MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Talk:LDAP authentication

2008-11-13T20:02:59Z

Jsilve1: /* What is the version of Moodle does this apply */

== What is the version of Moodle does this apply==
<div style="border: 1px dotted red; padding: 1em; background: #efefef">
'''QUESTION: TO WHAT VERSION OF MOODLE DOES THE BULK OF THIS DOCUMENT APPLY?'''
This should be explicitly stated. My guess so far is Moodle 1.6.

For example, the screenshot on this page does not seem to be from a Moodle 1.8 or 1.9 site. Also, in Moodle 1.8/1.9, Authentication is at Admin->Authentication->Manage Auth. by User:Jeffrey Silverman
</div>
:: Hi Jeffrey, I moved your question from the article page to here. Good comment, if you know the answer, I would like to know it. I did go down the path a little bit on this page (perpetual newbie) but I did not have an LDAP server to check this against, so I am as clueless as you. Best --[[User:chris collman|chris collman]] 18:06, 12 November 2008 (CST)

I don't know the answer. Thanks for the clarification. I put that thing there as a banner because, IMO, the comments on pages are too "hidden" as they are really a separate page linked to in the tab interface idiom.

-- Jeff

==old comment==
Really useful section, although would be good to explicitly state whether the ldap bind account password is stored securely in the Moodle DB.

== What about the sync script? ==

There is no mention of /auth/ldap/auth_ldap_sync_users.php

Why is it there?
What is it for?
Should it always be run?
Is it obsolete?
Is it only for some instances? (As in, specific LDAP settings)

Thanks!

LDAP authentication

2008-11-12T21:18:18Z

Jsilve1:

Location: Settings link in ''Administration > Users > [[Authentication]]''

<div style="border: 1px dotted red; padding: 1em; background: #efefef">
'''QUESTION: TO WHAT VERSION OF MOODLE DOES THE BULK OF THIS DOCUMENT APPLY?'''
This should be explicitly stated. My guess so far is Moodle 1.6.

For example, the screenshot on this page does not seem to be from a Moodle 1.8 or 1.9 site. Also, in Moodle 1.8/1.9, Authentication is at Admin->Authentication->Manage Auth.
</div>

This document describes how to set up Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) authentication in Moodle. We cover the basic, advanced and some trouble shooting sections to assist the user in the installation and administrating LDAP in Moodle.

==Basic Scenario==
The simple and straightforward approach for most installations.

===Assumptions===

# Your Moodle site is located at '''http://your.moodle.site/'''
# You have configured your PHP installation with the LDAP extension. It is loaded and activated, and it shows when you go to '''http://your.moodle.site/admin/phpinfo.php''' (logged in as user 'admin').
# Your LDAP server has '''192.168.1.100''' as its IP address.
# You are not using LDAP with SSL (also known as LDAPS) in your settings. This might prevent certain operations from working (e.g., you cannot update data if you are using MS Active Directory -- MS-AD from here on --), but should be OK if you just want to authenticate your users.
# You don't want your users to change their passwords the first time they log in into Moodle.
# You are using a single domain as the source of your authentication data in case you are using MS-AD (more on this in the Appendices).
# You are using a top level distinguished name (DN) of '''dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' as the root of your LDAP tree.
# You have a non-privileged LDAP user account you will use to bind to the LDAP server. This is not necessary with certain LDAP servers, but MS-AD requires this and it won't hurt if you use it even if your LDAP server doesn't need it. Make sure '''this account and its password don't expire''', and make this password as strong as possible. Remember you only need to type this password once, when configuring Moodle, so don't be afraid of making it as hard to guess as possible. Let's say this user account has a DN of '''cn=ldap-user,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''', and password '''hardtoguesspassword'''.
# All of your Moodle users are in an organizational unit (OU) called '''moodleusers''', which is right under your LDAP root. That OU has a DN of '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain'''.
# You '''don't''' want your LDAP users' passwords to be stored in Moodle at all.

===Configuring Moodle authentication===

Log in as an admin user and go to Administration >> Users >> Authentication. In the drop down listbox titled "Choose an authentication method" select "Use an LDAP Server". You will get a page similar to this one:

 
::: [[Image:auth_ldap_config_screenshot.jpg]]
 

Now, you just have to fill in the values. Let's go step by step.
 
 

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Field name
! Value to fill in
|-
| ldap_host_url
| As the IP of your LDAP server is 192.168.1.100, type "'''ldap://192.168.1.100'''" (without the quotes), or just "'''192.168.1.100'''" (some people have trouble connecting with the first syntax, specially on MS Windows servers).
|-
| ldap_version
| Unless you are using a really old LDAP server, '''version 3''' is the one you should choose.
|-
| ldap_preventpassindb
| As you '''don't''' want to store the users's password in Moodle's database, choose '''Yes''' here.
|-
| ldap_bind_dn
| This is the distinguished name of the bind user defined above. Just type "'''cn=ldap-user,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain'''" (without the quotes).
|-
| ldap_bind_pw
| This is the bind user password defined above. Type "'''hardtoguesspassword'''" (without the quotes).
|-
| ldap_user_type
| Choose:
* '''Novel Edirectory''' if your LDAP server is running Novell's eDdirectory.
* '''posixAccount (rfc2307)''' if your LDAP server is running a RFC-2307 compatible LDAP server (choose this is your server is running OpenLDAP).
* '''posixAccount (rfc2307bis)''' if your LDAP server is running a RFC-2307bis compatible LDAP server.
* '''sambaSamAccount (v.3.0.7)''' if your LDAP server is running with SAMBA's 3.x LDAP schema extension and you want to use it.
* '''MS ActiveDirectory''' if your LDAP server is running Microsoft's Active Directory (MS-AD)
|-
| ldap_contexts
| The DN of the context (container) where all of your Moodle users are found. Type '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' here.
|-
| ldap_search_sub
| If you have any sub organizational units (subcontexts) hanging from '''ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' and you want Moodle to search there too, set this to '''yes'''. Otherwise, set this to '''no'''.
|-
| ldap_opt_deref
| Sometimes your LDAP server will tell you that the real value you are searching for is in fact in another part of the LDAP tree (this is called an alias). If you want Moodle to 'dereference' the alias and fetch the real value from the original location, set this to '''yes'''. If you don't want Moodle to dereference it, set this to '''no'''. If you are using MS-AD, set this to '''no'''.
|-
| ldap_user_attribute
| The attribute used to name/search users in your LDAP tree. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_user_type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

By the way, it's usually '''cn''' (Novell eDirectory and MS-AD) or '''uid''' (RFC-2037, RFC-2037bis and SAMBA 3.x LDAP extension), but if you are using MS-AD you could use '''sAMAccountName''' (the pre-Windows 2000 logon account name) if you need too.
|-
| ldap_memberattribute
| The attribute used to list the members of a given group. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_user_type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

By the way, the usual values are '''member''' and '''memberUid'''.
|-
| ldap_objectclass
| The type of LDAP object used to search for users. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_user_type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.

Here are the default values for each of the ''ldap_user_type'' values:
* '''User''' for Novel eDirectory
* '''posixAccount''' for RFC-2037 and RFC-2037bis
* '''sambaSamAccount''' for SAMBA 3.0.x LDAP extension
* '''user''' for MS-AD
If you get an error about a problem with updating the ldap server (even if you have specified not to write changes back to the ldap server) try setting the ldap object class to * - see http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=70566 for a discussion on this problem
|-
| Force change password
| Set this to ''Yes'' if you want to force your users to change their password on the first login into Moodle. Otherwise, set this to ''no''. Bear in mind the password they are forced to change is the one stored in your LDAP server.

As you don't want your users to change their passwords in their first login, leave this set to ''No''
|-
| Use standard Change Password Page
|
* Setting this to ''Yes'' makes Moodle use it's own standard password change page, everytime users want to change their passwords.
* Setting this to ''No'' makes Moodle use the the page specified in the field called "Change password URL" (at the bottom of the configuration page).

Bear in mind that changing your LDAP passwords from Moodle might require a LDAPS connection (this is true at least for MS-AD).

Also, code for changing passwords from Moodle for anything but Novell eDirectory is almost not tested, so this may or may not work for other LDAP servers.
|-
| ldap_expiration
|
* Setting this to ''No'' will make Moodle not to check if the password of the user has expired or not.
* Setting this to ''LDAP'' will make Moodle check if the LDAP password of the user has expired or not, and warn her a number of days before the password expires.

Current code only deals with Novell eDirectory LDAP server, but there is a patch floating around to make it work with MS-AD too (search in the authentication forum).

So unless you have Novell eDirectory server (or use the patch), choose ''No'' here.
|-
| ldap_expiration_warning
| This value sets how many days in advance of password expiration the user is warned that her password is about to expire.
|-
| ldap_exprireattr
| The LDAP user attribute used to check password expiration. This option takes a default value based on the ''ldap_user_type'' value you choosed above. So unless you need something special, you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| ldap_gracelogins
| This setting is specific to Novell eDirectory. If set to ''Yes'', enable LDAP gracelogin support. After password has expired the user can login until gracelogin count is 0.

So unless you have Novell eDirectory server and want to allow gracelogin support, choose ''No'' here.
|-
| ldap_graceattr
| This setting is currently not used in the code (and is specific to Novell eDirectory).

So you don't need to fill this in.
|-
| ldap_create_context
|
|-
| ldap_creators
| The DN of the group that contains all of your Moodle creators. This is typically a posixGroup with a "memberUid" attribute for each user you want to be a creator. If your group is called ''creators'', type '''cn=creators,ou=moodleusers,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' here. Each memberUid attribute contains the CN of a user who is authorized to be a creator. Do not use the user's full DN (e.g., not '''memberUid: cn=JoeTeacher,ou=moodleusers,dc-my,dc=organizations,dc=domain''', but rather '''memberUid: JoeTeacher''').

In eDirectory, the objectClass for a group is (by default) not '''posixGroup''' but '''groupOfNames,''' whose member attribute is '''member,''' not '''memberUid,''' and whose value is the full DN of the user in question. Although you can probably modify Moodle's code to use this field, a better solution is just to add a new '''objectClass''' attribute of '''posixGroup''' to your creators group and put the CNs for each creator in a '''memberUid''' attribute.

In MS Active Directory, you will need to create a security group for your creators to be part of and then add them all. If your ldap context above is 'ou=staff,dc=my,dc=org' then your group should then be 'cn=creators,ou=staff,dc=my,dc=org'. If some of the users are from other contexts and have been added to the same security group, you'll have to add these as separate contexts after the first one using the same format.
|-
| First name
| The name of the attribute that holds the first name of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''givenName'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Surname
| The name of the attribute that holds the surname of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''sn'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Email address
| The name of the attribute that holds the email address of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''mail'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Phone 1
| The name of the attribute that holds the telephone number of your users in your LDAP server. This is usually '''telephoneNumber'''.

This setting is optional
|-
| Phone 2
| The name of the attribute that holds an additional telephone number of your users in your LDAP server. This can be '''homePhone''', '''mobile''', '''pager''', '''facsimileTelephoneNumber''' or even others.

This setting is optional
|-
| Department
| The name of the attribute that holds the department name of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''departmentNumber''' (for posixAccount and maybe eDirectory) or '''department''' (for MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Address
| The name of the attribute that holds the street address of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''streetAddress''' or '''street'.

This setting is optional
|-
| City/town
| The name of the attribute that holds the city/town of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''l''' (lowercase L) or '''localityName''' (not valid in MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Country
| The name of the attribute that holds the couuntry of your users in your LDAP server. This is usully '''c''' or '''countryName''' (not valid in MS-AD).

This setting is optional
|-
| Description
| '''description'''

This setting is optional
|-
| ID Number
|

This setting is optional
|-
| Language
| '''preferredLanguage'''

This setting is optional
|-
| Instructions
|
|}

The rest of the fields are common to all authentication methods and will not be discussed here..

