We found it's essential to move the log file to an analyzer system that's separate from the Web server. In every case, the analyzer was essentially locked up during the processing of the log file - a period of no less than two hours for Hit List and WebTrends and as many as 16 hours for NetIntellect and Site Server. Once the log files are on the analyzer's local disk, most of the products preprocess the log files and put them into a database. We found little reason to prefer one method of storing log files over the other, with an important exception. Intranet managers who plan to run many reports on the same data with different filters should make sure the processed logs are stored in a database where users can access them with other tools.
Most analyzers discard data to save space and increase performance.
For example, it's common for an analyzer to throw out image records, such as GIF and JPEG files, because they add little information to reports. This capability can result in immense savings - in our sample log file, more than one million of the 1. 3 million hits were for graphics. When we asked WebTrends for a second report on the same data, the program took nearly an hour to come up with the results. NetIntellect and Hit List, however, were able to generate a second report in just seconds. Neither Site Server nor net.