Support for OpenX Source ad server by independent OpenX Source Specialist Erik Geurts
Support, Consulting, and Training for OpenX Source ad server
A new place to store all your banner image files
When you do a standard installation of OpenX Ad Server, the installation procedure will result in a situation where the banner images will be stored in a folder that’s deep down in the OpenX folder tree. This makes it hard to perform future upgrades or effective backups. Luckily, it’s rather simple to move the banner storage folder. In this article, I will explain how to make that change.
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In recent weeks, many stories have been published about security issues regarding the OpenX Ad Server software. Please find below some additional information on the current situation regarding the security of the OpenX software.
The most recent and most severe issues all resulted from a security problem in a third party open source component named “Open Flash Charts 2″. This component is used in the Video Ads plugin that comes with OpenX v2.8.4 and higher. The problem has been corrected with the release of OpenX v2.8.7. Instead of performing a full upgrade, a much simpler task is to just upgrade the Video Ads plugin. If you run OpenX version 2.8.3, which doesn’t have the Video ads plugin, you will not be affected by this particular issue.
There is also a smaller but still significant issue in the OpenX core software. It affects all version of the OpenX v2.8 software, up to v2.8.5 and it is relatively easy to fix. The way to do that is outlined in an OpenX forum post. Applying this patch is not complicated, but it does require some skill in editing php software files.
You can find out which version of OpenX you have by looking at the source code of any page of your OpenX system, including the login page. The version number is displayed in line 4 of that source code.
To summarize the above:
OpenX Ad Server v2.8.7 released for download
A new version of the OpenX Ad Server software has been released. This version 2.8.7 fixes a very serious security issue. According to the announcement on the OpenX blog:
there is a vulnerability in the 2.8 downloadable version of OpenX that can result in a server running the downloaded version of OpenX being compromised.
The issue stems from the Video Ads plugin for OpenX, which in turn uses an open source third party component called Open Flash Charts (OFC) to display graphs about video ad performance. There was a security issue with OFC which has now been fixed.
In addition, the upgrade notification inside the OpenX management pages has this information:
If you recently upgraded to version 2.8.6, you can simply install an upgraded video ad plug-in available [here] or remove the following file: admin/plugins/videoReport/lib/ofc2/ofc_upload_image.php from your installation.
This is the second update in less than 1 week, which might sound alarming. On the other hand, there will always be bugs and security vulnerabilities in software, and it’s better to have those fixed.
Besides this fix for the security issue that was uncovered, there is also a seemingly small functional change in this new version:
For users in the UK, all market interfaces now reflect your participation in Orange Ad Market, and all Orange Ad Market market monetary values are in GBP.
Since both the OpenX main website and the OpenX blog appear to be down at the time I’m writing this, I can’t give you any more information than what I included above.
What does still seem to work at the moment is the download link at http://download.openx.org/openx-2.8.7.zip.
The team at AdserverPlugins.com is releasing an update of the free Statistics as Graphs plugin for the OpenX Ad Server. This version 1.0.3 is available for download right now.
This is a security fix release that takes care of one issue:
As always with security fix releases, it is crucial to upgrade to the newest version as soon as possible.
Note: this is a cross-post from my contribution at OpenXtips.com yesterday.
OpenX Ad Server v2.8.6 released for download
Just like in March 2010, a new version of the OpenX software has been released recently, but not a single byte of publicity has been devoted to it. No mention on the OpenX blog or on Twitter, nothing. Judging from the dates on the files in the download archive, the new release was completed on September 2nd of 2010, so almost a week ago.
This new version 2.8.6 seems to be mostly about the security issue that was found and fixed a few weeks ago. Back then, on August 12, a somewhat cryptic announcement was posted on the OpenX forums, informing people how to fix the security problem. That post also hinted at a new release that would be out soon.
The release notes file in the 2.8.6 archive points to the OpenX Developer site for more details, but the issue tracker for version 2.8.6 is still open and most issues in it are still marked as unresolved. And the version check inside the OpenX software doesn’t give any notifications about upgrade availability.
Altogether, this is a pretty strange situation. Obviously, it’s smart to upgrade to a new version as soon as it’s released, especially if the upgrade is about fixing security issues. On the other hand, what should we think about a release that is not announced in any way, shape or form?
Download the OpenX Community edition v2.8.6.
OpenX Master Class: October 7, 2010 in Amsterdam (Netherlands)
On Thursday October 7, 2010, I’m hosting an OpenX Master Class in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. During this unique event, a small group of experienced OpenX users will gather to discuss advanced features and use cases of the OpenX Ad Server software. As an OpenX consultant with over 7 years of experience supporting OpenX users from around the world, I will be facilitating this event to make sure it will be an intense training course and a memorable experience.
Read more and sign up for the OpenX Master Class.
OpenX Statistics as Graphs plugin
The team at AdserverPlugins.com have released an update of the free Statistics as Graphs plugin for the OpenX Ad Server. This version 1.0.2 is available for download right now.
They’re also reporting that this plugin has been downloaded over 1,000 times to date.
I have updated the OpenX Reference Guide that I created a few years ago. It’s completely up to date again, so that it matches the current release of the OpenX Ad Server software.
This 32 page guide provides a comprehensive description of the OpenX Ad Server, an explanation of all important concepts and terminology, and a detailed description of the process of creating advertisers, campaigns, banners, websites and zones. Next there is a section on more advanced subjects, including the algorithm for the calculation of ‘probabilities’ and targeting of banners.
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Download: OpenX Reference Guide Version: 1.0 Updated: August 7, 2010 Size: 312.56 KB |
I received an e-mail from someone mentioning that my homepage is really slow. When I went in to investigate, I found out that this is caused by the fact that the RSS feed from the OpenX weblog is not responding. That’s not all, the whole www.openx.org website, including their blog at blog.openx.org and the community forum at forum.openx.org also seem to be down.
Luckily, the hosted ad server infrastructure at OpenX (like adserver.openx.org) runs on separate hardware and does not seem to be affected by this incident.
The OpenX System Performance page at status.openx.org does still respond, but it does not show any notifications about their main site and blog being down.
Update 16.36 UTC: the OpenX website, blog and forum are back up again.
The team at Adserverplugins.com is announcing their newest free plugin for the OpenX Ad Server: Geolocation Magic Macros.
The Geolocation Magic Macros plugin for OpenX, Magic Geo in short, enables you to dynamically insert the name of the geographic location of a visitor into a banner. This can be used in both the HTML code and the destination URL. Using this new feature, you can automatically make a banner adjust its content to the location of a visitor.
The banner below demonstrates this by showing your country name and country code, and the name of the continent, and a link to a Wikipedia article about your country.
The code used in this HTML banner looks like this:
You are currently in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/{geo.country.enc}" title="read about {geo.country} on Wikipedia" target="_blank">{geo.country}, country code {geo.country_code}</a>, which is part of {geo.continent}.
If you need support for OpenX Source ad server, just contact me for a free quote.
Some specific support cases:
· Your OpenX Source system has been hacked
· How to: Upgrade OpenX Source ad server
· Single Page Call for maximum site speed
