot be modified on either a per account or per website basis.

What are log files used for?

Log files are the raw data from which Website Statistics are generated.

Can I delete my log files?

No.

How long are log files stored for?

Log files are stored for a minimum of 1 year. After a year, log files may be deleted at our discretion.

Can I download my log files.

Yes. See Downloading log files