sorry another moodle question!

[chrbb]

Under pressure from smt to include more interactive 'things' on school website - I host the school site with supa names but am going to go with LEA broadband free hosting so I can include videos etc. (can't do this on supa names only got bog standard package)

Our lea is running pilots for vles but these will cost after the first year, so I suggested moodle. Looked through all info and this forum but am unsure how I am going to host it. We have one server and no spare equipment to set anything else up - is it feasible to host it on our school website when I move it to the lea braodband hosting? What does anyone else do?

[MkII]

Moodle recommend a dedicated server once things get going. We run it on our emal server plus the LA schools web server (80 schools) with one other school running moodle as well without any noticable performance problems. Currently we have one very keen teacher user using it with all his classes.

 

Oh yes and we have a shared purpose built WAMP server paid for out of 14-19 money shared between 16 institutions - no one using that.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

If your SMT are keen to introduce a VLE then they should be keen to introduce a new server. It's just part of the parcel, and essential to get things running smoothly.

 

You can host your own website very easily and for next to nothing. All you need is a box, can even be an old workstation. Get the LEA to give you a static IP and forward it to this box. I use IIS 6 for our sites at school, but if you can't afford a Server license there's plenty of free capable OS's out there to get you going.

[MkII]

Linux is far better for running moodle (php/mysql) sites. Ubuntu server - very easy to set up.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

Ubuntu server - very easy to set up.

 

Is that not again, a matter of opinion. I much prefer installing 2003 with IIS6 and find it easier.

[linescanner]

Linux is far better for running moodle (php/mysql) sites. Ubuntu server - very easy to set up.

 

Is that not again, a matter of opinion. I much prefer installing 2003 with IIS6 and find it easier.

 

It is not a matter of opinion about the performance, moodle on *nix will run better than on windows once it gets under real load. Your preference is about comfort of use, not performance.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

Sorry, but the full quote in..... I have edited it to show what I meant was a matter of opinion.

[MkII]

Well it's a fact that it's easy to set up - I wasn't comparing it to anything. And why use windows when linux does the job better? (that's a fact too )

[chrbb]

Only trouble is I don't have any spare equipment or network points anywhere in school to run moodle. Mark - you say that the LA runs it on the schools web server so effectively they're hosting it for you. Sorry to be so dim!

[Geoff]

Only trouble is I don't have any spare equipment or network points anywhere in school to run moodle.

 

Ugh, I think the SMT need to reconsider exactly where your time and there money is spent then.

 

you say that the LA runs it on the schools web server so effectively they're hosting it for you. Sorry to be so dim!

 

Most LA's offer this sort of service. Is this not an option for you?

[MkII]

Yes chrbb - we have 3 moodle installs, and yes the LA hosts one - they don't mind us using the LA schs web server for anything we like - all secondaries and all primaries have web spece on there.

 

So are you saying the LA webspace (broadband?) is free for the sch to use?

[chrbb]

yes it's free, but the lea are running pilot schemes for the vle's of their choice free for the first year then £££ after that, so wether they would host moodle as part of our website I need to find out.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

And why use windows when linux does the job better?

 

Because I choose what I prefer, and I prefer Windows. I'm paid to manage all this hardware, so why would I install something that I'm not confident in using?????!!!!!! Because at the end of the day, if Server 2003 failed for some reason (yes I'm sure it WILL fail according to you) I know what I'm doing to pull it back from the grave. If Linux died I wouldn't know where to start quite frankly.

 

So as I say, it's all about preferences, and I prefer Microsoft.

[Geoff]

My only concern with that viewpoint is that you are excluding yourself and your school from a lot of very capable software.

[linescanner]

I do agree with kerrymoralee9280. You have to be comfortable running and support servers. A VLE is now classed in a lot of schools as mission critical. You need to be happy supporting the base OS.

 

In a straight fight on performance Moodle on *nix wins however if it is then down for a week at the first sign of issues then..................

