Sawmill is a powerful, hierarchical log analysis tool, well suited for web server access and referrer logs, but can process almost any log. It runs as a CGI program on your web server, and publishes an intuitive graphical user interface which can be used from any web browser to configure and run Sawmill, or to view the statistics pages. The statistics pages are hierarchical, attractive, and heavily crosslinked for easy navigation. Complete documentation is built directly into the program. Sawmill provides an extensive set of features, including a persistent database, fine control over
What's New
Version 8.5.5.1:
Bug Fixes:
Removing data from an Oracle database using a filter gives an error like, "#### Unable to Execute ODBC Query='delete from main_table x where not (filtertmp_3932_0.itemnum IS NULL)'; diagnostics=ODBC error: rec1: SQLstate: S0022; msg=[Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-00904: "FILTERTMP_3932_0"."ITEMNUM": invalid identifier"
Duration fields are incorrect for Wowza Media Server profiles created with Sawmill 8.5.3 or 8.5.4.
Reports, especially for a database which hasn't been rebuilt for a long time, can fail with an error like, "Attempt to read beyond end of LogAnalysisInfo/Databases/{profile}/main/Tables/_select_result_75103_1/sets/visitors/header.dat (fileSize=0); attempted to read from 0 to 64."
When using a MS SQL database with Palo Alto log data, the Sessions Overview gives an error like, "select count(distinct x.user), sum(x.page_views), max(x.date_time), min(x.date_time), count(distinct x.session_id), sum(x.session_duration) from main_table x where 1=1'; diagnostics=ODBC error: rec1: SQLstate: 37000; msg=[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'user"
The "Maximum caching buffer memory full load" field is empty, in the Config UI.
If there is a database field which has a different source than itself (e.g., a unique field like "visitors" which counts another field), database export will fail with an error like, "Can't find tableAlias=, fieldName=visitors in table main_table."
Non-root-admin users cannot change their password; the "Save Changes" button has no effect.
A license installation with sublicense only allows the number of profiles specified by the main license.
Report fields which compute an average value of a field (x/y), show 0.
When using a MS SQL database with a 64-bit integer field, aggregated numbers larger than about 2 billion can cause an overflow error which terminates the build.
The delete_database_field action does not delete columns from report table (and report tables themselves) which are derived from the field, e.g., the "city" column and table are not deleted when the "location" field is deleted.
An unfiltered Log Detail report takes a long time to generate (scans the whole main table, instead of just the visible rows).
Some temporary tables are not removed from internal databases, especially during filtered report generation, resulting in a large number of unnecessary database tables (and unnecessary files on disk) after a long period with many reports generated.
Profiles created from the Juniper Networks Secure Access 4000/6000 plug-in give an error when reports are displayed: 'Unknown configuration group "session_paths" in node "profiles.in.statistics.reports"'
Fixed an issue with the performance of some queries, which made reports slow with large datasets.
Fixed a bug which could cause a crash on database build, if there were more cross-reference groups than database fields.
If a Sawmill 8.1 profile has a custom "session user" field (session visitor ID), and that field has no corresponding report field, the profile when converted to 8.5 will fail to generate the Individual Sessions report with the error, 'The report field {customfield} does not exist in columns of report element "individual_sessions".'
PIX logs with high hit-cnt values can take a very long time to process, or even fail with an error like, "Unexpected response from SPS server: PARSED 43969360 289230 0 0"
New Features:
Added support for Amazon Cloudfront Streaming logs, including a database filter which emulates Amazon's own "bytes transferred" calculation.
Enhanced the Coradiant TrueSight log format support, to handle variable field lists in the header, to report on all known numerical fields, and to categorize all known non-numerical field reports.
Added a new "Execute command line" action to the Scheduler, to run an arbitrary command line.
Added a performance warning to the Progress display, when a particularly complex normalized database field is detected during database building.
Added an xref for each report, by default (with no date range info). This can significantly improve the performance of unfiltered top-level reports, and especially the Single-Page Summary.
