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Spider Watcher · **Released**: 01-05-2006

Spider Watcher
Author: Mikel Beck (mikel.beck@elite-computing.net)

This hack keeps track of the spiders (Search Engine robots) that visit your fourm. Every time a guest visits a page, the guest's IP address, user agent and the page they visited are logged to the database.

When somebody views the spider statistics page, this data is "rolled up", meaning the raw data is collated, the spider's name is determined by comparing the user agent to data contained in the spiders_bulletin.xml file, and the number of pages and visits is summarized and writted back to the database. In addition, and data from non-bots is removed.

The data is then displayed in a easy to read format for your viewing pleasure.

If the user viewing the report has permissions to view IP addresses, these are displayed as well.

A live version of the report from one of my sites can be seen here: http://www.happyhourpub.com/spiders.php

Also see the attached screenshot for an exmaple.

Revision History:
1.0.0 Beta 1 - 01/05/2006
- Initial Release

1.0.0 Beta 2 - 01/06/2006
- Included templates for spiders.php
- Removed text from templates, added them as phrases

1.0.0 Beta 3 - 01/07/2006
- Split up the display of "known" and "unknown" spiders

1.0.0 Beta 4 - 01/25/2006
- Corrected potentional SQL injection issue in plug-in
- Reduced the number of SQL queries required to display statistics
- Corrected date/time display issue

1.0.0 Beta 5 - 02/01/2006
- Reduced the number of SQL queries required to display statistics

1.0.0 Beta 6 - 02/08/2006
- No release

1.0.0 Beta 7 - 02/11/2006
- Corrected issue with "unknown" spiders not being displayed properly.
- Added tracking of the type of spider (searchspider, link checker, etc)

1.0.0 Beta 8 - 02/19/2006
- Change the display of IP addresses to be a pop-up so they're all not displayed on the main page.
- Combined the spiders that have the same name but different user agents.

1.0.0 Beta 9 - 03/10/2006
- Changed the display to group similar spiders together (search spiders, http check spiders, etc)

1.0.0 Beta 10 - 08/08/2006
- Changed how the rollup functions. Instead of rolling up every time somebody views the spider page, it rolls up once per hour.
- Corrected a few bugs here and there, mostly related to removing entries from the database.

Installation Instructions
1. Upload spiders.php to the root of your forum.
2. Upload spiders_rollup.php to the includes/cron directory.
3. Import the file product-spiderwatcher.xml using the Manage Products module.
4. Add a link to spiders.php on your navbar or footer.
5. Add a cron job with the following information:
Title: Spider Watcher Rollup
Day of the Week: *
Day of the Month: *
Hour: *
Minute: 0 - - -
Log entries: Yes
Filename: ./includes/cron/spiders_rollup.php

Upgrade Instructions
1. Upload (and overwrite) spiders to the root of your forum.
2. Upload spiders_rollup.php to the includes/cron directory.
3. Import the file product-spiderwatcher.xml using the Manage Products module. Make sure the "Allow Overwrite" option is set to "Yes".
4. Add a link to spiders.php on your navbar or footer.
5. Add a cron job with the following information:
Title: Spider Watcher Rollup
Day of the Week: *
Day of the Month: *
Hour: *
Minute: 0 - - -
Log entries: Yes
Filename: ./includes/cron/spiders_rollup.php

***UPGRADE NOTE***
When you upgrade from version 1.0.0 Beta 7 to 1.0.0 Beta 8 your existing spider data will be lost!

To make sure that you can decode the maximum amount of spiders, you should grab the latest spiderlist.xml and replace the spiders_vbulletin.xml file in your forumhome/includes/xml/ directory with the one from this thread: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76662

Brandon Sheley · #**182** 02-07-2006, 01:25 AM

there have been many discussions about boardtracker at TAZ, I suggest those who have question go check it out..

C Braithwaite · #**183** 02-07-2006, 09:13 PM

my list doesnt appear to be seperating it's self.. it just has the one "unknown Spider" item, and keeps changing the name of the spider depending on the most recent spider.

http://www.mished.co.uk/forum/spiders.php

I've checked the database, and spiders from google, yahoo and msn visit, but dont pop up in my list. ?

mikelbeck · #**184** 02-07-2006, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C Braithwaite

my list doesnt appear to be seperating it's self.. it just has the one "unknown Spider" item, and keeps changing the name of the spider depending on the most recent spider.

http://www.mished.co.uk/forum/spiders.php

I've checked the database, and spiders from google, yahoo and msn visit, but dont pop up in my list. ?

What it's showing now is msnbot/1.0, which should be identified as a "known" spider.

Did you update the spiders list? (downloaded the new xml file and install it)

C Braithwaite · #**185** 02-07-2006, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikelbeck

What it's showing now is msnbot/1.0, which should be identified as a "known" spider.

Did you update the spiders list? (downloaded the new xml file and install it)

yeah, i downloaded it, and double checked it just a while ago..

C Braithwaite · #**186** 02-08-2006, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C Braithwaite

yeah, i downloaded it, and double checked it just a while ago..

as you may see, the last spider (depeneding on when you look) is now "Unknown Spider
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Yahoo! Slurp; http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/slurp) 02-08-2006
02:25 AM "

mikelbeck · #**187** 02-08-2006, 12:27 PM

That's very strange...

Did you do a fresh install of 1.0.0 Beta 5 or did you upgrade from a previous version?

hotwheels · #**188** 02-08-2006, 12:29 PM

great job mikelbeck.........

mikelbeck · #**189** 02-08-2006, 05:56 PM

Beta 7 will be ready tomorrow or Friday morning. This version will fix the problem that C Braithwaite uncovered, plus will add the type of spider being identified (search engine spider, link checker, etc)

Zia · #**190** 02-09-2006, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikelbeck

Beta 7 will be ready tomorrow or Friday morning. This version will fix the problem that C Braithwaite uncovered, plus will add the type of spider being identified (search engine spider, link checker, etc)

Dear Mike
it would be real smart..

if u dont mind once u can see my spiders page...
http://www.golpo.net/forum/spiders.php

Hope we will have all the classification.......& if it show the IP range instead of showing all the IP like Yahoo/Msn thay just made there home there :S lot lot of ip..make the page miles long....

Warm Wishes To Yu......

StarBuG · #**191** 02-09-2006, 09:03 AM

Hi

One request.
The Yahoo Slurp spider uses hundrets of different IPs that are listed in the spider list.
It is way to much to be usefull.
Would it be possible to have the ips grouped or limit the display to lets say 20-50 ips and the rest is only visible via a popup if needed?

Would be nice

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.04770 seconds Memory Usage 2,321KB Queries Executed 26 (?)
More Information
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