---
title: "Go-live checklist: configuration checks (items 1–6)"
description: "The first six checks of the go-live pass in detail — statuses along the whole chain, approval states, linking verified from both Matched cards, targeting sanity, caps and limits that will not strangle the launch, and pricing."
type: "tutorial"
audience: [network-manager, publisher, advertiser]
keywords: [go live, checklist, active, approval, pending, linking, matched, targeting, capping, limits, stop at percent, pricing]
ui_path: "Account → Advertisers / Publishers / Analytics"
---

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/llms.txt. Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. Append .md to any documentation page URL to get its markdown version.

# Go-live checklist: configuration checks (items 1–6)

**Goal:** in about five minutes, rule out the six configuration faults that make a launch fail
silently — a paused ancestor, a rejected creative, a pair that is linked but not matched, a
rule that excludes your traffic, a leftover test cap, a zero rate. The numbering is the
[Go-live checklist](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/start/go-live-checklist.md)'s own; each item says who runs it.

## Steps

1. **Statuses — the whole chain is Active** (everyone, on their own side). Serving requires
   *every* level to be active: advertiser, campaign, banner, site, zone, placement. Walk both
   trees and check the status indicators; a single paused ancestor silently stops everything
   below it. Watch for "hide inactive" filters in the tree rail — an entity you cannot see may
   still be the inactive culprit.
2. **Approval states** (network manager with the Pending tabs; they are not on the stock role, so
   otherwise your network administrator). On networks that review content, check **Pending
   banners** and **Pending sites**. A pending site still serves, and so does a creative under
   the soft review mode; under the strict mode a creative stays switched off until approved, and
   a **Rejected** creative is switched off. Make sure nothing is deactivated or rejected.
3. **Linking — verify from both ends** (network manager). Open the banner's **Matched
   placements** card and the placement's **Matched banners** card. Both must list the
   counterpart. The **Linked placements** card showing a row is necessary but not sufficient —
   *matched* means the pair is actually servable (size, type and rules all agree). The pill in
   the banner's and the placement's header should read **Serving · N**; **Not serving** means
   nothing is wired to the other side yet. The placement's **Matched banners** card is on the stock
   Network Manager role (*Matched advertisers* plus the placement's **Matching rules** card); the
   banner's **Matched placements** card needs *Matched inventory*, which no stock role holds —
   without it, rely on the serving pill and [step 7](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/start/go-live-checklist-serving-checks.md).
   ![Matched placements card](https://epom.com/docs-images/ad-server/go-live-checklist/matched-inventory.webp)
4. **Targeting sanity** (everyone, on their own levels). For every level that has targeting
   rules: confirm they describe real traffic. Empty targeting serves to everyone — that is the
   safe default. Classic self-inflicted blocks: a country list that omits your test location,
   device targeting that excludes your test browser, time-of-day windows read in a different
   time zone than you assume (**Time Range** reads the network's time zone — UTC unless your
   network has been set to another zone — unless **Client local time** is set). Remember
   targeting stacks across levels — a campaign rule AND a banner rule must both match, and the
   site, zone and placement pre-targeting must match too.
5. **Capping and limits won't strangle the launch** (network manager, and the advertiser where
   the cards are shown). Check Frequency capping and Limits at campaign (and, where you hold
   them, placement) level: a leftover test value like "1 impression per user per month" produces
   exactly one ad and then silence, and a filled **total** limit has already switched the entity
   off — it stays off after you raise the cap, until you switch it back on. Include any
   [pinned action rows](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/guides/delivery/limits.md#pinned-actions--rows-your-network-chooses)
   your network added to the card. And if a row carries an amber **ⓘ**, your network stops that
   type of limit **before** the cap — *Delivery stops at 98% of this limit (network setting)* — so
   a 1,000-impression cap ends at 980; plan the figure with that in mind.
6. **Pricing is set** (network manager, and the advertiser on the campaign). A campaign with the
   wrong pricing type or a zero rate may serve but produce useless analytics and billing. Confirm
   the Pricing card matches the insertion order.

## What next

- [Go-live checklist: serving checks (items 7–10)](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/start/go-live-checklist-serving-checks.md) — diagnostics, preview, a test page and the report
- [Go-live checklist](https://epom.com/ad-server/docs/start/go-live-checklist.md) — the whole pass, the once-per-network checks and what to do when a step fails