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FAQ - Reports, Statistics & Monitoring

What tools should I use for diagnostics and resolution of performance and scalability issues in my Drupal code?
Diagnostics For diagnostics we recommend New Relic, a free service included in the Acquia Network. New Relic is best suited for real-time monitoring of production and for analyzing historical performance trends. New Relic reports the performance of real user web transactions and includes details such as page and transaction-level response time and throughput as well as detailed database performance statistics, such as what queries in total are executing long, slow query frequency. It also has application availability and alerting capabilities. It is great for monitoring and discovering performance issues through its visual dashboards, charts and drill-down features. Resolution Acquia cloud provides access to the command line and several popular code and runtime analysis tools for code (XHProf), database (Percona Toolkit formerly Maatkit), and server resource analysis (htop & mytop). XHProf gives much more information on the execution of a _single_ request. Once the problem has been identified it requires XHProf (or XDebug) to really solve the code execution problem. XHProf is currently available in Acquia cloud and will be updated to reduce the requirement for xhprof_libs and xhprof_html libraries. Percona Toolkit includes pt-query-digest which can be used to figure out if the database slow queries were because of result size, lock time, or use pt-visual-explain to figure out if it's just a bad query. Acquia slow query logs are accessible via a support ticket and will soon be available via logs. On the system-side htop and mytop show the kind of to-the-minute stats necessary for real-time analysis.
What values should I set for Acquia Cloud Syslog?
This needs to be answered by ops. https://backlog.acquia.com/browse/OP-3622
What does the Cron Heartbeat measure when there's a contact via the Acquia Network?
Assuming the Acquia Connector module is installed, whenever the normal Drupal cron.php runs a heartbeat message will be sent to the Acquia Network. There's no other information included. The Acquia Network is configured to expect heartbeats from Drupal at a defined interval usually five minutes or sixty minutes. If there's not at least one heartbeat within that interval then Acquia Network records that as a failure. Failures will continue to be counted for each successive interval until a heartbeat is received. If you're looking for specific site up/down indication you might consider a service like Pingdom.
How does a client monitor Acquia's service performance?
There is a Drupal module we can use to provide visibility into Apache Solr statistics.
What are the procedures used to detect and identify communication failures?
Drupal logs errors within its functionality which requires connection to the site's database. Monitoring connection failures outside of Drupal would require a third party monitoring system.
Can access to reports in Drupal be restricted based on user, role, etc?
Access to reports in Drupal can be restricted based on user, role, etc.
Are reports in Drupal viewable through different report formats?
Reports are viewable in Drupal through different report formats.
Can custom reports be created in Drupal?
Custom reports can be created easily in Drupal.
Is reporting in Drupal browser-based?
Like almost everything in Drupal, reporting is browser-based.
Does Drupal provide reporting capabilities?
Included with Drupal is a query builder which provides some basic reporting capabilities.
Does Drupal provide the ability to score the surveys and/or quizzes and display the results?
Drupal provides the ability to score the surveys and/or quizzes and display the results.
Does Drupal provide the ability to create surveys and quizzes?
Drupal provides the ability to create surveys and quizzes.
Does Drupal enable time-stamping?
To do time-stamping in Drupal depends on the theme used, it may require code-based customization.
In Drupal does workflow integrate with email systems for notifications?
In Drupal emails are sent by the workflow system and can connect to any email server that supports internet email standards.
What types of content manager reports are built into the Drupal system by default?
Drupal has default reporting including eleven default reports covering: Recent log entries, Recent hits, Top 'access denied' errors, Top 'page not found' errors, Top referrers, Top search phrases, Top pages, Top visitors, Access log settings, Available updates, Status report. The Acquia Drupal distribution includes Google Analytics by default. The use of the views module is a popular way to to run report style queries on content.
Does Drupal allow the following aspects to be monitored: availability of the web server as a whole, ability to serve both static and dynamic pages, end-to-end functionality of web-based applications, response times and other performance measures, describe for detailed analysis?