Improved the selection of the xref table used for a query, so the smallest (fastest) match is chosen, rather than the first match. This improves the performance of some unfiltered, or date-filtered, reports.
Version 8.5.5.1:
Bug Fixes:
Removing data from an Oracle database using a filter gives an error like, "#### Unable to Execute ODBC Query='delete from main_table x where not (filtertmp_3932_0.itemnum IS NULL)'; diagnostics=ODBC error: rec1: SQLstate: S0022; msg=[Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-00904: "FILTERTMP_3932_0"."ITEMNUM": invalid identifier"
This is pretty neat software that uses an epimodular approach to log analysis. It spits out really nice html that you can view from anywhere. I have it set up on a script so I can update and view my stats in a password protected web directory on the server.
It's good at differentiating traffic type to.
[Version 7.2.6]
+1
Anonymousreviewed on 01 May 2005
Sawmill is a highly flexible if sometimes daunting application. It is miles ahead of other packages in terms of the ability to filter, format, and otherwise dig through my Web logs. Two features that I like are: the ability to filter out MY visits to my (remotely hosted) site, as well as identifiable bots; and, the ability to trace visitors paths through the site. I've gleaned valuable information (not sure it is yet profitable) about how visitors traverse my site. To the first point, I was surprised my how much of the traffic that Webalizer and Analog (provided by my Web host) report are, in fact, due to my own visits and the visits of bots.
[Version 7.1]
+1
Anonymousreviewed on 09 Aug 2004
No, no, even though webalizer and analog exist, this one is worth every penny. It's quite powerful, and has a clean interface.
I love my webalizer, but I would take Sawmill over it, any day of the week.
[Version 7.0.1]
-2
Anonymousreviewed on 15 Jul 2004
Who needs this when Webalizer exists? Analog? Don't even think about buying this.
[Version 7.0b13]
1 Reply
Anonymouscommented on 01 Aug 2004
Webalizer and analog generate static reports. This is a database application that can generate new reports and correlate data on the fly. It's much, much more flexible and much more useful if you need an in depth analysis of, for example, who hit which pages.
Also, Sawmill can do more than just Web logs. Firewalls, mail servers, virtually anything that produces a text file.
There are currently no troubleshooting comments. If you are experiencing a problem with this app, please post a comment.
Please login or create a new MacUpdate Member account to use this feature
Watch Lists are available to MacUpdate Desktop Members Upgrade Now
Download and auto-install
using MacUpdate Desktop. Save
time moving folders and cleaning-up.
Sawmill is a powerful, hierarchical log analysis tool, well suited for web server access and referrer logs, but can process almost any log. It runs as a CGI program on your web server, and publishes an intuitive graphical user interface which can be used from any web browser to configure and run Sawmill, or to view the statistics pages. The statistics pages are hierarchical, attractive, and heavily crosslinked for easy navigation. Complete documentation is built directly into the program. Sawmill provides an extensive set of features, including a persistent database, fine control over the appearance of stats pages, and versatile log filtering options.
Sawmill is available in three versions:
Lite ($99)
Professional ($199)
Enterprise ($699)
Sawmill Professional includes its own internal database and web server for report publishing. Reports can also be run in CGI mode on another web server either local or remote.
-21
Davebarnes reviewed on 18 Jan 2011
I use it every month to create website traffic analysis reports for 20 customers' websites.
For years I used WebTrends, but then they decided they did not want my money and so I looked at alternatives. Many alternatives.
Sawmill is an excellent product. Flowerfire has very good support.
My only negative is that the manual is not as clear and thorough as it could be.
By the way, I also use Google Analytics on most sites as it is great when a customer wants a snapshot "right now".
+1
+55
It's good at differentiating traffic type to.
+1
Anonymous reviewed on 01 May 2005
+1
Anonymous reviewed on 09 Aug 2004
I love my webalizer, but I would take Sawmill over it, any day of the week.
-2
Anonymous reviewed on 15 Jul 2004
Also, Sawmill can do more than just Web logs. Firewalls, mail servers, virtually anything that produces a text file.