Description

Moodle is an open source online Learning Management System (LMS) widely used at universities, schools, and corporations worldwide. It is modular and highly adaptable to any type of online learning.

First steps with the Bitnami Moodle Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Bitnami Cloud Hosting! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

• The application credentials that allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application. These credentials consist of a username and password.
• The server credentials that allow you to log in to your Bitnami Cloud Hosting server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line. These credentials consist of an SSH username and key.

What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time?

Username: user

What SSH username should I use for secure shell access to my application?

SSH username: bitnami

What are the default ports?

A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system that identifies a specific process or a type of service. Bitnami stacks include several services or servers that require a port.

IMPORTANT: Making this application's network ports public is a significant security risk. You are strongly advised to only allow access to those ports from trusted networks. If, for development purposes, you need to access from outside of a trusted network, please do not allow access to those ports via a public IP address. Instead, use a secure channel such as a VPN or an SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

Port 22 is the default port for SSH connections.

Bitnami opens some ports for the main servers. These are the ports opened by default: 80, 443.

How to start or stop the services?

Each Bitnami stack includes a control script that lets you easily stop, start and restart services. The script is located at /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh. Call it without any service name arguments to start all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

Or use it to restart a single service, such as Apache only, by passing the service name as argument:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Use this script to stop all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Restart the services by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Obtain a list of available services and operations by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh

How to configure outbound email settings?

This is required so your application can send notifications via email. Find below an example of configuring the email using a Gmail account from the Moodle Administration Panel.

Log in as the administrative user and go to the "Site administration -> Server -> Email -> Outgoing mail configuration" section. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.

SMTP hosts = smtp.gmail.com:465
SMTP security = SSL
SMTP username: USERNAME@gmail.com
SMTP password: PASSWORD

To configure the application to use other third-party SMTP services for outgoing email, such as SendGrid or Mandrill, refer to the FAQ.

How to install a plugin on Moodle?

You can follow the official Moodle documentation. Below you can find relevant information about the Bitnami configuration.

Using the Web interface

Since Moodle 2.5 you can install any plugin from the Moodle administration panel.

Using a manual upload

With this method, you need to copy and uncompress the plugin to the server file system in the correct directory. You can check that the module has been correctly installed in the "Settings -> Site administration -> Notifications" menu (as the Moodle admin user). You can disable the web installer and use an SFTP client or scp to manually copy the files.

How to create a full backup of Moodle?

Backup

The Bitnami Moodle Stack is self-contained and the simplest option for performing a backup is to copy or compress the Bitnami stack installation directory. To do so in a safe manner, you will need to stop all servers, so this method may not be appropriate if you have people accessing the application continuously.

Follow these steps:

• Change to the directory in which you wish to save your backup:

    $ cd /your/directory
  

• Stop all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop
  

• Create a compressed file with the stack contents:

    $ sudo tar -pczvf application-backup.tar.gz /opt/bitnami
  

• Restart all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start
  

You should now download or transfer the application-backup.tar.gz file to a safe location.

Restore

Follow these steps:

• Change to the directory containing your backup:

    $ cd /your/directory
  

• Stop all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop
  

• Move the current stack to a different location:

    $ sudo mv /opt/bitnami /tmp/bitnami-backup
  

• Uncompress the backup file to the original directoryv

    $ sudo tar -pxzvf application-backup.tar.gz -C /
  

• Start all servers:

    $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start
  

If you want to create only a database backup, refer to these instructions for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

How to upgrade Moodle?

It is strongly recommended that you create a backup before starting the update process. If you have important data, it is advisable that you create and try to restore a backup to ensure that everything works properly.

Upgrade Moodle following these steps:

• Move your current Moodle files:

   $ sudo mv /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/ /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs.backup
  

• Download the new Moodle version. An example is shown below (the XX placeholder in the command refers to the Moodle version number).

   $ wget http://download.moodle.org/download.php/direct/stableXX/moodle-latest-XX.tgz
  

• Create a new folder and uncompress the files:

   $ sudo mkdir /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/
   $ sudo tar -xzvf moodle-latest-XX.tgz -C /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/ --strip 1
  

• Copy your previous configuration file and your modules or themes:

   $ sudo cp -a /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs.backup/config.php /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/
   $ sudo cp -a /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs.backup/theme/MY_THEME /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/theme/
   $ sudo cp -a /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs.backup/mod/MY_MOD /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/mod/
  

• Navigate to the application from a browser and follow the steps to upgrade the database to the latest version.

How to create an SSL certificate?

OpenSSL is required to create an SSL certificate. A certificate request can then be sent to a certificate authority (CA) to get it signed into a certificate, or if you have your own certificate authority, you may sign it yourself, or you can use a self-signed certificate (because you just want a test certificate or because you are setting up your own CA).

