Install AWStats Web analytics tool on Debian

This howto is tested on :

• Debian 5.0 Lenny
• Debian 6.0 Squeeze

Prerequisites

This howto needs a Apache 2 HTTP server with the script a2tools available in the howto Install Apache 2 on Debian.

Parameters

Provide the domain name where will be available the software :

DOMAIN="stats.domain.com"

Installation

Install the software, a password generator and the plug-ins dependencies :

command apt-get install awstats apg \
    libgeo-ipfree-perl libnet-ip-perl \
    libnet-dns-perl liburi-perl apache2-utils

Create a system user for the software :

command adduser --system --group --shell "/bin/sh" \
    --no-create-home --home "/var/lib/awstats" "awstats"
command adduser "awstats" "adm"

Give ownership of the software files to this user :

if [ -e "/var/lib/awstats" ]; then
  command chown awstats:www-data "/var/lib/awstats"
  command chown awstats:awstats "/var/lib/awstats/"*
fi
if [ -e "/var/cache/awstats" ]; then
  command chown awstats:www-data "/var/cache/awstats"
  command chown awstats:awstats "/var/cache/awstats/"*
fi

Replace the default cron configuration by a version that can use more than one configuration file :

command echo "# Awstats all sites update :
*/10 * * * * awstats [ -x '/usr/lib/cgi-bin/awstats.pl' -a -d '/etc/awstats' ] && command find '/etc/awstats' -type f -name 'awstats.*.conf' | command sed -e 's/.*awstats\.\(.*\)\.conf/\1/' | command xargs -ICONF /usr/lib/cgi-bin/awstats.pl -config=CONF -update

# Generate static reports:
#10 03 * * * awstats [ -x '/usr/share/awstats/tools/buildstatic.sh' ] && /usr/share/awstats/tools/buildstatic.sh" \
  > /etc/cron.d/awstats
/etc/init.d/cron reload

Setup the software to use the "combined" version of Apache 2 logs :

command sed -i -e 's/^LogFormat.*=.*/LogFormat=1/g' "/etc/awstats/awstats.conf"

Allow the complete year view when using browser :

command sed -i -e 's/^AllowFullYearView.*=.*/AllowFullYearView=3/g' "/etc/awstats/awstats.conf"

Copy the default configuration file in order to have a safe template :

command mv "/etc/awstats/awstats.conf" "/etc/awstats/awstats.conf.template"

Enable for all sites the interesting plug-ins of the software :

command echo 'LoadPlugin="tooltips"
LoadPlugin="decodeutfkeys"
LoadPlugin="ipv6"
LoadPlugin="geoipfree"' \
    >> "/etc/awstats/awstats.conf.local"

User management initialization

Create the folder storing the passwords file :

command mkdir --parent "/etc/apache2/passwords"

Create a password for the admin account, allowed to view every site statistics :

AWSTATS_PWD="$(command apg -q -a 0 -n 1 -M NCL)"

Create the passwords file and the admin account :

command htpasswd -cb "/etc/apache2/passwords/awstats-users.pwd" "admin" "${AWSTATS_PWD}"

Display the password assigned to the administration account of the software. Remember it :

command echo "The password of the 'admin' user is '${AWSTATS_PWD}'."

This account allow to view the statistics of every site statistics managed by AWStats.

Apache 2 configuration

Enable Apache 2 mod rewrite :

command a2enmod rewrite

Download the AWStats VirtualHost template :

AWSTATS_CONFIG="$(command wget "https://raw.github.com/biapy/howto.biapy.com/master/apache2/awstats/awstats-virtual-host.template" \
    --quiet --no-check-certificate --output-document=-)"

Create the statistics web application Apache 2 setup with a2tools :

command a2tools --template=custom "${DOMAIN}" "${AWSTATS_CONFIG}"

By default, the VirtualHost template used only allow the "admin" user to view the sites statistics. If you edit the file "/etc/apache2/sites-available/http-DOMAIN", you can allow access without login for some IP addresses.

Administration script installation

Install the AWStats administration script :

command wget "https://raw.github.com/biapy/howto.biapy.com/master/apache2/awstats/awstats-tools" \
    --quiet --no-check-certificate --output-document="/usr/bin/awstats-tool"
command chmod +x "/usr/bin/awstats-tool"

The use of this script for the chosen domain is given by :

echo "* awstats-tool ${DOMAIN} add-site www.example.com
      Add the site www.example.com to the statistics generated by AWStats.

* awstats-tool ${DOMAIN} add-site-user www.example.com jdoe
      Create the 'jdoe' user, and allow him to access the www.example.com site statistics.

The statistics for the www.example.com site are available on this URL : http://${DOMAIN}/www.example.com/"

Backups

Backup the installation with Backup Manager (see Install and setup Backup Manager on Debian) :

command backup-manager-tools add "/etc/awstats"
command backup-manager-tools add "/var/lib/awstats"

Thanks

• Thanks to AWStats developers.
• Thanks to the author of "Rewrite for Awstats" in the htaccess Elite forum for showing me the way.
• Thanks to Qtax on irc.freenode.net#regex.