Admin Essentials

Creation date: 3/31/2022 6:28 PM Updated: 12/5/2024 5:16 PM

This article is a reference for learning how to administer Angelfish.

Like most tools, Angelfish is really useful once you understand how it works!

Angelfish is self-hosted / on-premises web analytics software
Angelfish creates reports from web server & CDN access logs
Angelfish processes these access logs and stores the important bits in an internal database
When someone accesses the reports, the report data is loaded from the internal database
Angelfish automatically updates reports, via a processing schedule
Use Angelfish to track any of your organization's websites & web-based applications, both public and internal

Angelfish is entirely self-contained: it uses an embedded database & web server
Install Angelfish on any recent 64-bit Windows or Linux OS
Use a dedicated server, vm / cloud container, or even your desktop / laptop
Angelfish can be installed anywhere, as long as it's able to access your web server log files

LOGGING IN

Login to the Angelfish UI from a network client or from a browser on the Angelfish instance
Access the Angelfish UI via a web browser (HTTP or HTTPS), using the hostname / IP address and port of the Angelfish instance
e.g. https://stats.internal.corp:9000 or http://192.168.5.33:9000 or http://localhost:9000
Angelfish uses port 9000 by default - you can change the port number as needed.
The default username / password is admin / Angelfish123 - it's a good idea to change this after installation.

DATA STORAGE

All configuration and report data is stored in the /data/ directory, under the Angelfish installation directory
The /data/ directory can be moved to another location
We don't recommend storing /data/ on network storage, as it negatively affects performance
When Angelfish processes log files, the data is written to files in /data/
When reports are accessed, the report data is loaded from files in /data/

GETTING HELP

If you don't know how something works, click the closest Tooltip! Look for a small gray circle around a question mark.
Global Admins and Collection Managers can open support tickets with Angelfish Support.
Users can get help from Global Admins and Collection Managers via the Ask Your Admin (AYA) utility.

KEY CONCEPTS

Profile

A Profile contains a set of reports and the config settings for the reports
You must choose a Tracking Method for each Profile: this specifies the logic used to detect Pages & Visits during processing
You typically use one Profile for each website | web application you want to track
It's also common to use multiple Profiles for the same website, using different Tracking Methods, Filters, directories, etc.
Only Global Admins & Collection Managers can edit a Profile's config settings
After creating a Profile, you need to process data to see info in the reports.
Help Article: Profiles Overview

Datasource

A Datasource contains the location, filename, and settings of the log files to be processed.
A single Datasource can be used by many Profiles
Log files referenced in a Datasource can be on the local server, or on a remote server
Log files on a remote server are accessed via SFTP, FTP, or a UNC path.
Angelfish reads compressed logs in these formats: zip, gzip, bzip2, 7zip

Filter

Filters are applied during processing and allow you to edit or ignore data before it is written to the report data files.
Filters can be run in a specific order, and are applied at 3 different stages during processing (Raw, Page, Session).
Changes made to a Filter are not applied to existing report data: Filters are only applied during processing.
Reports in the IT Reports section are only affected by Filters run at the Raw Filter Level.
Help Article: Filters Overview

User Accounts

There are 3 types of User Accounts in Angelfish

Global Admin: can create, edit, and delete Objects, and can view all reports in the Angelfish instance.
Standard User: can login and view reports to which the User has been granted access.
Read-Only User: similar to Standard User but cannot update account settings, like password, name, email address, etc.
Help Article: User Accounts

Collection

Collections are used to arrange Profiles, Datasources, Filters, etc. (a.k.a. Objects) into a group
Objects in a Collection can only "see" other Objects in the same Collection
e.g. when a Profile is assigned to a Collection, it can only use Datasources or Filters in the same Collection
Help Article: Collections Overview

Collection Manager

HELPFUL LINKS

Contents