go configure IISLogs component

IISLogs is beta software now,  you might be wondering, now what?! How do I actually get some benefit from IISLogs?  The goal of the article is provide a practical side to actually getting some benefit from using IISLogs.   A little bit of history first, I first thought of the idea for IISLogs when running ASPFree.com.   ASPFree.com was a popular website, the traffic averaged 15,000 or so users a day.  It was awesome to have a popular site but one of the drawbacks, as the site grew so did the log files.  First the log files were 250 meg a day, then 350 meg and finally almost 500 meg per day.  Not properly handled in 30 days, this would chew up between 15 and 30 gig of space and that was just one website on the server.  In today's world, the cost per gig is just a few dollars, its almost a commodity even if your using a SAN (Storage Area Network) or NAS (Network Attached Storage).  Now take this one server example of running ASPFree and # the number of servers at a typical company or ISP.  This small problem can quickly become a headache.  As your enterprise and number of servers grow, providing a constant cookie cutter approach is one of the key to success, in my experience anyway!

As I developed IISLogs, one the things I wanted was just to get the up and going, configure the parameters and forget it.  Every now and then provide a simple report via an email to remind me things are still working and saving disk space.  So became the motto (Install, Configure, Forget).      I've found the simplest and most effective way is follow these few steps.  Now this isn't all the capability of IISLogs but its a start to helping recover disk space.  

• Download ( http://www.iislogs.com/forum/eval.aspx )
• Extract to C:/Temp (Eveything I download is put into Temp directory, your experience will vary)
• Run Setup.exe, Take the defaults

Click Next

Hopefully Agree to License Agreement!

Select Folder to install IISLogs
Click Next

 

Confirm the Installation
Click Next

Installation Complete

Now that setup is complete using IISLogsGUI to configure

Click Start, Program Files, IISLogs, IISLogsGUI.exe

A Dialog will appear asking to select the IISLogs.exe.config file
Click Open

Main GUI will appear

Click EasyConfig,
Click Select All
Click Save

This will automatically fill in the MonitoredSpecificDirectories section.  This is ONLY one step, there is an additional few steps.  One thing that might happen, for example you notice the C:/Logfiles is listed.   Personally, I store all my website logs files in C:/Logfiles and IIS master LogFile path is C:/Logfile. 

This directory should really be in the MonitoredDirectorys Tab.  The reason this happens is EasyConfig ONLY puts directory paths in the MonitorSpecificDirectories Grid that was found in the IIS metabase and NOT found in the MonitoredDirectories section.  The default IIS Log paths are included in the configuration file. 

To correct this, is delete the C:/Logfiles path from the MonitoredSpecificDirectories grid, then Select the MonitoredDirectories tab.

Select the MonitoredDirectories Tab
Type in C:/Logfiles

click Standard Settings to Enable ZIP Feature, fill in ZIP Retention Period (Hours) section. Personally I use 168 (1 week).

One thing I verify is the time the service will run.  I take the default of 03:00:00 AM
My personal favorite time, you can have more than one though!

Select Mail Settings, we are working on encrypting the Mail User id and Mail Password fields so they aren't clear text.  Will be in future builds.  :)

Click Save Config

Click Start Service

A popup window appear

Click OK

File, Exit
Save Changes,
IISLogsGUI is configured and going!

Thats it! 

Enjoy,

Steve Schofield