Moodle Community Sites

Greg,
This is an excellent idea and service to the community. I think that a VMWare approach is probably less intrusive than the XAMPP that is currently on the downloads page. I certainly vote for this. I hesitate to suggest additions, but one you might consider is PhpMyAdmin so that users can view the database directly. Novice users might find poking around in the database helps their confidence in sussing out database issues.

Hi Greg,

as an VMWare user here... great idea! Some more comments:

1) I think it would be great to have the Moodle distro "connected" to some CVS mirror, so users will be able to "cvs update" it as necessary.

2) Having some page in Docs about the steps to follow would be great!

3) I'm adding Martin Dougiamas and Helen Foster here in order to see from where we can link/offer this appliance to the Community.

Amazing job. Congrats!

Ciao

I will have release 2 uploaded by tomorrow some time and made available to the public.

Changes made are:
Upgraded moodle to cvs and 1.9
ran yum updates.
upgraded php to 5.2.5
installed xmlrpc
made 2.0 compliant
upgraded webmin.
adjusted the config.php file to no longer need editing.
placed a cvs update script on the root desktop and in /

Began working on a non-gui version.

Really cool! Congrats!

I hope we'll can offer links/downloads to them soon.

Great! B-)

Greg this looks great. Is there a place to find more background info on this project. I am new to Moodle and setting up a new server for next year. Is this usable for VMware on the Macintosh (VMware Fusion?) as well as VMware under windows. What about linux? Which platform would be best? This seems like a great option for someone new like me that is a little nervous about all the details involved in setting up a new server and optimizing it.

Unfortunately I have only been able to test this on VMware Server 1.04 running on windows. If anyone can test it on VMware on linux and mac that would be great. What sort of information are you looking for on this project? I will do my best to fill in some details.

I started this project as the school I am attending runs Moodle on VMware. I also like using VMware and wanted to make a release that works nicely for those people that don't have the setup to try the xxamp version or the want/will to install moodle to their present webspace. I have been doing all of my development and research on this using VMware running on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. I hope to be expanding some things and getting more operating systems to test VMware on. I unfortunatly only have a PowerPC mac so I cannot test VMware fusion. In the near future I plan on testing the linux version of VMware when I get some extra hardware to use.

I will be looking at placing performance tweaks in the server most likely in the next release. My college right now runs a Moodle install on the same setup for 500 students and some 100-200 faculty very smoothly.

The administration of this server is relatively easy with the multiple GUI's. I recommend giving it a try and playing with it because this way if you break it now it doesn't matter. Go ahead and get a feel for it. This way you will know what to do with it when you go production. VMware also makes it easy to deploy multiple servers as needed so you run a production server and test server side by side. Any questions you have about running a moodle server please post them in the forums and read the forums also as they contain lots of valuable information to new users and even those of us that have been around for a little while.

Release 2 is uploaded and ready for download!!! Let me know how it runs. I hope to be getting testing for VMware on other hosts working very soon.

http://www.moodleserver.pwnageservers.com/files/Moodle-VM-LAMP-GUI-Release-2.zip

Greg - Thanks for your work on this. I know that virtualization is the way that many institutions are moving so having this as an option will definitely make life very easy for them. Let me check and see the best way that Moodle.org can help out with storing this so that others can have access to it. Peace - Anthony

I'm happy to put the images on our mirror.

Cool, is there a chance that we can discuss how to place the future releases and documentation placement?

I was wondering if there was an update on this being added to the downloads and the addition of documentation.

Thanks, Greg

Still trying to get through a download so I can test it

Hi Greg,

perhaps something like: http://docs.moodle.org/en/VMware_installation could be a nice place to start the documentation. I guess people will want to know general characteristics of the VM (OS, versions...) plus a step by step guide about how get it working.

Then, it can be easily linked from other Docs pages, and from final download place and so on...

BTW, I'm downloading it now to be tested in my Mac....ciao

I added the documentation page. Thanks for the suggestion and I'll be interested to hear how it runs on Mac. I only have a PowerBook G4 so I can't test much there.

Several people have already download both releases, about 17 hits on Release 1 and similar but growing amount on Release 2.

If anyone here runs VMware server on linux or another version of VMware please test it on there for me and let me know how it runs.

-Greg

Hi Greg,

Finally I've downloaded the small (1GB!) appliance and have tested it in my Mac. Has worked really great! Some comments:

1) When I started the appliance I go an error about VMware not being able to mount the CD containing one iso image. I guess you've saved your appliance with that unit mounted and perhpas it's better to have a version without that.

2) Keyboard configuration here is lost (I've an Spanish keyboard). I guess nothing can be done here but document how to adjust it under CentOS.

