What is definition of hit?

It is move this post to a general conversation forum as it has nothing to do with General Web Hosting.... JEEEEZ....Please read the rules.

Originally posted by cbaker17
It is move this post to a general conversation forum as it has nothing to do with General Web Hosting.... JEEEEZ....Please read the rules.
Why?
Many web hosting companies post info that they have [un]metered hits, or [un]metered transfer. While what is transfer is clear for me, what is hit, hit measurement, and how it differs from transfer measurement I didn't find.

Is it not about web hosting?

A hit is whenever something on your server is called for, wether it is a image, a zip, a html, a cgi or whatever. If its been called by the user, then its a hit!

Originally posted by kunal
A hit is whenever something on your server is called for, wether it is a image, a zip, a html, a cgi or whatever. If its been called by the user, then its a hit!
But how it is different from file downloaded? Is it only CGI calls make difference between file downloaded and hits?

The difference between the hit and the transfer is that the hit is just the number of calls made to the server for a file. The transfer on the other hand is the amount of data going between the server and those accessing it.

Let's run an example.

Let's say you have single page at www.yourdomain.com/index.html. The index.html file is 8Kb. The page loads two images or graphics files that are 2kb each.

A surfer loads your page.

That would register as 3 total hits. One on index.html and one on each of the graphics.

It would also register 12kb of transfer.

The difference is that hits are the number of file transfers to the user and transfer is the amount of data measure in bytes that is transferred to the user.

Hope this helps.

Marty,

Correct, apart from the transfer will be slightly larger than 12Kb. You need to take into account the client-2-server traffic requesting and acknowleding transfer, and general IP overhead. I know I'm being pedantic but the transfer would be about 5-10% greater depending on the config of the server and the amount being transferred.

inwks,

You are correct. I was just trying to keep it simple to explain the difference. The actual transfer in the above example could be as high as 13.2kb using 10% as the rule.

Originally posted by Marty
Let's run an example.

The difference is that hits are the number of file transfers to the user and transfer is the amount of data measure in bytes that is transferred to the user.

Hope this helps.

I also thought as you, but at:
http://www.webalizer.com/sample/usage_199905.html
I found that Total Hits and Total Files is different value, so I start searching for more exact definition. Now it looks that hit include also CGI pages (generated) which user requested.

Aye, good point..... must remember to follow the KISS rule

My definition of a hit is everything requested from the server, literally everything. i.e. it creates a line in the log files.

Webalizer's definition is:
HITS is the total number of HTTP requests that the server received during the reporting period. Any request made to the server is considered a hit. FILES is the number of hits that actually resulted in something being sent back to the user, such as an HTML page or image. 'Total Files' and '200 - OK' totals should be the same. If you add up the totals in the 'Hits by Response Code' section, it should be the same as the 'Total Hits' figure.

Sounds fair.

[Edited by inwks on 10-12-2000 at 03:35 PM]

Originally posted by inwks
My definition of a hit is everything requested from the server, literally everything. i.e. it creates a line in the log files.

Webalizer's definition is:
HITS is the total number of HTTP requests that the server received during the reporting period. Any request made to the server is considered a hit. FILES is the number of hits that actually resulted in something being sent back to the user, such as an HTML page or image. 'Total Files' and '200 - OK' totals should be the same. If you add up the totals in the 'Hits by Response Code' section, it should be the same as the 'Total Hits' figure.

[Edited by inwks on 10-12-2000 at 03:35 PM]

Thank you, I think it's best definition :)

Thank you to everyone for their definitions.

Charles : please do not be so petulant in the future and remonstrate Sergio for a legitimate question which was related to web hosting. The moderators will be the final arbitors as to whether a thread belongs in a different, more appropriate forum, thank you.