How to Install GoAccess Log Analyzer on Ubuntu 24.04

GoAccess is a real-time web log analyzer that provides fast and valuable analytics for your web traffic. This guide will show you how to install GoAccess on Ubuntu 24.04 and set it up for monitoring log files on your server.

Step 1: Update the System

First, make sure your system’s package list is up to date. Open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install GoAccess

GoAccess is available in the default Ubuntu repositories. You can install it using the following command:

sudo apt install goaccess -y

Step 3: Configure GoAccess

GoAccess can be configured to read logs from a specific file. The most common log files are the Apache and Nginx logs located in the /var/log/ directory. To analyze the logs, you can specify the log file and format in the GoAccess command. For example, to analyze the Nginx access log:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log -o /var/www/html/report.html --log-format=COMBINED

This command generates an HTML report at /var/www/html/report.html, which you can view in a browser.

Step 4: Set Up Real-Time Reporting (Optional)

If you want GoAccess to provide real-time analytics, you can use the following command:

goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log -o /var/www/html/report.html --log-format=COMBINED --real-time-html --daemonize

This will create a real-time HTML report that you can access in your browser. You can refresh the page to see updated statistics automatically.

Step 5: Access the Report

Once GoAccess is configured and running, open your browser and navigate to http://your_server_ip/report.html to view the analytics report. You can use this report to monitor web traffic, errors, and other important metrics on your server.

Step 6: Automate Log Processing (Optional)

You can automate the log processing by creating a cron job that runs GoAccess at regular intervals. Open the cron file with the following command:

sudo crontab -e

Add the following line to run GoAccess every hour:

0 * * * * goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log -o /var/www/html/report.html --log-format=COMBINED --real-time-html --daemonize

Conclusion

You have successfully installed GoAccess on your Ubuntu 24.04 server. GoAccess provides real-time, valuable insights into your web traffic, helping you monitor your server’s performance. With the setup of real-time reporting, you can always keep track of the web traffic and errors on your site.