==Active Directory Troubleshooting Help==

===Warning: The PHP LDAP module does not seem to be present. Please ensure it is installed and enabled.===
This usually means that the main ldap dll or one of the supporting dlls are missing.
Let's start with the main one itself.
Browse to http://(moodleserver)/admin/phpinfo.php and examine the "Configuration File (php.ini) Path" field to determine which php.ini is being used and open it with an editor. Find the line 'extension=php_ldap.dll' and take out the semi-colon if it is there. That semi-colon will stop it loading the module all together!
While you have that file open, search for 'extension_dir' and note which folder it is set to. Open that folder and ensure the php_ldap.dll file is in there. If it isn't then put it in there.
If that still hasn't fixed it you are missing a supporting dll, but you don't get told that. To see what dlls are missing open the Command Prompt and navigate to the php directory and execute the following line 'php -m'. You should get some error messages now. Ugly, but at least they give you information! Find the dlls listed and copy them to the php directory. You may now need to restart the apache/httpd service. Run 'php -m' again and you should be error free and the message in Moodle should be gone now.

===LDAP-module cannot connect any LDAP servers : Server: 'ldap://my.ldap.server/' Connection: 'Resource id #26' Bind result: ''===
Getting this message when you are trying to log in is a result of incorrect details for the Bind user, or the user account having insufficient permissions in Active Directory. The best way to test and resolve this is use ldp.exe to test binding until it suceeds. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open the program and Connect to AD, giving the server name, then from the Connection menu choose Bind. Enter the details you think are correct and you will probably find that an error is returned. Try adjusting the accounts priveleges or another account until you are returned an "Authenticated as" message.
Once you are sure your account can be used to bind to AD, check that the DN of that users name is correct. Expand the tree on the left until you find the user you used to bind. Right click on that item and choose Copy DN. Go to the User Authentication page in Moodle and paste the value into the ldap_bind_dn field. Add the password and you can now feel safe your user is binding sucessfully.

===Getting correct CNs for Contexts and Creators===
For those not familiar with AD this could be very confusing, and not that easy for some who are familiar with it. Again, ldp.exe is your friend. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open it up and expand the tree on the left until you find the group or user you want to use and right click on it and select Copy DN. Go back to the Moodle User Authentication page and paste that value into either ldap_contexts or ldap_creators.

===Getting the right user_attribute===
By default, Moodle uses an accounts cn (full name) to verify against, but most networks don't use a full given name for logon as it's too easy to guess and you can easily have two people with the same name. If this is the case for you too you need to tell Moodle to look at another field for the logon id.
In ldp.exe navigate the tree on the left to find a user account, preferably your own. Double-click the item in the tree and full-details will be loaded into the screen on the right. Look down the details until you find your logon id and note the item listed against it. For me, and a lot of people, it is sAMAccountName. Copy this name and paste it into the ldap_user_attribute on the Moodle User Authentication page.
There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.

===Installing ldp.exe Server Tool===
ldp.exe comes as part of the Server Tools on most versions of Windows Server. Find your Windows Server installation disc and find a folder on it called Support\Tools. In there will be a SupTools.msi which will install the server tools if run. You should now have a folder under Program Files called Support Tools, in which will be ldp.exe. ldp.exe is also available in the Windows XP Support Tools, which you can download from Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=49AE8576-9BB9-4126-9761-BA8011FABF38&displaylang=en here]. Alternatively, a single download of ldp.exe is available [http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/utilities/ldp.htm here].

===Example Active Directory Configuration===
Below is an example configuration for Active Directory. As detailed above, the values may vary based on your local Active Directory configuration, but should provide a good starting point for most cases.

ldap_host_url = ldap://ads.example.com
ldap_version = 3
ldap_preventpassindb = yes
ldap_bind_dn = bind-user@example.com
ldap_bind_pw = bind-password
ldap_user_type = MS ActiveDirectory
ldap_contexts = ou=moodleusers,dc=example,dc=com
ldap_user_attribute = sAMAccountName

Note that the ldap_bind_dn value should work in either the CN=bin-user,CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com format as shown in the main instructions or the bind-user@example.com format shown in this example.

==Advanced Scenarios - Multiple servers or locations==
For larger installations with multiple LDAP servers, or multiple locations (contexts) in a LDAP tree.

===Using multiple LDAP Servers===
Entering more than one name in the ldap_host_url field can provide some sort of resilience to your system. Simply use the syntax :
ldap://my.first.server ; ldap://my.second.server ; ...

Of course, this will only work if all the servers share the same directory information, using a replication or synchronization mecanism once introduced in eDirectory and now generalized to the main LDAP-compatible directories.

There is one drawback in Moodle 1.5 - 1.6 implementation of LDAP authentication : the auth_ldap_connect() function processes the servers sequentially, not in a round robin mode. Thus, if the primary server fails, you will have to wait for the connection to time out before switching to the following one.

===Using multiple user locations (contexts) in your LDAP tree===
There is no need to use multiple user locations if your directory tree is flat, i.e. if all user accounts reside in a '''ou=people,dc=my,dc=organization,dc=domain''' or '''ou=people,o=myorg''' container.

At the opposite, if you use the ACL mecanism to delegate user management, there are chances that your users will be stored in containers like '''ou=students,ou=dept1,o=myorg''' and '''ou=students,ou=dept2,o=myorg''' ...

Then there is an alternative :
* Look at the '''o=myorg''' level with the ldap_search_sub attribute set to '''yes'''.
* Set the ldap_context to '''ou=students,ou=dept1,o=myorg ; ou=students,ou=dept2,o=myorg'''.

Choosing between these two solutions supposes some sort of benchmarking, as the result depends heavily on the structure of your directory tree '''and''' on your LDAP software indexing capabilities. Simply note that there is a probability in such deep trees that two users share the same ''common name'' (cn), while having different ''distinguished names''. Then only the second solution will have a deterministic result (returning allways the same user).

===Using LDAPS (LDAP + SSL)===
====MS Active Directory + SSL ====

If the Certificate Authority is not installed you'll have to install it first as follows:
# Click '''Start''' -> '''Control Panel''' -> '''Add or Remove programs.'''
# Click '''Add/Remove Windows Components''' and select '''Certificate Services.'''
# Follow the procedure provided to install the '''Certificate Authority'''. Enterprise level is a good choice.

Verify that SSL has been enabled on the server by installing suptools.msi from Windows installation cd's \Support\tools directory. After support tools installation:
# Select '''Start''' -> '''Run''', write '''ldp''' in the Open field.
# From the ldp window select '''Connection''' -> '''Connect''' and supply valid hostname and port number '''636'''. Also select the SSL check box.

If successful, you should get information about the connection.

Next step is to tell PHP's OpenLDAP extension to disable SSL certificate checking. On Windows servers you're most likely using pre-compiled PHP version, where you must create a path ''C:\OpenLDAP\sysconf''. In this path create a file called "ldap.conf" with content:

TLS_REQCERT never.

Now you should be able to use '''ldaps://''' when connecting to MS-AD.

==Appendices==

===Child Domains and the Global Catalog in MS Active Directory===

Moodle currently only has limited support for multiple domain controllers; specifically it expects each of the LDAP servers listed to contain identical sets of information. If you have users in multiple domains this presents an issue. One solution when working with MS-AD is to use the Global Catalog. The Global Catalog is designed to be a read-only, partial representation of an entire MS-AD forest, designed for searching the entire directory when the domain of the required object is not known.

For example your organisation has a main domain example.org, staff and students are contained in two child domains staff.example.org and students.example.org. The 3 domains (example.org, staff.example.org and students.example.org) each have a domain controller (dc01, dc02 and dc03 respectively.) Each domain controller contains a full, writable, representation of only the objects that belong to its domain. However, assuming that the Global Catalog has been enabled (see below) on one of the domain controllers (for example dc01) a query to the Global Catalog would reveal matching objects from all three domains. The Global Catalog is automatically maintained through replication across the active directory forest, it can also be enabled on multiple servers (if, for example, you need redundancy / load balancing.)

To make use of this in Moodle to allow logins from multiple domains is simple. The Global Catalog runs on port 3268 as opposed to 389 for standard LDAP queries. As a result, still assuming the Global Catalog is running on dc01, the ''''ldap_host_url'''' would be ''ldap://dc01.example.org:3268''. The rest of the settings are the same as for other MS-AS Auth setups.

You should use the ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting to indicate the locations of individuals you wish to grant access. To extend the example above a little: In the example.org domain users are all in the'' 'Users' ''OU, in the staff.example.org domain users are in two OUs at the root of the domain,'' 'Support Staff' ''and'' 'Teaching Staff' '', and in the students.example.org domain students are in an OU indicating the year that they enrolled, all of which are under the'' 'Students' ''OU. As a result our ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting may look a little like this:'' 'OU=Users,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Support Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Teaching Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Students,DC=students,DC=example,DC=org''.' The ''''ldap_search_sub'''' option should be set to'' 'Yes' ''to allow moodle to search within the child OUs.

Its worth noting that the Global Catalog only contains a partial representation of the attributes of each object, as defined in the Partial Attribute Set supplied by Microsoft. However common information likely to be of use to a general Moodle installation (Forename, Surname, Email Address, sAMAccountName etc) is included in the set. For specific needs the schema can be altered to remove or add various attributes.

In most cases the Global Catalog is read-only, update queries must be made over the standard LDAP ports to the domain controller that holds the object in question (in our example, updating a student's details would require an LDAP query to the students.example.org domain controller - dc03, it would not be possible to update details by querying the Global Catalog.) The exception to this would be in an environment where there is only a single domain in the active directory forest; in this case the Global Catalog holds a writable full set of attributes for each object in the domain. However, for the purposes of Moodle authorisation, there would be no need to use the Global Catalog in this case.

===Enabling the Global Catalog===

The Global Catalog is available on Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Active Directory servers. To enable, open the ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’ MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in. Extend ‘Sites’ and then the name of the Site containing the active directory forest you wish to use. Expand the server you wish to enable the Global Catalog on, right click ‘NTDS settings’ and select the ‘Properties’ tab. To enable, simply click the ‘Global Catalog’ checkbox. Under a Windows 2000 server it is necessary to restart the server (although it won’t prompt you to); under Windows 2003 server it is not necessary to restart the server. In either case you will generally have to wait for the AD forest to replicate before the Global Catalog offers a representation of the entire AD forest. Changes made in Active Directory will also be subject to a short delay due to the latency involved with replication. If your AD servers are firewalled port 3268 will need to be opened for Global Catalog servers.
If your organisation uses Microsoft Exchange then it its highly likely that at least one Domain Controller will already have Global Catalog enabled – Exchange 2000 and 2003 rely on the Global Catalog for address information, users also access the Global Catalog when using the GAL (Global Address List)

===ldap auth_user_create() only suports Novell===

After configuring user authentication with ldap I realized ldap only support edir (Novell) when combining ldap an email user confirmation. For example in my case (I use openldap) I have the following error after filling the user form:

auth: ldap auth_user_create() does not support selected usertype:"rfc2307" (..yet)

{{Moodle 1.9}}
The previous comment only applies to Moodle 1.8 and below. Moodle 1.9 adds support for MS Active Directory too.

=== Active Directory with Moodle 1.8===

There is an issue with the PHP ldap options that are required for Active Directory access in version 1.8 of Moodle.

Using moodle on a LAMP platform with authentication to Active Directory may give some errors.

Check this bug [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-10921 MDL-10921] or this post http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78316 for further information.

==See also==

*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=42 Using Moodle: User authentication] forum
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32168 PHP LDAP module does not seem to be present] forum discussion
* [[LDAP enrolment]]

[[Category:Authentication]]

[[es:LDAP_authentication]]
[[fr:Utiliser un serveur LDAP]]
[[ja:LDAP認証]]
[[zh:LDAP认证]]

Talk:LDAP authentication

2008-11-12T21:09:27Z

Jsilve1: New section: What about the sync script?

Really useful section, although would be good to explicitly state whether the ldap bind account password is stored securely in the Moodle DB.

== What about the sync script? ==

There is no mention of /auth/ldap/auth_ldap_sync_users.php

Why is it there?
What is it for?
Should it always be run?
Is it obsolete?
Is it only for some instances? (As in, specific LDAP settings)

Thanks!

Upgrading

2008-08-22T17:13:03Z

Jsilve1: /* SQL dump caveats */

Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version.

Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.

__TOC__

When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:

==Check the requirements==
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and documentation for the new version. Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.

== Backup important data ==

Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.

There are three areas that need backing up:

=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===

Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc

=== 2. Your data directory ===

This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.

=== 3. Your database ===

Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":

mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")

Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.

If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:

mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql

You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. In Moodle v1.9 and greater, this is located in '''Site Administration''' -> '''Server''' -> '''Database'''. This interface can also be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.

==== SQL dump caveats ====

* Please note that there are a '''LOT''' of options possible for mysqldump. Please talk with your Systems Administrator (if you have one) or similar to see if there are site-specific flags you should use for your SQL dump.
** For example, if your local installation is running MySQL 5.2 and you are moving to a system running MySQL 5.0 or 4.1, you really ought to use the "--compat=mysql40" flag. (This is not too uncommon of a situation given the nature of ISP hosting as compared to local user Moodle setups)
* This seems obvious, but should be said outright: These instructions only work for dumping from MySQL! Postgresql, Oracle, and other database servers have different tools to dump databases.
* Given the example mysql import lines, above, you really should use the --no-create-db flag. If your database locally is named something differently from the migration site, not including this flag could cause problems.

== Install the new Moodle software ==

=== Using a downloaded archive ===

@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.

Linux
mv moodle moodle.backup
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz

Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:

cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme

Don't forget to

sudo chown www-data moodle/config.php

if necessary.

=== Using CVS ===

You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.

You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.

'''For Linux servers'''

To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.

<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki>
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.

Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type

<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki>
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)

To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:

cvs update -dP
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE

Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.

'''For Windows servers'''

You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.

If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.

Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.

== Finishing the upgrade ==

The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.

To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''

It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.

Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.

Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!

Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.

== Verify the upgrade (optional) ==

If you wish to confirm that the database definitions in the upgraded database match the definitions of a new, clean install (which they should) you might like to look at [[Verify Database Schema]].

==Upgrading more than one version==

In general, it is recommended to upgrade via each version of Moodle, for example 1.7 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. An exception to this is when upgrading from 1.5 or 1.6, when it is recommended that 1.7 is skipped, in other words upgrade 1.5 -> 1.6 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. (The main reason for this recommendation is that the default roles settings obtained when upgrading to 1.7 are not ideal for 1.8 onwards.)

==See also==

*[[Installing Moodle]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]

[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Actualización de moodle]]
[[fr:Mise à jour]]
[[ja:アップグレード]]
[[nl:Upgraden]]
[[zh:升级]]
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]

Upgrading

2008-08-22T17:09:00Z

Jsilve1: /* SQL dump caveats */

Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version.

Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.

__TOC__

When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:

==Check the requirements==
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and documentation for the new version. Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.

== Backup important data ==

Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.

There are three areas that need backing up:

=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===

Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc

=== 2. Your data directory ===

This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.

=== 3. Your database ===

Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":

mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")

Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.

If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:

mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql

You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. In Moodle v1.9 and greater, this is located in '''Site Administration''' -> '''Server''' -> '''Database'''. This interface can also be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.

==== SQL dump caveats ====

* Please note that there are a '''LOT''' of options possible for mysqldump. Please talk with your Systems Administrator (if you have one) or similar to see if there are site-specific flags you should use for your SQL dump.
** For example, if your local installation is running MySQL 5.2 and you are moving to a system running MySQL 5.0 or 4.1, you really ought to use the "--compat=mysql40" flag. (This is not too uncommon of a situation given the nature of ISP hosting as compared to local user Moodle setups)
* This seems obvious, but should be said outright: These instructions only work for dumping from MySQL! Postgresql, Oracle, and other database servers have different tools to dump databases.

== Install the new Moodle software ==

=== Using a downloaded archive ===

@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.

Linux
mv moodle moodle.backup
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz

Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:

cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme

Don't forget to

sudo chown www-data moodle/config.php

if necessary.

=== Using CVS ===

You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.

You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.

'''For Linux servers'''

To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.

<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki>
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.

Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type

<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki>
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)

To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:

cvs update -dP
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE

Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.

'''For Windows servers'''

You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.

If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.

Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.

== Finishing the upgrade ==

The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.

To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''

It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.

Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.

Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!

Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.

== Verify the upgrade (optional) ==

If you wish to confirm that the database definitions in the upgraded database match the definitions of a new, clean install (which they should) you might like to look at [[Verify Database Schema]].

==Upgrading more than one version==

In general, it is recommended to upgrade via each version of Moodle, for example 1.7 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. An exception to this is when upgrading from 1.5 or 1.6, when it is recommended that 1.7 is skipped, in other words upgrade 1.5 -> 1.6 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. (The main reason for this recommendation is that the default roles settings obtained when upgrading to 1.7 are not ideal for 1.8 onwards.)

==See also==

*[[Installing Moodle]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]

[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Actualización de moodle]]
[[fr:Mise à jour]]
[[ja:アップグレード]]
[[nl:Upgraden]]
[[zh:升级]]
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]

Upgrading

2008-08-22T17:02:30Z

Jsilve1: /* 3. Your database */

Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version.

Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.

__TOC__

When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:

==Check the requirements==
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and documentation for the new version. Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.

== Backup important data ==

Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.

There are three areas that need backing up:

=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===

Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc

=== 2. Your data directory ===

This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.

=== 3. Your database ===

Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":

mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")

Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.

If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:

mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql

You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. In Moodle v1.9 and greater, this is located in '''Site Administration''' -> '''Server''' -> '''Database'''. This interface can also be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.

==== SQL dump caveats ====

* Please not that there are a '''LOT''' of options possible for mysqldump. Please talk with your Systems Administrator (if you have one) or similar to see if there are site-specific flags you should use for your SQL dump.
** For example, if your local installation is running MySQL 5.2 and you are moving to a system running MySQL 5.0 or 4.1, you really ought to use the "--compat=mysql40" flag. (This is not too uncommon of a situation given the nature of ISP hosting as compared to local user Moodle setups)
* This seems obvious, but should be said outright: These instructions only work for dumping from MySQL! Postgresql, Oracle, and other database servers have different tools to dump databases.

== Install the new Moodle software ==

=== Using a downloaded archive ===

@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.

Linux
mv moodle moodle.backup
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz

Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:

cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme

Don't forget to

sudo chown www-data moodle/config.php

if necessary.

=== Using CVS ===

You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.

You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.

'''For Linux servers'''

To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.

<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki>
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.

Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type

<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki>
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)

To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:

cvs update -dP
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE

Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.

'''For Windows servers'''

You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.

If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.

Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.

== Finishing the upgrade ==

The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.

To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''

It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.

Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.

Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!

Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.

== Verify the upgrade (optional) ==

If you wish to confirm that the database definitions in the upgraded database match the definitions of a new, clean install (which they should) you might like to look at [[Verify Database Schema]].

==Upgrading more than one version==

In general, it is recommended to upgrade via each version of Moodle, for example 1.7 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. An exception to this is when upgrading from 1.5 or 1.6, when it is recommended that 1.7 is skipped, in other words upgrade 1.5 -> 1.6 -> 1.8 -> 1.9. (The main reason for this recommendation is that the default roles settings obtained when upgrading to 1.7 are not ideal for 1.8 onwards.)

==See also==

*[[Installing Moodle]]
*[[Installation FAQ]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]]
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]

[[Category:Installation]]

[[es:Actualización de moodle]]
[[fr:Mise à jour]]
[[ja:アップグレード]]
[[nl:Upgraden]]
[[zh:升级]]
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]

External database authentication

2008-08-12T18:56:39Z

Jsilve1:

Location: Settings link in ''Administration > Users > [[Authentication]]''

This method uses an external database table to check whether a given username and password is valid. If the account is a new one, then information from other fields may also be copied across into Moodle.

This is done by mapping fields at the bottom of the database authentication page. Each data field in the user profile has a text field next to it. Enter the name of the column in the external database that maps to the profile data field.

'''Update Local''' - Specifies that the external data will be entered into the local field in question
* On Creation - specifies that this will only happen on the original login when the account is created for the first time.
* On Every Login - specifies that changes in the external data will be updated on the local Moodle field in question the next time the user logs in again.

'''Update External''' - Specifies just the opposite, meaning changes in the local Moodle field in question will update the corresponding field in the external database
* Never - Specifies this is disabled
* On Update - Enables this to happen if a change is made locally (additional configuration is probably required)

'''Lock Value''' - Only determines whether the local user can make a change in the Moodle field and does not affect the two settings above.
* Unlocked - A user can make changes locally in the Moodle field (assumably even if it contradicts the external database the next login would change it again if Update Local is set
* Locked - A user can never make changes
* Unlocked if empty - A user can only make changes if the field is not populated already from the external database (this would seem to indicate a user could only enter something into this field once and could not change it after saving)

==Additional Notes==
* Some of the things that apply to [[Upload users]] apply to the External database
** Set password to "changeme" to force password reset
*** If you do this, it is '''critical''' that you provide a URL to change the password!
* Not all of the fields in the [[Upload users]] are available for the External Database authentication. The only available fields are the fields listed in the data mapping section of the admin page for the External Database connection.

==See also==
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=45444 Special and characters con tilde (accute accent) when connected to external database] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=75519 HELP!--User Authentication problem] forum discussion

[[Category:Authentication]]

[[fr:Utiliser une base de données externe]]

External database authentication

2008-08-12T18:53:10Z

Jsilve1:

Location: Settings link in ''Administration > Users > [[Authentication]]''

This method uses an external database table to check whether a given username and password is valid. If the account is a new one, then information from other fields may also be copied across into Moodle.

This is done by mapping fields at the bottom of the database authentication page. Each data field in the user profile has a text field next to it. Enter the name of the column in the external database that maps to the profile data field.

'''Update Local''' - Specifies that the external data will be entered into the local field in question
* On Creation - specifies that this will only happen on the original login when the account is created for the first time.
* On Every Login - specifies that changes in the external data will be updated on the local Moodle field in question the next time the user logs in again.

'''Update External''' - Specifies just the opposite, meaning changes in the local Moodle field in question will update the corresponding field in the external database
* Never - Specifies this is disabled
* On Update - Enables this to happen if a change is made locally (additional configuration is probably required)

'''Lock Value''' - Only determines whether the local user can make a change in the Moodle field and does not affect the two settings above.
* Unlocked - A user can make changes locally in the Moodle field (assumably even if it contradicts the external database the next login would change it again if Update Local is set
* Locked - A user can never make changes
* Unlocked if empty - A user can only make changes if the field is not populated already from the external database (this would seem to indicate a user could only enter something into this field once and could not change it after saving)

==See also==
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=45444 Special and characters con tilde (accute accent) when connected to external database] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=75519 HELP!--User Authentication problem] forum discussion

[[Category:Authentication]]

[[fr:Utiliser une base de données externe]]

Turnitin administration

2008-08-06T13:18:12Z

Jsilve1: /* Overview */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
[[Image:Turnitin_admin.gif|thumb|Turnitin administration]]
Location: ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Turnitin''

==Overview==
Turnitin is a commercial paper submission system, you must have a paid subscription to this service to use this feature. This integration is part of Moodle 2.0, and there is a 3rd party patch available for Moodle 1.9 users.

The patch for 1.9 is available in this forum thread:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98199

Look for "TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip" as an attachment to one of the posts from Dan Marsden.

Direct link to the patches:

* [http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/434181/TII_Integration_Patch.zip TII_Integration_Patch.zip] released 29-MAY-2008 (my birthday :) (NOTE: This is the first patch and should not be used. It is listed here for historical reasons only)
* [http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/447205/TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip] released 14-JUL-2008 (Bastille day!)

==Activation of your Turnitin Account==
# obtain a Turnitin Subscription from [http://www.turnitin.com www.turnitin.com]
# obtain an API Integration secret key from Turnitin Rep. - once you have a Turnitin Subscription, to obtain this you will need to send an e-mail to your Turnitin Account Rep - obtaining this secret key is free.

