W3C Log File Format May Contain Spaces in CS-Username Field (238382)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0

This article was previously published under Q238382
We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. IIS 6.0 significantly increases Web infrastructure security. For more information about IIS security-related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

SYMPTOMS

Applications which use the IIS log files in W3C format may produce errors or incorrect reports. This may be observed as parsing, or similar errors being encountered during processing.

CAUSE

The Windows NT SAM will permit user accounts that contain spaces in the name such as "JOE BLOGGS". When IIS creates the log file entry for an access to the site with this account, it does not delimit the cs-username field with quotes. As the W3C log is delimited by spaces, this can cause problems for applications, such as Site Server - Usage Analysis, which process these log files.

WORKAROUND

Make sure that user accounts used for Web authentication do not contain spaces in the username.

If this is not be possible, then the log fie will need to be pre-processed to delimit the cs-username field before log file analysis can be performed.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Internet Information Server 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION


Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/23/2005
Keywords:kbinterop kbnofix kbprb KB238382