Forced ads aren't showing up on sites

Question:

Answer:

Problems with forced ads can be caused by a variety of issues, but in the vast majority of the helpdesk tickets we receive, the problem is related to one of the items below. Please check each item in this list to ensure that your system is configured correctly for forced ads.

FORCED ADS CHECKLIST

Did you install the mod_layout Apache module? mod_layout is required by iPanel's forced ads feature. If you've not installed it, you must do so. Did you install mod_layout CORRECTLY and COMPLETELY? Note that each version of mod_layout requires a different installation procedure. Read the file named INSTALL which comes with each version of mod_layout, and follow ALL of the steps to ensure that mod_layout is properly installed. Also note that recompiling Apache through CPanel may delete the mod_layout module. Did you install the correct version of mod_layout? mod_layout v3.x is required for Apache v1.3.x. mod_layout v4.x is required for Apache v2.0.x. mod_layout v5.x is required for Apache v2.2.x. Is mod_layout working correctly? You can test this by adding the following to one of your virtual hosts in /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf:

Under Apache 1.3:

<IfModule mod_layout.c> LayoutMerge On LayoutHandler application/x-httpd-php4 LayoutHandler application/x-httpd-php5 LayoutHeader "Sample ad header" LayoutFooter "Sample ad footer" </IfModule>

Under Apache 2.x:

<IfModule mod_layout.c> AddOutputFilter LAYOUT htm html php php3 php4 php5 shtml LayoutHeader "Sample ad header" LayoutFooter "Sample ad footer" </IfModule>

Next, restart Apache. If ads do not show up on the virtual host to which you added the above code, then mod_layout is not installed correctly and you'll need to fix this before forced ads will work in iPanel.

If you end up having to open a ticket with the support department about forced ads, you must provide the URL to the site you configured with mod_layout above so that we can confirm that mod_layout has been installed correctly. Have you setup the iPanel forced ads cron job? Note that forced ads support requires a SEPARATE cron job as described in the installation guide. If you have not setup the forced ads cron job AS WELL AS the main iPanel cron job, ads will not be added to your web sites. If you edited the crontab files by hand, also check the following:

a. Did you edit the files CORRECTLY? If you added the cronjob to /etc/crontab, are you sure you included a username? If you added it to a user (or root) crontab, are you sure you omitted the username?

b. Did you leave a blank line at the end of the crontab file? This is required by cron. If the file does not end in a newline, the last cron job in the file will be silently ignored.

c. If you're using Apache 2.x, did you add the --apache2 parameter as described in the instructions?

Is the forced ads cron job running as root? If not, iPanel will not have permission to update your httpd.conf file or restart Apache. If you setup the cron job from within a user account in CPanel, this will NOT work. Have you setup a free package in iPanel and enabled forced ads for that package? To check this, login to the iPanel administration panel, click Packages, edit the desired package, and verify that the package is setup as follows:

Billing type: Free Forced ads: Enabled

Does at least one account exist which is using an ad-supported package? To check this, login to the iPanel administration panel and click View Accounts. In the "Quick Search" section, select "Search: Package type", choose the desired package from the list, and click "Go". Make sure that at least one active hosting account shows up. Has the forced-ads setting been disabled for the account you're accessing? To check this, follow the instructions in step 8 to bring up the ad-supported account list, then click the "Manage package" icon for one of the hosting accounts. Check that the "Forced ads" status for the account is set to "Yes" or "Default (based on package settings)". If it is set to "No", ads will not show up on this site. Are you checking the correct site? Note that iPanel will only add ads to the sites listed in step 8. If you are checking any other site, ads will not be shown.

Ads still not appearing?

Before opening a ticket with our helpdesk, please double-check step 4 and ensure that mod_layout is working correctly on your server. Please note that mod_layout is not our product, and you should use the support resources provided on the mod_layout web site if you require support for mod_layout itself. (We do offer a paid mod_layout installation service if you need someone to install mod_layout for you, however.)

If you have double-checked each of the above items and are sure that mod_layout is working correctly, but ads are still not appearing on your web sites, please open a helpdesk ticket and provide the URL to the site on which you setup mod_layout in step 4. This will allow us to confirm that you have installed mod_layout correctly and that the problem is indeed iPanel-related.