JacobReinvigorate has one tool that I think is really cool: Snoop. It lets you watch site hits live in a separate window, see who's watching, stalk your visitors, etc. But it has a few problems:
- It only works with their service, and while free, you need to be on the invite list (as of today).
- It isn't open-source
- There is no Linux version.
Apache (or any other logging web server) users, you are in luck. You can watch your hits just like the Snoop fans. All you need is SSH access if the server is not local and a terminal.
Find the directory where logs are stored on your server. A standard Apache2 install stores them in /var/log/apache2/, but your web server may differ. Anyway, cd to that directory. Now, just run the following command, and watch your hits scroll by:
tail -f access.log
This will let you watch your hits until you press Ctrl+C. You can view the request headers by users, such as IP, browser, and other things. The only downside is the raw format: sometimes it can get confusing with all of the data being thrown at you, especially with every detail (images, Flash) getting logged. But hey, it is a quick and easy way to look at your visitors, and in cases with high-traffic situations, it is helpful to diagnose server problems.
I'm watching it right now. Hi readers!
