General:Installation

From InClickAdServer

Contents

Installation and Deployment Guide

System Requirements

Before getting started with the inClick Ad Server, please make sure your web server has met following requirements.

Web Server

The inClick Ad Server should run on any web server that supports PHP 5. The inClick Ad Server has been tested to run on Linux using Apache. Other web servers may work as long as PHP is fully supported. Performance of the inClick Ad Server on operating systems other than Linux have not been fully tested and may not perform nearly as well.

PHP

The inClick Ad Server is written in PHP and requires PHP to be installed on your web server. The inClick Ad Server requires PHP 5 to function.

NOTE: Some PHP installations will run as a CGI binary under Apache. CGI mode installations will not run as efficiently as PHP running as an Apache module. Therefore, CGI mode PHP is discouraged.

PHP should have register_globals and magic_quotes_gpc turned OFF. If either of these PHP settings is turned ON, please contact your server administrator for assistance on how to turn these to PHP settings off.

Other requirements for PHP:

  • MCrypt Support – Encryption utility for data security
  • GD Graphics Support – Graphics need for CAPTCHA
  • register_globals turned off – For security
  • magic_quotes_gpc turned off – For security
  • Zend Optimizer 3 or Greater – To read the compiled inClick object code.

The inClick Ad Server is provided in a compiled state. Access to source code is not provided without an Enterprise Source license.

SHOW STOPPER: Zend Optimizer version 3.3.3 or lower is NOT compatible with PHP version 5.2.10 an higher. More information on this issue can be found here.

MySQL

The inClick Ad Server requires a MySQL database. The database is used to store ad inventory, impressions, statistics, etc. inClick recommends MySQL 5.0 or greater.

It is recommended that the MySQL server be configured to support INNODB and HEAP tables in addition to the standard MyISAM tables.

Cron Jobs / Scheduled Process / Scheduled Task

The inClick Ad Server requires the setting of a single cron tab. This single process will execute every five (5) minutes to maintain reports, data integrity, moving advertisements in and out of server, and more.

SHOW STOPPER: If you do not set this single maintenance routine, your ad server will not function.
TIP: Not sure if your cron tab is running? Log into your admin account and go to the Reports > System Status screen. Note the last start and last completed time for the impressions process. This process executes every five minutes. If the last completed time has exceeded 30 minutes, your cron tabs may have stopped running.

Installation Quick Start

Are you in a hurry to get started? Here’s a brief overview of what you will need to complete for a successful inClick Ad Server deployment.

Getting Started Checklist:

  1. Unpack / Unzip the inClick Ad Server zip or gzip file locally maintaining the directory structure.
  2. Upload ad server to web site in Binary mode maintaining directory structure. (Upload in Binary, not ASCII)
    SHOW STOPPER: Uploading in ASCII will yield invalid results!
  3. Open your browser and go to the directory of your ad server installation. This will take you through the Installation Wizard.
  4. Do not forget to set the Cron Tab / Cron Job / Scheduled Task for system maintenance.
    SHOW STOPPER: Failure to complete this step will yield your system non-functional!
    **DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP**
  5. Login as the Administrator
  6. Configure System Setup
  7. Setup Channels (If needed)
  8. Configure available Countries (If using Geographical targeting)
  9. Setup house ads by logging into the House Advertiser account:
    Accounts > View Advertisers > 1001 > Login As User
    NOTE: When creating house ads, be sure to select All Keywords in the Keyword Step.
    NOTE: Ads from the house account (1001) will be delivered at a rate of zero (0.00) cost per click regardless of what you entered. Should you wish to deliver advertising that has a value associated with it, you will need to create a separate advertiser account and post a credit to fund the account. This secondary account will be subject to the Performance Lease Fee.
  10. Show ads by placing ad code from the house publisher account:
    Accounts > View Publishers > 1002 > Login As User > Ad Code Wizard

Installation In Detail

The inClick Ad Server will walk you through an automated installation process, an installation wizard. Before you can perform this automated installation process, you will need to perform some minimal preparation first.

Step 1 - Upload Files

First, you will need to extract the files from the inClick Ad Server package. Using your favorite extraction utility, extract the files (maintaining the directory structure) and place the files into a directory on your web server.

