Installing Moodle on 4.0-Mona

Installing Moodle on 4.0-Mona

Introduction

This step-by-step guide shows how to install Moodle on Uniform Server V4.0-Mona. In addition shows how to resolve fixed paths allowing Moodle to be run from a USB memory stick.

Windows does not support true cron jobs hence I have included a portable-cron solution catering for both hard drive and USB memory stick installations.

Pre-Installation

Install Uniform server

A) Create a new folder named moodle_b (Can be any name)
Extract a new copy of Uniform Server V4.0-Mona to this folder
(Double click on file to extract).

Download Moodle

B) Create a new folder moodle_a (Can be any name its only a temporary folder)
Download the latest version (moodle-weekly-19.zip) of Moodle from Moodle download page
Copy the file dowloaded (moodle-weekly-19.zip) to moodle_a
Unzip moodle-weekly-19.zip into this folder.
(Right click on file, select extract all, extract to current path.)

Copy files to Uniform Server

C) Expand the folder moodle-weekly-19
D) Copy folder moodle to Uniform Servers's root folder www

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Create a Moodle Database

Creating the Moodle database is straight forward, tables are automatically inserted during installation

Start Uniform Server (Double click on Server_Start.bat in folder UniServer).
From apanel (displayed in your browser when the server starts) click on the phpMyAdmin link. (left menu under tools) Note you can always return to apanel by typing http://localhost/apanel/ into your browser address bar.
A) We want to create a new database. Enter moodle
B) Click on Create to create the database

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Moodle Installation

All that remains is to run the Moodle installer script install.php. Type the following into your browser address bar.

http://localhost/moodle/install.php

Most of the pages display information just click either the next or continue button to proceed to the next page. Item 4 requires the database user name and password for a personal installation we are using the defaults root and root. The following shows what to expect during installation:

1) Choose a Language: Select your language e.g. English (en) click Next

2) Checking your PHP Settings: passes all click NEXT

Your server should pass all these tests to make Moodle run properly

	PHP version		Pass
	Session Auto Start		Pass
	Magic Quotes Run Time		Pass
	Insecure Handling of Globals		Pass
	Safe Mode		Pass
	File Uploads		Pass
	GD version		Pass
	Memory Limit		Pass

3) Please confirm the locations of this Moodle installation:

Web address http://localhost/moodle
Moodle Directory Z:\www\moodle Grayed out
Data Directory Z:\/moodledata

For a default installation of Uniform Server these are correct click Next

4) Database configuration:

Type:	MySQL(mysql)
Host Server:	localhost
User:	root	-- (Uniform Servers default)
Password:	root	-- (Uniform Server default)
Tables prefix:	mdl_

Click Next

5) Checking your environment:

Name	Information	Report	Status
unicode		must be installed and enabled	OK
database	mysql	version 4.1.16 is required and you are running 5.1.30	OK
php		version 4.3.0 is required and you are running 5.2.8	OK
php_extension	iconv	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	mbstring	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	curl	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	openssl	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	tokenizer	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	xmlrpc	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK
php_extension	ctype	should be installed and enabled for best results	OK

6) Download language pack Installation: Option to download a language pack NEXT

7) Configuration completed: config.php has been successfully created Continue

8) GPL License: You have read the copyright notice! YES

9) Current release information: Moodle 1.9.4+ (Build: 20090204)(leave Unattended operation un-checked): Continue

10) Setting up database: Takes some time wait as the install takes place: Database was successfully updated Continue

11) Setting up module tables: Again wait, Workshop tables have been setup correctly Continue

12) Setting up plugin tables: Truefalse tables have been set up correctly, Continue

13) Upgrading database: Datbase was successfully upgraded Continue

14) Upgrading database: Blocks version is now 2007081300 Continue

15) Setting up block tables: Continue

16) Setting up plugin tables: Paypal tables have been set up correctley Continue

17) Setting up plugin tables: xml and other plugins set up correctly Continue

18) Setting up plugin tables: xml tables have been set up correctly Continue

19) Setting up plugin tables: user tables have been set up correctly Continue

20) Setting up plugin tables: stats tables have been set up correctly Continue

21) Setting up plugin tables: unittest tables have been set up correctly Continue

22) Setup administrator account:

Admin set-up: On this page you should configure your main administrator account which will have complete control over the site. Make sure you give it a secure user name and password as well as a valid email address. You can create more admin accounts later on. Fill in details:

Username:	boss
New password	fred123
First name:	Fred
Surname:	Smith
Email address:	fred@smith.com
Email display:	Hide my Email address from everyone
Email activated:	This email address is enabled
City/Town:	Cambridge
Select acountry:	United Kingdom
Timezone:	Server's local time
Prefered language:	English
Leave rest blank

Click Update profile

23) Front Page settings:

This page allows you to configure the front page and name of this new site. You can come back here later to change these settings any time using the Administration menus. Fill in details:

Full site name: MPG Test
Short name: MPG
Front page description: Personal installation of Moodle running on Uniform Server 4.0-Mona
New settings - Manage authentication: Disabled
Click: save changes

24) Finished:

This is your main admin page you can continue setting up Moodle or log out

Note: Steps 22-23 I entered dummy information. You can change this information from admin at any time, however make sure you remember your admin password and name.

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Stopping Moodle

Logout from admin
Double click on Stop.bat located in folder G:\Uniform Server

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Starting Moodle

Double click on Server_Start.bat located in folder G:\Uniform Server
In your browser address bar type http://localhost/moodle/

Note: You can run apanel at any time by typing http://localhost/apanel into your browser address bar.

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Portability Memory Stick

To run Moodle from a Memory stick, copy the folder UniServer and all its content to whatever drive your memory stick is on.

Note: This process is not fast; writing 102 MB (UniServer plus Moodle) took just over 20 minutes. In the same vain do not expect exceptional performance, Moodle uses a large database hence is slow when run from a memory stick. That said I found it just about acceptable.

Hard Coded path

During installation Moodle uses the drive letter (default Z) it is installed from and hard wires it into a configuration file. This means you cannot run or move the installation and expect Moodle to run. A solution to this problem requires modifying the Moodle configuration file config.php.

Open the following file in a text editor:

UniServer\udrive\www\moodle\config.php

Its a small file locate the following two lines:

$CFG->dirroot   = 'Z:\www\moodle';
$CFG->dataroot  = 'Z:\/moodledata';
?>

The hard coded paths start with Z: the solution is to let PHP calculate this drive letter (path) by replacing the above two lines with:

$root= substr($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"],0,-4);
$CFG->dirroot   = $root.'\www\moodle';
$CFG->dataroot  = $root.'\/moodledata';
?>

The above change makes Moodle completely portable.

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Cron

Moodle has a cron.php script that needs to be periodically run. It takes care of various routine tasks for example unsubscribing inactive members and sending out email messages.

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Manualy Run Cron

To keep Moodle happy you need to periodically run the cron.php script.

For a personal implementation of Moodle you can run cron.php occasionally by typing the following into your browser address bar:

http://localhost/moodle/admin/cron.php

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Automatically Run Cron

Manually running Cron can become tedious a solution is to create a portable-cron using 4.0_Mona components, three new files are required as follows:

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run_cron.php

This file runs the actual cron script cron.php its sole purpose is to convert local paths to server relative paths.

UniServer\udrive\www\moodle\admin\run_cron.php

<? $dummy = file("http://localhost/moodle/admin/cron.php"); ?>

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run_cron.bat

This batch file uses unidelay.exe to provide a periodic tick. At the end of each delay PHP is run in CLI mode and runs script run_cron.php. the loop repeats indefinitely.

UniServer\run_cron.bat

:next
udrive\home\admin\program\unidelay.exe 60
udrive\usr\local\php\php.exe -n udrive\www\moodle\admin\run_cron.php
goto :next
exit

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run_cron_hidden.bat

The above batch file if run directly would be visible hence this batch file uses uniserv.exe to run the above hidden.

UniServer\run_cron_hidden.bat

start udrive\home\admin\program\uniserv.exe run_cron.bat

With the files in place start the servers and run run_cron_hidden.bat.

Note 1: unidelay.exe 60 runs the cron-job every 60 seconds increase this as required.

Note 2: You can run Cron from Server_Start.bat add the following line just below line :END (forth line from bottom of file):

start udrive\home\admin\program\uniserv.exe run_cron.bat

Hence every time you start the servers using Server_Start.bat or disk_start.vbs Cron will run.

Related links:

Moodle Docs Cron

Portable Cron

LCC portable cron program

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Summary

Although there are a large number of steps Moodle is easy to install on Uniform Server.

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