Drupal can be monitored by any common tools for this process as well as any custom tools in use that use standard protocols.
Does Drupal support the creation of customized reports?
There is a Drupal export API for custom exporting. The most popular mechanism is the export module.
Does Drupal provide a range of reports for site authors and administrators?
Drupal has default reporting including eleven default reports covering: Recent log entries, Recent hits, Top 'access denied' errors, Top 'page not found' errors, Top referrers, Top search phrases, Top pages, Top visitors, Access log settings, Available updates, Status report. The Acquia Drupal distribution includes Google Analytics by default. The use of the views module is a popular and flexible method for running report style queries on content.
Does Drupal keep audit trails and activity logs?
In Drupal basic activity logging is present, as well as versioning of database content. Advanced audit logging is possible through the ability to extend the core logging functionality.
Does Drupal allow users to preview the draft content from within the authoring environment, as it will appear on the final site?
Page preview is standard core Drupal functionality
Does Drupal provide an interface for creating interactive online forms with a variety of standard interface controls, validation rules, and data import and export?
Drupal provides a great deal of flexibility in this regard. Options include CCK, WebForm and a variety of import/export modules adaptable to the data source.
Can e-mail notifications be sent to Drupal users if there are pages pending their action?
E-mail notifications can be sent to Drupal users.
What reporting and auditing features are available in Drupal?
In Drupal reporting and auditing features are available including error logs and system reports. Specific content and user reports may be created using views and pages to display select information of interest.
In Drupal is it possible to have a periodic checking of broken external links in the site?
There are both internal modules and external services that can accomplish checking external links in a Drupal site.
What mechanisms are available in Drupal to prevent broken internal links?
There are several ways to prevent broken links when using Drupal. Using internal paths like node/23 instead of aliases. Using the links package module that tracks all internal links. Scan the site with a link checker that looks for broken links. It is generally not a problem when using the Drupal CMS.
Using Drupal can an obsolete page be substituted with a new one?
Drupal has the ability to substitute in a new page if one has become obsolete and can ensure that all links will be changed to the new one.
With Drupal when a page is moved or renamed, are the links to this page automatically updated throughout the site?
Depends. References to pages may or may not be updated depending on how the link is represented. Pages may be given aliases to accommodate page URL updates. There are also contributed modules that track in-text links and attempt to track changes. The most fail-safe solution, however, is to always link with the internal path (e.g. node/23). Even if the alias for node/23 changes (e.g. from "about-us" to "welcome") the internal node/23 path will remain unchanged, thus no broken links ensue.
Does the Drupal system keep logs of activity?
The Drupal system keeps logs of activity.
What is the biggest installation of Drupal and the most number of content items that have been seen which Drupal can host / support?
The biggest installation of Drupal and the most number of content items that have been seen which Drupal can host / support are: Pepper Village located at http://peppervillage.com which has twenty million content nodes, with one hundred fifty million taxonomy terms. For high volume Drupal, please see Drupal Case Study: Lifetime Digital at: http://acquia.com/resources/library/case-study-lifetime-digital, with: * fifty million page views per month * six point five million site visitors per month * one hundred fifty thousand page views per hour * load tests to levels of greater than five hundred thousand page views per hour
How does Drupal rank in performance and scalability?
Drupal has been used for tens of thousands of sites, including a number of well- known international brands. The software has been refined by the Drupal community and Drupal experts, like Optaros, to run high-availability, high-performance sites with stats like the following: • Over 10 million page views per month • Over 2 million page views in a single day • Over 1 million nodes on a large site (5 million+ PV/month) • Over 9000 concurrent logged in users • Over 30,000 registrations in a single day The above statistics represent Drupal deployments for which Optaros has been responsible.
With Drupal are users able to vote on comments?
With Drupal users are able to vote on comments.
In Acquia Drupal, can a user access web and database log files for troubleshooting problems?
Users of Acquia Drupal can access web and database log files for troubleshooting problems. However, it's limited in Acquia Hosting.
