Bitnami Moodle for Huawei Enterprise Cloud

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1 Bitnami Moodle for Huawei Enterprise Cloud Description Moodle is a Course Management System that is designed using sound pedagogical principles to help educators create effective online learning communities. It can scale from one computer to a 50,000-student university and is used in over 175 countries. First steps with the Bitnami Moodle Stack Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Huawei Enterprise Cloud! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application. What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time? Username: user What is the administrator password? To obtain the administrator password, click the "Remote Login" menu option next to the server name in the Huawei Cloud Server Console. This will launch a new browser window with an encrypted login session. The application password will be displayed on the login welcome screen. What SSH username should I use for secure shell access to my application? SSH username: root 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.

2 mysql -u root -p You will be prompted to enter the root user password. This is the same as the application password. Find out how to obtain application credentials. 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 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 Updating the IP address or hostname

3 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 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/bncon fig.disabled NOTE: Be sure that your domain is propagated. Otherwise, this will not work. You can verify the new DNS record by using the Global DNS Propagation Checker and entering your domain name into the search field. 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 reset the MariaDB root password? If you don't remember your MariaDB 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 Use r='root'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Stop the MariaDB server:

4 sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop mysql Start MariaDB with the following command: sudo /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=/opt/bitn ami/mysql/my.cnf --pid-file=/opt/bitnami/mysql/data/mysqld.pid -- init-file=/home/bitnami/mysql-init 2> /dev/null & Restart the MariaDB server: sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart mysql Remove the init script rm /home/bitnami/mysql-init How to change the MariaDB root password? You can modify the MariaDB password using the following command at the shell prompt: /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -p -u root password NEW_PASSWORD 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:

5 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 configure outbound settings?

6 This is required so your application can send notifications via . Find below an example of configuring the using a Gmail account from the Moodle Administration Panel. Log in as the administrative user and go to the "Site administration -> Server -> -> 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 , such as SendGrid or Mandrill, refer to the FAQ. Troubleshooting Gmail SMTP issues If you are using Gmail as the outbound server and you are not able to send correctly, Google may be blocking sign-in attempts from your apps or devices. Depending on whether or not you use Google Apps, the steps to correct this will differ. For Google Apps users

7 If you are a Google Apps user, you will need your administrator to allow users to change the policy for less secure apps. If you are a Google Apps administrator, follow these steps: Browse to the Google Apps administration panel. Click on "Security" and then "Basic settings". Look for the section "Less secure apps" and then click on "Go to settings for less secure apps". Select "Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps". For other Google users If you do not use Google Apps, follow the steps in the following sections, depending on whether 2-step verification has been enabled on the account or not. If 2-step verification has not been enabled on the account, follow these steps: Browse to the "Less secure apps" page and log in using the account you are having problems with. This option is typically required by many popular clients, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, and should not be considered unsafe. Select the "Turn on" option. If 2-step verification has been enabled on the account, you have to generate an app password. Follow these steps: Browse to the "App passwords" page. Click "Select app" and choose the app you're using. Click "Select device" and choose the device you're using. Click the "Generate" button. Enter the app password on your device. Click the "Done" button.

8 Here are other options you may try: Browse to the web version of Gmail and sign in to your account. Once you're signed in, try to enable access for the application again. Browse to the "Unlock Captcha" function page and sign in with your Gmail username and password. Disable IMAP from the Gmail web server interface and enable it again. 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 enable HTTPS support with SSL certificates? NOTE: The steps below assume that you are using a custom domain name and that you have already configured the custom domain name to point to your cloud server. 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

9 Variable Value Current application URL Example: or Apache /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf configuration file Certificate file /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.crt Certificate key file /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key CA certificate bundle file (if /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt present) 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 Apache configuration file Directive to include (Apache v2.4.8+) Directive to include (Apache < v2.4.8) Value /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf SSLCACertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt" 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.

