Migrar Openx

Tip #17: Moving OpenX

A question that is often asked about the OpenX ad server is how to move the installation. Generally, this means one of two things — either how to move the installation from one server to another, or how to change the domain name that OpenX is installed on.

Moving server

Moving an OpenX ad server installation from one server to another is a relatively straightforward task, provided you don’t want to get too fussy and technical about it. The following approach for moving an OpenX installation to a new server is a simple, quick and easy way to get an installation moved.

• Ensure that your new server is set up with MySQL, a web server, PHP, etc. and is configured and working¹.
• Backup your OpenX database on the old server.
• Restore the database on the new server².
• Backup the entire OpenX ad server directory on the old server.
• Restore the entire OpenX ad server directory on the new server. Double check that the read/write permissions of the files have not been altered³.
• If required, backup the entire OpenX banner directory on the old server.
• If required, restore the entire OpenX banner directory on the new server. Double check that the read/write permissions of the files have not been altered⁴.
• Test logging into and using OpenX, on the new server.
• Test banner delivery on the new server.
• Change to use the new server in production!

Unfortunately, this approach does have a down side, in that once the OpenX database has been backed up in the second step, any changes to the database, including all data recorded by OpenX for banner delivery on the old server while the migration is “in progress”, will be lost.

Moving domain

Moving an OpenX ad server installation from one domain to another is very straight forward.

• Change your web server software to the new domain.
• Re-name your OpenX configuration file. For example, if your OpenX installation used to be on “www.example.com” and you are moving it to “www.newsite.com”, you would have a configuration file in the OpenX “var” folder called “www.example.com.conf.php”, which needs to be re-named to “www.newsite.com.conf.php”.
• Edit the re-named configuration file. In the [webpath] section, update the admin, delivery, deliverySSL, images and imagesSSL sections to use the new domain.
• Edit any other configuration files, including the “default.conf.php” file. These files may contain a “realConfig” item, which is a reference to the “master” configuration file. Update to the new domain name as required.

Moving server and domain at the same time

The Guru does not recommend that you do this. If you need to move server and you need to move domain name, do one first, and then do the other. Give yourself a day or two between each of the two steps, to really make sure that everything is working fine after the first step, otherwise if you end up with a problem, it won’t be possible to determine which change might be responsible!