Follow the steps below:

• Generate a new private key:

   $ sudo openssl genrsa -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key 2048
  

• Create a certificate:

   $ sudo openssl req -new -key /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/cert.csr
  

  IMPORTANT: Enter the server domain name when the above command asks for the "Common Name".

• Send cert.csr to the certificate authority. When the certificate authority completes their checks (and probably received payment from you), they will hand over your new certificate to you.

• Until the certificate is received, create a temporary self-signed certificate:

   $ sudo openssl x509 -in /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/cert.csr -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.crt -req -signkey /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -days 365
  

• Back up your private key in a safe location after generating a password-protected version as follows:

   $ sudo openssl rsa -des3 -in /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -out privkey.pem
  

  Note that if you use this encrypted key in the Apache configuration file, it will be necessary to enter the password manually every time Apache starts. Regenerate the key without password protection from this file as follows:

   $ sudo openssl rsa -in privkey.pem -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key
  

Find more information about certificates at http://www.openssl.org.

How to enable HTTPS support with SSL certificates?

Bitnami images come with SSL support already pre-configured and with a dummy certificate in place. Although this dummy certificate is fine for testing and development purposes, you will usually want to use a valid SSL certificate for production use. You can either generate this on your own (explained here) or you can purchase one from a commercial certificate authority.

Once you obtain the certificate and certificate key files, you will need to update your server to use them. Follow these steps to activate SSL support:

• Use the table below to identify the correct locations for your certificate and configuration files.

  Variable	Value
  Current application URL	https://[custom-domain]/
  	Example: https://my-domain.com/ or https://my-domain.com/appname
  Apache configuration file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf
  Certificate file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.crt
  Certificate key file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key
  CA certificate bundle file (if present)	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt

• Copy your SSL certificate and certificate key file to the specified locations.

  NOTE: If you use different names for your certificate and key files, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file names.

• If your certificate authority has also provided you with a PEM-encoded Certificate Authority (CA) bundle, you must copy it to the correct location in the previous table. Then, modify the Apache configuration file to include the following line below the SSLCertificateKeyFile directive. Choose the correct directive based on your scenario and Apache version:

  Variable	Value
  Apache configuration file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf
  Directive to include (Apache v2.4.8+)	SSLCACertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"
  Directive to include (Apache < v2.4.8)	SSLCertificateChainFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"

  NOTE: If you use a different name for your CA certificate bundle, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateChainFile or SSLCACertificateFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file name.

• Once you have copied all the server certificate files, you may make them readable by the root user only with the following commands:

   $ sudo chown root:root /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server*
  
   $ sudo chmod 600 /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server*
  

• Open port 443 in the server firewall. Refer to the FAQ for more information.

• Restart the Apache server.

You should now be able to access your application using an HTTPS URL.

How to force HTTPS redirection with Apache?

Add the following lines in the default Apache virtual host configuration file at /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf, inside the default VirtualHost directive, so that it looks like this:

<VirtualHost _default_:80>
  DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs"
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
  RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]
  ...
</VirtualHost>

After modifying the Apache configuration files:

• Open port 443 in the server firewall. Refer to the FAQ for more information.

• Restart Apache to apply the changes.

How to debug Apache errors?

Once Apache starts, it will create two log files at /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/access_log and /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/error_log respectively.

• The access_log file is used to track client requests. When a client requests a document from the server, Apache records several parameters associated with the request in this file, such as: the IP address of the client, the document requested, the HTTP status code, and the current time.

• The error_log file is used to record important events. This file includes error messages, startup messages, and any other significant events in the life cycle of the server. This is the first place to look when you run into a problem when using Apache.

If no error is found, you will see a message similar to:

Syntax OK

Updating the IP address or hostname

Moodle requires updating the IP address/domain name if the machine IP address/domain name changes. The bnconfig tool also has an option which updates the IP address, called --machine_hostname (use --help to check if that option is available for your application). Note that this tool changes the URL to http://NEW_DOMAIN/moodle.

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/bnconfig --machine_hostname NEW_DOMAIN

If you have configured your machine to use a static domain name or IP address, you should rename or remove the /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/bnconfig file.

$ sudo mv /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/bnconfig /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/bnconfig.disabled

You can also change your hostname by modifying it in your hosts file. Enter the new hostname using your preferred editor.

$ sudo nano /etc/hosts

• Add a new line with the IP address and the new hostname. Here's an example. Remember to replace the IP-ADDRESS and DOMAIN placeholders with the correct IP address and domain name.

  IP-ADDRESS DOMAIN

How to find the MySQL database credentials?

• Database username: root.
• Database password: The same as the application password. Find out how to obtain application credentials.

How to connect to the MySQL database?

