Question

What can be said about the events returned from the following search?

index=web sourcetype=access_combined
| transaction clientip JSESSIONID
startswith=eval(action="addtocart")
endswith=eval(action="purchase")
a) They have the same JSESSIONID
b) They have the same clientip
c) They start with "addtocart" and end with "purchase"
d) They are unrelated events

Answer 1

The search query returns events from a single user session, identified by matching client and JSESSIONID, that starts with "add to cart" and end with a "purchase", therefore grouping related events into a single transaction.

Step-by-step explanation:

The search query given will return events from a web server log that have the following characteristics:

• They have the same client and JSESSIONID, which means they originate from the same client session.
• The events start with an action of "add to cart" and end with an action of "purchase". This indicates that the series of events is part of a transaction bracketed by these two actions.
• Related events are grouped into a single transaction based on the client and JSESSIONID fields, which signifies that these events belong to the same user session and are related to a single user journey on the web application.

This information could be very useful in analyzing user behavior, particularly in understanding the purchase process on a website.