3) I saw the moodle-cvs-update.sh script in the Desktop. Cool! I think it would be nice to have also some documentation about where Moodle files (php scripts, moodledata...) are stored an so (perhaps a link to them from the Desktop).

4) The appliance size itself... cannot it be reduced a bit? Not critical but better if we save some MBs.

Anyway, it seems to be working really well here, congrats!

The best I can do right now to keep the size down is to compress it. And it compresses nicely from 3.5-4GB to 1.3GB.

I did get VMware tools installed for release two. I forgot to mention that. I'm just not sure if VMware sees it or not. I will be looking into that.

I will look into how to change the keyboard and languages and document that.

Thats the second time now I've accidentally left the CD mounted. I need to remember to remove that.

I will begin listing where files are in the different releases. I'll start adding readme's to the desktops of each release.

i'm glad to hear it worked on mac. Thats great.

Hello,

I downloaded version 2 of the VMWare Moodle appliance and was unable to run it. Just want to check if I am doing things correctly. I am using the VMWare player app running on a standard Windows 2003 Professional desktop (not the server, just regular Windows). I open VMWare Player and open the .vmx file. The VMWare player goes through the motions and after everything is finished, it gives me a prompt to log in. I logged in as root using the password "moodle123".

I tried to launch Moodle using the URL:

localhost:10000 (10000 was the port number that was displayed by WMWare player)

That's where I get stuck. Browser errors out saying it cannot locate that page.

I would really like to get this running. Should I be using a different port number, login? Would appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks!

Steve

try going to https://localhost:10000

Thanks for testing this on player and letting me know it worked there. I will be adding desktop links to the moodle site and webmin to the next release along with bookmarks in firefox.

Hello Greg,

Thanks for the follow up. I tried accessing Moodle using https://... , but that too came back with error saying it could not find that page. I don't know if this is significant, but when I tried launching the Moodle again, though the VMWare player, I did not get the initial login prompt I did the first time I installed it. Is it supposed to prompt me each time I boot (or reboot) the virtual appliance?

Also, just a general question on the appliance, if the server (or computer) shuts down, is the data and any changes made to the database saved? Or do you start out with a clean database each time you launch (or restart) Moodle?

Anyhow, if you have any suggestions I can try to resolve the problem I would be most appreciative. Thanks much.

Steve

It is a complete server installed. Everything you do is saved. Nothing is reloaded at the restart. I'm not sure what issue you are having with the webmin login. load terminal and check the top to see if webmin is actually running. If you keep having issues, I'm going to recommend that you load the virtual machine using vmware server.

I was curious if anyone had looked into adding a link to the downloads site. I will be glad to host the files for download. I would just like to have the link more public if possible.

Anyone have an update?

Greg

Ping!

I think we must do this ASAP. Thanks for refreshing it Greg. I hope we'll do that in hours... have to discuss it before.

Ciao

Just checking in on progress and to give everyone an update. I will be home from college in a few days and after overhauling my computers and networks I'm going to work on finishing release 3 and getting it out to everyone. I am going to try to decrease its size some however this will not make it a 500MB download without massive compression. I will also finish working on my non-gui version for VMware server. I will be looking into the cross compatibility issues between VMware server, VMware player, and VMware Sever ESX. Hopefully I can find a solution that will work nicely with out 3 different versions. Getting VMware tools installed and working well is also important as this is a massive performance boost.

I will be continuing to host all of the releases so that they are available for download. WIth the summer here I should have more time to work on these releases and keep it updated to fix bugs and other issues. Anyone that wishes to help or support me in anyway is welcome.

Lastly, I wanted to see if there was any development on getting a link added to the downloads page on moodle.org. I am still offering to host all files and cover the costs of bandwidth and online storage for the releases. I am storing all releases on my webserver which is connected to Teir 1 bandwidth in a very nice DC.

Till my next update,
Greg

Just to let you guys know. It runs on a MacBook Pro using Fusion. Just got it loaded so have only tried it in localhost mode. Happy to test any new releases. Just let me know.<instructor@lassenonline.org>

Great job, Greg! The CVS link is very cool and makes updates easy.

Kam

Okay guys, I need some advice on continuing with the project. I understand that the size of the release has been of huge concern to many people. I am working on cutting that down, however we are uploading and downloading whole Operating systems uncompressed for the most part. Later today I am going to upload another release. This release will be Xubuntu with LAMP and moodle. Xubuntu is Ubuntu but with the xfce interface instead of the gnome interface. Runs pretty fast without issue so far. I am doing this for the community so I want to know what the community thinks about how I should proceed. Release 3 of the original VM will be out as soon as I shrink the hdd.

Also, anyone here have a copy of ESX server or an easy way for me to get hold of a copy to do testing and dev on for this?