You can connect to the MySQL database from the same computer where it is installed with the mysql client tool.

$ mysql -u root -p

You will be prompted to enter the root user password. This is the same as the application password.

How to debug errors in your database?

The main log file is created at /opt/bitnami/mysql/data/mysqld.log on the MySQL database server host.

How to change the MySQL root password?

You can modify the MySQL password using the following command at the shell prompt. Replace the NEW_PASSWORD placeholder with the actual password you wish to set.

$ /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -p -u root password NEW_PASSWORD

How to reset the MySQL root password?

If you don't remember your MySQL root password, you can follow the steps below to reset it to a new value:

• Create a file in /home/bitnami/mysql-init with the content shown below (replace NEW_PASSWORD with the password you wish to use):

   UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  

  If your stack ships MySQL v5.7.x, use the following content instead of that shown above:

   UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  

  TIP: Check the MySQL version with the command /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqladmin --version or /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqld --version.

• Stop the MySQL server:

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop mysql
  

• Start MySQL with the following command:

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --pid-file=/opt/bitnami/mysql/data/mysqld.pid --datadir=/opt/bitnami/mysql/data --init-file=/home/bitnami/mysql-init 2> /dev/null &
  

• Restart the MySQL server:

   $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart mysql
  

• Remove the script:

   $ rm /home/bitnami/mysql-init
  

How to access phpMyAdmin?

For security reasons, phpMyAdmin is accessible only when using 127.0.0.1 as the hostname. To access it from a remote system, you must create an SSH tunnel that routes requests to the Web server from 127.0.0.1. This implies that you must be able to connect to your server over SSH in order to access these applications remotely.

Accessing phpMyAdmin on Windows

Watch the following video to learn how to easily access phpMyAdmin on Windows through an SSH tunnel:

In order to access phpMyAdmin via SSH tunnel you need an SSH client. In the instructions below we have selected PuTTY, a free SSH client for Windows and UNIX platforms. The first step is having PuTTY configured. Please, check how to configure it in the section how to connect to the server through SSH using an SSH client on Windows.

Once you have your SSH client correctly configured and you tested that you can successfully access to your instance via SSH, you need to create an SSH tunnel in order to access phpMyAdmin. For doing so, follow these steps:

• In the "Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels" section, add a new forwarded port by introducing the following values:

  • Source port: 8888
  • Destination: localhost:80

  This will create a secure tunnel by forwarding a port (the "destination port") on the remote server to a port (the "source port") on the local host (127.0.0.1 or localhost).

• Click the "Add" button to add the secure tunnel configuration to the session. (You'll see the added port in the list of "Forwarded ports").

  

• In the "Session" section, save your changes by clicking the "Save" button.
• Click the "Open" button to open an SSH session to the server. The SSH session will now include a secure SSH tunnel between the two specified ports.
• Access the phpMyAdmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:8888/phpmyadmin.

• Log in to phpMyAdmin by using the following credentials:

  • Username: root
  • Password: application password. (Refer to our FAQ to learn how to find your application credentials).

Here is an example of what you should see:

If you are unable to access phpMyAdmin, verify that the SSH tunnel was created by checking the PuTTY event log (accessible via the "Event Log" menu):

Accessing phpMyAdmin on Linux and Mac OS X

To access the application using your Web browser, create an SSH tunnel, as described below.

• Open a new terminal window on your local system (for example, using "Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal" in Mac OS X or the Dash in Ubuntu).
• Make sure that you have your SSH credentials (.pem key file) in hand.

• Run the following command to configure the SSH tunnel. Remember to replace KEYFILE with the path to your private key and SERVER-IP with the public IP address or hostname of your server:

     $ ssh -N -L 8888:127.0.0.1:80 -i KEYFILE bitnami@SERVER-IP
  

• Access the phpMyAdmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:8888/phpmyadmin.

• Log in to phpMyAdmin by using the following credentials:

  • Username: root
  • Password: application password. (Refer to our FAQ to learn how to find your application credentials).

Here is an example of what you should see:

How to modify PHP settings for Apache?

The PHP configuration file allows you to configure the modules enabled, the email settings or the size of the upload files. It is located at /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini.

For example, to modify the default upload limit for PHP, update the PHP configuration file following these instructions.

After modifying the PHP configuration file, restart both Apache and PHP-FPM for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart php-fpm

How to modify the allowed limit for uploaded files in Apache?

Modify the following options in the /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini file to increase the allowed size for uploads:

; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept.
post_max_size = 16M

; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 16M

Restart PHP-FPM and Apache for the changes to take effect.

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart php-fpm    

How to upload files to the server with SFTP?

