Moodle 2 Upgrade @ BFH Michael Röthlin, BFH-TI/ICTM
2 / 14 Outline BFH Moodle Installation Characteristics Discussion of Upgrade Variants Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Lessons Learned and Open Issues
3 / 14 BFH Moodle Installation Characteristics - Number of (visible) courses: 1300 - Active users (with activity in last 12 months): 3800 - Disk space (moodledata) 180 GB - Oldest courses from 2005 inactive, but still in system - NO BFH specific plugins or question types, 1 BFH specific repository type.
4 / 14 Outline BFH Moodle Installation Characteristics Discussion of Upgrade Variants Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Lessons Learned and Open Issues
5 / 14 Discussion of Upgrade Variants a) Transfer of Course ZIPs Clean Moodle core/db Clean course files Reported import problems on 2.x No proven mass import script available $ Estimated: 25 kchf (300+ work hours) for technical part b) Direct DB Upgrade Documented upgrade path Quick (& dirty) Messy DB (legacy since 2005... ) Course cleanup only ex post $ Estimated: 10 kchf (125 work hours) for technical part.
6 / 14 Outline BFH Moodle Installation Characteristics Discussion of Upgrade Variants Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Lessons Learned and Open Issues
7 / 14 Upgrade Roadmap and Activities - Preparation - August 2011 January 2012 - Switch Over - February 10, 18:00 February 11, 2012 12:00 - Cleaning up - February April 2012
Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Preparation - Evaluation plattform Moodle 2.1 since September 2011 - Test installation(s) on development system (using git source code management) - Preparation of (Linux) shell scripts for automating upgrade procedures - Source code installation on production system for - 1.9.10 1.9.16 (permanent archive) - 1.9.10 2.0.7 2.1.4 2.2.1 (no plugins) - Desired plugins having 2.x versions - Prepare new domain for 1.9 archive - Screencasts, user training. 8 / 14
9 / 14 Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Switch Over - Maintenance mode, dump DBs, full backup - Run scripts to upgrade DB dumps (convert MyISAM InnoDB, adapt URLs for 1.9 archive) - Step-wise Moodle upgrades, command line mode - AAI auth/login form handler (core code modification) - Configure repositories - Server files enabled but hidden - File system (Samba share on Moodle server) enabled and visible - Install updated plugin code, fix version requirements as needed - Go into production mode
10 / 14 Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Cleaning up - Installed additional plugins - can include massive upgrade effort (i.e., Exabis e-portfolio ) - Adjusted backup configuration - Configured and adapted themes (breadcrumb navigation for IE 7 compatibility) - Fixed role settings in database (i.e., unenrol permission) - Upgrade pre-2.2 administrator reports and tools.
11 / 14 Outline BFH Moodle Installation Characteristics Discussion of Upgrade Variants Upgrade Roadmap and Activities Lessons Learned and Open Issues
12 / 14 Lessons Learned... - Moodle (1.x and 2.x) is a very tolerant and stable application - when not touching authentication, users do not notice upgrades - Consistent versioning of core, plugins, themes etc. now works fine - Performance is no problem, even with DB legacy simply put in more hardware - New templating/theme system very attractive (i.e., mobile theme) - User interface 2.x (navigation, context menus) is very unfamiliar at the beginning trainer education is of paramount importance!
13 / 14... and Open Issues - Locale problems in quiz (re)grade ( x,yz x.yz ) - After 3 months: IE login issues - Repository/files in Moodle 2.2... - high hopes in Moodle 2.3 file manager
14 / 14 Michael Röthlin (michael.roethlin@bfh.ch)