Step-by-step Installation Guide for Ubuntu
Before you begin
It is a good idea to write down the passwords (and usernames) you will need to use for Ubuntu and Moodle:
- The Ubuntu root password
- The MySQL username and password that Moodle will use
- The Moodle main admin username and password
- An additional admin Moodle username and password
Step 1: Install Ubuntu
Why we prefer Ubuntu server over Ubuntu desktop
- Most IT professionals prefer to use a Command Line Interface (CLI) server, because it is safer and less prone to hacking.
- Amateur users might find it easier to use a graphical (desktop) interface.
- If you will only be using your Moodle server for local, experimental purposes, you might prefer to install the desktop (64 bits preferred) version of Ubuntu.
- If you install a CLI only server and later regret it, you can easily add a graphical desktop:
Procedure
- Ubuntu has a well known issue with its automatic updates filling up the /boot directory until automated updates start to fail and automated removal of old kernel files from /boot is impossible. Because of this you should consider installing Ubuntu with a /boot directory of around 5Gb and putting some automated clean up in place. More info can be found here - [1]
- You can use either VI (lightweight editor) or VIM (heavyweight editor), however, if you wish to use VIM you will need to install it
sudo apt-get install vim
- VI or VIM Commands
To edit a file press "Insert" Key
To finish editing press "Esc" Key
To write the file press ":w"
To Exit the editor press ":q"
You can also write and quit ":wq"
- In Ubuntu, the standard user, the account you created during the install, does not have rights to install/write to many of the directories. In the below tutorial we will be using the term "sudo" which stands for "super user do" before most of the commands.
Step 2: Install Apache/MySQL/PHP
Open up Terminal and install the following;
Adding the php7 ppa:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install apache2 mysql-client mysql-server php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 (Ubuntu 20.04 now installs PHP8 by default, so be careful to specify the PHP version number or you will get a "line 10602" error. See https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-70745 for the progress for "Prepare Moodle for PHP 8.0)
Before running 'sudo mysql_secure_installation' make sure to run the below command in order to set the password for MySQL server root user because it will give you an error during the installation if you don't do that
mysql -u root
'ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password by 'mynewpassword';
please, please my dear friends, WRITE IT DOWN and spare yourself some grief, you will need it in step 6.
Now run 'sudo mysql_secure_installation' to complete the installation
Step 3: Install Additional Software
sudo apt install graphviz aspell ghostscript clamav php7.4-pspell php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-intl php7.4-mysql php7.4-xml php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-ldap php7.4-zip php7.4-soap php7.4-mbstring
Restart Apache so that the modules are loaded correctly
sudo service apache2 restart
We will be using Git to install/update the Moodle Core Application
sudo apt install git
Step 4: Download Moodle
Setup your local repository and download Moodle, We will use /opt for this installation.
- Git is what is called a "version control system". By using git it will much easier down the road to update the moodle core application. Within Step 5 there is a little more detail on why we put the moodle core application code in the /opt directory.
cd /opt
Download the Moodle Code and Index
sudo git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git
Change directory into the downloaded Moodle folder
cd moodle
Retrieve a list of each branch available
sudo git branch -a
Tell git which branch to track or use
sudo git branch --track MOODLE_400_STABLE origin/MOODLE_400_STABLE
Finally, Check out the Moodle version specified
sudo git checkout MOODLE_400_STABLE
Step 5: Copy local repository to /var/www/html/
sudo cp -R /opt/moodle /var/www/html/
sudo mkdir /var/moodledata
sudo chown -R www-data /var/moodledata
sudo chmod -R 777 /var/moodledata
sudo chmod -R 0755 /var/www/html/moodle
Explanation:
Since we setup a local repository in the previous step, you will copy it to your webroot after any updates and making changes. Having your local repository outside of the webroot, like we have in /opt, you will be able to prepare and stage your upgrades in a more efficient manner. For example, you want to make some changes or add some plug-ins, you would download the plugin and copy it to your local moodle repository. After you have added the plug-in and any other changes you might have made you will need to edit the file located in /opt/moodle/.git/info/exclude. Within that file you want to tell git which files/folders to exclude when it pulls down the updates when you run your next "sudo git pull". An example entry would be the certificate mod located in /opt/moodle/mod/certificate so within the exclude file you want to add "/mod/certificate" below the last comments. You would add additional entries, 1 per line, for each plug-in or file you might have changed. If I were to change the favicon.ico file you would just add "favicon.ico" to the exclude file. Now when you run "sudo git pull" to update moodle to the latest version it will ignore those files and directories and just update the core moodle code. Before copying to your webroot to upgrade you want to make sure and download and copy over the latest versions of the plug-ins you might have added.
Step 6: Setup MySQL Server
First we need to change the default storage engine to innodb and change the default file format to Barracuda, this is a new setting compared to previous versions. You also need to set innodb_file_per_table in order for Barracuda to work properly. Ref: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/innodb-compression-usage.html
- You should not need to make innodb the default storage engine anymore, the latest version of Moodle will select it automatically during install. It is always a good idea to make it default anyway. You do however need to set the default file format!