Although you can use any SFTP/SCP client to transfer files to your server, the link below explains how to configure FileZilla (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X), WinSCP (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac OS X). It is required to use your server's private SSH key to configure the SFTP client properly. Choose your preferred application and follow the steps in the link below to connect to the server through SFTP.

How to upload files to the server

How to install BigBlueButtonBn and RecordingBn plugins for Moodle?

Follow these steps:

• Download the latest BigBlueButtonBn and RecordingsBn versions and unzip them:

   $ wget https://https://moodle.org/plugins/pluginversions.php?plugin=mod_bigbluebuttonbn/mod_bigbluebuttonbn_moodle31_2016051905.zip
   $ unzip mod_bigbluebuttonbn_moodle31_2016051905.zip
   $ wget https://https://moodle.org/plugins/pluginversions.php?plugin=mod_recordingsbn/mod_recordingsbn_moodle31_2016051904.zip
   $ unzip mod_recordingsbn_moodle31_2016051904.zip
  

• Copy the folders to /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/mod/:

   $ cp -R bigbluebuttonbn/ /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/mod/
   $ cp -R recordingsbn/ /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/mod/
  

• Login to your Moodle site as administrator. Moodle will detect the new modules and prompt you to "Upgrade".

• Click the "Upgrade Moodle database now" button. The activity module will install mod_bigbluebuttonbn and mod_recordingsbn.

• Click the "Continue" button. You'll be prompted to configure the activity module.

• Enter the URL and salt (security key) to your BigBlueButton server (or use the default values for testing).

• Click the "Save Changes" button.

At this point, enter any course, turn editing on, and add a BigBlueButtonBN activity link to the class.

How to disable the admin web interface option for installing add-ons?

To hide this option from the admin web interface, edit the configuration file at /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/config.php and set:

$CFG->disableonclickaddoninstall = true;

On Linux systems, also remove the write permissions from the web server group in the Moodle directories:

$ find /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/ -type d 755

How to install a cron task for Moodle?

Moodle requires a cron task that must be run regularly. The administrator can do this from the Admin panel's "Site Administration -> Notifications" menu. To run this task in the background, create a cron job.

To edit the crontab, run the following command:

$ sudo crontab -e

Add the following line to it:

*/15 * * * * sudo su daemon -s /bin/sh -c "/opt/bitnami/php/bin/php /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/admin/cli/cron.php > /dev/null"

This cron entry will run the script every 15 minutes.

How to migrate your Moodle installation?

There are two important steps when migrating a Moodle Stack: migrate the database and migrate the moodledata/ folder. You may want to migrate the themes/ and modules/ folders if you have them installed also. To make this process easier, divide them into four sub-steps.

Export the database

You can do this manually or with phpMyAdmin. If you use phpMyAdmin, export it as an .sql file.

Copy the Moodle data folder

In this step, you just need to copy the /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/moodledata directory to the machine where you have installed the new Moodle. When doing this step, copy the exported database file too. If you have themes or modules installed and you want to keep them, you must also copy them.

Import the database

Delete the tables in the bitnami_moodle database. To do so, the easiest way would be to use phpMyAdmin, choose the bitnami_moodle database, select all the tables and drop them.

Another option would be to do it manually. Remember to replace the PASSWORD placeholder with the password in the /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/config.php file.

  $ mysql -u root -p
  mysql> drop database bitnami_moodle;
  mysql> create database bitnami_moodle;
  mysql> grant all privileges on bitnami_moodle.* to 'bitnami'@'localhost'
  identified by 'PASSWORD';
  mysql> flush privileges;
  mysql> exit;

After that, import the database. You can do it manually or using phpMyAdmin.

Substitute moodledata/ (and other) directories

Finally, you just need to substitute the moodledata/ directory, as well as the themes/ and modules/ directories if needed.

Once these steps are complete, restart the Apache server and access Moodle through the browser. If you log in as an administrator, you will be asked to update your database. Click to do this and the migration of your Moodle stack will be completed.

Thanks to @aguayomanel and @pivot_1990_69 for their guides.

How to secure your installation?

One of our main goals is to configure Bitnami applications in the most secure way. However, sometimes, it is necessary to find a compromise between security and ease of use.

This is the case with Moodle since version 2.5. In Moodle 2.5, a new feature for installing add-ons from the admin web interface has been implemented. However, to allow this feature on Unix, it is required to grant write permissions to the web server group. You can make your configuration more secure by disabling this feature and installing Moodle plugins by copying the files to the right directory. However, this will require uploading the files to your server using other tools like SFTP clients or scp.

Troubleshooting

You may see the following error:

PHP Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_HOST in /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/config.php

To resolve this specify your domain name or IP address in the /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/htdocs/config.php file, as shown below:

$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://SERVER-IP/moodle';

Related guides

• Migrate Data From One Moodle Instance to Another