Mach5/Cookies

[Gerrit]

Some time ago (http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?t=18015&page=3&highlight=mach5+cookies) [11-18-2004] Melissa replied to Harry:

"Cookies in the log files from a system standpoint would break a lot of stats analyzers, including ours. Therefore, it isn't plausible for us to do so from this side. Sorry we can't be of more assistance in this area,"

I'm also using Mach5 and would like to track sessions via cookies to get a better and accurate insight. Did your position change? Is it possible to record cookies in the log files today? If not: why? How could the problem be solved? Could session-recording be enabled for my site only?

Mach5 writes:

"You have to decide whether or not to place a session cookie or a visitor ID cookie or both on your visitors' browsers. Note that if you opt for only a session ID cookie, returning visitor information will be inaccurate and the associated reports may not be available in Analyzer."

Would it be possible to record visitor ID cookies if session cookies are still out of assistance?

[sheila]

Here is a portion of a response we sent to a client in Jan. 2006 in response to a Service Desk ticket, regarding why we cannot include cookies in the Apache log files...hopefully this will shed some light on the matter for you...

Our Apache engines do not offer mod_usertrack due to privacy issues... The problem is that the Apache module will send every visitor a cookie for tracking, whether the site owner wants one sent or not...

If your application needs to track clickstreams, then this must be designed into your application for which you will need to log yourself to a private log file... Even if we could log cookies into the access logs, which we can't because the %{Cookie} logging directive only works in unison with mod_usertrack, it would break the STATS analyzer package and also serve to vastly increase the size of the log files...

At this junction you have two options:
1) Write your application to log its own custom cookies that _you_ set on the visitors browser...

2) Move your site to a host that offers mod_usertrack...

In conclusion, the setting of tracking cookies should not be done by default by the Apache engines implicitly, but rather explicitly by your application... Cookies are a sensitive issue to many security conscious people, and for our Apache engines to be sending tracking cookies behind the scenes is a policy we cannot partake in...
Note that this particular client wanted cookies in the log files not for processing the stats, but rather for reasons having to do with user tracking for a web application used on his web site.

Nevertheless, his desires were essentially the same as yours...he wanted cookies in the Apache web log files. As explained in the response above, this is not something FutureQuest is able to offer.

[Gerrit]

Our Apache engines do not offer mod_usertrack due to privacy issues... The problem is that the Apache module will send every visitor a cookie for tracking, whether the site owner wants one sent or not...

Wouldn't it be possible to make this feature optional to users of FQ?

[Terra]

Cookie logging will not be offered in our Apache engines for the reasons that Sheila pasted above... You will need to do this at the application layer...

--
Terra
sysAdmin
FutureQuest