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[Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0

Offline varuna

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[Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« on: July 22, 2013, 09:46:01 AM »
Hi everyone,
 
Moodle (acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free software e-learning platform, also known as a Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). As of June 2013 it had a user base of 83,008 registered and verified sites, serving 70,696,570 users in 7.5+ million courses with 1.2+ million teachers. [wikipedia]

The latest version of Moodle is 2.5 (as of today) and the latest version of SME Server is 8.0 (as of today). Moodle requires PHP 5.3.3 (built in to SME8.0 ) and MySQL 5.1.33 (SME8 has 5.0.95).

There exists a problem as the latest mysql (5.5.32) does not work properly and fails to load up in SME8.

We have made an rpm that includes the latest Moodle 2.5 and figured out a way in getting MySQL to start.

The below steps is how we did this.

We first enable the InnoDB property of mysqld service.
/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop mysqld InnoDB enabled

Expand configuration to register
/sbin/e-smith/expand-template /etc/my.cnf

Then we fetch the latest MySQL 5.3.3 from the atomic repository as so:
/sbin/e-smith/db yum_repositories set atomic repository Name 'Atomic EL5' MirrorList 'http://www.atomicorp.com/mirrorlist/atomic/centos-5-$basearch' GPGCheck yes GPGKey 'https://www.atomicorp.com/RPM-GPG-KEY.art.txt' Visible no

Signal event now to register the yum command in accepting the added repository above:
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event yum-modify

Finally we yum install the MySQL with the command:
/usr/bin/yum -y --enablerepo='atomic' install mysql

At this point, MySQL still fails to start up properly. For are going to be adding a template that is related to InnoDB.

We first make the directory of the file we want to expand: (read SME Developer Manual to understand the logic behind why we do this)
/bin/mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/my.cnf/

The template that we want to expand to form my.cnf: call it 009innodb and have the following contents:

{
    my $innodb = $mysqld{InnoDB} || 'disabled';

    return "skip-innodb" unless $innodb eq 'enabled';

    # innodb is enabled. We'll use the MySQL-AB-recommended innodb
    # defaults for small to medium sites, from the my-medium.cnf file
    # distributed with MySQL
    $OUT .= "innodb_data_home_dir = /var/lib/mysql/\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_data_file_path = ibdata1:10M:autoextend\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_log_group_home_dir = /var/lib/mysql/\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_buffer_pool_size = 16M\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_additional_mem_pool_size = 2M\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_log_file_size = 5M\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_log_buffer_size = 8M\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 1\n";
    $OUT .= "innodb_lock_wait_timeout = 50\n";
}


We then copy this file to the template directory to be expanded:
cp /path/to/009innodb /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/my.cnf/009innodb

Naturally, we finally expand this template to form my.cnf file:
/sbin/e-smith/expand-template /etc/my.cnf

All of the changes need to be registered in as post-upgrade and mysqld service would need to be restarted for the changes to take effect. Maybe a reboot command would be nice as well.
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event post-upgrade;
/usr/bin/sv t mysqld

The final step that we would want to do is install Moodle 2.5 over this.
We have made an RPM that installs the moodle directory in /opt/moodle/ . We would run the rpm installation command as:

rpm -i --nomd5 /path/to/moodle-2.5.0-01.noarch.rpm

You can find this RPM in my sourceforge.net project:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/moodle25forsmeserver80/

So this is how we did this. MySQL works well and seems to be compatible with Moodle. SME9 should support a much newer version of mysql that Moodle would support. What we did above is set up MySQL and play with SME8's default settings to make this work.

This is a good intermediate solution in my opinion before SME9 is released. Both moodle and SME8 seems to function as intended.

Thanks,
Varuna

Offline john56

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2013, 10:12:58 PM »
interesting, thanks !
do you believe we can update moodle to the last version ?

Offline LANMonkey

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What version MySQL are you targeting here?
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2013, 12:25:37 AM »
I have tried to upgrade SME's MySQL to a 5.5 version or better with disastrous results.  Somebody refered me to this post and I thought I'd try your solution.  But I'm a little confused about what your target version upgrade is.  I see:

Quote
There exists a problem as the latest mysql (5.5.32) does not work properly and fails to load up in SME8.

But later in the instructions you say,

Quote
Then we fetch the latest MySQL 5.3.3 from the atomic repository as so:

Is that a typo?  Aren't you trying to upgrade to 5.5?  Or is 5.3.3 enough for your purposes?

Please explain.

