MNet

Moodle1.8

Random notes for Moodle Network. Should get these organised...

• Documentation for end users is here Moodle Network
• Some old documentation about the initial planning and dev
  • Community_hub
  • Community_hub_technotes
  • Community_hub_progress

Key config variables and functions

    // that mnethostid should "local" users have?
    // this is guaranteed to be set, except during the 1.7->1.8 upgrade
    $id = $CFG->mnet_localhost_id; 
    
    // a quick way to check if our user is local
    is_mnet_remote_user($user); 
    // internally wis_mnet_remote_user() does
    // if ($user->mnethostid == $CFG->mnet_localhost_id)

    // Are we listening to mnet requests? Nothing else works if we aren't.
    if ($CFG->mnet_dispatcher_mode === 'strict') {
        // Moodle is listening to mnet requests. Nothing else works if we aren't.
    }

    // Are we allowing remote users in via auth/mnet?
    // this is a bit more involved -- we should have a function
    // CFG->auth_plugins_enabled is guaranteed to be set, except during the 1.7->1.8 upgrade
     $auths = explode(',', $CFG->auth_plugins_enabled);
     if (in_array('mnet', $auths)) {
        // yes, auth/mnet is active  
     }

    // Will auth/mnet autocreate new user accts?
    if (get_config('auth/mnet', 'auto_add_remote_users')) {
        // yes it will!
    }

To Do

Some immediate items that would add polish without major surgery

• Exchange more enrolment info at log-entry exchange time on cron
• Special default role
  • Add a new "remote student" role
  • Add a config var to enrol/mnet: "defaultremoterole" to use "remote student"
  • Add a config var to the courses table to optionally override defaultremoterole
• Nicer CSS in the "my courses" listing in moodle homepage for remote hosts and remote courses. See course/lib.php print_remote_course() and print_remote_host().

Roadmap

A bit more work, and a whole lot more features. From easy to hard...

• Better per-host stats and log views for administrators. This is relatively easy using data we already have.
• In mod/forum craft a special URL for remote users so that the post URL is in the wantsurl parameter, so they can bounce-off their IDP in one go.
  • According to Jonathan Harker, this requires that we modify jump to accept the remote wwwroot as a parameter. Also: will this be safe enough?
• Display aggregated calendar on the IDP
• Exchange grades. Needs a bit of design.
• Build a SCORM/IMSCP/MoodleZip repository scheme.
  • MartinL has some ideas on how to get this done in easy and super-scalable.