SUSE Linux Server 10

Building Moodle on SLES 10: Step by step directions

• versions of Moodle can be installed on SLES via RPM located at

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education/SLE-10-SP2/noarch/ (for SLES10 SP2) http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education/SLE-11/noarch/ (for SLES11)

visit http://en.opensuse.org/education or http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education/ for many more programs automated for installation on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server

Introduction

These directions, combined with a script you will use later, will help you install a Moodle server in about 15 minutes. We make a few assumptions, which I hope we make clear, but I think you find this to be one of the easier setups for Moodle on Linux.

Starting Point

We are starting from the assumption that you have already installed a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SLES 10) Server. We are also assuming that this server has a static IP address and a DNS record on your network. (If you do not have a DNS record but know the IP address, you can still follow these directions to get going but it is recommended that you do this before the installation to avoid a hairy mess later. Lastly, we assume that this server is dedicated to hosting only Moodle. You can do whatever you want with this server other than easily host other website. Thus, let's say you named the server moodle and it had an IP address of 10.10.10.100. Then when you are done with these procedures you will be able to locate your server at http://moodle.domainname.com (or .org etc.) OR if you don't have a DNS record for the server you can http://10.10.10.100

Here we go!

Log into the SLES server you created as root.

Put the SLES10 DVD into the CD/DVD drive.

Press the Computer button in the lower left corner of the screen and choose YaST

Select "Software" from the left side of the YaST window and click on Software Management

Choose "Patterns" from the "filter" pull-down menu located beneath the menu items in the upper-left corner of the window.

Under the heading Primary Functions, select "Web and LAMP Server." (Do not press accept yet)

Now choose "Search" from the "filter" pull-down menu you just used.

Type php in the search field and click "Search."

Check the box next to the following items from the list on the right side of the window: php5-gd, php5-iconv, php5-mbstring, php5-mysql and php-zlib (leave any checks that may already exist)

Click the Accept button located in the bottom right corner of the window. --You will see a window pop-up indicating other automatic changes. Simply click "Continue"

The server will then install your selections. This may take a few minutes.

When prompted to "install or remove more packages" click no.

Close the YaST Control Center.

From the Computer button in the bottom left corner of the screen, click Firefox which opens the web browser.

Download Moodle 1.7 for Linux at http://download.moodle.org/download.php/stable17/moodle-1.7.tgz and , when prompted, select "save to disk" to place it on the desktop.

Place your mouse over the corner of the Firefox window to resize it to be on one half of your screen.

Now point the Firefox browser to http://educollaborators.com/LinuxLaptops/setup-moodle.sh and, when prompted, select "save to disk" to place it on the desktop.

Close Firefox. (You really need to do this.)

Drag the file "setup-moodle.sh" to the "root's home" folder located in the upper left corner of the desktop.

Double-click the moodle package you downloaded. It will Open in a program called File Roller. Click the "Extract" button.

Click the arrows to the right of Desktop on the "Extract in folder" bar and choose "other" from the pull down menu

Double-Click "File System" on the left side of the window that popped up and browse to /srv/www/htdocs and click "Open"

Click "Extract" and close the window when it completes.

Right click on the desktop and choose "Open Terminal" and type sh setup-moodle.sh and hit the Enter key. --A program which sets up some of the prerequisites of Moodle will run. Please read the screen and follow the prompts accordingly.

--The script will ask you to enter a username and password for the database which runs your Moodle server. It will also launch the Firefox browser to help you begin the installation of Moodle.

After entering a username and password for the database, you are prompted to press enter and Firefox will open. Resize Firefox so you can see the script running as well as Firefox.

In Firefox, click the Language and click next

You should see "Pass" for all of the PHP settings. Click "Next."

On the next screen, keep all of the default addresses and directories EXCEPT change the web address from //localhost/moodle to http://YOUR SERVER NAME.YOUR DOMAIN NAME/moodle (example http://moodle.whitfieldschool.org/moodle) and click "Next" --NOTE: If you have not created a DNS record for the server on your network, this is where you would place the IP address of ther server (example: http://10.10.10.100/moodle) If you want to change this later, you will need to modify this setting in the file /srv/www/htdocs/moodle/config.php. See why I suggest you have the DNS record first?! :-)

On the next screen, (My SQL) keep all of the defaults and in the "User" field, type the username you typed into the setup-moodle.sh script (exp: moodleuser)

In the password field, type the password you entered twice into the setup-moodle.sh script

Press Next

On the next screen (Checking Environment), you should have OK next to all variables. If you have "Check" next to unicode, you are still OK so long as all users in your Moodle environment speak the same language. Click Next.

On the next screen (Download Language Pack page), simply click Next. This download only included English but you can add other languages later.

When you reach the configuration complete page, click "Continue."

On the next screen, read over the user agreement and choose "Yes" to accept.

You will now see a series of pages where Moodle automates various configurations. Scroll to the bottom of each page and click "Continue." You will have to do this a number of times.

Once all configuration changes have been made, you will be brought to a web form to create the Moodle Admin account. Fill out the form accorting to your environment and click to update profile.

Fill out the form to configure your Front Page and click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

You will be logged into the Moodle environment as the admin user you just created. I know you are excited to get started but you aren't done yet!

Close Firefox. (Yes, you need to do this. You will come back to your moodle server later.)

Click on the "terminal" window to get back into the script. As directed, click Return or Enter.

Once you see "Moodle installation complete," close the terminal window and log off the server.

Go to another computer and open a web browser. Point it to your server (example: http://moodle.whitfieldschool.org ) --NOTE: we removed the /moodle from theddress to make it easier for your users.

Have fun with Moodle!