Lighttpd

{{{
#!rst ===
UserOnline ===

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Module: mod_useronline
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.. meta::
:keywords: lighttpd, online user, tracking, unique ips

.. contents:: Table of Contents

Description ===========
Module that tracks users online/active by unique ips (no cookies), includes counting hits, and linking into mod_status ([http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/wiki/Docs%3AModStatus#server-statistics /server-statistics]).

Options =======

useronline.enable

enable or disable tracking for given area

Default: 0 [disabled]

Example: useronline.enable = 1

useronline.online_age

number of seconds till user/ip is no longer considered online

Default: 300

Example: useronline.online_age = 600

useronline.active_age

number of seconds till user/ip is no longer considered active (note: setting this higher than online_age will give you the same active count as online)

Default: useronline.online_age / 3 = 100

Example: useronline.active_age = 60

useronline.max_ips

max number of ips to track (note: if this limit is hit, the server will not track new users/ips)

Memory Usage: 16 * max_ips (on a 64bit system)

Default: 1024

Example: useronline.max_ips = 4096

useronline.status_name

name to associate to the variables shown in server-statistics (if not set, it will not report)

Default: unset

Example: useronline.status_name = "myWonderfulSite"

Output/Result =============

When configured properly, you will notice a few new environment variables accessible to you. In PHP you can output the number of online users like so:

::
  <?php echo $_ENV['USERS_ONLINE'] ?>

Here is a current list of environment variables generated by this module:

users_online

number of online users (IPs that last hit >= online_age seconds ago)

users_active

number of active users (IPs that last hit >= min(online_age, active_age) seconds ago)

user_hits

number of hits seen by the current ip while being online/active

users_online_age

number of seconds that a user is still considered online (just reports the current setting)

users_active_age

number of seconds that a user is still considered active (just reports the current setting)

users_online_max_ips

max number of ips tracked (just reports the current setting)

users_online_id

site/conditional id, where the tracking data is located (may be used in the future to link)

Server Statistics =================

If useronline.status_name is set, the module will report to status counters that will be displayed in [http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/wiki/Docs%3AModStatus#server-statistics / mod_status' server-statistics]

Example: (using: useronline.status_name = "myWonderfulSite")

useronline.myWonderfulSite.active_age: 100
  useronline.myWonderfulSite.id: 9
  useronline.myWonderfulSite.max_ips: 4096
  useronline.myWonderfulSite.online_age: 300
  useronline.myWonderfulSite.users_active: 110
  useronline.myWonderfulSite.users_online: 296

The top 4 lines report settings, while the last 2 report the current counters.

You will notice an id number listed, this is the id where the data for that site/conditional is stored. It may be used in the future to link multiple sites/conditonals together to use the same counters, to make it easier to count online users across multiple domains.