Advanced Logging for IIS - Client Logging

by Vishal Sood

IIS Advanced Logging can accept information about client-consumption of media and other content. Clients (for example, Microsoft Silverlight) can send useful data about their interaction with media content. This information forms the basis of analytic reporting, which can help businesses improve their content placement and return on investment (ROI).

IIS Advanced Logging accepts client logs by using standard HTTP POST messages and XML formatting, enabling most clients to use this capability.

For client logging to be useful, a client must send messages to IIS Advanced Logging via HTTP POST in the expected XML format. Clients that can do this include:

• The IS Advanced Logging is an extension for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 is no longer available. We recommend Enhanced Logging for IIS 8.5.
• Applications based on Microsoft Silverlight 3 or later. Silverlight includes metrics that you can use to post messages in the required XML format to the web server that has IIS Advanced Logging installed.
• The IIS Smooth Streaming sample client.

Client logging in IIS Advanced Logging is disabled by default. To enable this feature, do the following:

1. In IIS Manager, on the Home page for the server where you would like to receive client logs, double-click the Advanced Logging icon.
   
2. In the Actions pane, click Enable Client Logging.
   

IIS Smooth Streaming is an adaptive streaming platform from Microsoft that enables bitrate switching to accommodate a client's changing resource conditions (network throughput and CPU). For IIS Advanced Logging, we can use a Sample Logging Client for IIS Smooth Streaming, which provides rich data collection capabilities. This section describes how to set up the Sample Logging Client and configure IIS Advanced Logging to log the client-side analytical data.

To set up the Sample Logging Client for IIS Smooth Streaming, do the following:

1. Download the Sample Logging Client for IIS Smooth Streaming.
2. When you're prompted to extract the sample, click Yes.
3. When you're prompted to accept the License Agreement, click Yes.
4. When you're asked to specify a location in which to place the extracted files, enter a directory path (for example, C:\LoggingSampleClient). If prompted to create the directory, click Yes (this prompt will appear only if the directory doesn't exist).

When you navigate to the directory to which you extracted the sample, you'll see a file named SampleClient.xap. This is the Sample Logging Client. You can replace the .xap file in existing content with this file (rename if necessary or update the HTML that references it).

The only configuration possible with the Sample Logging Client is to specify a log URL, which determines where the client will send HTTP POST messages containing the collected statistics. This section reviews two configuration options for logging Smooth Streaming client statistics.

Clients read the LogUrl element in a client-side manifest to determine the URL where the HTTP POST should be sent. Multiple LogUrl elements mean that the HTTP POST is sent to all the URLs in the list. The URLs specified in the Initialization parameters section of this article are added to the list obtained from the manifest.

The syntax for adding LogUrls to the manifest is:

<SmoothStreamingMedia
  MajorVersion="1"
  MinorVersion="0"
  Duration="6537916781">
<LogUrl>http://logserver/iislogging.log</LogUrl>
<StreamIndex
    Type="video"
    Subtype="WVC1"
    Chunks="327"
    Url="QualityLevels({bitrate})/Fragments(video={start time})">

The Log URL can also be set using the PARAM tag initparams while instantiating the client. The syntax is as follows (you can specify multiple LogUrls via a semi-colon separated list):

<object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%">
    <param name="source" value="SampleClient.xap"/>
    <param name="onerror" value="onSilverlightError" />
    <param name="initparams" value='autoplay=true,autoload=true,enablecaptions=true,muted=false,displaytimecode=true,playlist=<playList>
<playListItems><playListItem title="test" description="test" mediaSource="http://server/contentdir/content.ism/manifest" adaptiveStreaming="True" thumbSource="" frameRate="24.0" width="512" height="384" ></playListItem></playListItems></playList>,logUrls=http://server/contentdir/post.log' />                                       
    <a href="http://go2.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=124807">
    <img src="http://go2.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight"/>
    </a>
</object>

For IIS Advanced Logging to take advantage of client logging capabilities, related fields and the log definition must be configured in the configuration store. While it's possible to use the Advanced Logging user interface in IIS Manager to do this, an easier way to configure the log definition is to use the script AddClientConfig.js. Click here to download the script in a compressed (zipped) folder (ClientConfig_2.zip).