- If you chose to use VIM instead please substitute vi for vim
sudo vi /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf
Scroll down to the [mysqld] section and under Basic Settings add the following line under the last statement. if you want to add you have to press the "insert" button on your keyboard. this is usually above the "delete" button. this allows you to add some text.
For MySQL Ver 8.0, the three settings below are not needed.
default_storage_engine = innodb
innodb_file_per_table = 1
Note: Sometimes, when this setting is put in the config of MySQL, the service fails to restart.
innodb_file_format = Barracuda
Note: If you use newer versions of MariaDB in Ubuntu 20.04 these changes in config file would arise and error (mysql unknown variable 'innodb_file_format=barracuda'), so comment or don't make these changes, these values are get by default.innodb_file_format was deprecated in MariaDB 10.2 and removed in MariaDB.
In order to save my.cnf using the editor, press the Esc (Escape) key, type the following in sequence which will save :w then close the editor :q
:w
:q
Restart MySQL Server for changes to take affect
sudo service mysql restart
Now we need to create the Moodle database and the Moodle MySQL User with the correct permissions
Use the password you created in step 1
sudo mysql -u root -p
mysql>
CREATE DATABASE moodle DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
Where it says "moodledude" and "passwordformoodledude" you should change to the username and password of your choosing.
mysql>
create user 'moodledude'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'passwordformoodledude';
mysql>
GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES,DROP,INDEX,ALTER ON moodle.* TO 'moodledude'@'localhost';
mysql>
quit;
Note - If you are using MySQL 5.6+ and when you issue the create user and get an error about the password hash you need to adjust the password to use the hash value
You can get this by following the below
mysql>
SELECT password('passwordformoodledude');
This will print the hash of the password like *AD51BAFB2GD003D3480BCED0DH81AB0BG1712535, you will want to use this in the IDENTIFIED BY ' part
Step 7: Complete Setup
- Note - If you are not comfortable using terminal to create the config.php file that needs to be created when going through the installer, you should temporarily make the webroot writable by doing the following:
sudo chmod -R 777 /var/www/html/moodle
After you have run the installer and you have moodle setup, you NEED to revert permissions so that it is no longer writable using the below command.
sudo chmod -R 0755 /var/www/html/moodle
Open your browser and go to http://IP.ADDRESS.OF.SERVER/moodle
Follow the prompts:
Change the path for moodledata
/var/moodledata
Database Type
Choose: mysqli
Database Settings
Host server: localhost
Database: moodle
User: moodledude (the user you created when setting up the database)
Password: passwordformoodledude (the password for the user you created)
Tables Prefix: mdl_
Environment Checks
This will indicate if any elements required to run moodle haven't been installed.
Next next next...
follow prompts and confirm installation
Create a Site Administrator Account
Create your moodle user account which will have site administrator permissions.
The password you select has to meet certain security requirements.
Installation Complete
Congrats! You can now start using Moodle!
Don't Forget
If you made the webroot writable, revert permissions
sudo chmod -R 0755 /var/www/html/moodle
System Paths After Install
After installing Moodle you should set the system paths, this will provide better performance VS not setting them. Each entry in Moodle will have it's explanation.
Navigate, on the moodle webpage, to Site Administration > Server > System Paths
Input the following;
Path to du: /usr/bin/du
Path to apsell: /usr/bin/aspell
Path to dot: /usr/bin/dot
Save Changes
- Optional if you do not already have an AntiVirus Solution
We also installed ClamAV in Step 3 so we need to set the path in Moodle
1st Create the Quarantine Directory
sudo mkdir /var/quarantine
Change Ownership
sudo chown -R www-data /var/quarantine
Navigate to Site Administration > Plugins > Antivirus plugins > Manage antivirus plugins
Enable ClamAV antivirus
Click on Settings
Set the proper settings
Save changes
In previous Moodle branches: Check "Use ClamAV on uploaded files" ClamAV Path : /usr/bin/clamscan Quarantine Directory : /var/quarantine
Save Changes
Suggestions: Enable Zend OpCache/Change Document Root
- Since we have installed Ubuntu Server 20.04LTS, we can use the built-in PHP OPcache.
Add the recommended OPcache settings to your 05-opcache.ini file. Again, substitute vi with vim and remember to use the correct key sequences from the introduction.
sudo vi /etc/php7/apache2/conf.d/05-opcache.ini
NOTE: In Ubuntu 16.04 opcache.ini is located in:
/etc/php/7.0/mods-available/opcache.ini
Restart Apache for changes to take affect.
sudo service apache2 restart
That's it for the Zend OpCache!