Offline janet

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Re: What version MySQL are you targeting here?
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2013, 02:20:53 AM »
LANMonkey

It took 2 minutes to configure the atomic repo & go part way through the install to see what packages would be installed.
Here is part of the log, showing that mysql will be upgraded to 5.5.33-20


 Package            Arch      Version                         Repository   Size
================================================================================
Updating:
 mysql              i386      5.5.33-20.el5.art               atomic      7.6 M
Installing for dependencies:
 libXaw             i386      1.0.2-8.1                       base        324 k
 libXmu             i386      1.0.2-5                         base         62 k
 libaio             i386      0.3.106-5                       base         19 k
 libedit            i386      3.0-2.20090923cvs.el5.art       atomic       80 k
 mysql-libs         i386      5.5.33-20.el5.art               atomic      1.1 M
 mysqlclient15      i386      5.0.90-2.el5.art                atomic      1.4 M
 t1lib              i386      5.1.2-2.el5.art                 atomic      194 k
Updating for dependencies:
 mysql-server       i386      5.5.33-20.el5.art               atomic       13 M
 php                i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      3.2 M
 php-cli            i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      3.1 M
 php-common         i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      1.1 M
 php-devel          i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      3.1 M
 php-gd             i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      216 k
 php-imap           i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic       93 k
 php-ldap           i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic       66 k
 php-mbstring       i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      1.2 M
 php-mysql          i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      171 k
 php-pdo            i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      126 k
 php-xml            i386      5.4.21-27.el5.art               atomic      221 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install       7 Package(s)
Upgrade      13 Package(s)

Total download size: 36 M
Is this ok [y/N]:

*************************************************

Another approach for yourself or other users wanting newer packages eg mysql, php etc, is to start using sme9.

I know you'll say, oh it's still beta & risky, but probably it's a safer option to use the sme9beta2 or beta3 OS software, than it is to upgrade sme8 with newer key packages which may or may not cause problems in time.
Keep in mind sme9 is using well proven CentOS 6 packages, so it's only the sme server specific additions & code that are really in beta stage.

Historically sme betas for past releases have been very good & most functions are operating once beta 2 or 3 is reached.
I know of people who used sme betas in production for 2 years without any real problems before the final release happened.

Try sme9 for yourself & see, it could be an easier, safer & better outcome.
I think the only real issues with sme9 beta 2 are installer based, note that beta 3 is almost released, an iso is in the hands of developers for testing, or it can be downloaded if you are in a hurry to get it, search the dev mail lists or ask here for the location.

Also see http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,50337.0.html
« Last Edit: December 14, 2013, 02:22:58 AM by janet »
Please search before asking, an answer may already exist.
The Search & other links to useful information are at top of Forum.

Offline LANMonkey

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I am getting errors
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2013, 07:31:37 PM »
I am using SME 9 alpha 3.  When I check the version of MySQL on this SME, I find:

Code: [Select]
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.69, for redhat-linux-gnu (i386) using readline 5.1
This is not as late a version as I need.

I tried the above procedure and when I got to:

Code: [Select]
Finally we yum install the MySQL with the command:
/usr/bin/yum -y --enablerepo='atomic' install mysql

The procedure was halted with errors:

Code: [Select]
....
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: Package: php-imap-5.4.23-29.el5.art.i386 (atomic)
           Requires: libc-client.so.1
Error: Package: php-common-5.4.23-29.el5.art.i386 (atomic)
           Requires: libcurl.so.3
 You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
 You could try running: rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest

The last time I tried to install a later version of MySQL, I had similar problems with PHP packages:

http://forums.famillecollet.com/viewtopic.php?pid=5320#p5320

Offline Jean-Philippe Pialasse

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Re: I am getting errors
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2013, 05:50:24 PM »
I am using SME 9 alpha 3.  When I check the version of MySQL on this SME, I find:
...

The procedure was halted with errors:
...


maybe trying with EL6 /RHEL6/CentOs6/SME9  repo instead of EL5/RHEL5/centOs5/SME8 repo would help  ??

/sbin/e-smith/db yum_repositories set atomic repository Name 'Atomic EL5' MirrorList 'http://www.atomicorp.com/mirrorlist/atomic/centos-5-$basearch' GPGCheck yes GPGKey 'https://www.atomicorp.com/RPM-GPG-KEY.art.txt' Visible no

Offline LANMonkey

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Success!
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2013, 06:29:24 PM »
maybe trying with EL6 /RHEL6/CentOs6/SME9  repo instead of EL5/RHEL5/centOs5/SME8 repo would help  ??