10 Restart the Apache server. You should now be able to access your application using an HTTPS URL. How to create an SSL certificate? You can create your own SSL certificate with the OpenSSL binary. 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). Create your private key (if you haven't created it already): 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 -o ut /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/apach e2/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 -o ut 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:

11 sudo openssl rsa -in privkey.pem -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/se rver.key Find more information about certificates at How to force HTTPS redirection? Add the following to the top of the /opt/bitnami/apps/moodle/conf/httpd-prefix.conf file: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTPS}!=on RewriteRule ^/(.*) [R,L] After modifying the Apache configuration files, 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 How to modify PHP settings?

12 The PHP configuration file allows you to configure the modules enabled, the settings or the size of the upload files. It is located at /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini. 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 For example, to modify the default upload limit for PHP, update the PHP configuration file following these instructions. How to modify the allowed limit for uploaded files? 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 access phpmyadmin? For security reasons, phpmyadmin is accessible only when using as the hostname. To access it from a remote system, you must create an SSH tunnel that routes requests to the Apache Web server from This implies that you must be able to connect to your server over SSH in order to access these applications remotely. IMPORTANT: Before following the steps below, ensure that your Apache and

13 MySQL servers are running. NOTE: The steps below suggest using port 8888 for the SSH tunnel. If this port is already in use by another application on your local machine, replace it with any other port number greater than 1024 and modify the steps below accordingly. Similarly, if you have enabled Varnish, your stack's Apache Web server might be running on port 81. In this case, modify the steps below to use port 81 instead of port 80 for the tunnel endpoint. Windows To access the application using your Web browser, create an SSH tunnel, as described below. Download PuTTY and make sure you can log in to the server console with it following the instructions in the FAQ. Once you have confirmed you are able to log in successfully, log back out. Reconnect to the server using PuTTY, this time adapting the steps to include an additional SSH tunnel. When configuring the new SSH session in PuTTY, additionally navigate to the "Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels" section and create a secure tunnel by forwarding port 80 on the server to port 8888 on the local host ( or localhost). Click the "Add" button to add the secure tunnel configuration to the session. Here is an example:

14 Go back to the "Session" section and 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. While the tunnel is active, you should be able to access the phpmyadmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to To log in, use username root for MySQL and the application password from the detail page for your cloud server. 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):

15 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 you can log in to the server console following the instructions in the FAQ. Once you have confirmed you are able to log in successfully, log back out. Run the following command to configure the SSH tunnel. Remember to replace SERVER-IP with the public IP address or hostname of your server. Enter your SSH password when prompted. ssh -N -L 8888: :80 bitnami@server-ip If you are using a private key to connect to the server, use the following command instead, remembering 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: :80 -i KEYFILE bitnami@server-ip NOTE: If successful, the above commands will create an SSH tunnel but will not display any output on the server console. While the tunnel is active, you should be able to access the phpmyadmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to To log in, use username root for MySQL and the application password from the detail page for your cloud server.

16 How to install BigBlueButtonBn and RecordingBn plugins for Moodle? Follow these steps: Download the latest BigBlueButtonBn and RecordingsBn versions and unzip them: wget =mod_bigbluebuttonbn/mod_bigbluebuttonbn_moodle31_ zip unzip mod_bigbluebuttonbn_moodle31_ zip wget =mod_recordingsbn/mod_recordingsbn_moodle31_ zip unzip mod_recordingsbn_moodle31_ 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:

17 $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 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.

18 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'@'localhos t' 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

19 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 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/htdoc s/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 = ' 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:

20 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 le-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/ht docs/ --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/ NOTE: Replace the MY_THEME and MY_MOD placeholders with the directory or path names for your downloaded and installed themes and modules (these are different from the ones shipped by Bitnami). Navigate to the application from a browser and follow the steps to upgrade the database to the latest version. NOTE: If you want to install modules or plugins from the Moodle administration panel, refer to the migration steps.