FAQ
Q1. How is the online time calculated?
Q2. Have you considered developing a GUI for configuring LK Log Scan for Firewalls & Proxy Servers?
Q3. Will your program report on time spent playing games online?
Q4. Will your program work with "xyz" firewall/proxy server?
Q1. How is the online time calculated?
A1. It is very important to understand that the reported online time is not exact! It is not possible to get the exact amount of time spent online due to the way firewalls and proxy servers maintain log entries.
To further explain,
a typical, albeit simplified log entry might contain the following field
entries (among others):
{date},{time},{user},{domain visited},{url visited}
For example, you might see the following entries:
2004-12-01,09:00:00,kharris,Domain1.com,
2004-12-01,09:06:00,kharris,Domain1.com,http://Domain1.com/page2.htm
2004-12-01,11:06:00,kharris,Domain2.com,http://Domain2.com/default.htm
2004-12-01,11:07:00,kharris,Domain2.com,http://Domain2.com/default.htm
Given the above example, it can be assumed that kharris spent 6 minutes on
Domain1.com (the difference in time between the first entry and the second
entry). However, you will notice that between entry two and three
there is a difference of 2 hours. Does this mean that kharris was on
Domain1.com for 2 hours? More than likely that employee walked away
from the computer after log entry two and came back again for log entry
three. That means this 2 hour time span “might” not have been actual
time spent on line.
To accommodate this, the variable idle_minutes was put in place. It
should be set to the time you wish to allow to pass before assuming that the
user/computer is no longer online.
In the above example, assuming idle_minutes was left at it’s default setting
of 15 minutes, the report would have shown that kharris was online for 7
minutes. That was figured as having 6 minutes online between the first
and second entry, skipping the two hours between the third and fourth entry,
and then another 1 minute between the third and fourth entry.
Q2. Have you considered developing a GUI for configuring LK Log Scan for Firewalls & Proxy Servers?
A2. I have considered developing a GUI for configuring LK Log Scan for Firewalls & Proxy Servers, however I really don't think it is necessary. Opening the config file in your favorite text editor is pretty straight forward and it includes a lot of documentation to assist you in choosing the right settings. Adding a GUI would simply increase the amount of time it takes me to develop the program. That means I would have to charge you more to purchase it! In all honesty, I don't have the time to develop one and I don't think it would add much to the program. Remember that one of my main design goals for the LK Log Scan products was to keep them as simple and functional as possible.
Q3. Will your program report on time spent playing games online?
A3. Maybe. Some games available on the web actually use browser additions to operate. To put it simply, you visit the web site to initiate the game and after that the game runs from your local computer. If this is the case, the usage report will not include time spent playing such games.
Q4. Will your program work with "xyz" firewall/proxy server?
A4. It will probably work if your firewall/proxy server meets the following requirements:
You need the ability to view the log files from a Windows PC. It doesn't have to be ran on the firewall/proxy server itself.
Your firewall or proxy server must use either a comma or a tab as it’s log file delimiter.
You will need a working DNS server (only necessary if resplve_ip_addresses=yes in config file).
You will need a functioning, accessible SMTP server (only necessary if you set the program up to send reports via email).
To be sure, I strongly recommend that you download and test the demo version before purchasing the registered version in order to test compatibility. It is known to work well with Microsoft ISA Server.
A5. The reason for this is that sometimes a computer can have software on it that will go online for some operation. You may not be aware of it so it wouldn't be fair to say that this online time was initiated by a user. Therefore I used the term "user/computer" to make sure it is apparent that sometimes online time is a user and sometimes it is the computer. The computer might be doing some operation such as updating the virus signatures for an antivirus program or downloading updates for some other application which could include the operating system itself.
A6. Not only can you run the program from a computer other than the firewall/proxy server machine, I recommend that you do! The program will work with a mapped drive or a UNC.