Question

I have a zip file on website running on a Windows 2008 / IIS7 server. Is there a way to check how many times that file was downloaded?

Answer 1

You can do it in so many ways

(in the order of increasing complexity and stupidity) 😉

1. Provide direct link to a file and monitor your web logs. You can use a LogParser tool from microsoft to run SQL like queries against the logs to extract data you need.

2. Don’t provide a direct link to a file. Have a button instead. When a button is clicked you increment the counter and serve the file.

3. You can use URL shortening services (e.g. bit.ly) – they can provide you with the click stats etc

   E.g. if you append a ‘+’ sign to the end of the bit.ly URL you will get the stats. Or you can register on their site.

   As a variation – use your own service. I.e. have a lookup table:

   shortcode1 – Path1\File1.ext
   shortcode2 – Path2\File2.ext
   …
   shortcodeN – PathN\FileN.ext

   a link to download your zip file will then look like:

   http://www.yoursite.com/getFile.aspx?code=shortcode1

   getFile.aspx gets executed, performs a lookup, updates stats, serves Path1\File1.ext back.

4. You can use monitoring tools to keep track of which files were uploaded/downloaded E.g. http://www.iis.net/community/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1494

5. Create/Use an ISAPI extension to monitor file downloads

6. Map .zip extension through ASP.Net in IIS and a corresponding code to properly react and update stats.