Choosing a server environment or how not to install Moodle
Since the Moodle distance learning environment is quite popular, discussions on the most appropriate server environment regularly come up in specialized forums.
Moodle is based on cross-platform technology (LAMP), so by applying time, energy and knowledge, you can get Moodle to work anywhere, from Moemo to Windows. At the same time, none of the platforms is a “silver bullet”.
Moodle is an enterprise level professional software product. In complexity, it can be compared with corporate ERP / CRM-system. The developers have made it user friendly and easy to administer as much as possible. And this external simplicity provokes an amateurish approach to implementation: it seems that if a specialist successfully copes with installing MS Office, administering a site on Joomla or is erudite in IT-technologies, he can easily cope with installing Moodle in an hour, and then he can return to basic responsibilities.
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Here are 4 common antipatterns of the Moodle installation:
Beginning Windows administrators often issue an XAMPP-based Windows inspection package for industrial deployment. There, everything is accustomed to by technicians who do not face serious server administration: a ready-made kit, a graphical installer, works without editing configuration files. With such an installation, the inoperability of many functions, serious problems with safety and performance, as well as the complete unavailability of such installations and the specialists who made them to any failures, are overlooked.
The first difficulties appear already when setting up external access from the Internet, so the forums are full of questions like “why does the link 127.0.0.1/moodle open for me, but not for others? Where to enter the new address elearning.world-school-of-everything.narod.ru to make it work? ”.
Most often, this implementation ends with Moodle disappointment, blaming the product for all the problems caused by incompetent installation. It is much worse if the system has time to settle down before the first serious failure: the organization will lose not only money invested in filling the system with content, but also reputation. The entire learning history, grades, information about the tasks completed by students may be lost: convincing teachers and students to repeat the experiment a second time will be very difficult. However, it is often enough to attract a qualified engineer and he will recover all or most of the lost information.
To be fair, it should be noted that novice Linux administrators who install Moodle with the apt-get install moodle command or by copying the distribution package to the system web server's / var / www are about the same.
Webmasters can summarize that once Moodle is written in PHP and uses a SQL database, this is a regular CMS engine, like Joomla, which means you can upload it to FTP for hosting for 100 rubles per month and click the “ Install "in the admin interface. Leaving behind the scenes, even the CMS engines of important sites should be given more attention, competence and system resources. This generalization is similar to the conclusion that a regular bus is the same scooter, and it can also be parked in a shed, filled with a mixture of gasoline and oil, operated without maintenance until it breaks, and then repaired in-yard using a set of screwdrivers and wrenches: technology similar, but different scale, complexity of the system, load and level of responsibility.
Here, at best, the webmaster will receive a “white page” at the installation stage - this will protect the hosting provider from exceeding the system limits. If providers for 100 rubles distributed unlimited resources to all - they would have been ruined by the iron for a long time. If there is enough installation resources, users will “get acquainted” with the hosting protection a bit later: when they start filling the system with materials, the load will increase or specific functions, such as import / export rates, will be used.
Most providers try to install more libraries and capabilities by default, but they are still not enough to fully function Moodle. In addition to the slow and unstable work of DLS, problems can arise with the execution of background tasks, sending notifications, synchronization, network interaction, import / export, text checking for spelling, checking attachments for viruses, working with formulas, displaying "heavy" content and a number of other difficulties .
Scholars are the most difficult case. They sometimes make very good professionals, but this requires a lot of time, patience and, often, a few ruined projects and critical failures with the loss of all the content. At the discussion stage, they enthusiastically convince the management of the expediency of deploying the system on FreeBSD / Mac OSX Server / blade server / MS SQLServer / anything else and require it from the contractor, skillfully operating with professional terminology and quoting authorities. Their practical skills are often limited by the ability to order a virtual machine preloaded with FreeBSD, and the web server that beats the pages is horny, instead of days of the week are explained by defects in Moodle itself, and not by the inability of the scholar to set up the locale for FreeBSD.
It is very easy to distinguish an “erudite” from an expert: the expert has more than three successful implementations on the technology recommended by him, more than two completely implemented implementations on other technologies and he has already assembled and tested the prototype of the Moodle installation with the technology recommended by him.
