Let's get started by installing Moodle.
After providing an overview that describes which setup is most suitable, software as well as hardware requirements are outlined.
We will then cover the following installations:
You will only need to study the section(s) of the operating system(s) you are planning to use. Moodle can be scaled from a single instructor to an entire institution. We will only be able to cover the most common installations and present solutions to some common problems. We also have to assume that you are familiar with basic system administration of the operating system on which you will be installing Moodle.
Before we start installing Moodle, you have to decide which setup is right for your organization. Once you have come to a conclusion, there are a number of prerequisites that you have to provide before we can get started.
There are a number of different environments in which you can set up Moodle. The three main criteria that should dictate the choice of the correct setup are:
Max number of concurrent users |
Recommended setup |
---|---|
1 (to experiment locally) |
Desktop, laptop, memory stick |
20 (single class) |
Public server or https://moodlecloud.com/en/ |
100 (small school / company) |
Shared server |
250 (large school / company) |
Dedicated server |
500 (medium-to-large college) |
Dedicated application and database servers |
+500 (university/corporate) |
Load-balanced cluster |
Please bear in mind that these are only indicative numbers, which are not written in stone, and also depend on the other factors mentioned here. The mentioned hosting option on https://moodlecloud.com/en/ offers free Moodle hosting by Moodle HQ with a number of limitations: maximum number of users is set to 50, storage capacity is limited to 200 MB, there is no ability to install plugins, and there is advertisement displayed throughout the site. This is a good way to try out Moodle, but not intended for production sites.
Organizations require a server (either dedicated or shared) that is either hosted in-house or externally. If you decide to go down the hosted route, it is highly recommended to avoid a cheap hosting package as their systems are not optimized for Moodle usage. This will have a significant impact on the performance of the system, especially with an increasing number of users.
In addition to these three key criteria that usually influence the decision about the underlying infrastructure, there are other factors that will have an impact on your decision, such as in-house expertise, compatibility with other systems, personal preference, and existing resources.
We will cover the three most popular operating systems for hosting Moodle—Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. For other setups such as on a memory stick, in a virtualized environment, or a larger multi-server cluster, please consult your local Moodle Partner (https://moodle.com/). Some hosting companies offer quick one-click installations (often via the Fantastico installer, which usually doesn't contain the latest version). While the resulting Moodle system is sufficient for experimental sites, it is certainly unsuitable for production environments.
There are a number of hardware and software requirements that have to be satisfied before we can start installing Moodle.
These requirements apply if you host Moodle yourself or if it is hosted on an external server (shared, virtual, dedicated, or clustered). On cheaper hosting packages, the hardware configuration is often insufficient to run Moodle efficiently:
While it is recommend to have the latest version installed, for Moodle 3, you must have the following components up and running on your server (release specific notes can be found at https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Releases):
php.ini
or .htaccess
file (see https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_Moodle for more details).curl
, ctype
, dom
, gd
, hash
, iconv
, json
, pcre
, simplexml
, spl
, xml
, zip
, and zlib
intl
, mbstring
, openssl
, tokenizer
, soap
, and xmlrpc
mysql
, odbc
, pgsql
, (depending on database) and ldap
, ntlm
, and so on (depending on authentication mechanism used)Depending on your specific setup, additional software and hardware might be required. It is assumed that the database, web server, PHP, and its extensions have been installed correctly as this is not a VLE administrator task. Once this is the case, we are ready to go.
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