1. Browse to the http://www.openx.org/ad-server/download link. This link will open a web page where we can choose one from three types of compressed files - zip, .tgz, and .bz2. The download page will look like this:

2. We have chosen default .zip file download option. On the next Thank you for downloading OpenX page, we save the file in the hard drive instead of opening with the built-in ZIP file support of Windows Vista or WinRAR.

1. Open File Manager utility at cPanel.

2. Web Root (public_html/www) is the default selection. Click on the Go button.

3. Click on the Upload link and choose OpenX zip file using the Browse button on the next screen.

4. After the upload completes, return to the main cPanel File Manager screen.

5. Right-click on the file and select Extract.

6. It will open a pop-up window. Just click Extract File(s) button to decompress ZIP file into the root web folder.

All files are extracted to a folder named openx-2.8.3. As a result, OpenX Ad Server will be reachable at http://yourwebsite.com/openx-2.8.3.

As it is not a good path name, it is bett er to rename the folder with something easier such as openx to reach at http://yourwebsite.com/openx once all installation steps are complete.

7. Right-click on folder name and choose Rename option.

8. Rename the file as openx as shown in the following screenshot:

1. Right-click on the previously downloaded OpenX file and click on Extract Here option.

As a result, we will have a folder named openx-2.8.3 with the structured folders and files inside. Please note that the folder name will be different depending on the OpenX version we downloaded.

2. Upload the all files and subfolders in openx-2.8.3 folder to the web host. We use a free FTP client software called as CoreFTP, which can be downloaded from http://www.coreftp.com/.

Choose the all files and folders on the left pane and drag-and-drop into the right pane where the web root folder exists. In most cases, it is /www folder. The following screenshots show the process before dragging and dropping the files and after uploading the files to the website root:

4. Note that it is a time consuming process as there are many files in the OpenX system. Wait until all the files are uploaded to the web server.

1. Open CPanel and browse to /openx/var folder where we have uploaded OpenX files. Right-click on the folder name and select Change Permissions.

2. Set permission level to 777 or select read, write, execute for all members (User, Group, World). Click on Change Permissions button.

3. We must repeat this process for all the folders listed next including subfolders:

1. Click on MySQL Databases link on cPanel.

2. Enter a name for the database. Here, we named the database as openxdb. Then click on Create Database button.

3. If we are on a shared hosting, a prefix will be added automatically to the name we provided. This is generally the username that we used to log in to the cPanel. So, your database name will be of the username_databasename format.

4. Take a note of the database name including the prefix.

5. Now, let's create a user and assign this user to our newly created database. We go back from the database creation result page and jump to MySQL Users section. Choose a Username and Password. Repeat the password in the last textbox and be sure that the password is not very easy to guess for security (preferably a mixture of letters and numbers). We have chosen openx as username. Click on Create User button after filling in all necessary textboxes.

Please note that a prefix will be added to user as well. Take a note of the username.

6. We need to add a user to database as the last step. Choose the newly created user and database for OpenX, then click on Add button.

7. In this step, we are going to assign privileges to the user in the database. Check All PRIVILEGES option, then click on Make Changes button to give all privileges to the user.

8. The following screenshot shows the results page after clicking on Make Changes button:

1. Let's browse to domain name where we put OpenX files. In our example, it is http://yourwebsite.com/openx. You should use your own OpenX path. We will be redirected to a "Welcome screen" automatically. Click on Continue to start.

2. Confirm the terms and privacy policy agreements. Click on I Agree button.

3. In this step, OpenX wizard is going to check system requirements automatically to ensure the integrity of the installation. The system check includes cookies, PHP settings, and file permissions.

For example, the following screenshot shows that memory_limit was automatically increased to 128 MB from 32 MB (which is minimum working requirement for OpenX to install and operate). It is very important that our web hosting service provider must have minimum 128 MB PHP memory_limit on the root or must allow user installed program (OpenX, in this case) to increase this value.

4. As file permissions have no errors, we can go to the next screen by clicking Continue button.

5. In this step, we will supply the database connection information to OpenX system. Choose Database Type as MySQL. As our MySQL database and PHP files operate on the same server, we do not need to fill in Database Socket, Database Hostname, and Database Port Number fields. Check Use local socket connection option.

Then, fill in Database Username, Database Password, and Database Name fields according to information we collected in database creation step. Leave default Advanced Settings unchanged. Then click on Continue to move to the next step.

6. If the database information is correct, an OpenX database will be created and we will see message as shown in the following screenshot:

7. Click on Continue button to define administration parameters.

9. Just leave the default settings untouched in configuration checklist step and click on Continue button. These fields are automatically detected and filled in by the system.

10. Now, it is time to define main administrator account that we will use to manage OpenX Ad Server.

Fill in the Administrator Username and Administrator Password fields. Enter a correct e-mail address in the Administrator email Address field. We have the option to use OpenX in another language. The default is English. And finally, choose Timezone.

It is important to choose the correct time zone as the delivery of the date-and timedependent advertisements and delivery of reports will be made using this setting by OpenX Ad Server. Continue to move on to the next step.

11. In this step, several OpenX plugins will be installed one by one automatically. These plugins are the core elements of OpenX system. The following screenshot shows that all plugins are installed correctly. Click on Continue to move to the next step.

12. Congratulations! OpenX installation is now complete. Optionally, we can join the OpenX newsletter list to get updates and security alerts. Just click on Continue to automatically log in and see the OpenX administration interface.

13. If we see a screen like the following screenshot, it means that our OpenX installation is correct and we are ready to add an advertiser and a campaign to start working.