You can also install a GUI to view the status of your Zend OpCache, not recommended on production servers.
cd /var/www/html/moodle/
Download the PHP Script to your Moodle directory, you should also add this file to /opt/moodle/.git/info/exclude file so it does not get removed when upgrading your installation.
sudo wget https://github.com/rlerdorf/opcache-status/blob/master/opcache.php
Visit http://ip.address.of.server/moodle/opcache.php
If you do not want your end users to type http://yourserver/moodle and just want them to navigate to http://youserver you will need to edit the site configuration for Apache which will tell Apache to use the /var/www/html/moodle as the root directory and not /var/www/html
Open up the Apache sites config and change the document root
sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf
On the line where DocumentRoot is;
Change From: DocumentRoot /var/www/html
Change To: DocumentRoot /var/www/html/moodle
:w
:q
Restart Apache for changes to take affect.
sudo service apache2 restart
Important note!
If you have already installed Moodle then you should make the below changes.
Editing config.php for moodle
In the installation instructions, one of the suggested settings for 'webroot' is 'localhost'. This is fine if all you want to do is some local testing of your new Moodle installation. If, however, you want to view your new installation from another machine on the same local area network, or view your site on the Internet, you will have to change this setting:
For local testing, 'localhost' is fine for the webroot ($CFG->wwwroot in config.php). If you want to test your site from other machines on the same local area network (LAN), then you will have to use the private ip address of the serving machine, (e.g. 192.168.1.2/moodle) or the network name of the serving computer (e.g. network_name_of_serving_machine/moodle) as the web root. Depending on your LAN setup, it may be better to use the network name of the computer rather than its (private) ip address, because the ip address can and will change from time to time. If you don't want to use the network name, then you will have to speak to your network administrator and have them assign a permanent ip address to the serving machine. Finally, if you want to test your new installation across the internet, you will have to use either a domain name or a permanent (public) ip address/moodle as your web root. To handle both types of access, see masquerading.
Edit config.php for Moodle
cd /var/www/html/moodle sudo vim config.php
Hit the "insert" button on your keyboard, make then changes you need to make. Then press "escape" and type the following in to quit and to save changes (excluding quotation marks): ":wq"
Under $CFG->wwwroot change to http://ip.address.of.server instead of http://ip.address.of.server/moodle
Hosting several Moodle branches in one Ubuntu server
- This is very useful for the language pack maintainers to test translations in several Moodle branches.
- It is also very useful for developers to test their plugins in different Moodle branches.
- Just create a folder for each instance inside the web folder and that would be enough.
- To access the sites you only need to add the folder to localhost URL: http://localhost/moodle31
- You can have an instance for each version from 1.9 to 3.1
- You do need a separate data folder for each instance and a separate database (You can use phpmyadmin to set your database, but that's not necessary), add each instance in its own folder, and carry on as above. You can also host another service (e.g., Mahara) in its separate folder.
Example 1
- So, one example folder tree on one Linux laptop (an actual server would be more) may look something like:
var
--www
----maharadata
----moodlecleandata
----moodlestabledata
----moodlemasterdata
----moodletestingdata
----uswmoodledata
----html
------mahara
------moodleclean
------moodlestable
------moodlemaster
------moodletesting
------uswmoodle
Example 2
- Have several sandboxed Moodles on a single (CentOS X) server all of different versions .. only the ones that are supported for security fixes and above - 2.7,2.8,2.9,3.0, and now a 3.1. Pretty much 'stock' Moodles with only occasional addons, etc. for testing.
- All have their separate code and data directories as well as their separate DB's.
- Hint: install and maintain them all with git ... even if you don't prefer/like command line, that is by far the most efficient way to update and/or upgrade a site.
/var/www/html/moodle27/version.php:$release = '2.7.14 (Build: 20160509)' /var/www/html/moodle28/version.php:$release = '2.8.12 (Build: 20160509)' /var/www/html/moodle29/version.php:$release = '2.9.6+ (Build: 20160520)' /var/www/html/moodle30/version.php:$release = '3.0.4+ (Build: 20160603)' /var/www/html/moodle31/version.php:$release = '3.1+ (Build: 20160603)'
- The git -b command locks a site into the version provided with the rest of the git command ... for example, installing the 3.1, which is a long-term support version, installed with git -b option. Don't plan on upgrading nor testing upgrades with that one.
git clone -b MOODLE_31_STABLE git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git moodle31
- All the other moodles I have on that server have been installed via git
git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git [nameofdir]
- then from nameofdir
git branch --track MOODLE_2#_STABLE origin/MOODLE_2#_STABLE git checkout MOODLE_2#_STABLE
- 2# is the version number.
- That allows one to march that moodle upwards ... higher branch(es). So one can test an upgrade (as opposed to an 'update').
- This second method 'gits' more code and backups will range in the 5+ Meg range due to all the older version git stuff The 3.1 much less (restricted to 3.1 branch):
- 545M ./moodle296-code-20160604145012.tar
- 193M ./moodle31+-code-2016060883737.tar
