MySQL Logging

[Anon]

not really a help question.. but i was wondering if anybody have any comments on using sql database to do logging for user visiting the site.. things like... ip, browser type, blah blah.. all the things basic logging covers.. so i can query it the way i want to ...

Comments, suggestions, critism welcome 🙂

[[deleted]]

Good: everything is in a database already, easy querying for information.

Bad: logs grow quickly you rapidly get k's or M's of records that all have to be processed with each analysing query.
More complex to set up.
No easy log-rotation: the database just grows and grows, you can't easily chop it up in day-size pieces.

[Anon]

there is an easier way to do logging...

use the webservers logging method, logs will grow rapidly but it will not effect the performance of your sql server... (it WILL affect performance of your webserver)

To query all sorts of stuff from this log you could use a program like analog...
a superb logparser wich has an immens amount of possibilities.

logging to sql has it's pro's.. but i don't think they weigh against the con's (like huge tables and sql server load).

almost anything you can do with logs in a sql server you can do with analog

http://www.analog.cx/

check it out... it rulez! 🙂

[Anon]

Good to hear the suggestions... i will looking into analog