Generic - NCSA log parser

This topic describes how to configure and use the NCSA log parser, which is useful for parsing the web server log files (Apache and IIS).This topic contains the following sections:

Requirements

Obtain an example of the file to be parsed and validate its format: it must be a standard NCSA formatted log file.
Following log entries format are supported:

#RECORD GET
10.205.25.53 - - [27/Oct/2004:04:02:04 +0200] "GET http://u4p.intjs HTTP/1.1" 304 238 TCP_IMS_HIT:NONE

#RECORD GET
2004-11-14 00:00:17 10.21.12.162 - 10.21.13.26 80 GET /dslib/IsClusterAvailable.asp - 200 0

#RECORD POST
2004-11-14 00:00:17 10.21.12.162 - 10.21.13.26 80 POST /dslib/IsClusterAvailable.asp - 200 0

#RECORD POST
62.11.106.82 - - [01/Nov/2004:00:00:26 +0100] "POST /aol2004/aolres/ HTTP/1.1" 200 87808

#RECORD GET/POST IIS 6
2008-10-07 22:35:44 GET /Default.asp - hosting\ed_adm 151.53.255.231 Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+it;+rv:1.9.0.3)+Gecko/2008092417+Firefox/3.0.3 302 507 458

#RECORD GET/POST IIS 6
2008-10-07 22:35:47 GET /clienti/Graphic/Images/titolo_statistiche.gif - hosting\finanzia_adm 151.53.255.231 Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+it;+rv:1.9.0.3)+Gecko/2008092417+Firefox/3.0.3 200 699 592
2008-10-07 22:35:51 POST /clienti/ScriptServerSide/Exec_Statistiche.asp - hosting\finanzia_adm 151.53.255.231 Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+it;+rv:1.9.0.3)+Gecko/2008092417+Firefox/3.0.3 200 330 749

Then, define a log file access strategy. BMC Helix Continuous Optimization can access files through different methods:

• Local repository - Files are stored in the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization repository, that is, a repository hosted on the filesystem of the server running the ETL Engine.
• Remote repository - Files are stored on a remote repository that BMC Helix Continuous Optimization can access through one of the following repositories: SCP, FTP, SFTP, Windows Shares. If Windows Shares is the selected method, it is mandatory having a Samba client installed on the ETL Engine server; at least a read-only account on the remote repository is required.

Integration steps

To integrate BMC Helix Continuous Optimization with the NCSA log parser, perform the following task:

1. Navigate to Administration > ETL & SYSTEM TASKS > ETL tasks.
2. In the ETL tasks page, click Add > Add ETL under the Last run tab.

3. In the Add ETL page, set values for the following properties under each expandable tab. 

   Note

   Basic properties are displayed by default in the Add ETL page. These are the most common properties that you can set for an ETL, and it is acceptable to leave the default selections for each as is.