All of the above is true not only for Moodle, but also for any other DLS, ERP / CRM system or professional online store (Magento etc.). There can be no “simple and easy DLS” because the subject area itself is complex and diverse. Light LMS in this sense is like a trap with a wide entrance and a narrow exit: very soon, any organization will become cramped and uncomfortable in it. Changing an already implemented solution is many times more complicated than the initial implementation.
However, there is one exception: teachers-enthusiasts who implement e-learning on a voluntary basis can safely ignore all my recommendations, because any work done for free and on their own initiative is good and worthy of respect. But the leaders, taking such a project as a pilot for the implementation, should thank and reward the creator, and then instruct the specialists to redo the technical solution according to all the rules.
Our team chose Ubuntu Linux Server as a stable, easy and regularly updated and easy to administer system. Its free is an important factor, as it affects the total cost of implementation.
The ability to perform any work from the console, including remotely, via ssh, even on a slow connection, is very important for all Unix systems. About the insecurity of this feature speak only inexperienced administrators, for whom setting up permissions, ssh-access, Firewall and automatic blocking by suspicious activity in the logs is akin to magic.
The ability to automate operations by writing scripts and creating deb packages was very useful for us. The availability of free, but professional tools for monitoring, backup and mass administration of virtualization systems in Linux makes this platform especially attractive.
Of all the operating systems and distributions that I have seen, the Ubuntu Linux Server has the most willingness to deploy Moodle, although even there you need to install and configure dozens of additional packages. But the use of a typical platform allows all this to be easily automated. And the problem of the lack of specialists on the market who are fluent in Linux is very easy to solve: Ubuntu Linux is the standard for all the workplaces of our technical specialists. Any developer, trainee or technical support engineer, even if he is not associated with server administration, unwittingly gets used to the platform and tests all developments at once in the same environment as on the server.
Other teams of experts may well have a different experience: a lot of successful projects on Window, FreeBSD, or Max OS X Server. Even assemblers of cabinets and plumbing bring with them a set of familiar and convenient tools. Therefore, I want to end with the proverb: “The stick shoots at the able hands”. And no platform is suitable for industrial implementation, if a specialist does it for the first time.
Moodle is based on cross-platform technology (LAMP), so by applying time, energy and knowledge, you can get Moodle to work anywhere, from Moemo to Windows. At the same time, none of the platforms is a “silver bullet”.
Moodle is an enterprise level professional software product. In complexity, it can be compared with corporate ERP / CRM-system. The developers have made it user friendly and easy to administer as much as possible. And this external simplicity provokes an amateurish approach to implementation: it seems that if a specialist successfully copes with installing MS Office, administering a site on Joomla or is erudite in IT-technologies, he can easily cope with installing Moodle in an hour, and then he can return to basic responsibilities.
')
Here are 4 common antipatterns of the Moodle installation:
Beginning Windows administrators often issue an XAMPP-based Windows inspection package for industrial deployment. There, everything is accustomed to by technicians who do not face serious server administration: a ready-made kit, a graphical installer, works without editing configuration files. With such an installation, the inoperability of many functions, serious problems with safety and performance, as well as the complete unavailability of such installations and the specialists who made them to any failures, are overlooked.
The first difficulties appear already when setting up external access from the Internet, so the forums are full of questions like “why does the link 127.0.0.1/moodle open for me, but not for others? Where to enter the new address elearning.world-school-of-everything.narod.ru to make it work? ”.
Most often, this implementation ends with Moodle disappointment, blaming the product for all the problems caused by incompetent installation. It is much worse if the system has time to settle down before the first serious failure: the organization will lose not only money invested in filling the system with content, but also reputation. The entire learning history, grades, information about the tasks completed by students may be lost: convincing teachers and students to repeat the experiment a second time will be very difficult. However, it is often enough to attract a qualified engineer and he will recover all or most of the lost information.
To be fair, it should be noted that novice Linux administrators who install Moodle with the apt-get install moodle command or by copying the distribution package to the system web server's / var / www are about the same.
