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Traffic/Activity
Download
A hit or request for an element considered to
be a downloadable file. Downloadable files are set in the configuration
of a Virtual Server, in the Global Admin.
Hit
A hit is any request made on the web server. This
includes page views, requests for images and requests for downloadable
files.
Page view
A hit or request for an element considered to
be a page element. Page elements are set in the configuration of a Virtual
Server, in the Global Admin.
Page view errors
A hit or request for an element considered to
be a page element that was not successful.
Session
The term 'session' is sometimes used instead of
the more popular 'Visit'. LiveStats 6 no longer uses the term 'session'.
This is done not only to conform to the industry standard, but to point
out that 'visits' have an administrator-customizable time-out, which
was not available in 'sessions'.
Visit
A group of transactions between an IP address
and the web server. The default visit expires after 15 minutes of inactivity,
but this time-out can be customized.
Visitor
Someone who has initiated a 'Visit' on the web
site.
Watch
A component of the LiveStats set up by the Site
Administrator that will keep track of activity occurring on the web
site that meets certain criteria.
Visitor/Session information
Browser tag
When a web browser makes a request, it identifies
itself with it's browser tag. This allows the web server to serve content
that is compatible with the specific type of web browser, if such content
is available. It also allows statistics about what browser and operating
system different visitors are using.
Corporate identity
Identity associated with the class C of the IP
address. Looked up through the American Registry of Internet Numbers
(ARIN) or the Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE) or Asia Pacific
Network Information Center (APNIC).
Entry point
The first page viewed in a visit. If the visit
makes no page requests, there will be no entry point. This could occur
if the visitor only needed to download a specific file, or certain images.
Exit point
The last page viewed in a visit. If the visit
makes no page requests, there will be no exit point.
Geographic origin
Location associated with the organization that
owns the class C of the IP address. Looked up through ARIN or RIPE or
APNIC.
Machine name
(Reverse DNS, Machine ID, Domain Name) The 'friendly'
name associated with the IP address. Statistics Server reads the IP
address from the log files and provides the resolved IP address in the
statistics.
OS or operating system
The program that tells a computer how to work.
DOS or Windows 2000 are operating system, just as MacOS X and Linux
are. The web browser tells the web server what OS it is using so that
the web server can provide more appropriate information.
Referrer
The other site or page that was visited immediately
prior to the start of the visit on this web site, provided that the
other site or page provided a link to this web site, and that the web
browser gave this information to the web server.
Time spent
Number of seconds between the first request that
starts a visit and the last request in the visit. Only accurately calculated
after the visit is expired.
Time-out
The maximum duration of inactivity during a visit.
If no requests are made from the visitor within the time-out, the visit
is considered closed. If the visitor resumes activity on the web site,
a new visit will be counted.
Viewed once
Any time a page is the only page viewed in a visit,
it gets counted as a 'Viewed Once' page. Visits that make more than
or less than one page view will not create any 'Viewed Once' pages.
Addressing/Getting places
Directory
A means of organizing information in a hierarchical
system. Directories can be called 'folders', and are
DNS or Domain Name Service
A service that relates IP Addresses to Domain
Names, amongst other things. A web browser will contact a DNS to translate
the domain name provided by the user into the IP address needed to navigate
the internet. LiveStats contacts a DNS to do the reverse translation
to find out the domain name of the IP address that is visiting.
IP address
The unique number that identifies a computer (known
as a host) on the Internet. An IP address (IPv4) is a 32 digit binary
number, but is usually displayed as 4 numbers from 0 to 255, separated
by dots. Since there can only be just over 4 billion IP addresses with
the current IP address system, the IETF and other influential organizations
are developing IPv6, which will have many magnitudes more addresses.
Relative URL
Portion of the URL that occurs after the top level
domain, and can be divided into a URI-Stem and URI-Query.
URL
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address
of a file or resource accessible on the Internet. URLs displayed by
Statistics Server are most often HTML pages, but can also be gifs and
other files in the Hits report.
Web browser
A program used to view HTML files and other content
over an HTTP connection with a web server.
Internet/Technology
Bandwidth
The amount of data requested from the Web Server
that the LiveStats software is watching.
• bit: Either a 1 or a 0 (indicating
'on' or 'off'), a 'bit' is the smallest unit of data on a computer.
Abbreviated as 'b'. Bits are usually used to measure bandwidth, while
bytes are usually used to measure storage.
• byte: A convenient grouping
of bits, a 'byte' is generally eight bits. This is sufficient to have
a different byte represent a different letter in the alphabet, and more.
Usually used to measure storage capacity.
• Kilobyte: A kilobyte is either
1000 bytes or 1024, depending on the official source. LiveStats counts
size in increments of 1024. A kilobyte is 1024 bytes. A kilobyte is
abbreviated as KB.
• Megabyte: A megabyte is either
1000 or 1024 kilobytes, depending on the official source. LiveStats
counts size in increments of 1024. A megabyte is 1024 kilobytes. A megabyte
is abbreviated as MB.
Browser (Web Browser)
A program used to view HTML files and other content
over an HTTP connection with a web server.
FTP or File Transfer Protocol
A protocol sometimes used for transferring files.
Some newer web browsers will seamlessly transfer files over FTP or HTTP.
HTML or HyperText Markup Language
An HTML file is a map for a web browser. It provides
basic text, and includes instructions about which images are needed,
where they go, the formatting for text and tables, and so on.
HTTP or HyperText Transfer Protocol
The protocol used by a web browser to communicate
with a web server. Originally only text files were transferred, but
HTTP has been extended to support images, movies, applications and other
documents. Large files are still sometimes transferred by FTP.
Java
A special programming language used to create
small programs that run on most computers. A Java program (applet) runs
in a special 'Virtual Machine' set up by a web browser, allowing enhanced
features to be embedded into a web page. LiveStats uses Java applets
to generate the graphs in the report interface.
JavaScript
A programming language that looks a lot like Java
but is not Java. JavaScript is used directly in web pages to provide
dynamic content.
Search engine
Search Engine is used to describe the dynamic
search component of a web index. Often, these web indexes include a
directory that can be browsed which will contain some of the same information
as the search component.
Server time
Time as recorded by the computer on which LiveStats
Server is installed.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP is used to describe a suite of protocols
enabling the flow of information on the internet. Separately, TCP is
the Transmission Control Protocol and IP is the Internet Protocol.
Virtual server
LiveStats uses this term to refer to a set of
statistics for a particular web site.
Web server
Used to describe both the machine and the program
responsible for responding to web browsers with the content they are
requesting. Web servers generate log files, that the LiveStats reads
to generate reports.
Web site
A collection of HTML files and images that are
served up by a web server on a specific IP address or domain name. Other
files may also be part of the web site, like downloadable games or documents.
The web site may also be just a specific directory on the IP address
or domain name.
Server/Admin terms
LAN
(Local Area Network) A data communications system
that lies within a limited spatial area, has a specific user group,
has a specific topology, and is not a public switched telecommunications
network, but may be connected to one. LANs are usually restricted to
relatively small areas, such as rooms, buildings, ships, and aircraft.
LANs are not subject to public telecommunications regulations.
UNC
The Universal/Uniform Naming Convention (UNC)
is a way to identify a shared file in a computer without having to specify
(or know) the storage device it is on. UNC can be used instead of the
local naming system. In Windows NT the UNC name format is "\\servername\sharename\path\filename"
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