   Basic properties

   Property	Description
   Run configuration
   ETL module	Select Generic - NCSA log parser.
   ETL task name	Default name is already filled out for you.
   Run configuration name	Default name is already filled out for you.
   Deploy status	Select Production.
   Description	(Optional) Enter a brief description.
   Log level	Select how detailed you want the log to be: 1 - Light: Add bare minimum activity logs to the log file. 5 - Medium: Add medium-detailed activity logs to the log file. 10 - Verbose: Add detailed activity logs to the log file.
   Execute in simulation mode	Select Yes if you want to to validate the connectivity between the ETL engine and the target, and to ensure that the ETL does not have any other configuration issues. This option is useful while testing a new ETL task. Additional information Set Execute in simulation mode to no when the ETL is validated before scheduling it for regular execution.
   Module selection	Ensure that the Based on datasource option is selected. Note If you select Based on Open ETL template, BMC Helix Continuous Optimization is integrated with a Generic extractor based on the selected Open ETL template. For more information, see  Generic ETL based on a template.
   Module description	A link that points you to technical documentation for this ETL.
   Datasets	The Generic - NCSA log parser ETL supports two different datasets: WKLWEB and WKLWPAG; you can choose one or both. Additional information This article only covers configuration for the dataset WKLDWEB, which provides the minimum level of information required for capacity planning purposes. Click Edit. Select one (click) or more (shift+click) datasets that you want to include from Available datasets and click >> to move them to Selected datasets. Click Apply.
   Entity catalog
   Sharing status	Select any one: PRIVATE: Select this option if this is the only ETL that extracts data from the given set of resources and the lookup table is not shared with the specified ETL task. SHARED: Select this option if more than one ETL extracts data from the given set of resources and the lookup table is shared with the specified ETL task.
   Object relationships
   After import	Specify the domain to which you want to add the entities created by the ETL. Select one of the following options: New domain: This option is selected by default. Select a parent domain, and specify a name for your new domain. Existing domain: Select an existing domain from the Domain list. By default, a new domain with the same ETL name is created for each ETL.
   CSV parser
   Default business driver name	Select any one of the appropriate option: Find in data: By Default this option is selected out for you. File prefix (part before _): Select a file prefix for default business driver name. Specified: Specify the default business driver name.
   File location
   File location	Select any one of the following methods to retrieve the CSV file: Local directory: Specify a path on your local machine where the CSV file resides. Windows share: Specify the Windows share path where the CSV file resides. FTP: Specify the FTP path where the CSV file resides. SCP: Specify the SCP path where the CSV file resides. SFTP: Specify the SFTP path where the CSV file resides.
   Directory	Path of the directory that contains the CSV file.
   Directory UNC Full Path (Windows share)	The full UNC (Universal Naming Convention) address. For example: //hostname/sharedfolder
   Files to copy (with wildcards)	Before parsing, the SFTP and SCP commands need to make a local temporary copy of the files; this setting specifies which files in the remote directory should be imported.
   File list pattern	A regular expression that defines which data files should be read. The default value is (?$<$!done)\$, which tells the ETL to read every file whose name does not end with the string "done". For example, my_file_source.done.
   Recurse into subdirs?	Select Yes or No. When set to Yes, BMC Helix Continuous Optimization also inspects the subdirectories of the target directories.
   After parse operation	Choose what to do after the CSV file has been imported. The available options are: Do nothing: Do nothing after import. Append suffix to parsed file: Append a suffix you add here to the imported CSV file. For example, _done or _impoted, and so on. Archive parsed file in directory: Archive the parsed file in the specified directory. Archive directory (local): Default archive directory path is filled out for you. For example, %BASE/../repository/imprepository Compress archived files: Select Yes or No. Archive bad files in directory: Archive erroneous files in the specified directory. Archive directory (local): Default archive directory path is filled out for you. For example, %BASE/../repository/imprepository Compress archived files: Select Yes or No.
   Parsed files suffix	The suffix that will be appended parsed files; default is .done.
   Remote host (Applies to FTP, SFTP, SCP)	Enter the name or address of the remote host to connect to.
   Username (Applies to Windows share, FTP, SFTP, SCP)	Enter the username to connect to the file location server.
   Password required (Applies to Windows share, FTP, SFTP, SCP)	Select Yes or No.
   Password (Applies to Windows share, FTP, SFTP, SCP)	Enter a password to connect to the file location server. Applicable if you selected Yes for Password required.
   ETL task properties
   Task group	Select a task group to classify this ETL into.
   Running on scheduler	Select a scheduler for running the ETL. For cloud ETLs, use the scheduler that is preconfigured in Helix. For on-premises ETLs, use the scheduler that runs on the Remote ETL Engine.
   Maximum execution time before warning	The number of hours, minutes or days to to execute the ETL for before generating warnings, if any.
   Frequency	Select the frequency of ETL execution. Available options are: Predefined: Select a Predefined frequency from Each Day, Each Week or Each Month. Custom: Enter a Custom frequency (time interval) as the number of minutes, hours, days or weeks to run the ETL in.
   Start timestamp: hour\minute (Applies to Predefined frequency)	The HH:MM start timestamp to add to the ETL execution running on a Predefined frequency.
   Custom start timestamp	Select a YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM timestamp to add to the ETL execution running on a Custom frequency.

   Note

   To view or configure Advanced properties, click Advanced. You do not need to set or modify these properties unless you want to change the way the ETL works. These properties are for advanced users and scenarios only.