==Global Configuration of Turnitin==
# Ensure Admin > Server > Environment indicates you have curl installed
# in the page Admin > Modules > Activities > Turnitin set the following:
## Tick the box "Use Turnitin Submission"
## Enter your Turnitin Account ID
## Enter your Turnitin Secret Key as obtained from your Turnitin Account Rep
## Elect whether to send students an e-mail to allow them to login to the turnitin.com site to view their submissions (this isn't necessary, and will likely cause your students more confusion, as all the information available in the website is available from your moodle site.) - even if no e-mail is sent, students can visit turnitin.com and use the forgotten password functionality on the turnitin site to get their password sent via e-mail. Admins can disable this by adding a prefix to all email accounts created - see below for details.
## Add an e-mail prefix if you don't want students to be able to access the reports on turnitin.com - it is advised that you allow the integration in moodle to control what your students see, however, if you allow them to login to turnitin.com they can bypass the settings made regarding when a report should be available. - it's also possible that they could potentially upload a file to turnitin.com instead of moodle, which you may not notice. It's reccommended that you put something in this box to make the e-mail addresses for students stored on the turnitin.com system invalid.
## Set a Course Prefix - this is not compulsory, however if you have more than 1 Moodle site connecting to the Turnitin API - eg a testing site, and a production site, then a prefix MUST be set, because Turnitin will only allow 1 course with the same name - and only 1 assignment within that course with the same name. - you will potentially get conflicts if this is not set.
## Set a username, email-address, firstname and surname of a user that does not already exist in your Turnitin account. Turnitin only allows 1 teacher to be assigned to a course, so the integration needs to use a "global teacher" usercode that becomes the default Teacher (Turnitin refer to teachers as "instructors") to all assignments created in your moodle install.
## Set the Student Disclosure statement. - this is displayed to all students on the upload screen to notify them that the Turnitin system is in use.

==Configuration of Turnitin inside Moodle Activity Modules==
===Assignment Module===
(currently only available with the advanced file upload and single upload types)
* Create a new Assignment within your course.
* Enable Turnitin Submission

==Debugging==
* when testing the turnitin integration you should make sure debugging is turned on, as it will provide information regarding the process.
* error codes recieved from the turnitin API are also logged in the mdl_tii_files table, so you can view issues with a production system.
* each file that is going to be submitted to turnitin is added to the table mdl_tii_files - the field tiicode gives the "status" of the file, - there are 3 "good" states for this field:
# "pending" - this is a new file that has been uploaded to an activity module, and needs to be submitted to Turnitin (will happen next time cron runs)
# "51" - this is the turnitin API code for Successful upload - this means the file has been uploaded to Turnitin and we are waiting on an originality score,
# "success" - this is a file that has been submitted, and a score has been provided for it.
Any other response code in this field indicates an error state. - There is a Turnitin API document in the forums somewhere that I uploaded that details these error codes, and their meaning, I will add them to this wiki page at some point to help with debugging.

Turnitin administration

2008-08-06T13:17:39Z

Jsilve1: /* Overview */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
[[Image:Turnitin_admin.gif|thumb|Turnitin administration]]
Location: ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Turnitin''

==Overview==
Turnitin is a commercial paper submission system, you must have a paid subscription to this service to use this feature. This integration is part of Moodle 2.0, and there is a 3rd party patch available for Moodle 1.9 users.

The patch for 1.9 is available in this forum thread:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98199

Look for "TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip" as an attachment to one of the posts from Dan Marsden.

Direct link to the patches:

* [http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/434181/TII_Integration_Patch.zip TII_Integration_Patch.zip] released 29-MAY-2008 (my birthday:) (NOTE: This is the first patch and should not be used. It is listed here for historical reasons only)
* [http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/447205/TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip] released 14-JUL-2008 (Bastille day!)

==Activation of your Turnitin Account==
# obtain a Turnitin Subscription from [http://www.turnitin.com www.turnitin.com]
# obtain an API Integration secret key from Turnitin Rep. - once you have a Turnitin Subscription, to obtain this you will need to send an e-mail to your Turnitin Account Rep - obtaining this secret key is free.

==Global Configuration of Turnitin==
# Ensure Admin > Server > Environment indicates you have curl installed
# in the page Admin > Modules > Activities > Turnitin set the following:
## Tick the box "Use Turnitin Submission"
## Enter your Turnitin Account ID
## Enter your Turnitin Secret Key as obtained from your Turnitin Account Rep
## Elect whether to send students an e-mail to allow them to login to the turnitin.com site to view their submissions (this isn't necessary, and will likely cause your students more confusion, as all the information available in the website is available from your moodle site.) - even if no e-mail is sent, students can visit turnitin.com and use the forgotten password functionality on the turnitin site to get their password sent via e-mail. Admins can disable this by adding a prefix to all email accounts created - see below for details.
## Add an e-mail prefix if you don't want students to be able to access the reports on turnitin.com - it is advised that you allow the integration in moodle to control what your students see, however, if you allow them to login to turnitin.com they can bypass the settings made regarding when a report should be available. - it's also possible that they could potentially upload a file to turnitin.com instead of moodle, which you may not notice. It's reccommended that you put something in this box to make the e-mail addresses for students stored on the turnitin.com system invalid.
## Set a Course Prefix - this is not compulsory, however if you have more than 1 Moodle site connecting to the Turnitin API - eg a testing site, and a production site, then a prefix MUST be set, because Turnitin will only allow 1 course with the same name - and only 1 assignment within that course with the same name. - you will potentially get conflicts if this is not set.
## Set a username, email-address, firstname and surname of a user that does not already exist in your Turnitin account. Turnitin only allows 1 teacher to be assigned to a course, so the integration needs to use a "global teacher" usercode that becomes the default Teacher (Turnitin refer to teachers as "instructors") to all assignments created in your moodle install.
## Set the Student Disclosure statement. - this is displayed to all students on the upload screen to notify them that the Turnitin system is in use.

==Configuration of Turnitin inside Moodle Activity Modules==
===Assignment Module===
(currently only available with the advanced file upload and single upload types)
* Create a new Assignment within your course.
* Enable Turnitin Submission

==Debugging==
* when testing the turnitin integration you should make sure debugging is turned on, as it will provide information regarding the process.
* error codes recieved from the turnitin API are also logged in the mdl_tii_files table, so you can view issues with a production system.
* each file that is going to be submitted to turnitin is added to the table mdl_tii_files - the field tiicode gives the "status" of the file, - there are 3 "good" states for this field:
# "pending" - this is a new file that has been uploaded to an activity module, and needs to be submitted to Turnitin (will happen next time cron runs)
# "51" - this is the turnitin API code for Successful upload - this means the file has been uploaded to Turnitin and we are waiting on an originality score,
# "success" - this is a file that has been submitted, and a score has been provided for it.
Any other response code in this field indicates an error state. - There is a Turnitin API document in the forums somewhere that I uploaded that details these error codes, and their meaning, I will add them to this wiki page at some point to help with debugging.

Turnitin administration

2008-08-06T13:15:19Z

Jsilve1: /* Overview */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
[[Image:Turnitin_admin.gif|thumb|Turnitin administration]]
Location: ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Turnitin''

==Overview==
Turnitin is a commercial paper submission system, you must have a paid subscription to this service to use this feature. This integration is part of Moodle 2.0, and there is a 3rd party patch available for Moodle 1.9 users.

The patch for 1.9 is available in this forum thread:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98199#p451281

Look for "TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip" as an attachment to one of the posts from Dan Marsden.

Direct link to the patches:

* http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/434181/TII_Integration_Patch.zip released 29-MAY-2008 (my birthday:) (NOTE: This is the first patch and should not be used. It is listed here for historical reasons only)
* http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/447205/TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip released 14-JUL-2008 (Bastille day!)

==Activation of your Turnitin Account==
# obtain a Turnitin Subscription from [http://www.turnitin.com www.turnitin.com]
# obtain an API Integration secret key from Turnitin Rep. - once you have a Turnitin Subscription, to obtain this you will need to send an e-mail to your Turnitin Account Rep - obtaining this secret key is free.

==Global Configuration of Turnitin==
# Ensure Admin > Server > Environment indicates you have curl installed
# in the page Admin > Modules > Activities > Turnitin set the following:
## Tick the box "Use Turnitin Submission"
## Enter your Turnitin Account ID
## Enter your Turnitin Secret Key as obtained from your Turnitin Account Rep
## Elect whether to send students an e-mail to allow them to login to the turnitin.com site to view their submissions (this isn't necessary, and will likely cause your students more confusion, as all the information available in the website is available from your moodle site.) - even if no e-mail is sent, students can visit turnitin.com and use the forgotten password functionality on the turnitin site to get their password sent via e-mail. Admins can disable this by adding a prefix to all email accounts created - see below for details.
## Add an e-mail prefix if you don't want students to be able to access the reports on turnitin.com - it is advised that you allow the integration in moodle to control what your students see, however, if you allow them to login to turnitin.com they can bypass the settings made regarding when a report should be available. - it's also possible that they could potentially upload a file to turnitin.com instead of moodle, which you may not notice. It's reccommended that you put something in this box to make the e-mail addresses for students stored on the turnitin.com system invalid.
## Set a Course Prefix - this is not compulsory, however if you have more than 1 Moodle site connecting to the Turnitin API - eg a testing site, and a production site, then a prefix MUST be set, because Turnitin will only allow 1 course with the same name - and only 1 assignment within that course with the same name. - you will potentially get conflicts if this is not set.
## Set a username, email-address, firstname and surname of a user that does not already exist in your Turnitin account. Turnitin only allows 1 teacher to be assigned to a course, so the integration needs to use a "global teacher" usercode that becomes the default Teacher (Turnitin refer to teachers as "instructors") to all assignments created in your moodle install.
## Set the Student Disclosure statement. - this is displayed to all students on the upload screen to notify them that the Turnitin system is in use.

==Configuration of Turnitin inside Moodle Activity Modules==
===Assignment Module===
(currently only available with the advanced file upload and single upload types)
* Create a new Assignment within your course.
* Enable Turnitin Submission

==Debugging==
* when testing the turnitin integration you should make sure debugging is turned on, as it will provide information regarding the process.
* error codes recieved from the turnitin API are also logged in the mdl_tii_files table, so you can view issues with a production system.
* each file that is going to be submitted to turnitin is added to the table mdl_tii_files - the field tiicode gives the "status" of the file, - there are 3 "good" states for this field:
# "pending" - this is a new file that has been uploaded to an activity module, and needs to be submitted to Turnitin (will happen next time cron runs)
# "51" - this is the turnitin API code for Successful upload - this means the file has been uploaded to Turnitin and we are waiting on an originality score,
# "success" - this is a file that has been submitted, and a score has been provided for it.
Any other response code in this field indicates an error state. - There is a Turnitin API document in the forums somewhere that I uploaded that details these error codes, and their meaning, I will add them to this wiki page at some point to help with debugging.

Turnitin administration

2008-08-06T13:15:03Z

Jsilve1: /* Overview */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
[[Image:Turnitin_admin.gif|thumb|Turnitin administration]]
Location: ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Turnitin''

==Overview==
Turnitin is a commercial paper submission system, you must have a paid subscription to this service to use this feature. This integration is part of Moodle 2.0, and there is a 3rd party patch available for Moodle 1.9 users.

The patch for 1.9 is available in this forum thread:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98199#p451281

Look for "TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip" as an attachment to one of the posts from Dan Marsden.

Direct link to the patches:

http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/434181/TII_Integration_Patch.zip released 29-MAY-2008 (my birthday:) (NOTE: This is the first patch and should not be used. It is listed here for historical reasons only)
http://moodle.org/file.php/5/moddata/forum/117/447205/TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip released 14-JUL-2008 (Bastille day!)

==Activation of your Turnitin Account==
# obtain a Turnitin Subscription from [http://www.turnitin.com www.turnitin.com]
# obtain an API Integration secret key from Turnitin Rep. - once you have a Turnitin Subscription, to obtain this you will need to send an e-mail to your Turnitin Account Rep - obtaining this secret key is free.

