When looking for a free e-Learning platform for your students and teachers, Chamilo should probably be evaluated. This platform works great with Apache2 web server. however, for those wantting to run it with Nginx, the steps below should be a great place to start.
Chamilo is a free e-Learning Management System (LMS) platform built on the LAMP / LEMP stack which allows users to create educational community and empower students to publish, work together while improving access to education and knowledge globally.
Some of its features include, course management, user and authentication and enrollment, allowing students to easily post to site, use hashtags, view and edit posts from any device and many more. It also supports WYSIWYG with strong privacy setings to create space for individuals to share personal thoughts with groups or other users.
For more about Chamilo LMS, please check its Homepage
This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Chamilo LMP on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP 7.2-FPM support.
When you’re ready to get Chamilo, installed, follow the steps below
Step 1: Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu
Nginx HTTP Server is the second most popular web server in use. so install it, since Chamilo LMS needs it.
To install Nginx HTTP on Ubuntu server, run the commands below.
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop nginx.service sudo systemctl start nginx.service sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
To test Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Nginx default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Magento. To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 17.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Restart MariaDB server
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message
Step 3: Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2-FPM and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-ldap php7.2-apcu php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Nginx.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
After making the change above, save the file and close out.
Step 3: Restart Nginx
After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.
To restart Nginx, run the commands below
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Step 4: Create Chamilo Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for Chamilo LMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank Magento database.
To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called chamilo
CREATE DATABASE chamilo;
Create a database user called chamilouser with new password
CREATE USER 'chamilouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON chamilo.* TO 'chamilouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download and Install Chamilo LMS
Run the commands below to download Chamilo LMS content. then unzip the download file and move the content to Nginx default root directory.
cd /tmp && wget unzip chamilo-1.11.6-php7.zip sudo mv chamilo-1.11.6 /var/www/html/chamilo
Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/chamilo/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/chamilo/
Step 6: Configure Nginx Chamilo LMS Site
Finally, configure Nginx configuration file for Chamilo LMS . This file will control how users access Chamilo LMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called chamilo
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/chamilo
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
root /var/www/html/chamilo;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
client_max_body_size 100M;
location / {
try_files $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
Step 7: Enable the Chamilo LMS Site
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart Nginx server.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/chamilo /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Next, open your brwoser and go to the URL. and continue with the installation.
Start the setup wizard by clicking Install Chamilo button. Next, select the installation language and continue.
Confirm that all the required packages are installed.
Your server must provide the following libraries to enable all features of Chamilo. The missing libraries shown in orange letters are optional, but some features of Chamilo might be disabled if they are not installed. You can still install those libraries later on to enable the missing features.
When you’re ready, click New Installation
Type in the site name and the database connection info.
Chamilo needs a single MySQL database, with a user that can connect to it. They recommend that this is a user you have created just for Chamilo, rather than one you share with other applications. You should create your database before entering the details here. If you’re using a shared host, you may have an option called “MySQL Database Wizard” that will speed you through the process.
Create the admin account to complete the setup.
Enjoy!
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