An access log is a thorough list of all the files which were accessed by the guests of a particular Internet site. Every file which was requested for whatever reason shall be listed, so if you have just one webpage with 3 embedded pictures, one video and one embedded text file, for instance, the access log shall contain a total of 6 entries - one for any of the six files that were accessed when the visitor opened the webpage. A log usually shows the file name and path, the date, plus the visitor’s Operating System, browser and IP address. Occasionally you can also find the referrer sites that sent the visitors to your Internet site. The info an access log file features is in human-readable plain text format. It can be processed by special software on a personal computer and used to write reports on the overall performance of an Internet site, in addition to the web stats your web hosting server may have created.
