Brown trousers time :~

[Paul Orrock]

Hi Lyle,

Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you're going to 
try and write some real time traffic analysis and tracking software for 
your clients.

I think that your benchmark should be something like 
http://www.google.com/analytics/ which is very powerful with loads of 
information and is free.

Having tried and seen others try to implement tracking tools for sites 
in loads of different ways  believe me when I say Google's model is the 
way to go, run the code on your own boxes and hand out some JS or a 
simple CGI Image call for people to put on their webpages.

That way :

Only one script is needed with the client id being one of the params in 
the JS.

This script can actually be a very lightweight perl daemon that just 
does tracking with no overhead of serving webpages. Don't forget to 
check your variables to make sure you're not being "hacked".

You only have to write a perl engine for your favourite platform rather 
than worrying about a multitude of implementations and OS. Testing and 
upgrading becomes sooo much easier.

Doing it this way means that the busier your clients are the more you 
can charge them , £x per 100 concurrent site browsers.

You get complete control of the script, versions, etc and get clean 
separation of the tracking tool from the front end. You can then add 
extra functionality for certain clients and charge them appropriately. 
As long as the tracking tool tracks everything for all sites you can 
choose what level of detail to give your clients.

Alternatively, save yourself the dragons and the pain and run away :-)

Just my 2p.

regards,

Paul