 

The learning curve to support *nix web servers is however not that steep so I would suggest that looking into *nix as a web platform is a good investment in time and effort.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

I'm sorry but I don't have time for *nix because it is not only that has to learn about it. If I bring it into school then my staff and students also have to learn, which is obviously brought to them from me. Maybe in the future I should look into it, but at the moment I'm managing a network of 800 users, and ove 450 clients so I don't have time.

[Geoff]

This sounds like a symptom of a deeper problem. It seems to me that you're overstretched and firefighting. Have you confronted your SMT about it and asked for extra staff?

[MkII]

unhelpful post

[MkII]

How many of you are there kerrymoralee9280?

 

Other factors come into it like has been said recently on other threads - age of PCs, competancy of users/ teachers.

 

I started here 5 years ago with 950 kids and 150 PCs/ 4 servers. Now we're well over the 300 mark and have just set on an extra tech as I was going under (literally!). Following my interests and as usual for us in this situation, I teach myself. Just so happens i've played a lot with *nix systems - i've enjoyed it a lot - great to be at the command line, just feel more in control!

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

This sounds like a symptom of a deeper problem. It seems to me that you're overstretched and firefighting. Have you confronted your SMT about it and asked for extra staff?

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head Geoff. There are 2 of us now, but the second guy has been on the sick forever. We lost our network manager (to a new job) and they haven't bothered replacing him, or even bothered negotiating with us (they are just expecting us, and by us I mean me to do it).

 

I have confronted the SMT, HT and the governors and wasn't getting anywhere. I thought about getting th union in but was offered a new job, with better pay and a completly better working environment so haven't bothered as I start there in a mere 2 weeks now.

 

The new school give the impression that they want me to be the best I can be and they want to push the technology within school forward, so in a few months when I get settled, I might have time to be less ignorant to different technologies and actually have the time to learn.

 

I think it's a case of me getting stressed out at my current job more than anything, and you may ask why when I'm leaving soon. I promised the other guy to do everything in my power to leave with a working network, but I guess that can go out the window.

 

I'm sorry for having a rant, and I hope you guys are there for me when I finally turn to *nix.

 

Cheers,

[MkII]

Well what a nightmare situation. At least your old place acknowledged the need for more staff, even tho' it's ended up understaffed.

 

I guess that must be getting common:

 

IT takeup > workload increases

Existing staff more and more overworked

Schools not recognising importance of IT, shy of meeting need & spending money

IT techs go off on stress leave

[GrumbleDook]

Don't worry about the stressed out rant ... we've all been there (I didn't always have a horde of minions you know!).

 

As a small suggestion you might consider downloading VMWare server and use that for playing around with when testing things. It will also give you a chance to play with *nix when you get round to it.

 

If you are looking for an easy *nix based Moodle installation that you only have to follow a wizard I would consider the latest build of Karoshi, but if you are looking at WAMP then consider a VMWare machine running xampp to start with.

 

This will then give you the flexibility to move to LEA based hosting if you want, or you will have a proof of concept setup that could help justify a dedicated box for it.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

With me not knowing about *nix I don't think it would be wise to host the VLE on it, in case it went down and I didn't know what to do. I have already made three healthy installs on a Windows environment so I think that would be wisest (as I know about it).

 

For the less important and less critical stuff, I will certainly look into *nix when I can (for the school website etc, for something to learn with)

 

I have VM and have installed various releases such as Fedora, Ubuntu and Suse, without any glitches. I just haven't had time to muck around further with them.

[Geoff]

Fair enough. My advice would be to just walk away. But you are already ahead of me there.

[roland]

Since I am at about a similar stage, I rolled moodle out to the teachers about 2 months ago and they have been very happy with it, we use it to distribute staff notices and as a platform to share using forums etc.

 

But already with only 40 or so staff I, realise that I need to bring the whole Moodle inhouse because of performance. ( I have it hosted at a very affordable ISP) it was easy to setup and proved the point very well.

 

But here is my problem, as soon as I bring it in house, the outside world drops to 1500kb, (tis either them or us @ 1500kb) and I have to open ports etc.

 

In my case I will probably go for the Linux Option, because it is affordable, but then I guess I should ask what would be a reasonable specification computer for Moodle?