Thanks all for your support and I hope we can keep this going as I think it will benefit the community greatly.

Greg

Thanks for all the work you have done with this.

Just letting you know that it works with VMware ESX server Version 3.5. I imported the file using VMware converter. It would not let me resize the drive though. Works a treat.

Regards Brad

Just another note, I noticed you mentioned VMware tools is installed. Well if it is it is not working. Brad

I have released the non-gui version to the download site on my server. http://moodleserver.pwnageservers.com

Feel free to download it. I was wondering if moodle was interested in adding this to the downloads or not. It has been a while and I was just curious. These files do experience downloads every month.

Yes I installed vmware tools but could not get it to work.

Best of luck with the new release. Thanks for letting me know it worked with vmware esx brad.

Sorry, I wanted to look at this one myself and it took me this long to get to it!

Some comments:

1) We should include the docs in a README.txt explaining why you need vmware player and where to get it etc.
2) The files are all called "Redhat Enterprise 4" but the actual disk contains CentOS 5
3) When booting you get presented with a login window ... what is the root username/password?
4) Presuming that the Moodle is running, how do I access it from the host machine?

I will hopefully have the releases containing the fixes that Martin recommended and Moodle 1.9.2 out by the end of July. Last weekend when I thought I would have them out my fileserver at home had the OS fubar so I spent the day bringing it back online and am just getting around to installing vmware again. I didn't loose and data as I kept it all on a separate HDD. I have already updated the gui version. I need to make the fixes, compile and upload it. The no-gui version still needs updates and fixes.

Sorry for the delay and thanks for being patient.

Thank you, Greg! Great work!

Just noticed that the CVS script seemed to quit working. Is it because "TMOODLE_ " is no longer being used? I suspect it would be safe to point to the current stable library (yes)?

Thanks for letting me know. I will get on that in this next release. the last few weeks I've been trying to get my computers and servers working right. I'll be reloading my VM data to my desktop tonight and I'll try to push that next release out.

I'm reolving this as fixed... for new versions/problems with the VMware apliance... please open new bugs. TIA!

I have decided to start working on an update of this as the VM continues to have a large number of downloads every month. I would like to hear from the users of this of what they think.

Please submit your ideas here: http://thebusinesshelpdesk.uservoice.com/pages/general

Thanks, Greg. My HR manager recently asked if she could evaluate Moodle, and I had no problem getting your appliance up and running quickly on my ESX 3.5 server.

The only painful part was the download time.

Thanks,

Andy

That so far has been the largest issue. But shrinking linux with a full LAMP stack and a control panel can get interesting when adding and removing packages.

Dear All,

After I run the VMware Moodle version, I couldn't login with the administrator user with ID "admin" and "password". Has the admin password changed?

Thanks,
Raymond

There are 3 version of this and the password changed some. Try moodle for the password instead.

Hi Greg,

Thanks! I will try again.

Raymond

Hi Greg,

Morning! I tried to use the password "moodle" for the moodle admin. But still failed to login. Are there any other passwords I can try? Also another question about how to start moodle, is webmin used to start moodle? Do I need to install anythings to start the moodle LMS in the VMware version?

In addition, from the manual with the link below, it told me start the moodle by using http://localhost/mymoodle/admin in a browser. But I failed to apply it in the VMware version. Could you tell why?

http://docs.moodle.org/en/RedHat_Linux_installation#Try_your_new_installation

Thanks,
Raymond

When the vm starts, moodle is running. Moodle is a php/mysql application that runs on Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Those three services start on boot up. Moodle itself is not a service.

Try password: moodle123

Hi Greg,

Thanks! I can start using it now. It saved me much time by using this VMware version.

Regards,

Raymond

Greg,

This is a great idea. I have tried doing this for several people but had problems with the hostname in config.php. I noticed you solved that in release 2. Would you mind posting the code snipets you used?

You mentioned looking for a copy of ESX for testing, ESXi is a free download. Another not so easy solution if you are at an institution with and .edu email domain is to apply for academic licensing from VMWare. It takes some effort

I know download size is an issue but for performance with moodle in a virtualized environment adding a seperate swap virtual drive seems to help. For security I usally add the repository from dotdeb.org since they have deb packages for mysql and php that address some of the security issues in the standard debian/ubuntu packages

Greg Porter

Thanks for the feedback.

The config code is here: $CFG->wwwroot = 'http://' .$_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'];

I have heard from a couple of users that it does work well on ESX. I have not personally had a chance to test it as I have not had a spare server that is ESX compatible available for testing.

This project so far this year has had no fewer than 50 downloads a month with some months closing on 90 downloads. If i do a future release I will add the swap drives.