Analyzing Visitors by Host

NetTracker enables you to track which hosts are responsible for the most traffic to your site. The host statistics appear on the Host Summary.

You can group traffic from multiple hosts into a single host group. This enables you to group the traffic from major online service providers or large corporations whose traffic to your site comes through multiple proxy servers. For example, if someone from America Online is browsing your Web site, each hit to your site could come through a different proxy server (host), thus showing up as multiple hosts. If you group all hosts that end with .aol.com as America Online, you can improve sessionization. By default NetTracker is configured to group traffic from America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, and WebTV.

Note: In the reports, you cannot drill down on a host group to display details.

Creating a Host Group

To create a host group:
  1. Click the Options tab.
  2. In the left-hand panel, click Host Groups under Visitors.
  3. Click Add.
  4. In the Name of host group box, enter the name you want to have displayed for the host group.
  5. In the Domain of host group box, enter the domain in which you want to have the group included in the Domain Summary. For example, to have the host group included in Commercial (.com) enter Commercial (.com).
  6. If you do not want NetTracker to consider the host group a single unit when sessionizing, clear the Use modified host for sessionization check box. (NetTracker sessionizes traffic by looking at a combination of the host name/IP address and the user agent of the client making the request.)
  7. Click Save Options and then click Continue.

Now you need to specify which hosts you want to be part of this host group.

Adding Hosts to a Host Group

If you have just created the host group, start with step 3. Otherwise, start with step 1.

To add hosts to a host group:
  1. Click the Options tab.
  2. In the left-hand panel, click Host Groups under Visitors.
  3. Select the host group and click Hosts.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Enter a filter that describes the host you want to add to this host group and click Add. (For details on filters, see "Filtering a NetTracker Option".)
  6. The host you entered will be part of this host group in all new data you import from now on. If this is what you want or if you have other hosts that you wish to add to the group at this time, click Continue. If you want the host to belong to the host group in data you have already imported, you will need to delete all the data in your profile and reimport your log files. (Note: If you do not still have all the log files you have imported into this profile, you will lose data permanently by choosing this option.) To delete your profile data, click Delete Profile Data.

Editing the Host Group

You can make changes to the host group at the list of groups.

To
Select the host group in the list and
Change the name or properties of a host group
Click Edit
Delete a host group
Click Delete
Change the hosts in the host group
Click Hosts

Editing Hosts in the Host Group

You can also make changes to the hosts in the host group at the list of hosts for the group.

To
Select the host and
Delete a host
Click Delete
Edit a host
Click Edit

Determining the Host Group for Hosts that Fit Multiple Groups

A host can only belong to one host group. If you have a host that meets the criteria for more than one group, NetTracker will include the host in the first host group it can belong to in the list of host groups. You can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change the order of the host groups in the list.