Knowledge Base

Old AWstats txt data files are not removed with web statistics cleanup

Symptoms

Awstats *.txt data files (such as ones stored under /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/statistics/webstat) are kept longer than set within the retention policy settings of the server/service plan/subscription:

Tools & Settings > Server Settings > Retain web and traffic statistics for;
Service Plans > plan_name > Logs & Statistics > Retain web and traffic statistics for;
Subscriptions > example.com > Customize > Logs & Statistics > Retain web and traffic statistics for.

Cause

Product issue:

#PPPM-10655 “AWStats TXT files are now completely removed after the corresponding TTL has expired.”

Fixed in:
- Plesk Obsidian 15 September 2020 (Linux)

Resolution

Please consider updating your server:

How to install Plesk updates

Workaround

If update is not possible for some reason you may try the following

workaround

For GDPR compliant environment, use Webalizer with IP addresses anonymization.

As a workaround for AWStats on Linux server, use the following steps:

Connect to the server via SSH.

Create a script /root/awstats_cleanup.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
 
 for i in $(ls -d /var/www/vhosts/system/*/statistics/webstat*/); do
 find $i -ctime +$1 -exec rm -rf {} +; 
 done 
 echo "Web statistics files older than" $1 "day(s) are removed"; 
 exit

Log into Plesk.
Create a task with the following content in Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks:
```
/bin/bash /root/awstats_cleanup.sh 90
```
Where 90 is the number of days to retain traffic statistics files.