WARNING! This is installation guide for those who run on private servers or have otherwise access to their php installation and can increase the memory limit to a level where OpenX can confortably run (For techies: php.ini memory_limit must be at 128Mb).
It is possible to install your own php instead of using the one that shared hosting offers, but if you do that, you are responsible for maintaining that php with upgrades and other maintenance. It is not difficult, but it requires a bit of knowledge and isn't worth the trouble, because at the point you actually benefit from self-hosted OpenX ad server, you probably have your own private server already or multiple even, and can even dedicate one server fully to act as ad server.
If you want to test and use OpenX, I suggest you get a free account and sign up for OpenX Hosted, which has and you don't have to worry about installations and maintenance of the OpenX itself, but can concentrate on managing your advertising.
Benefits of Having Your Own OpenX ad server
Not much really, unless you have a lot of blogs and websites and you want to manage all the advertising from one interface (and in this case, you can easily have dedicated, private ad server).
Self-hosted OpenX offers you access to the OpenX API of your own server (you know, the advanced stuff), manage all your blog advertising from that one server and of course deliver as many ad impressions as your server can handle..
OpenX Hosted can show up to 100 Million ad impressions per month for free, which is plenty for most blogs. When you reach that level of advertising, you can get your own private server and pay someone to take care of the self-hosted OpenX installations :)
But now, if you need your own ad server or having your own OpenX Server would just make you feel cool, I'll show you how to install one!
Step by Step Guide to Install OpenX
To install Your Own OpenX Server on your blog, you need to:
- Download OpenX ad server and upload it to your server via FTP
- Create a Database for the OpenX (e.g. MySQL like your WP blog)
- Configure the OpenX Server
To display ads on your blog with OpenX, you need:
- add advertising codes, banners and/or links to the OpenX Server
- add the code your theme or widget to your blog
The installation instructions and how-to videos on openx.org are very good, so consider taking a look at those as well:
They show everything but this part creating the new mysql database..
1. Create a New MySQL Database for OpenX
In theory, you could use the same MySQL Database as your blog, but it is better to give the ads their own database, so the advertising load on the database doesn't interfere with the blog.
Go to your hosting account and create a new mysql database
to give an example, if you're on DreamHost like me, go to the control panel (http://panel.dreamhost.com):
- Login if necessary
- Look for "Goodies" on the left side panel and click on it
- Click MySQL Databases
- Fill in the information
- database name
- database domain
- database user and password
You'll need the MySQL database name, hostname, username and password on later stage of the OpenX installation, so write these down or save the information to text editor.
- Database Name, e.g. cool_open_mysql_database
- Database Hostname, e.g. openxmysql.your_domain_name.com
- Database Username
- Database Password
2. Download OpenX
- Download OpenX ad server
- Unzip the installation package to temporary directory, e.g.\install\
- After the unzip you'll have the OpenX directory in the directory, e.g. \install\openx-2.8.1
3. Upload OpenX to Your Webserver
- Create directory "openx" to the root of your domain
- Upload the contents of the OpenX directory you just downloaded and unzipped into the "openx" folder on the domain
The upload will take some time as there is large amount of files in the directory
4. Check the Permissions For the images and var Folders
OpenX needs to be able to write to the files in the openx/var and openx/www/images folder to complete the installation successfully.
After the upload is finished, set the file permissions with your FTP client..
Set these directories to "0777" = writable (OpenX needs this to store data):
- /openx/www/images
- /openx/var
- /openx/var/cache
- /openx/var/plugins
- /openx/var/templates_compiled
no need to touch the files or other subdirectories.
5. Run the OpenX Installation Wizard
Go to the directory you uploaded OpenX into with your webbrowser, e.g.
http://yourdomainnamehere.com/openx
Follow the instructions from the OpenX Installation Wizard.
- Read the welcome page and hit Continue >>
- Read the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy.
- System Check
- In System Check, if you see a warning about the memory you have to go to your php.ini settings and increase the memory_limit to 128 Mb
- If you're running your blog on shared server, you don't have access to the host's php files, so you cannot change this, unless you install your own php.
- This is the reason this guide is for those who run on private servers or have otherwise access to their php installation.
- If you're running your blog on shared server, I suggest you sign up for OpenX Hosted and manage your ads through that.
- Database Settings
- For Database Settings, enter the Database Information you saved when you created the new MySQL database.
- Move on to the Administrator and Delivery Settings
- Check the Configuration checklist (the defaults should be ok, but here you can customize the installation if you want)
- Create the administrator account
- set the administrator username, password and email + set the language and timezone preferences
- The installation wizard installs the OpenX plugins automatically (click Continue >> after done)
- Sign-up for the updates and security alerts (recommended)
That's it, not as easy as WordPress one-click install, but pretty close.
If you need assistance, open these documents on the side:
I don't have my own OpenX server running, but I'm planning on test running the OpenX Hosted free service, as it seems like a great way to manage advertising on a blog or website. And as it's free, just give it a go if you're interested and looking for a way to efficiently manage advertising on your blog.
Further Information on OpenX Advertising and OpenX ad server
For the latest installation instructions and documentation, consult the openx.org website:
2 comments.
Hi Antti,
If that's okay with you, let me bring to your attention a recent development related to OpenX. For those who have selected the self hosted option, we've developed a free reporting tool that they can use to make campaign reporting easy, time-effective and business-efficient.
You may wish to check it out at: http://www.adtelligence.net
Since Adtelligence is new, we'd love to hear your views on the tool (performance, usability etc)
Thank you for your help.
http://www.openxservices.com contains more additional features for OpenX.