Master Your Server Logs: High-Performance AWStats Setup on Linux

It’s 3:00 AM. Your pager goes off. The server load is sitting at 45.00, and Apache is spawning child processes like there is no tomorrow. You SSH in, run top, and see nothing but generic httpd processes. You try to tail -f /var/log/httpd/access_log, but the text is flying by so fast it looks like the Matrix code.

We have all been there. Grep is a powerful tool, but when you need to explain to a client why their site is crawling or identify a botnet pattern in gigabytes of data, you need visualization. You need AWStats.

However, a default AWStats installation can actually cause the very downtime you are trying to prevent if configured poorly. In this guide, we are going to set up a robust, high-performance log analyzer on CentOS 5 that respects your resources and gives you actionable intelligence.

The Hidden Cost of Log Analysis: Disk I/O

Most System Administrators think log parsing is CPU intensive. It's not. It is an I/O nightmare. Reading a 2GB log file line-by-line requires massive sustained read throughput. If you are hosting on a budget VPS with oversaturated SATA drives, running an AWStats update can lock up your database because the disk queue (IO wait) spikes through the roof.

Pro Tip: Always schedule your log processing (cron jobs) during off-peak hours (usually 03:00 - 05:00 CET for Norwegian traffic). If you are on CoolVDS, our RAID 10 SAS 15k RPM arrays mitigate this significantly, allowing for near-real-time updates without the I/O penalty seen on standard budget hosts.

Step 1: Installation on CentOS 5 / RHEL

First, ensure you have the EPEL repository enabled, as AWStats isn't in the base CentOS repos.

rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-3.noarch.rpm
yum install awstats

Step 2: Configuration for Speed

The default configuration file is located at /etc/awstats/awstats.model.conf. Copy this to a new file for your domain:

cp /etc/awstats/awstats.model.conf /etc/awstats/awstats.coolvds.com.conf
vi /etc/awstats/awstats.coolvds.com.conf

Here is where the "Battle-Hardened" tuning comes in. Change these specific parameters to avoid performance pits:

1. Disable DNS Lookups (Critical)

By default, AWStats tries to do a reverse DNS lookup on every IP address to determine the country/ISP. If you have 50,000 unique visitors, that is 50,000 DNS queries. This will time out, hang your Perl script, and inaccurate data will be the least of your worries.

# WARNING: Setting this to 1 can take hours for large logs.
DNSLookup=0

If you absolutely need country data, use the GeoIP plugin instead of DNS lookups. It uses a local binary database rather than network queries.

2. Log Format

Ensure your Apache httpd.conf is using the 'combined' log format, and match it in AWStats:

LogFormat=1

Step 3: Security & Privacy (The Norwegian Context)

Making your stats public is a security risk. Competitors can see your traffic sources, and hackers can find your admin URLs. Furthermore, under the Norwegian Personal Data Act (Personopplysningsloven), IP addresses are often considered personal data. You have a responsibility to secure this access.

Create an .htaccess file in your AWStats directory:

AuthName "Server Stats - Authorized Personnel Only"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /var/www/coolvds/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

This is standard procedure for any server hosted within the EU/EEA to demonstrate you are taking basic steps to limit data exposure.

Step 4: Automation

Don't run updates manually. Add this to your /etc/cron.hourly or daily, depending on traffic volume:

/usr/bin/perl /usr/share/awstats/wwwroot/cgi-bin/awstats.pl -config=coolvds.com -update > /dev/null

Why Infrastructure Matters

You can optimize your software configuration all day, but hardware limitations are absolute. When parsing logs, your server is essentially performing a massive sequential read operation while simultaneously trying to serve random read/write requests for your MySQL database and web files.

If you are serious about analyzing traffic without disrupting it, you need the underlying I/O throughput to support it. We designed CoolVDS specifically for these high-load scenarios where "good enough" simply isn't.

Final Verdict

AWStats is an essential tool in the arsenal of any Linux administrator in 2009. It bridges the gap between raw data and management-ready reports. But remember: tools consume resources. Configure with care, secure your data, and ensure your host has the disk speed to keep up with your growth.

Is your current VPS choking on log rotation? Deploy a high-performance CoolVDS instance today and see what your traffic actually looks like.