Webmasters can summarize that once Moodle is written in PHP and uses a SQL database, this is a regular CMS engine, like Joomla, which means you can upload it to FTP for hosting for 100 rubles per month and click the “ Install "in the admin interface. Leaving behind the scenes, even the CMS engines of important sites should be given more attention, competence and system resources. This generalization is similar to the conclusion that a regular bus is the same scooter, and it can also be parked in a shed, filled with a mixture of gasoline and oil, operated without maintenance until it breaks, and then repaired in-yard using a set of screwdrivers and wrenches: technology similar, but different scale, complexity of the system, load and level of responsibility.
Here, at best, the webmaster will receive a “white page” at the installation stage - this will protect the hosting provider from exceeding the system limits. If providers for 100 rubles distributed unlimited resources to all - they would have been ruined by the iron for a long time. If there is enough installation resources, users will “get acquainted” with the hosting protection a bit later: when they start filling the system with materials, the load will increase or specific functions, such as import / export rates, will be used.
Most providers try to install more libraries and capabilities by default, but they are still not enough to fully function Moodle. In addition to the slow and unstable work of DLS, problems can arise with the execution of background tasks, sending notifications, synchronization, network interaction, import / export, text checking for spelling, checking attachments for viruses, working with formulas, displaying "heavy" content and a number of other difficulties .
Scholars are the most difficult case. They sometimes make very good professionals, but this requires a lot of time, patience and, often, a few ruined projects and critical failures with the loss of all the content. At the discussion stage, they enthusiastically convince the management of the expediency of deploying the system on FreeBSD / Mac OSX Server / blade server / MS SQLServer / anything else and require it from the contractor, skillfully operating with professional terminology and quoting authorities. Their practical skills are often limited by the ability to order a virtual machine preloaded with FreeBSD, and the web server that beats the pages is horny, instead of days of the week are explained by defects in Moodle itself, and not by the inability of the scholar to set up the locale for FreeBSD.
It is very easy to distinguish an “erudite” from an expert: the expert has more than three successful implementations on the technology recommended by him, more than two completely implemented implementations on other technologies and he has already assembled and tested the prototype of the Moodle installation with the technology recommended by him.
All of the above is true not only for Moodle, but also for any other DLS, ERP / CRM system or professional online store (Magento etc.). There can be no “simple and easy DLS” because the subject area itself is complex and diverse. Light LMS in this sense is like a trap with a wide entrance and a narrow exit: very soon, any organization will become cramped and uncomfortable in it. Changing an already implemented solution is many times more complicated than the initial implementation.
However, there is one exception: teachers-enthusiasts who implement e-learning on a voluntary basis can safely ignore all my recommendations, because any work done for free and on their own initiative is good and worthy of respect. But the leaders, taking such a project as a pilot for the implementation, should thank and reward the creator, and then instruct the specialists to redo the technical solution according to all the rules.
Our team chose Ubuntu Linux Server as a stable, easy and regularly updated and easy to administer system. Its free is an important factor, as it affects the total cost of implementation.
The ability to perform any work from the console, including remotely, via ssh, even on a slow connection, is very important for all Unix systems. About the insecurity of this feature speak only inexperienced administrators, for whom setting up permissions, ssh-access, Firewall and automatic blocking by suspicious activity in the logs is akin to magic.
The ability to automate operations by writing scripts and creating deb packages was very useful for us. The availability of free, but professional tools for monitoring, backup and mass administration of virtualization systems in Linux makes this platform especially attractive.
Of all the operating systems and distributions that I have seen, the Ubuntu Linux Server has the most willingness to deploy Moodle, although even there you need to install and configure dozens of additional packages. But the use of a typical platform allows all this to be easily automated. And the problem of the lack of specialists on the market who are fluent in Linux is very easy to solve: Ubuntu Linux is the standard for all the workplaces of our technical specialists. Any developer, trainee or technical support engineer, even if he is not associated with server administration, unwittingly gets used to the platform and tests all developments at once in the same environment as on the server.
Other teams of experts may well have a different experience: a lot of successful projects on Window, FreeBSD, or Max OS X Server. Even assemblers of cabinets and plumbing bring with them a set of familiar and convenient tools. Therefore, I want to end with the proverb: “The stick shoots at the able hands”. And no platform is suitable for industrial implementation, if a specialist does it for the first time.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/293426/
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