==Global Configuration of Turnitin==
# Ensure Admin > Server > Environment indicates you have curl installed
# in the page Admin > Modules > Activities > Turnitin set the following:
## Tick the box "Use Turnitin Submission"
## Enter your Turnitin Account ID
## Enter your Turnitin Secret Key as obtained from your Turnitin Account Rep
## Elect whether to send students an e-mail to allow them to login to the turnitin.com site to view their submissions (this isn't necessary, and will likely cause your students more confusion, as all the information available in the website is available from your moodle site.) - even if no e-mail is sent, students can visit turnitin.com and use the forgotten password functionality on the turnitin site to get their password sent via e-mail. Admins can disable this by adding a prefix to all email accounts created - see below for details.
## Add an e-mail prefix if you don't want students to be able to access the reports on turnitin.com - it is advised that you allow the integration in moodle to control what your students see, however, if you allow them to login to turnitin.com they can bypass the settings made regarding when a report should be available. - it's also possible that they could potentially upload a file to turnitin.com instead of moodle, which you may not notice. It's reccommended that you put something in this box to make the e-mail addresses for students stored on the turnitin.com system invalid.
## Set a Course Prefix - this is not compulsory, however if you have more than 1 Moodle site connecting to the Turnitin API - eg a testing site, and a production site, then a prefix MUST be set, because Turnitin will only allow 1 course with the same name - and only 1 assignment within that course with the same name. - you will potentially get conflicts if this is not set.
## Set a username, email-address, firstname and surname of a user that does not already exist in your Turnitin account. Turnitin only allows 1 teacher to be assigned to a course, so the integration needs to use a "global teacher" usercode that becomes the default Teacher (Turnitin refer to teachers as "instructors") to all assignments created in your moodle install.
## Set the Student Disclosure statement. - this is displayed to all students on the upload screen to notify them that the Turnitin system is in use.

==Configuration of Turnitin inside Moodle Activity Modules==
===Assignment Module===
(currently only available with the advanced file upload and single upload types)
* Create a new Assignment within your course.
* Enable Turnitin Submission

==Debugging==
* when testing the turnitin integration you should make sure debugging is turned on, as it will provide information regarding the process.
* error codes recieved from the turnitin API are also logged in the mdl_tii_files table, so you can view issues with a production system.
* each file that is going to be submitted to turnitin is added to the table mdl_tii_files - the field tiicode gives the "status" of the file, - there are 3 "good" states for this field:
# "pending" - this is a new file that has been uploaded to an activity module, and needs to be submitted to Turnitin (will happen next time cron runs)
# "51" - this is the turnitin API code for Successful upload - this means the file has been uploaded to Turnitin and we are waiting on an originality score,
# "success" - this is a file that has been submitted, and a score has been provided for it.
Any other response code in this field indicates an error state. - There is a Turnitin API document in the forums somewhere that I uploaded that details these error codes, and their meaning, I will add them to this wiki page at some point to help with debugging.

Turnitin administration

2008-08-06T13:11:56Z

Jsilve1: /* Overview */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
[[Image:Turnitin_admin.gif|thumb|Turnitin administration]]
Location: ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Turnitin''

==Overview==
Turnitin is a commercial paper submission system, you must have a paid subscription to this service to use this feature. This integration is part of Moodle 2.0, and there is a 3rd party patch available for Moodle 1.9 users.

The patch for 1.9 is available in this forum thread:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=98199#p451281

Look for "TII_Integration_Patch_Beta_2.zip" as an attachment to one of the posts from Dan Marsden.

==Activation of your Turnitin Account==
# obtain a Turnitin Subscription from [http://www.turnitin.com www.turnitin.com]
# obtain an API Integration secret key from Turnitin Rep. - once you have a Turnitin Subscription, to obtain this you will need to send an e-mail to your Turnitin Account Rep - obtaining this secret key is free.

==Global Configuration of Turnitin==
# Ensure Admin > Server > Environment indicates you have curl installed
# in the page Admin > Modules > Activities > Turnitin set the following:
## Tick the box "Use Turnitin Submission"
## Enter your Turnitin Account ID
## Enter your Turnitin Secret Key as obtained from your Turnitin Account Rep
## Elect whether to send students an e-mail to allow them to login to the turnitin.com site to view their submissions (this isn't necessary, and will likely cause your students more confusion, as all the information available in the website is available from your moodle site.) - even if no e-mail is sent, students can visit turnitin.com and use the forgotten password functionality on the turnitin site to get their password sent via e-mail. Admins can disable this by adding a prefix to all email accounts created - see below for details.
## Add an e-mail prefix if you don't want students to be able to access the reports on turnitin.com - it is advised that you allow the integration in moodle to control what your students see, however, if you allow them to login to turnitin.com they can bypass the settings made regarding when a report should be available. - it's also possible that they could potentially upload a file to turnitin.com instead of moodle, which you may not notice. It's reccommended that you put something in this box to make the e-mail addresses for students stored on the turnitin.com system invalid.
## Set a Course Prefix - this is not compulsory, however if you have more than 1 Moodle site connecting to the Turnitin API - eg a testing site, and a production site, then a prefix MUST be set, because Turnitin will only allow 1 course with the same name - and only 1 assignment within that course with the same name. - you will potentially get conflicts if this is not set.
## Set a username, email-address, firstname and surname of a user that does not already exist in your Turnitin account. Turnitin only allows 1 teacher to be assigned to a course, so the integration needs to use a "global teacher" usercode that becomes the default Teacher (Turnitin refer to teachers as "instructors") to all assignments created in your moodle install.
## Set the Student Disclosure statement. - this is displayed to all students on the upload screen to notify them that the Turnitin system is in use.

==Configuration of Turnitin inside Moodle Activity Modules==
===Assignment Module===
(currently only available with the advanced file upload and single upload types)
* Create a new Assignment within your course.
* Enable Turnitin Submission

==Debugging==
* when testing the turnitin integration you should make sure debugging is turned on, as it will provide information regarding the process.
* error codes recieved from the turnitin API are also logged in the mdl_tii_files table, so you can view issues with a production system.
* each file that is going to be submitted to turnitin is added to the table mdl_tii_files - the field tiicode gives the "status" of the file, - there are 3 "good" states for this field:
# "pending" - this is a new file that has been uploaded to an activity module, and needs to be submitted to Turnitin (will happen next time cron runs)
# "51" - this is the turnitin API code for Successful upload - this means the file has been uploaded to Turnitin and we are waiting on an originality score,
# "success" - this is a file that has been submitted, and a score has been provided for it.
Any other response code in this field indicates an error state. - There is a Turnitin API document in the forums somewhere that I uploaded that details these error codes, and their meaning, I will add them to this wiki page at some point to help with debugging.

Development talk:Groups

2008-06-30T15:52:15Z

Jsilve1: New page: What are Groups? Groups of courses? Groups of people? This fundamental question isn't really addressed on this doc page. Thanks!

What are Groups? Groups of courses? Groups of people? This fundamental question isn't really addressed on this doc page.

Thanks!

Podcasting

2008-06-25T02:38:46Z

Jsilve1:

'''Podcasting''' is an easy way to deliver a series of audio files in such a way that people can subscribe and have all current and future 'episodes' downloaded automatically to their computer or media player.

== Podcasting in Moodle ==

There are two possibilities for podcasting using Moodle:

* Starting from Moodle 1.6, simply use the discussion forums tool! If you create a discussion forum and activate RSS feeds for the forum, you can simply post messages with media files as attachments. These will be delivered as podcasts in the [[RSS in forums|RSS feed]]. (''Note:'' This works in some situations and not in others, possibly based on whether or not guest users are able to view the forum. Otherwise the media files may not be accessible by the podcast-receiving software.)
* Use the optional [[Ipodcast module]] which creates a specific podcasting activity type in Moodle. The advantage of this method is that it includes extra ''metadata'' designed to work well with Apple's ''iTunes'' software (such as keywords and category labels).

== Podcasting about Moodle ==

You may also like to know that a podcast ''about'' Moodle is in preparation, tentatively called "[[Portal:mCast|mCast]]".

== Software for receiving podcasts ==

* Apple's [http://www.apple.com/itunes/ iTunes] is currently one of the more popular pieces of software for subscribing to podcasts
* [http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/ Juice] (previously known as ''iPodder'') which is open-source and available on Windows and Macintosh.
* [http://getsongbird.com/ Songbird], a truly cross-platform, Open Source media player.
* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/ Rhythmbox] for the Gnome Desktop
* [http://amarok.kde.org/ Amarok] for KDE

==See also==

* [[Screencast]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting Wikipedia article on podcasting]
* [http://www.apple.com/podcasting Apple webpage on podcasting]

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:RSS]]
[[pl:Podcasting]]

Podcasting

2008-06-25T02:34:54Z

Jsilve1:

'''Podcasting''' is an easy way to deliver a series of audio files in such a way that people can subscribe and have all current and future 'episodes' downloaded automatically to their computer or media player.

== Podcasting in Moodle ==

There are two possibilities for podcasting using Moodle:

* Starting from Moodle 1.6, simply use the discussion forums tool! If you create a discussion forum and activate RSS feeds for the forum, you can simply post messages with media files as attachments. These will be delivered as podcasts in the [[RSS in forums|RSS feed]]. (''Note:'' This works in some situations and not in others, possibly based on whether or not guest users are able to view the forum. Otherwise the media files may not be accessible by the podcast-receiving software.)
* Use the optional [[Ipodcast module]] which creates a specific podcasting activity type in Moodle. The advantage of this method is that it includes extra ''metadata'' designed to work well with Apple's ''iTunes'' software (such as keywords and category labels).

== Podcasting about Moodle ==

You may also like to know that a podcast ''about'' Moodle is in preparation, tentatively called "[[Portal:mCast|mCast]]".

== Software for receiving podcasts ==

* Apple's [http://www.apple.com/itunes/ iTunes] is currently one of the more popular pieces of software for subscribing to podcasts
* [http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/ Juice] (previously known as ''iPodder'') which is open-source and available on Windows and Macintosh.
* [http://www.gnome.org/projects/rhythmbox/ Rhythmbox] for the Gnome Desktop
* [http://amarok.kde.org/ Amarok] for KDE

==See also==

* [[Screencast]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting Wikipedia article on podcasting]
* [http://www.apple.com/podcasting Apple webpage on podcasting]

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:RSS]]
[[pl:Podcasting]]

Site policies

2008-06-16T16:43:56Z

Jsilve1: /* Disable user profile images */

Location: ''Administration > Security > Site policies''

==Open to Google==

Enabling this setting allows Google's search spiders guest access to your site. Any part of the site that allows guest access will then be searchable on Google. In addition, people coming in to your site via a Google search will automatically be logged in as a guest.

==Maximum uploaded file size==

Probably the most frequently asked question in the Moodle.org Using Moodle forums is "How do I increase the upload file size limit?"

Upload file sizes are restricted in a number of ways - each one in this list restricts the following ones:

1. The Apache server setting LimitRequestBody ... default in Apache 2.x or greater is set to 0 or an unlimited upload size

2. The PHP site settings post_max_size and upload_max_filesize in php.ini : '''modify php.ini in web server directories''' ( apache2.x.x/bin/php.ini ) not in php directories :

post_max_size = 128M; to increase limit to 128 Megabytes;
upload_max_filesize = 128M; to increase limit to 128 Megabytes;
max_execution_time = 600 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds;

3. The Moodle site-wide maximum uploaded file size setting: ''Administration > Security > Site policies > Maximum uploaded file size [128M]''.

4. The Moodle course maximum uploaded file size setting in the course settings: ''Administration > Courses > Add/Edit courses > select Course category & edit each course > Maximum upload size [128M]''.

5. Certain course activity module settings (for example, Assignment)

==Enable messaging system==

Click the checkbox to enable site-wide [[Messaging]].

Note: If you enable the messaging system, all users will be able to send and receive messages at any time. Teachers can't choose whether or not messaging is allowed between students in their particular course.

==Force users to login==

If you turn this setting on all users must login before they even see the front page of the site.

==Force users to login for profiles==

Leave this set to Yes to keep anonymous visitors away from user profiles. (See the Using Moodle forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=89061 3rd party spam exploit possible? Help please!].)

