[nflug] Logging IP Address to Database

[Robert Wolfe]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On Behalf
> Of Daniel Colascione
> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2008 1:12 AM
> To: nflug at nflug.org
> Subject: Re: [nflug] Logging IP Address to Database
> 
> That depends on your front-end language, not your specific database back-
> end. Any web environment will give you access to the standard CGI
> environment variables (or emulations thereof). See the CGI specification:

I am going to be ATTEMPTING to use PHP :)

> http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/env.html
> 
> You'll find all the information you need there. (REMOTE_HOST for IP;
> HTTP_USER_AGENT for browser/OS.)

Will have to check this out :)  

> For statistical work, though, you're better off using something like
> webalyzer with your web server's access logs. It works well enough, and
> without any additional work on your part.

I know, but I wanting to run stats in a different manner than (working on a
custom script/program for work that will do the same thing, I just wanted to
run the thing on my testbed here at home before I put it into a
mission-critical enterprise-class production environment.

> Also, the IP address doesn't actually *mean* anything. It could by
> dynamic. It could be a proxy. Who knows? It's not good for authentication
> even for a single session; AOL users, for example, get bounced around to a
> dozen different proxies over the course of the same session. IMHO,
> recording an IP address is near-useless.

The IP address would not be used for authentication purposes, just for
tracking purposes.

> A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
> Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
> A: Top-posting.
> Q: What is the most annoying thing in email?

No top-posting here (even though it does not bother me) <G>.