Cool Solution - Install Moodle
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Note: Cool Solutions are articles documenting additional functionality based on Univention products.
Not all of the shown steps in the article are covered by Univention Support. For questions about your support coverage contact your contact person at Univention before you want to implement one of the shown steps.
Contents
Introduction
This article introduces you to the usage of Moodle. It covers the installation on a dedicated school server, as well as the users authentication with the LDAP. If further integration packages are needed, like loading classes from the LDAP or using the Microsoft Windows authentication for already logged in users, feel free to contact Univention for assistance.
Installation
This section will cover the preparation and installation of Moodle on the system. Please make sure that every command is executed as root user.
To install necessary packages, execute the following command to install apache2, php5 and mysql
apt-get install apache2 php5 mysql-server php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 php5-gd php5-curl php5-xmlrpc php5-intl
The PostgreSQL database modules must be included in PHP. Add the following two lines into the /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini file:
extension=mysqlsql.so extension=gd.so
To use Moodle effectively, it is recommended to raise the maximum size for uploads, e. g. 20 MB, to provide small programs to students. The changes must be done in the /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini file:
post_max_size = 20M upload_max_filesize = 20M
For the changes to take effect, the Apache webserver must be restarted:
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Configuration
This section handles the basic configuration and LDAP connection for Moodle and how to delete users in Moodle that are not in the LDAP anymore.
Basic configuration
To setup the MySQL Database, execute the following command:
mysql -u root -p
Enter your password
Create the Moodle database
mysql> CREATE DATABASE moodle;
Then ensure that the database is set to UTF8 which is required by later distributions of Moodle
mysql> ALTER DATABASE moodle charset=utf8;
Then exit the database
mysql> exit;
You can restart mysql by
/etc/init.d/mysql restart
The next step is, to download Moodle:
wget https://download.moodle.org/download.php/direct/stable28/moodle-2.8.5.tgz
Unpack the file with the following command:
tar -zxvf <your-file>
The file will probably be located in your current folder. Move the 'Moodle' file to /var/www:
mv moodle /var/www
Switch to the correct directory
cd /var/www
Set ownership and permissions so that Apache can access the files
chown -R www-data:www-data moodle \ chmod -R 755 moodle
Switch the directory again
cd /var/
Create a directory for user and course files
mkdir moodledata
Set ownership and permissions so that Apache can access the files
chown -R www-data:www-data moodledata
Now the Moodle service can be reached and configured by opening the web page in a webbrowser:
http://<server>/moodle
LDAP authentification
After the basic configuration is done, https should be activated in Security -> HTTP security. Next, in Web Administration -> Plugin -> Authentication the option Email-based self-registration should be deactivated and LDAP server should be activated.
Next, a simple authentication account should be created using the UDM. This account can then be used for an authenticated bind. To find the DN of the account issue the following command on the command line:
udm users/user list --filter username=<NAME of the account> | grep DN
Now the LDAP connection can be configured under Settings. The table gives information which default settings must be changed:
Key | Value |
---|---|
LDAP server settings | |
Host URL | ldap://<school server's FQDN>:7389 |
Version | 3 |
Bind settings | |
Distinguished Name | <DN of the authentication account> |
Password | <Password of the authentication account> |
User lookup settings | |
Contexts | cn=users,ou=<school>,dc=<domain> |
Search subcontexts | Yes |
User Attribute | uid |
Course creator | |
Creators | cn=lehrer,cn=users,ou=<school>,dc=<domain> |
Cron synchronization script | |
Removed ext user | Full delete internal |
Data mapping | |
Update local | On Every Login |
Update external | Never |
Lock value | Locked |
Hint: To obtain the LDAP basis, execute the following command on the school server:
ucr get ldap/base
Hint: To obtain the system's FQDN, execute the following command on the relevant system:
hostname -f
LDAP mapping
Furthermore, the following mapping applies for LDAP entries:
Key | Value |
---|---|
First name | givenName |
Surname | sn |
Email address | |
Phone 1 | telephoneNumber |
Phone 2 | homePhone |
City/town | l |
Country | c |
Note: Some fields like Email address are mandatory for moodle, so you should make sure all moodle users have a valid email in UCS.
Cronjob for deleting users
In order for Moodle to remove users from its database that are deleted in the LDAP, a cronjob must be defined in the UDM.
ucr set cron/moodle/command='wget -q -O /dev/null http://localhost/moodle/admin/cron.php'\ cron/moodle/time='*/10 * * * *'
Restrictions
- OU: At this time it is not possible for Moodle to search for all users using the LDAP base DN.
- Class mapping: This article does not handle mappings between UCS@School classes and Moodle groups. If you need assistance to create the respective mapping or would like to have the setup packaged, feel free to contact Univention for an offer to create either.
References
- Moodle - https://moodle.org/
- Moodle LDAP - https://docs.moodle.org/28/en/LDAP_authentication
- Moodle 2.8 Documentation - https://docs.moodle.org/28/en/New_features