==Enable trusted content==

Please refer to [[Development:Trusttext cleaning bypass]] for further information.

==Maximum time to edit posts==

This sets the editing time for forum postings. The editing time is the amount of time users have to change forum postings before they are mailed to subscribers.

Please refer to the forum discussions [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=28679 Editing a forum post after the 30 minutes deadline] and [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"]

==Blog visibility==

To enable [[Blogs]], select the level to which user blogs can be viewed.

By default, all site users can see all blogs. Blog visibility may be restricted so that users can only see blogs for people whom they share a course with or whom they share a group with.

Note: This setting is for specifying the maximum context of the VIEWER not the poster. To limit blogging to specific users only, a [[Blogger role]] should be created and users assigned to it in the system context.

==Enable tags functionality==

{{Moodle 1.9}}From Moodle 1.9 onwards, users may [[Tags|tag]] themselves and create interest pages around those tags.

==Keep tag name casing==

If checked, then tags like the following will be displayed: SOCCER, gUiTaR, MacDonalds, music

If unchecked, then all tags will be displayed as follows: Soccer, Guitar, Macdonalds, Music

Notes:
* For English, off is useful.
* For Japanese, no changes are made either way.
* For languages where this kind of capitalization changes the meaning, it is best to keep this option on.

==Password policy==

{{Moodle 1.9}}From Moodle 1.9 onwards, a password policy may be set up, ensuring users choose passwords of a certain length etc.

There is a check box to determine if password complexity should be enforced or not, the option to set the minimum length of the password, the minimum number of digits, the minimum number of lowercase characters, the minimum number of uppercase characters and the minimum number of non alphanumeric characters.

If a user enters a password that does not meet those requirements, they are given an error message indicating the nature of the problem with the entered password.

Enforcing password complexity along with requiring users to change their initial password go a long way in helping ensure that users choose and are in fact using "good passwords".

==Disable user profile images==

From Moodle 1.9 onwards, the ability for users to change their profile images may be disabled.

'''How???'''

== See also ==

*[[Administration FAQ]]

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Règles site]]
[[hu:Portál alapelvei]]
[[ja:サイトポリシー]]

Flexpage format

2008-06-09T18:21:28Z

Jsilve1: /* The Flex Page Format */

== The Flex Page Format ==

Intel Education engaged with Moodlerooms to develop a new course format and several new community building functions that are now available to the open source community under the standard Moodle license.

The new Moodle course format and community functions are core elements of the new Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course which will train teachers around the world how to use technology effectively in the classroom. To date, after 18 months in development, the Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course has gone live in Russia, Egypt, Brazil and the United States.

For more on FlexPage, please visit: http://development.moodlerooms.com/course/view.php?id=7

(You can self-register for this Moodle course.)

This course was developed by MoodleRooms, Inc. For more information about Moodle partner MoodleRooms, visit http://www.moodlerooms.com

Discussion -- http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83817

Flexpage format

2008-06-09T18:20:11Z

Jsilve1: /* The Flex Page Format */

== The Flex Page Format ==

Intel Education engaged with Moodlerooms to develop a new course format and several new community building functions that are now available to the open source community under the standard Moodle license.

The new Moodle course format and community functions are core elements of the new Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course which will train teachers around the world how to use technology effectively in the classroom. To date, after 18 months in development, the Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course has gone live in Russia, Egypt, Brazil and the United States.

For more on FlexPage, please visit: http://development.moodlerooms.com/course/view.php?id=7

(You can self-register for this Moodle site)

Moodlerooms is currently developing an online course to support folks interested in using Flexpage with Moodle. -- http://www.moodlerooms.com

Discussion -- http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83817

User:Jeffrey Silverman

2008-05-29T17:26:48Z

Jsilve1: /* About Me */

=About Me=
I am a Sysadmin/IT Specialist at MoodleRooms, Inc., headquartered in Baltimore, MD.

Development talk:Coding

2008-05-29T17:25:21Z

Jsilve1: /* Single vs Double quotes */

== Single quotes vs. double quotes: no noticable speed differences... ==

As PHP 4.3.0 is now the minimum version, the speed issue of single quotes vs. double quotes is negligible. See http://phplens.com/lens/php-book/optimizing-debugging-php.php, under "Useless Optimizations". There might be other reasons, however. I like to use "". ' is more convinient if a string has a lot of "s it it, like 'I have no "issues" with the "quotations"'. --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 04:26, 10 October 2006 (CDT)
: I see that Martin changed the rationale, so single quotes should be used with strings that have parsed variables in them. However, Tim changed the example back to use double quotes :-) --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 00:13, 17 March 2008 (CDT)

== Using clone() ==

Unless I'm mistaken, there are some cases where we should use Moodle's full_clone() method. Maybe someone could clarify this...
: Probably this bit under the item 9: "If the thing you want to copy is not an object, but may contain objects (eg an array of objects) then use fullclone() instead." --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 00:18, 17 March 2008 (CDT)

== Single vs Double quotes ==

According to the PHP.net manual page referenced, the memory usage issue for strings is not with single v double quotes, but with parsed variables in strings vs concatenated variables in strings.

As a PHP developer, I find it is overall much better to use double quotes for strings if for no other reason than that you can stick newlines (\n) in. Putting newlines in makes HTML debugging MUCH easier.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks!

(...some time later...) One more bit about quotes and parsed variables and speed optimizations.

Benchmarks have shown that
* there is no noticeable difference between single and double quotes for plain strings
* There is no noticable difference between single and double quotes with concatenated vars (e.g. "string".$num vs 'string'.$num)
* There IS, however, a performance penalty when double-quoted strings have a variable in them that needs to be parsed (e.g. "string$num")

I noticed this problem as I was persusing some parts of Moodle 1.8 (the gradebook). Now, I know gradebook has been rewritten for 1.9, but it seems to me that all the occurrences of things like this:

<pre>$thing = $preferences["$CFG->blah"];</pre>

Should have the double quotes removed! Having quotes in situations like that is ONLY adding a performance penalty, with no coding, readability, or other benefit at all.

hmm... Mayhap this has been addressed already? I don't know. But I thought I would mention it. Also, this last bit might not have anything to do with the "coding style" guidlines, but I was already talking about single v double quotes so I thought I would add this also.

== Classes and their methods ==

There is nothing regarding classes and methods naming style. Is there an agreement on how to name classes and methods? I mean should I use "class lower_case_name" or "class CamelCaseName". And similar to methods - shall I type "function say_hello()" or "function sayHello()" if the function is a method of a class? --[[User:David Mudrak|David Mudrak]] 17:30, 10 May 2008 (CDT)

: After a skype chat with Eloy and Petr, I added info about using lowercase in this case. --[[User:David Mudrak|David Mudrak]] 14:30, 11 May 2008 (CDT)

No Camel Case. classes and methods should follow the same rules as functions: words_separated_by_underscores.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 03:13, 12 May 2008 (CDT)

Development talk:Coding

2008-05-29T17:24:43Z

Jsilve1: /* Single vs Double quotes */

== Single quotes vs. double quotes: no noticable speed differences... ==

As PHP 4.3.0 is now the minimum version, the speed issue of single quotes vs. double quotes is negligible. See http://phplens.com/lens/php-book/optimizing-debugging-php.php, under "Useless Optimizations". There might be other reasons, however. I like to use "". ' is more convinient if a string has a lot of "s it it, like 'I have no "issues" with the "quotations"'. --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 04:26, 10 October 2006 (CDT)
: I see that Martin changed the rationale, so single quotes should be used with strings that have parsed variables in them. However, Tim changed the example back to use double quotes :-) --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 00:13, 17 March 2008 (CDT)

== Using clone() ==

Unless I'm mistaken, there are some cases where we should use Moodle's full_clone() method. Maybe someone could clarify this...
: Probably this bit under the item 9: "If the thing you want to copy is not an object, but may contain objects (eg an array of objects) then use fullclone() instead." --[[User:Samuli Karevaara|Samuli Karevaara]] 00:18, 17 March 2008 (CDT)

== Single vs Double quotes ==

According to the PHP.net manual page referenced, the memory usage issue for strings is not with single v double quotes, but with parsed variables in strings vs concatenated variables in strings.

As a PHP developer, I find it is overall much better to use double quotes for strings if for no other reason than that you can stick newlines (\n) in. Putting newlines in makes HTML debugging MUCH easier.

Just my $0.02.

Thanks!

(...some time later...) One more bit about quotes and parsed variables and speed optimizations.

Benchmarks have shown that
* there is no noticeable difference between single and double quotes for plain strings
* There is no noticable difference between single and double quotes with concatenated vars (e.g. "string".$num vs 'string'.$num)
* There IS, however, a performance penalty when double-quoted strings have a variable in them that needs to be parsed (e.g. "string$num")

I noticed this problem as I was persusing some parts of Moodle 1.8 (the gradebook). Now, I know gradebook has been rewritten for 1.9, but it seems to me that all the occurrences of things like this:

$thing = $preferences["$CFG->blah"];

Should have the double quotes removed! Having quotes in situations like that is ONLY adding a performance penalty, with no coding, readability, or other benefit at all.

hmm... Mayhap this has been addressed already? I don't know. But I thought I would mention it. Also, this last bit might not have anything to do with the "coding style" guidlines, but I was already talking about single v double quotes so I thought I would add this also.

== Classes and their methods ==

There is nothing regarding classes and methods naming style. Is there an agreement on how to name classes and methods? I mean should I use "class lower_case_name" or "class CamelCaseName". And similar to methods - shall I type "function say_hello()" or "function sayHello()" if the function is a method of a class? --[[User:David Mudrak|David Mudrak]] 17:30, 10 May 2008 (CDT)

: After a skype chat with Eloy and Petr, I added info about using lowercase in this case. --[[User:David Mudrak|David Mudrak]] 14:30, 11 May 2008 (CDT)

No Camel Case. classes and methods should follow the same rules as functions: words_separated_by_underscores.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 03:13, 12 May 2008 (CDT)

Elluminate module

2008-05-28T14:31:43Z

Jsilve1:

'''Elluminate Bridge for Moodle (v1.0)'''

For users of the Moodle open-source course management system, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle enables you to easily and seamlessly integrate live, synchronous distance learning and collaboration into your coursework.

The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is a non-standard activity module and block that requires purchasing a 3rd party service. Please see http://www.elluminate.com/moodle_course_management_system.jsp for details on getting started.

==Introduction==
This document provides the information necessary to install and configure the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle with the Elluminate ''Live!'' Session Administration System.
===Audience===
It is assumed that the user has a basic working knowledge of the following:
*The Elluminate ''Live!'' web server, services, and the client JNLP files.
*The administration of Moodle version 1.8.3

==Product Overview==
The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle will enable your Moodle course management system (CMS) to create and launch Elluminate ''Live!'' sessions and recordings. The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle provides for the following Elluminate ''Live!'' Session Administration System functionality:
*Create a Public or Private session
*Set session boundary time
*Set recording state
*Provide access to recordings of sessions
In addition to Session Administration System functionality, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle provides the following functionality:
*Grade students on their Elluminate ''Live!'' session attendance
===Limitations===
Currently, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle supports only alphanumeric characters for session names.

==Installation==
===Supported Moodle Configuration===
* Moodle 1.8 (tested with Moodle 1.8.3)
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
* Apache HTTP Server 2.2 (tested with Apache HTTP Server 2.2.3-11)
* MySQL 5.0 (tested with MySQL 5.0.22-2)
* PHP 5.1 (tested with PHP 5.1.6-15)

===Pre-Installation Requirements===
Before installing the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle, ensure the following:
*You have a login group and web service account on the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server (Session Administration System). This is Elluminate, Inc.'s ASP for Elluminate ''Live!'' You can get access to a login group and the requisite web service account by '''contacting the sales team at Elluminate''' at http://www.elluminate.com/contact.jsp
*You have received your Elluminate Bridge for Moodle welcome e-mail from Elluminate.
*A Moodle installation exists on your website.

'''Important''': For the purposes of this document, we’ll refer to your Moodle website as http://your.moodle.site/moodle/ with the Moodle code located in a directory on a server called /var/www/html/moodle/.

