I used to check if ALUI Analytics was working by simply going to the Analytics Console in the portal and viewing traffic data.  But this is only half the picture: if you’ve just done an upgrade or reboot, getting valid traffic reports only shows you that the Analytics CONSOLE/UI is running.  It doesn’t tell you if the COLLECTOR is running and properly capturing metrics.

Instead, whenever I’m testing whether the full Analytics stack is working, I check the Collector and the UI by simply doing a quick search for a unique term.  For example, I can search for MATTTEST, which is a string I’m reasonably sure noone else has searched for today:

WebCenter Analytics Search

Next, go to the Analytics Console and check to make sure that that search term appears in the list of Phrases by going to the Analytics Console, then “Other Metrics”, then “Search”.  There you can view results for “Today” and make sure that a) your search query was accurately captured by the Analytics Collector, and b) the Analytics Console is properly reporting it:

Analytics Results