/sbin/e-smith/db yum_repositories set atomic repository Name 'Atomic EL5' MirrorList 'http://www.atomicorp.com/mirrorlist/atomic/centos-5-$basearch' GPGCheck yes GPGKey 'https://www.atomicorp.com/RPM-GPG-KEY.art.txt' Visible no

That did it.  I applied,

Quote
/sbin/e-smith/db yum_repositories set atomic repository Name 'Atomic EL6' MirrorList 'http://www.atomicorp.com/mirrorlist/atomic/centos-6-$basearch' GPGCheck yes GPGKey 'https://www.atomicorp.com/RPM-GPG-KEY.art.txt' Visible no

Installation went ahead, I check the version and I see,

Code: [Select]
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.33, for Linux (i686) using readline 5.1

Offline LANMonkey

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Make sure you follow ALL the instructions.
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2013, 09:28:01 PM »
Previous message deleted.

Other's hoping to upgrade their MySQL using the above instructions, make sure you do ALL of the instructions, including the template and its expansion.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2013, 12:00:52 AM by LANMonkey »

Offline LANMonkey

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Backups are failing after this upgrade
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2013, 07:17:57 PM »
I also managed to install this upgrade for MySQL on my regular 8.0 server.  Since making this installation I am having errors when my upgrades run.

My email messages from Cron <root@finch> /sbin/e-smith/do_backupwk say,

Quote
Backup terminated: pre-backup failed - status: 256

I check my logs /var/log/messages for messages and find when searching "backup",

Quote
Dec 21 10:00:02 xxxxx esmith::event[6488]: S20mysql-dump-tables=action|Event|pre-backup|Action|S20mysql-dump-tables|Start|1387648802 266242|End|1387648802 852948|Elapsed|0.586706|Status|256

Can I confirm that this upgrade is the problem?  If it is the problem, how do I correct it?

Is there a way to uninstall this upgrade?

Offline mmccarn

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2013, 11:52:25 PM »
Try running the "pre-backup" event manually to see if there are any informative error messages:
Code: [Select]
/etc/e-smith/events/actions/mysql-dump-tables

Offline LANMonkey

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2013, 11:01:58 PM »
Try running the "pre-backup" event manually to see if there are any informative error messages:
Code: [Select]
/etc/e-smith/events/actions/mysql-dump-tables

OK.  I ran,

Code: [Select]
/etc/e-smith/events/actions/mysql-dump-tables
And got,

Quote
mysqldump: Got error: 1044: Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' to database 'information_schema' when using LOCK TABLES

I did a quick search on Google for that error and found a discussion at MySQL forums here:

http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?10,108835,108835#msg-108835

They say,

Quote
You must grant "LOCK TABLES" to your user.

GRANT SELECT,LOCK TABLES ON database.* TO 'username'@'localhost';

So I tried,

Code: [Select]
GRANT SELECT,LOCK TABLES ON information_schema.* TO 'root'@'localhost'
and got back,

Quote
ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' to database 'information_schema'

which seems kind of an odd thing to issue to root who issued the command in MySQL.  Searching the forums here for "mysqldump 1044" doesn't pull anything up.



Offline mmccarn

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2013, 12:08:35 AM »
I think the 'root' account in your mysql is skeewonky.

You should be able to enter the command 'mysql' (with no other arguments) and get a mysql client prompt -- can you?

What is the root password stored in ~/.my.cnf (note the dot)?  Do you enter it why you run mysql at the command prompt?

Offline LANMonkey

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2013, 05:09:43 AM »
I think the 'root' account in your mysql is skeewonky.

You should be able to enter the command 'mysql' (with no other arguments) and get a mysql client prompt -- can you?

What is the root password stored in ~/.my.cnf (note the dot)?  Do you enter it why you run mysql at the command prompt?

Yes, I can just type "mysql" and log into mysql as root.  There is a password in ~/.my.cnf that is huge and I have never used it.  I might add that I did some things to password functions when I installed MariaDB as linked here:

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,50433.msg253660.html#msg253660

And here is the link:

http://wiki.contribs.org/User_talk:Mmccarn#Install_mariadb_.27alongside.27_mysql

You might note that I had some confusion about some procedures setting root that I mention in the thread containing the link.

Offline CharlieBrady

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2013, 04:18:45 PM »
What is the root password stored in ~/.my.cnf (note the dot)?  Do you enter it why you run mysql at the command prompt?

You don't need to use it. It's used implicitly by mysql. The whole point of /root/.my.cnf is to make it possible for root to run the mysql command without supplying the root password.

Offline CharlieBrady

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Re: [Announce] Moodle 2.5 for SME 8.0
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2013, 04:21:15 PM »
Yes, I can just type "mysql" and log into mysql as root.  There is a password in ~/.my.cnf that is huge and I have never used it.  I might add that I did some things to password functions when I installed MariaDB as linked here:

Well you shouldn't have done, or you shouldn't have done that without first verifying on a test install.

You will have to reset the mysql root password before backup will start to work again.