===Installing the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle===
To install the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle on your server, follow the steps below.
#Download the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle from: http://download.moodle.org/download.php/patches/elluminate.zip
#Extract the files from elluminate.zip to a temporary location.
#From the temporary location, copy ‘elluminate/elluminate_sas/blocks/elluminate’ into ‘/var/www/html/moodle/blocks/’.
#From the temporary location, copy ‘elluminate/elluminate_sas/mod/elluminate’ into ‘/var/www/html/moodle/mod/’.
#(Optional) If you're using a theme that displays its own icons, you must copy the Elluminate ''Live!'' activity module icon into your theme’s directory. For example, if you were using the ‘Chameleon’ theme with Moodle, you will need to create an ‘elluminate’ directory in that theme. For example, copy '/var/www/html/moodle/mod/elluminate/icon.gif' into the following Chameleon directory: '/var/www/html/moodle/theme/chameleon/pix/mod/elluminate/'
#Visit the Moodle administration page http://your.moodle.site/moodle/admin. This page shows you the progress as the database installation script for the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is executing. [[Image:elluminate1.png|none|Database Installation Script]]
#When installation is complete, click on '''Continue'''. You will be notified of any errors or warnings if they exist. [[Image:elluminate2.png|none|Installation Complete]]
#Ensure that the Moodle cron job is correctly set up and configured. For instructions see https://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron.
<pre>Elluminate ''Live!'' recordings will be visible through the Elluminate
block only after the Moodle cron job executes (but updating the list of
recordings step of the cron job will only happen once every 15 minutes).</pre>

==Configuration==
To change the settings of the Elluminate ''Live!'' activity module, follow the steps below.
#Log in to http://your.moodle.site/moodle/admin as the Moodle Administrator. The Administration page will open. [[Image:elluminate3.png|none|Administration Page]]
#Click on '''Activities''' in the '''Site Administration''' menu. The Activities configuration page will open. [[Image:elluminate4.png|none|Activities Configuration]]
#Click on the '''Settings''' link for Elluminate ''Live!'' Session. The Elluminate ''Live!'' Session configuration page will open. [[Image:elluminate5.png|none|Elluminate Settings]]
#Enter the Elluminate Session Administration Server information (refer to your Elluminate Bridge for Moodle welcome e-mail):
#*Address of the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server that has been enabled for web services access.
#*Username and password of the account on the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server to be used for Moodle administration.
<pre>Do not use the credentials from your welcome email for anything except this
configuration page (unless directed to do so by an Elluminate support representative).</pre>
#Select a boundary time for all Elluminate ''Live!'' sessions. This is the number of minutes (0, 15, 30, 45 or 60) before the scheduled Start Time of a session a participant may join the session. If you want teachers to be able to set their own boundary time, select Choose. Default 15 minutes. [[Image:elluminate6.png|none|Boundary Time]]
#Specify whether or not you want Web Services debugging turned on (Yes) or off (No). Default is No.
#Use the '''Test connection''' button to verify that you can connect. If the '''Test connection''' button does not seem to work, ensure that ''Moodle Debug Messages'' is set to NONE under Site Administration > Server > Debugging.
#Click on '''Save changes''' to complete the configuration.

You are now ready to add Elluminate ''Live!'' activities into courses on your site.

==Uninstalling the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle==
To uninstall the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle from your server, follow the steps below.
#Log in to http://your.moodle.site/moodle/admin as the Moodle Administrator. The Administration page will open. [[Image:elluminate7.png|none|Administration Page]]
#Click on '''Activities''' in the '''Site Administration''' menu. The Activities configuration page will open.
#Click on '''Delete''' on the Elluminate ''Live!'' Session row in the table and click '''Yes''' to confirm deletion. [[Image:elluminate8.png|none|Activities Configuration]]
#Click on '''Blocks''' in the '''Site Administration menu'''. The Blocks configuration page will open.
#Click on '''Delete''' on the Elluminate ''Live!'' row in the table and click '''Yes''' to confirm deletion. [[Image:elluminate9.png|none|Blocks Configuration]]
#On the file system on your Moodle server, delete the ‘elluminate’ folder from ‘/var/www/html/moodle/mod’.
#On the file system on your Moodle server, delete the ‘elluminate’ folder from ‘/var/www/html/moodle/blocks’.

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Elluminate module

2008-05-28T14:26:56Z

Jsilve1: /* Uninstalling the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle */

'''Elluminate Bridge for Moodle (v1.0)'''

For users of the Moodle open-source course management system, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle enables you to easily and seamlessly integrate live, synchronous distance learning and collaboration into your coursework.

The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is a non-standard activity module and block that requires purchasing a 3rd party service. Please see http://www.elluminate.com/moodle_course_management_system.jsp for details on getting started.

==Introduction==
This document provides the information necessary to install and configure the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle with the Elluminate ''Live!'' Session Administration System.
===Audience===
It is assumed that the user has a basic working knowledge of the following:
*The Elluminate ''Live!'' web server, services, and the client JNLP files.
*The administration of Moodle version 1.8.3

==Product Overview==
The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle will enable your Moodle course management system (CMS) to create and launch Elluminate ''Live!'' sessions and recordings. The Elluminate Bridge for Moodle provides for the following Elluminate ''Live!'' Session Administration System functionality:
*Create a Public or Private session
*Set session boundary time
*Set recording state
*Provide access to recordings of sessions
In addition to Session Administration System functionality, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle provides the following functionality:
*Grade students on their Elluminate ''Live!'' session attendance
===Limitations===
Currently, the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle supports only alphanumeric characters for session names.

==Installation==
===Supported Moodle Configuration===
* Moodle 1.8 (tested with Moodle 1.8.3)
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
* Apache HTTP Server 2.2 (tested with Apache HTTP Server 2.2.3-11)
* MySQL 5.0 (tested with MySQL 5.0.22-2)
* PHP 5.1 (tested with PHP 5.1.6-15)

===Pre-Installation Requirements===
Before installing the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle, ensure the following:
*You have a login group and web service account on the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server (Session Administration System). This is Elluminate, Inc.'s ASP for Elluminate ''Live!'' You can get access to a login group and the requisite web service account by '''contacting the sales team at Elluminate''' at http://www.elluminate.com/contact.jsp
*You have received your Elluminate Bridge for Moodle welcome e-mail from Elluminate.
*A Moodle installation exists on your website.

'''Important''': For the purposes of this document, we’ll refer to your Moodle website as http://www.mysite.net/moodle/ with the Moodle code located in a directory on a server called /var/www/html/moodle/.

===Installing the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle===
To install the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle on your server, follow the steps below.
#Download the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle from: http://download.moodle.org/download.php/patches/elluminate.zip
#Extract the files from elluminate.zip to a temporary location.
#From the temporary location, copy ‘elluminate/elluminate_sas/blocks/elluminate’ into ‘/var/www/html/moodle/blocks/’.
#From the temporary location, copy ‘elluminate/elluminate_sas/mod/elluminate’ into ‘/var/www/html/moodle/mod/’.
#(Optional) If you're using a theme that displays its own icons, you must copy the Elluminate ''Live!'' activity module icon into your theme’s directory. For example, if you were using the ‘Chameleon’ theme with Moodle, you will need to create an ‘elluminate’ directory in that theme. For example, copy '/var/www/html/moodle/mod/elluminate/icon.gif' into the following Chameleon directory: '/var/www/html/moodle/theme/chameleon/pix/mod/elluminate/'
#Visit the Moodle administration page http://www.mysite.net/moodle/admin. This page shows you the progress as the database installation script for the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle is executing. [[Image:elluminate1.png|none|Database Installation Script]]
#When installation is complete, click on '''Continue'''. You will be notified of any errors or warnings if they exist. [[Image:elluminate2.png|none|Installation Complete]]
#Ensure that the Moodle cron job is correctly set up and configured. For instructions see https://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron.
<pre>Elluminate ''Live!'' recordings will be visible through the Elluminate
block only after the Moodle cron job executes (but updating the list of
recordings step of the cron job will only happen once every 15 minutes).</pre>

==Configuration==
To change the settings of the Elluminate ''Live!'' activity module, follow the steps below.
#Log in to http://www.mysite.net/moodle/admin as the Moodle Administrator. The Administration page will open. [[Image:elluminate3.png|none|Administration Page]]
#Click on '''Activities''' in the '''Site Administration''' menu. The Activities configuration page will open. [[Image:elluminate4.png|none|Activities Configuration]]
#Click on the '''Settings''' link for Elluminate ''Live!'' Session. The Elluminate ''Live!'' Session configuration page will open. [[Image:elluminate5.png|none|Elluminate Settings]]
#Enter the Elluminate Session Administration Server information (refer to your Elluminate Bridge for Moodle welcome e-mail):
#*Address of the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server that has been enabled for web services access.
#*Username and password of the account on the Elluminate ''Live!'' scheduling server to be used for Moodle administration.
<pre>Do not use the credentials from your welcome email for anything except this
configuration page (unless directed to do so by an Elluminate support representative).</pre>
#Select a boundary time for all Elluminate ''Live!'' sessions. This is the number of minutes (0, 15, 30, 45 or 60) before the scheduled Start Time of a session a participant may join the session. If you want teachers to be able to set their own boundary time, select Choose. Default 15 minutes. [[Image:elluminate6.png|none|Boundary Time]]
#Specify whether or not you want Web Services debugging turned on (Yes) or off (No). Default is No.
#Use the '''Test connection''' button to verify that you can connect. If the '''Test connection''' button does not seem to work, ensure that ''Moodle Debug Messages'' is set to NONE under Site Administration > Server > Debugging.
#Click on '''Save changes''' to complete the configuration.

You are now ready to add Elluminate ''Live!'' activities into courses on your site.

==Uninstalling the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle==
To uninstall the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle from your server, follow the steps below.
#Log in to http://your.moodle.site/moodle/admin as the Moodle Administrator. The Administration page will open. [[Image:elluminate7.png|none|Administration Page]]
#Click on '''Activities''' in the '''Site Administration''' menu. The Activities configuration page will open.
#Click on '''Delete''' on the Elluminate ''Live!'' Session row in the table and click '''Yes''' to confirm deletion. [[Image:elluminate8.png|none|Activities Configuration]]
#Click on '''Blocks''' in the '''Site Administration menu'''. The Blocks configuration page will open.
#Click on '''Delete''' on the Elluminate ''Live!'' row in the table and click '''Yes''' to confirm deletion. [[Image:elluminate9.png|none|Blocks Configuration]]
#On the file system on your Moodle server, delete the ‘elluminate’ folder from ‘/var/www/html/moodle/mod’.
#On the file system on your Moodle server, delete the ‘elluminate’ folder from ‘/var/www/html/moodle/blocks’.

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Talk:Cron

2008-05-16T17:36:30Z

Jsilve1: Since wget is being used to run the cron.php script anyway, you can really run this ANYWHERE

For setting-up cron using the Windows scheduler, a simpler way (avoiding the use of wget) is to set the task to run PHP instead (see the performance documentation). To do this set the run command as c:\php\php.exe -f f:\moodle\admin\cron.php. Several assumptions about paths here: php is installed in c:\php and moodle is installed on drive F:, so adjust to suit your own setup. [[User:Ken Wilson|Ken Wilson]] 20:04, 16 August 2006 (WST)

Hi all,
I looked for a forum link on this page that will take one to a forum that work with cron, it would really help for dummies like myself, i posted the server code and when i posted it gave me this error msg
"/tmp/crontab_ecoach":0: bad minute errors in crontab file, can't install
but i dont see any problem with it
Steven Putter

== Since wget is being used to run the cron.php script anyway, you can really run this ANYWHERE ==

It is important to note that since the cron.php script is not run internally by Moodle, but by an outside interaction, you can really run a cron job on ANY server that runs the cron.php on your Moodle installation.

So, for example, if you have a Moodle install at an ISP that does not let you run cron jobs, but you have, say, a DSLline at home, you can use any of your Linux computers at home to run cron. (you do use Linux at home, right? :)

And the beauty of it is, the crontab line is *exactly* the same as listed in the main article. It just points to an outside URL.

