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Template: Revive Ad Server Maintenance Checklist

Revive is an ad server software and the successor to the popular ad server OpenX Source. This checklist helps you maintaining your installation of Revive. It includes frequent checks for software updates as well as things to look out for in regard to security and other issues.

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Is the latest version of Revive Adserver installed?

Verifiy that you are using the latest version of Revive. Either by checking the official download page, or by logging in as administrator and navigation to "Configuration"=>"Product Updates".

Did you verify that there are no known vulnerabilities in Revive that have not yet been fixed in the official release?

Usually, vulnerabilities get fixed very quickly after disvovery. Still, it pays to take a short look at Revive Community Forum and other sources to check if any new vulnerabilities have been discovered.

Is your operating system up to date?
Install all security updates on your host system which runs Revive Adserver. Make sure it is free of vulnerabilities and shows no issues. Use our Server Maintenance Checklist Template to manage this task in more detail.
Are there suspicious or outdated user accounts?
Check which users have access to the default manager account and which users have administrator access. Make sure that all these users are known and should indeed have access. Remove unknown users and outdated accounts of users who should not have access anymore.

Is the geotargeting database up to date?

If you are using the geotargeting plugin which ships with Revive you need to update its database frequently to make sure that you are still getting accurate results.

By default, Revive uses the free geotargeting database of Maxmind. You can download it on the Maxmind website. Maxmind updates the database on the first Tuesday of each month.

Are there no irregularities in Revive's statistics?
Make sure that the traffic of your site(s) matches the usual patterns. If you notice abnormalities, investigate. They might be of natural causes (e.g. your site received more traffic) or sign for a problem (e.g. a broken Revive maintenance task).
Is the Revive maintenance task running without problems?

Make sure that there are no problems reported under "Configuration"=>"Maintenance". The following message would indicate issues:

Also take a look at var/debug.log in your Revive Adserver directory. Make sure that it does not show any errors.

Are your configuration files write protected?

Make sure that Revive's configuration files are write protected. This way, attackers are limited even if they gain backend access. Make sure to remove the protection only temporarily if you want to make config changes through the admin backend.

Is there no unwanted content in the prepend or append settings of your ad zones?

If intruders managed to gain access to your installation of Revive Adserver, they often place malicious code in the prepend or append fields of your ad zones. These codes usually serve shady ads or browser exploits to your visitors. Should you find any code which does not belong there, remove it right away and investigate how it was placed there.