   Advanced properties

   Property	Description
   Collection level
   Metric profile selection	Select any one: Use Global metric profile: Select this to use an out-of-the-box global profile, that is available on the Adding and managing metric profiles page. By default, all ETL modules use this profile. Select a custom metric profile: Any metric profiles you add in the Add metric profile page (Administration > DATAWAREHOUSE > Metric profiles). For more information, see Adding and managing metric profiles.
   Levels up to	The metric level defines the amount of metric imported into capacity optimization. If you increase the level, additional load is added to the ingestion, while decreasing the metric level reduces the number of imported metrics. Choose the metric level to apply on selected metrics: [1] Essential [2] Basic [3] Standard [4] Extended
   Metric
   Metric list <for selected dataset> Note: This property is activated only after you select Datasets under theRun configuration tab.	Click Edit. Select one (click) or more (shift+click) metrics that you want to include from Available items and click >> to move them to Selected items. Click Apply.
   File location
   Subdirectories to exclude (separated by ';' ) (Local directory)	Names of subdirectories to exclude from parsing.
   Input file external validator (Local directory, Windows share, FTP)	Select any one of the following options: No external validation: Do not use external validation of the CSV file structure. Use external validation script: Use the following script to validate the CSV file: Script to execute: Specify the validation script to use to validate the input file.
   Additional properties
   List of properties	Click Add. Add an additional property in the etl.additional.prop.n box. Click Apply. Repeat this task to add more properties.
   Loader configuration
   Empty dataset behavior	Choose one of the following actions if the loader encounters an empty dataset: Abort: Abort the loader. Ignore: Ignore the empty dataset and continue parsing.
   ETL log file name	Name of the file that contains the ETL execution log; the default value is: %BASE/log/%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%MINUTE%TASKID
   Maximum number of rows for CSV output	A number which limits the size of the output files.
   CSV loader output file name	Name of the file generated by the CSV loader; the default value is: %BASE/output/%DSNAME%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%ZPROG%DSID%TASKID.
   BCO loader output file name	Name of the file generated by the Capacity Optimization loader; the default value is: %BASE/output/%DSNAME%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%ZPROG%DSID%TASKID.
   Reduce priority	Normal: High:
   Remove domain suffix from datasource name	(Only for systems) If set to True, the domain name is removed from the data source name. For example, server.domain.com will be saved as server.
   Leave domain suffix to system name	(Only for systems) If set to True, the domain name is maintained in the system name. For example: server.domain.com will be saved as such.
   Skip entity creation	(Only for ETL tasks sharing lookup with other tasks) If set to True, this ETL does not create an entity, and discards data from its data source for entities not found in BMC Helix Continuous Optimization. It uses one of the other ETLs that share lookup to create the new entity.
   Scheduling options
   Hour mask	Specify a value to execute the task only during particular hours within the day. For example, 0 – 23 or 1,3,5 – 12.
   Day of week mask	Select the days so that the task can be executed only during the selected days of the week. To avoid setting this filter, do not select any option for this field.
   Day of month mask	Specify a value to execute the task only during particular days within a month. For example, 5, 9, 18, 27 – 31.
   Apply mask validation	By default this property is set to True. Set it to False if you want to disable the preceding Scheduling options that you specified. Setting it to False is useful if you want to temporarily turn off the mask validation without removing any values.
   Execute after time	Specify a value in the hours:minutes format (for example, 05:00 or 16:00) to wait before the task must be executed. This means that once the task is scheduled, the task execution starts only after the specified time passes.
   Enqueueable	Select one of the following options: False (Default): While a particular task is already running, if the next execution command arises – it is ignored. True: While a particular task is already running, if the next execution command arises – it is placed in a queue and is executed as soon as the current execution ends.

4. Click Save.
   You return to the Last run tab under the ETL tasks page.
5. Validate the results in simulation mode: In the ETL tasks table under ETL tasks > Last run, locate your ETL (ETL task name), click  to run the ETL.
   After you run the ETL, the Last exit column in the ETL tasks table will display one of the following values:
   • OK: The ETL executed without any error in simulation mode.
   • WARNING: The ETL execution returned some warnings in simulation mode. Check the ETL log.
   • ERROR: The ETL execution returned errors and was unsuccessful. Edit the active Run configuration and try again.
6. Switch the ETL to production mode: To do this, perform the following task:
   1. In the ETL tasks table under ETL tasks > Last run, click the ETL under the Name column.
   2. In the Run configurations table in the ETL details page, click  to edit the active run configuration.
   3. In the Edit run configuration page, navigate to the Run configuration expandable tab and set Execute in simulation mode to No.
   4. Click Save.
7. Locate the ETL in the ETL tasks table and click  to Run it, or schedule an ETL run.
   After you run the ETL, or schedule the ETL for a run, it will extract the data form the source and transfer it to the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization database.

Metrics

This section describes which metrics are populated by default.

Supported datasets

Related topics

Using ETL datasets

Generic - CSV file parser

Developing custom ETLs

Dataset reference for ETL tasks

Horizontal and Vertical datasets

Viewing datasets and metrics by dataset and ETL module