Does Drupal offer constant monitoring of content management system and web-serving platform offering alerts to the user when malfunctions or service interruptions are discovered?
Drupal offers constant monitoring of content management system and web-serving platform offering alerts to the user when malfunctions or service interruptions are discovered.
Does Drupal have the ability to support fifteen gigabyte document storage, at least one terabyte bandwidth per month, and eight million page views per month?
Drupal has the ability support fifteen gigabyte document storage, at least one terabyte bandwidth per month, and eight million page views per month.
Does Drupal offer an option for tagging content with icons?
Drupal's Flag module is flexible flagging system that is completely customizable by the administrator. Some options include bookmarks, marking content as important, friends, or flagging content as offensive. With extensive views integration, you can create custom lists of popular content or keep tabs on important content. A custom option would be Themeing.
Is there a way to use Drupal to create surveys and capture and analyze the results?
Drupal has several ways of adding and managing polls and surveys for your website. The simplest of which is the Advanced Poll module. Advanced Poll replaced Drupal's Poll module. For more information on Drupal's Advanced Poll module please visit: http://drupal.org/project/advpoll If you're looking for more of an intermediate route you may want to try Drupal's Webform module. For more information on Drupal's Webform module please visit: http://drupal.org/project/webform
Does Drupal offer a dynamic display of the top viewed, commented, emailed, members who liked, etc. content on a website?
Core + Contrib: Views + Fivestar (for commented & members who liked) http://drupal.org/project/views http://drupal.org/project/fivestar Contrib: Statistics module is required for "Top viewed". (Statistics module is not great for performance) Custom: Could create custom module to avoid using the Statistics module. Need clarification on "Emailed" requirement. This would be something like "most emailed content." If we have the capability to allow a user to shre the content by emailing it to a friend, then the emailed count for that content would increment and the most emailed content would be listed. LIke what CNN and BBC have. Contrib: Forward module (http://drupal.org/project/forward) - integrates a "email this" link to each node and integrates it with statistics & views for a CNN style block ----------->Rusty's option below------- Drupal offers at it's core options for organizing top rated content. The Views and Fivestar modules are also available to assist in this organization. Both Views and Fivestar are available for tracking comments and members who may have like specific content. While on the contributed side there is the Forward module which allows customers to forward links to friends and can also give the user a running count of emails that have been sent.
Does Acquia Drupal provide a risk assessment?
Acquia Drupal provides a risk assessment.
What internet and intranet sites use Drupal?
The number of sites which use Drupal is enormous. There are tens of thousands of sites which use Drupal and Acquia products and services (e.g., Whitehouse.gov, MotherJones.com, PopularScience.com, FastCompany.com, Verizon's Intranet, and many others).
Are there consolidated reports showing which user groups have permission to see which content? What are the different ways to get this information?
The Organics Group module has a list of users sorted by group owner, and group administrator. Since Drupal is open-source software and has an open schema, Acquia can develop a custom report to show which content is viewable by which roles.
What usage statistics does Drupal provide? How may the statistics be viewed?
Drupal has basic reports for Pages Not Found, Access Denied, Top Search Phrases. Custom reports can be extended using contributed modules such as the Statistics Pro module and visualized using the Charts module. Alternately, external web analytics systems can be used.
What filtering options exist for reporting?
We recommend an external solution (e.g., Google Analytics or Omniture) be used for reports based on selected locations or for specific time frames.
Does Acquia have examples of the graphical reports available with Drupal?
The image below shows an examples of the graphical reports available with Drupal:
How is information about user access obtained and reported?
Drupal reports can show basic content access information. For advanced reporting administrators use typically AWSTATs to analyze web log traffic, or Google Analytics or Omniture to generate content, visitor, and campaign reports.
How can publishers see how often a page is viewed and other web analytics.
Drupal has a report mechanism to show content page views. The Acquia Network has some basic Drupal content analytics. Drupal has a Google analytics module which can do more advanced web analytics.