Now, I mention this because at one point I had configured a server to run Moodle but, in the interest of security, I did not have wget available on the server. (cron was available, but not wget).

Well, the easiest thing to do was to just run a cron job somewhere else.

Alrighty, seeyalater!

Development talk:Coding

2008-03-12T16:24:59Z

Jsilve1: Single vs Double quotes

User:Jeffrey Silverman

2007-08-28T14:03:31Z

Jsilve1:

=About Me=
I am a developer at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. I work for (this is long) Whiting School of Engineering's Engineering Programs for Professionals On-line Programs. (i.e. "Distance Ed")

Blackboard migration

2007-08-28T14:01:57Z

Jsilve1: /* Example Migration of One Test Course */

A [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard content conversion tool] is available. It was designed to migrate Blackboard 6.1 to Moodle 1.4+ - it may be possible to make it work with other versions.

According to Michael Penney in the forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1565 Migrating 10000 students from Blackboard to Moodle?]

:''"It works pretty well with a couple of caveats:''

:''1) It doesn't import all Blackboard question types: at CSU H, we wrote an essay question type and a 'rendered match' question type and a BB pool importer, we'd like to work with SF and others to get our qtype importer into theirs.''

:''2) SF's tool is designed to make you think about your course when you import it and redesign it. That is a nice idea, however it can be pretty time consuming when you have hundreds of documents in a course (<rant>Blackboard's poor content development tools encourage what I call the 'datadump' course format, instead of delivering information in an effective elearning tool like Moodle's lesson, with BB folks tend to post hundreds of office documents and then massive quizzes about them</rant>).''"

We recently migrated about 200 courses from Blackboard 6 to Moodle 1.5+, and I made a [http://instructor.metrotech.org/~mcampbell/Converting%20Blackboard%20to%20Moodle.ppt PowerPoint] for this routine. I've been asked to make a Captivate just on the import routine and will work on that.

==Example Migration of One Test Course==
'''by [[User:Jeffrey Silverman|Jeff Silverman]], The Johns Hopkins University'''
''(Note: I am a novice Moodler. This is a description of what I did to move a single exported BlackBoard course to my out-of-the-box Moodle test installation. I had a number of questions about the process and I hope this example helps answer them for someone else.)''

===When===
This test procedure was performed during the week of 20-Aug-2007

===Versions===
* Moodle 1.8
* BlackBoard 7.1 "basic" (unconfirmed)

===Procedure===
# Export course content from Bb. This step was done by someone else! I do not know how to do this, what options were chosen, etc. I do know that I got a .zip file that I think is a "Course Archive".
# Import course into Moodle. (Needs to be done by a user with the necessary privileges. I have only one user in my Moodle installation, the "Admin" user, and he (she?) is the "Site Administrator").
## Create new course
## Go to "Restore" under the course administrative tools
## Choose a file to upload; upload the Bb .zip file
## Choose "import" -- in another page or two you will get to say to restore this as a "New Course"

===Questions===
Some of my questions were as follows:

# Do you have to create a new course?
## Aparent answer: YES. Personally, I found this very counter-intuitive, as "importing a course" or "restore from backup" or other similar administrative tasks seem to me to be on a level outside a specific course. For example, having the "Restore" feature only available in the admin tools for a particular course makes it seem like the restoration will only work for that course -- but that is not true. You can use any course's "Restore" link in the admin tools and choose "Create a New Course" mid-way through the retoration procedure. But creating a new course from backup that has nothing to do with the course in which one has clicked the "Restore" link is, like I said, counter-intuitive. And, to top it off, I could find no mention of this until I had already clicked on "Restore". Looks like I need to add some information to the "administrative tools" or "backup/restore" docs, hm? :)
# Is there a specific "Bb-to-Moodle" conversion tool?
## Answer: NO. Unlike the WebCT-to-Moodle conversion, [[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=94 which requires a specific add-on]], Bb conversion is now built in.
# What format does the Bb export have to be in?
# What versions of Bb and Moodle will this work for?
# There is a tool floating around called "[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard Content Conversion Tool (CCT)]]" that sounds useful for converting Bb to Moodle. Do I need it?
## Answer: NO. Actually, I had a bunch of questions about that tool, too, but ultimately I did not need it.
### Does the CCT run on the server where Bb is running?
### Does it interact, somehow, directly with the Bb instance?
### Or does it run on the Moodle server and do the import from Bb into Moodle?
# Others...

==See also==
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78521 Migrate a course from Blackboard to Moodle] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]

Blackboard migration

2007-08-28T14:00:44Z

Jsilve1:

A [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard content conversion tool] is available. It was designed to migrate Blackboard 6.1 to Moodle 1.4+ - it may be possible to make it work with other versions.

According to Michael Penney in the forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1565 Migrating 10000 students from Blackboard to Moodle?]

:''"It works pretty well with a couple of caveats:''

:''1) It doesn't import all Blackboard question types: at CSU H, we wrote an essay question type and a 'rendered match' question type and a BB pool importer, we'd like to work with SF and others to get our qtype importer into theirs.''

:''2) SF's tool is designed to make you think about your course when you import it and redesign it. That is a nice idea, however it can be pretty time consuming when you have hundreds of documents in a course (<rant>Blackboard's poor content development tools encourage what I call the 'datadump' course format, instead of delivering information in an effective elearning tool like Moodle's lesson, with BB folks tend to post hundreds of office documents and then massive quizzes about them</rant>).''"

We recently migrated about 200 courses from Blackboard 6 to Moodle 1.5+, and I made a [http://instructor.metrotech.org/~mcampbell/Converting%20Blackboard%20to%20Moodle.ppt PowerPoint] for this routine. I've been asked to make a Captivate just on the import routine and will work on that.

==Example Migration of One Test Course==
'''by [[User:Jeffrey Silverman]], The Johns Hopkins University'''
''(Note: I am a novice Moodler. This is a description of what I did to move a single exported BlackBoard course to my out-of-the-box Moodle test installation. I had a number of questions about the process and I hope this example helps answer them for someone else.)''

===When===
This test procedure was performed during the week of 20-Aug-2007

===Versions===
* Moodle 1.8
* BlackBoard 7.1 "basic" (unconfirmed)

===Procedure===
# Export course content from Bb. This step was done by someone else! I do not know how to do this, what options were chosen, etc. I do know that I got a .zip file that I think is a "Course Archive".
# Import course into Moodle. (Needs to be done by a user with the necessary privileges. I have only one user in my Moodle installation, the "Admin" user, and he (she?) is the "Site Administrator").
## Create new course
## Go to "Restore" under the course administrative tools
## Choose a file to upload; upload the Bb .zip file
## Choose "import" -- in another page or two you will get to say to restore this as a "New Course"

===Questions===
Some of my questions were as follows:

# Do you have to create a new course?
## Aparent answer: YES. Personally, I found this very counter-intuitive, as "importing a course" or "restore from backup" or other similar administrative tasks seem to me to be on a level outside a specific course. For example, having the "Restore" feature only available in the admin tools for a particular course makes it seem like the restoration will only work for that course -- but that is not true. You can use any course's "Restore" link in the admin tools and choose "Create a New Course" mid-way through the retoration procedure. But creating a new course from backup that has nothing to do with the course in which one has clicked the "Restore" link is, like I said, counter-intuitive. And, to top it off, I could find no mention of this until I had already clicked on "Restore". Looks like I need to add some information to the "administrative tools" or "backup/restore" docs, hm? :)
# Is there a specific "Bb-to-Moodle" conversion tool?
## Answer: NO. Unlike the WebCT-to-Moodle conversion, [[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=94 which requires a specific add-on]], Bb conversion is now built in.
# What format does the Bb export have to be in?
# What versions of Bb and Moodle will this work for?
# There is a tool floating around called "[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard Content Conversion Tool (CCT)]]" that sounds useful for converting Bb to Moodle. Do I need it?
## Answer: NO. Actually, I had a bunch of questions about that tool, too, but ultimately I did not need it.
### Does the CCT run on the server where Bb is running?
### Does it interact, somehow, directly with the Bb instance?
### Or does it run on the Moodle server and do the import from Bb into Moodle?
# Others...

==See also==
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78521 Migrate a course from Blackboard to Moodle] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]

Blackboard migration

2007-08-28T13:56:40Z

Jsilve1:

A [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard content conversion tool] is available. It was designed to migrate Blackboard 6.1 to Moodle 1.4+ - it may be possible to make it work with other versions.

According to Michael Penney in the forum discussion [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1565 Migrating 10000 students from Blackboard to Moodle?]

:''"It works pretty well with a couple of caveats:''

:''1) It doesn't import all Blackboard question types: at CSU H, we wrote an essay question type and a 'rendered match' question type and a BB pool importer, we'd like to work with SF and others to get our qtype importer into theirs.''

:''2) SF's tool is designed to make you think about your course when you import it and redesign it. That is a nice idea, however it can be pretty time consuming when you have hundreds of documents in a course (<rant>Blackboard's poor content development tools encourage what I call the 'datadump' course format, instead of delivering information in an effective elearning tool like Moodle's lesson, with BB folks tend to post hundreds of office documents and then massive quizzes about them</rant>).''"

We recently migrated about 200 courses from Blackboard 6 to Moodle 1.5+, and I made a [http://instructor.metrotech.org/~mcampbell/Converting%20Blackboard%20to%20Moodle.ppt PowerPoint] for this routine. I've been asked to make a Captivate just on the import routine and will work on that.

==Example Migration of One Test Course==
'''by [[User:Jeffrey Silverman]], The Johns Hopkins University'''
''(Note: I am a novice Moodler. This is a description of what I did to move a single exported BlackBoard course to my out-of-the-box Moodle test installation. I had a number of questions about the process and I hope this example helps answer them for someone else.)''

When: This test procedure was performed during the week of 20-Aug-2007

Versions:
* Moodle 1.8
* BlackBoard 7.1 "basic" (unconfirmed)

# Export course content from Bb. This step was done by someone else! I do not know how to do this, what options were chosen, etc. I do know that I got a .zip file that I think is a "Course Archive".
# Import course into Moodle. (Needs to be done by a user with the necessary privileges. I have only one user in my Moodle installation, the "Admin" user, and he (she?) is the "Site Administrator").
## Create new course
## Go to "Restore" under the course administrative tools
## Choose a file to upload; upload the Bb .zip file
## Choose "import" -- in another page or two you will get to say to restore this as a "New Course"

Some of my questions were as follows:

# Do you have to create a new course?
** Aparent answer: YES. Personally, I found this very counter-intuitive, as "importing a course" or "restore from backup" or other similar administrative tasks seem to me to be on a level outside a specific course. For example, having the "Restore" feature only available in the admin tools for a particular course makes it seem like the restoration will only work for that course -- but that is not true. You can use any course's "Restore" link in the admin tools and choose "Create a New Course" mid-way through the retoration procedure. But creating a new course from backup that has nothing to do with the course in which one has clicked the "Restore" link is, like I said, counter-intuitive. And, to top it off, I could find no mention of this until I had already clicked on "Restore". Looks like I need to add some information to the "administrative tools" or "backup/restore" docs, hm? :)
# Is there a specific "Bb-to-Moodle" conversion tool?
** Answer: NO. Unlike the WebCT-to-Moodle conversion, [[http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=94 which requires a specific add-on]], Bb conversion is now built in.
# What format does the Bb export have to be in?
# What versions of Bb and Moodle will this work for?
# There is a tool floating around called "[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=32049 Blackboard Content Conversion Tool (CCT)]]" that sounds useful for converting Bb to Moodle. Do I need it?
* Answer: NO. Actually, I had a bunch of questions about that tool, too, but ultimately I did not need it.
** Does the CCT run on the server where Bb is running?
** Does it interact, somehow, directly with the Bb instance?
** Or does it run on the Moodle server and do the import from Bb into Moodle?
# Others...

==See also==
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78521 Migrate a course from Blackboard to Moodle] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]

Blackboard migration

2007-08-24T16:44:37Z

Jsilve1:

User:Jeffrey Silverman

2007-08-24T16:42:34Z

Jsilve1:

I am a developer at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.