I am in need of an Apache module that will dynamically add ads in user
pages. Is there such a module available?

Also, if I wanted to specify that no ads be served if they come from a
certain directory, would this add much overhead to the server? Suppose
there are about 30,000 user accounts, and I wanted 2,000 of them (arbitrary)
to have no ads. Would this be workable to have the mod load up this list of
2,000 exempt folders and not place ads in them? Or would this take up so
much memory to be unfeasible?

Shabam wrote:
> I am in need of an Apache module that will dynamically add ads in user
> pages. Is there such a module available?

That's one of the usage examples on
http://apache.webthing.com/mod_publisher/macro.html

> Also, if I wanted to specify that no ads be served if they come from a
> certain directory, would this add much overhead to the server?

Just use a <DirectoryMatch> or similar to define where it's active.

--
Nick Kew

Shabam wrote:
> I am in need of an Apache module that will dynamically add ads in user
> pages. Is there such a module available?

That's one of the usage examples on
http://apache.webthing.com/mod_publisher/macro.html

> Also, if I wanted to specify that no ads be served if they come from a
> certain directory, would this add much overhead to the server?

Just use a <DirectoryMatch> or similar to define where it's active.

--
Nick Kew

> > Also, if I wanted to specify that no ads be served if they come from a
> > certain directory, would this add much overhead to the server?
>
> Just use a <DirectoryMatch> or similar to define where it's active.

My question is regarding performance, not if it's doable. Also, the mod
you've recommended doesn't fit well because it allows too much control for
end users to abuse it. What I am doing is hosting some free sites. I don't
want them to be able to reconfigure/add/modify anything the ad banner module
does.

> > Also, if I wanted to specify that no ads be served if they come from a
> > certain directory, would this add much overhead to the server?
>
> Just use a <DirectoryMatch> or similar to define where it's active.

My question is regarding performance, not if it's doable. Also, the mod
you've recommended doesn't fit well because it allows too much control for
end users to abuse it. What I am doing is hosting some free sites. I don't
want them to be able to reconfigure/add/modify anything the ad banner module
does.

Shabam wrote:

> My question is regarding performance, not if it's doable.

I should expect it to be the least of your problems as far as
performance is concerned. Just use a mass-vhosting configuration.

> Also, the mod
> you've recommended doesn't fit well because it allows too much control for
> end users to abuse it.

Quite the reverse. Firstly, as with any other module, users get exactly
as much control through .htaccess as the system administrator permits
(and a sysop who is concerned about performance will of course disable
..htaccess altogether). Secondly, because it works by parsing markup,
it won't get subverted by the kind of tricks that users of services
like geocities traditionally use, which puts them in a perpetual arms
race with their hosts.

Anyway, your decision. And I'm sure there's a growing market out there
- if you can reach it - for a free service that won't automatically
invalidate its users pages as these auto-ad-banners traditionally do.

--
Nick Kew

Shabam wrote:

> My question is regarding performance, not if it's doable.

I should expect it to be the least of your problems as far as
performance is concerned. Just use a mass-vhosting configuration.

> Also, the mod
> you've recommended doesn't fit well because it allows too much control for
> end users to abuse it.

Quite the reverse. Firstly, as with any other module, users get exactly
as much control through .htaccess as the system administrator permits
(and a sysop who is concerned about performance will of course disable
..htaccess altogether). Secondly, because it works by parsing markup,
it won't get subverted by the kind of tricks that users of services
like geocities traditionally use, which puts them in a perpetual arms
race with their hosts.

Anyway, your decision. And I'm sure there's a growing market out there
- if you can reach it - for a free service that won't automatically
invalidate its users pages as these auto-ad-banners traditionally do.

--
Nick Kew

> Quite the reverse. Firstly, as with any other module, users get exactly
> as much control through .htaccess as the system administrator permits
> (and a sysop who is concerned about performance will of course disable
> .htaccess altogether). Secondly, because it works by parsing markup,
> it won't get subverted by the kind of tricks that users of services
> like geocities traditionally use, which puts them in a perpetual arms
> race with their hosts.

I just read the mod_publisher page again, and realize that I read it wrong
the first time. I thought it was a client-configured thing where the end
user enters a replacement string in his html pages. That would not work
obviously because they could put it (in this case, banner placement tag) at
the very bottom, covered up with comments, or just not put it.

However, I'm still rather confused by this mod due to the limited
documentation. Could you point me perhaps to some tutorials that cover it
more with examples? Thanks!