TIP: When creating your directory for your web server, use a name that is specific to you. Try to avoid "inclick" as a directory name as this will be seen by your visitors.
SHOW STOPPER: The inClick Ad Server is a compiled PHP script. If you are going to FTP the files to your web server, be sure to set your FTP client to transfer files in BINARY mode! If you upload your files incorrectly, you may see “line 0” errors or nothing at all.
SHOW STOPPER: If you are using SSH or other method of transferring files to your web server, be sure the permissions of the files and directories are set so that the web user has access to those files.

Once the inClick Ad Server files are on your web server, you will need to adjust some file and directory permissions. These permission settings are provided during the installation process.

Step 2 - Create Database

You must create a database and user specifically for the inClick Ad Server. Create a database and user using your favorite MySQL utility. The database name, user name, and password, will be required during the automated installation process. It is important that you give this user FULL access to the database.

Step 3 - Start Installation Wizard

Now that you have completed the above preparation work, you are now ready to run the automated installation process. To start the installer, you will need a web browser and point to the directory where you copied the inClick Ad Server files. For example, if you copied your files to the directory "myadserver" in a subdirectory of the main web site, you would point your web browser to http://www.yoursitename.com/myadserver/install. If this does not start the installation process, your web server may not be configured to use PHP files as a directory index. You can also point your browser to: http://www.yoursitename.com/myadserver/install/index.php

The installer will test your web server environment to make sure minimum requirements are met. If any of the required test's fail, information about the failed test will be provided.

Once the installation process has been completed, you will see the default inClick Ad Server Login Screen.

TIP: The inClick Ad Server includes an index.html and index.php file. These are placeholders and may be safely removed. The index.php file is a simple redirect to index_client.php, the default login screen.

Step 4 - The Maintenance Processor (CRON JOB)

The inClick Ad Server requires the use of a maintenance script to process clicks, impressions, billing, and other important processes. In order to maintain this essential data, the maintenance script, the Process Manager, must be run every five minutes.

For most Unix type systems, create a cron job similar to this:

*/5 * * * * cd "INCLICK_BASE_PATH"/core/background/; php –f process_manager.php

Be sure to replace "INCLICK_BASE_PATH" with the correct path information for your installation.

TIP: During installation, the Installation Wizard will provide two possible cron job entries. If neither of these work for your installation, open a support ticket for assistance.
SHOW STOPPER: If you do not set the Process Manager, or if you set this incorrectly, your system will not function correctly!

Step 5 - Login as Admin

Updates to the database and data is required to complete your inClick Ad Server installation. To apply these updates, simply log into your inClick Ad Server as the system administrator, user name admin. The first time you log into this account, the system will automatically begin applying updates to the database and data. This process is normal and may take a few minutes. Once updates are applied, you will see the inClick System Messages screen that contains Account Status, Database Schema Version, and other key pieces of information.

Step 6 - Basic System Configuration

The final step to completing your inClick Ad Server installation is to configure the ad server based on your business requirements. This section can be found under:

Admin Login > Configuration > System Setup

It is from here you will set the systems configuration based on your needs. Details on System Configuration Options can be found here.

Getting Help

Our goal is simple, your success. If you are having difficulty getting the inClick Ad Server installed, let us know by opening a support ticket. Don't be scared, we answer every request on a first come first served basis. While we state that it can take up to one business day for us to respond, our typical response time has been less than an hour (during business hours).

In addition to getting assistance from us directly, we also provide a pretty useful tool that can shed some light on what can be occurring, Error Logging.

Error Logging

This error screen appears when something has gone wrong. The FATAL error is logged.

The inClick Ad Server is written to avoid returning error conditions to the screen by using a customized version of Log4PHP, an Apache logging framework. By logging errors to an error log, you are able to determine system issues without involving additional interaction with your end users.

Sample Log Data

Logging During Installation

If an error occurs during the installation process, be sure to check the install-log.txt file located in the /install directory. If the file is blank, change the permissions of the file to be globally readable, writable, and executable (CHMOD 777). Once you have updated permissions, try the installation process again to see what is logged.

Logging During Normal System Use

If an error occurs during normal system operations, the ad server will write to a log file located in the the /logs directory of the ad server. The default configuration will only write ERRORS to the logs. For changes to this logging mechanism, please open a support ticket.

Online Support Ticket

As we mentioned earlier, our goal is your success. If you still can't make any sense out of the logs, open a support ticket from you inClick.net account here.

By Phone

Before calling for support or assistance, please be sure to open a support ticket first.

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