The script syntax is:

AddClientConfig.js [/f:<fields.xml>] [/b:<baseFileName>]

where fields.xml is the XML file included in the zipped folder and baseFileName is the name you want to give to your log definition. If you don't specify a baseFileName, IIS Advanced Logging will use the default log definition name: %COMPUTERNAME%-Client.

After running the script, restart the web server by using the IIS Reset command-line utility or by restarting the web server in IIS Manager:

1. In the Connections pane, click the web server name.
2. In the Actions pane, click Restart.

The web server running IIS Advanced Logging can now receive client-side logs.

The Sample Logging Client for IIS Smooth Streaming will post log messages for the following events:

• Play. Indicates the start of a play request. IIS Advanced Logging will begin calculating statistics.

• Seek. The client jumps to a new location. This event doesn't invalidate the current session or create a new one. All statistics other than the following continue to be cumulative:

  • c-starttime. The client resets to a new location using the Seek function. This field as specified above suggests the time in the video where playback started.
  • startupTime. Seeking may cause the client buffer to be filled again, so we reset this value.
  • x-duration. The duration is reset to 0 when c-starttime changes.

• Stop. Client progressive download and playback stopped. However, the session (c-playerid GUID) isn't invalidated. Restarting playback will start from 0 offset again and at that point the following fields will continue to be cumulative:

  • c-starttime. Resets to 0.
  • startupTime. Calculated again.
  • x-duration. Resets to 0.

• Pause. This is similar to Stop, except that playback (when resumed) continues from the location where it was paused. In this case, all fields except the following continue to be cumulative:

  • startupTime. Calculated again

• Periodic. A snapshot of log data that is posted at 30-second intervals. The 30-second interval is calculated from a previous periodic log or from another log created from any of the other events above. You shouldn't misinterpret that this event occurs every 30 seconds. When another event occurs and a log is sent, the next periodic log is sent after 30 seconds has elapsed. This ensures that you don't log two events in a 30-second window unless two events occur during that interval.

IIS Advanced Logging can record client data for the following logging fields.

