Selection criteria
Much of the power in alscan comes from its ability to select specific requests to be included in the report. There are two general sets of selection criteria. Time-based selection, and request based selection.
Time-based selection
There is a set of time-based selection. This divides any access log into three time periods. The before period the detailed scan period, the detailed scan period, and the after scan period. The first time which included in the detailed scan period is defined by the --start option. The last time which is included in the detailed scan period is defined by the --stop option.
If the --start option is defined, and the --stop option is not, then the scan will include all requests after the --start time in the detailed reporting period. (No after scan period.)
If the --stop option is defined, and the --start option is not, then the scan will include all requests before the --stop time in the detailed reporting period. (No before scan period.)
If neither the --start nor the --stop option is defined, then all requests in the access log are included in the detailed reporting period. (Neither a before nor an after scan period.)
The --outside option is used to enable the reporting of the before and after time slots (if they exist.)
Time options
Both the --start and --stop options define a specific second in time.
General format:
- option
=reboot– time of the last reboot is used (if available). - option
=@ddddddddd - option
=hh[:mm[:ss]][+ZZ[zz]] - option
=hh[mm[ss]][Z] - option
=[yyyy-]mm-dd[:hh[:mm[:ss]]][+ZZ[zz] - option
=MMM-dd[-yyyy][:hh[:mm[:ss]]][+ZZ[zz]] - option
=dd-MMM[-yyyy][:hh[:mm[:ss]]][+ZZ[zz]]
By default a --stop time’s optional minutes and seconds default to 59; hours default to 23; day, month and year defaults are based upon the current date. A --start time’s optional minutes and seconds default to 0; hours default to 0; day, month and year defaults are based upon the latest time which has the start time less than the stop time. The default time-zone offset is the current local time, or the time-zone of either --start or --stop option if defined. For example, in the America/Chicago timezone, the following are all the same:
--start=2012-01-01:00:00:00 --stop=2012-01-01:23:59:59--start=@1325397600 --stop=@1325483999--start=0 --stop=2012-01-01--start=1-Jan-2012 --stop=1-Jan-2012:23--start='1-Jan-2012:06:00:00 +00' --stop=2012-01-02:05:59:59
Request based selection
Selection criteria that is not time based is described as Request based selection criteria. For example: what method was given as part of the request. Another criteria would be the partial URI in the request.
Request options
--method=name--url=URI