The following is a sample log from the Sample Logging Client for IIS Smooth Streaming:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<XML>
  <applicationUri>http://www.contoso.com/AdaptiveStreamingStatsTracker.xap</applicationUri>
  <audioBandwidthAvg>932844</audioBandwidthAvg>
  <audioBandwidthMax>27343198</audioBandwidthMax>
  <audioBandwidthMin>46528</audioBandwidthMin>
  <audioBitrates>160016</audioBitrates>
  <audioBufferChunks>0</audioBufferChunks>
  <audioBufferChunksAvg>10</audioBufferChunksAvg>
  <audioBufferChunksMax>11</audioBufferChunksMax>
  <audioBufferSize>0</audioBufferSize>
  <audioBufferSizeAvg>401160</audioBufferSizeAvg>
  <audioBufferSizeMax>458553</audioBufferSizeMax>
  <audioBufferTime>0</audioBufferTime>
  <audioBufferTimeAvg>199669058</audioBufferTimeAvg>
  <audioBufferTimeMax>221692517</audioBufferTimeMax>
  <audioChunks>250</audioChunks>
  <audioCodec>Wma</audioCodec>
  <audioDownloadedDuration>4986427210</audioDownloadedDuration>
  <audioDownloadedSize>10058537</audioDownloadedSize>
  <audioDownloadErrors>0</audioDownloadErrors>
  <audioPlaybackBitrateDurations>4353451247</audioPlaybackBitrateDurations>
  <audioPlaybackBitrates>160016</audioPlaybackBitrates>
  <audioResponseTimeAvg>42</audioResponseTimeAvg>
  <audioResponseTimeMax>881</audioResponseTimeMax>
  <audioResponseTimeMin>1</audioResponseTimeMin>
  <audioSwitches>0</audioSwitches>
  <bandwidthAvg>4721028</bandwidthAvg>
  <bandwidthMax>104207158</bandwidthMax>
  <bandwidthMin>46528</bandwidthMin>
  <browserName>Microsoft Internet Explorer</browserName>
  <browserPlatform>Win32</browserPlatform>
  <browserVersion>4.0</browserVersion>
  <c-buffercount>5</c-buffercount>
  <c-bytes>177010217</c-bytes>
  <clientStartTime>2009-03-19 21:48:18Z</clientStartTime>
  <c-os>Win32NT</c-os>
  <c-osversion>6.0.6001.65536</c-osversion>
  <c-playerId>0a786fb9-ea8b-4851-aa2f-63e2192401ed</c-playerId>
  <c-playerState>EndOfStream</c-playerState>
  <c-playerVersion>2.0.40115.0</c-playerVersion>
  <c-starttime>793</c-starttime>
  <cs-url>http://www.contoso.com/smooth/Big_Buck_Bunny.ism/manifest</cs-url>
  <date>2009-03-19</date>
  <displayHeight>831</displayHeight>
  <displayIsFullScreen>False</displayIsFullScreen>
  <displayWidth>1676</displayWidth>
  <droppedFramesPerSec>0</droppedFramesPerSec>
  <hasDRM>False</hasDRM>
  <isLive>False</isLive>
  <logReason>playerStateChange: Playing-EndOfStream</logReason>
  <manifestRequests>1</manifestRequests>
  <playbackEndTime>2009-03-19 21:59:40Z</playbackEndTime>
  <playbackStartTime>2009-03-19 21:48:19Z</playbackStartTime>
  <renderedFramesPerSec>24</renderedFramesPerSec>
  <requestHeadersEnabled>False</requestHeadersEnabled>
  <seeks>2</seeks>
  <smoothStreamingVersion>2.0</smoothStreamingVersion>
  <startupTimeMs>125.5251</startupTimeMs>
  <time>21:59:40</time>
  <videoBandwidthAvg>6250217</videoBandwidthAvg>
  <videoBandwidthMax>104207158</videoBandwidthMax>
  <videoBandwidthMin>549495</videoBandwidthMin>
  <videoBitrates>336000;636000;936000;1436000;1936000;2936000</videoBitrates>
  <videoBufferChunks>2</videoBufferChunks>
  <videoBufferChunksAvg>10</videoBufferChunksAvg>
  <videoBufferChunksMax>11</videoBufferChunksMax>
  <videoBufferSize>264564</videoBufferSize>
  <videoBufferSizeAvg>6560685</videoBufferSizeAvg>
  <videoBufferSizeMax>8300593</videoBufferSizeMax>
  <videoBufferTime>10833334</videoBufferTime>
  <videoBufferTimeAvg>203326340</videoBufferTimeAvg>
  <videoBufferTimeMax>219583333</videoBufferTimeMax>
  <videoChunks>262</videoChunks>
  <videoCodec>WVC1</videoCodec>
  <videoDownloadedDuration>5223750001</videoDownloadedDuration>
  <videoDownloadedSize>166951680</videoDownloadedSize>
  <videoDownloadErrors>0</videoDownloadErrors>
  <videoPlaybackBitrateDurations>20000000;20000000;20000000;20000000;420000000;760000000;
93333334;20000000;20000000;20000000;20000000;1840000000;669583334;20000000;207916667;20000000;
93333334</videoPlaybackBitrateDurations>
  <videoPlaybackBitrates>336000;636000;936000;1436000;2936000;1936000;2936000;336000;
636000;936000;1436000;2936000;1936000;336000;2936000;336000;2936000</videoPlaybackBitrates>
  <videoResponseTimeAvg>101</videoResponseTimeAvg>
  <videoResponseTimeMax>636</videoResponseTimeMax>
  <videoResponseTimeMin>6</videoResponseTimeMin>
  <videoSwitches>16</videoSwitches>
  <x-duration>11</x-duration>
</XML>

In this walkthrough, we reviewed the IIS Advanced Logging feature and learned how to log client data. Client logging and real-time logging can make real-time analysis of log files possible.

You also learned how to collect meaningful information from a Smooth Streaming experience by using the IIS Smooth Streaming sample client.