How to host Moodle on Linode VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Moodle is a widely used open-source learning management system (LMS) known for its versatility and robust features. It enables educators and organizations to create interactive online learning environments, facilitating course management, assessments, and collaborative tasks effectively. When considering hosting Moodle, deploying it on Linode is a dependable choice due to its scalable infrastructure with straightforward deployment options. ServerAvatar simplifies the deployment of the Moodle application on the Linode platform through easy steps.

Create a server in Linode

First of all, Let's create a VM instance in Linode. It provides a lot of different types of VM instances. You can create shared VM instances, Dedicated Instances, Memory-optimized instances, and GPU instances. To host a simple website, You will need a shared VM instance.

If you think your application uses high CPU or RAM, You can go for a Dedicated CPU VM or Memory Optimised VM respectively. Let's get started with the process.

Step 1: Go to Linode VM Instance Creation Form

When you log in to your Linode account, You will see the Create Linode button on the top-right corner of the page. Click on it to go to the Linode creation form.

Step 2: Select the Distribution

ServerAvatar supports Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x64 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS x64. So, it is recommended to select any one of the supported OS.

Step 3: Select the Region

Linode has multiple data centers located in different regions worldwide. It is recommended to choose the region that is closest to your major traffic source to reduce latency and improve the performance of your applications.

Step 4: Select Linode Plan

Linode offers various plans with different configurations of CPU, RAM, and storage. Choose a plan that fits in your budget and meets your application's needs. With ServerAvatar, You can also host multiple applications on a single Linode VM Instance.

To host Moodle, the minimum requirements are 4-8 GB of RAM and 20-40 GB of disk space, depending on your usage and data needs.

Step 5: Set Label and Select Tags

The label is a human-readable name that you can use to identify your instance. Tags are keywords that you can use to categorize and search for your instances. You can also group Linodes by Tags on the dashboard.

Step 6: Set Strong Root Password and Select SSH Key

The root password is the administrator password that you will use to access and manage your VM instance. Make sure to use a strong password that is hard to guess and includes a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Next, select an SSH key if you want to authenticate with SSH keys. SSH keys are a more secure way to log in to your VM instance than using passwords. If you have an SSH key, you can upload it to your Linode account and use it to log in to your VM instance.

Step 7: Select VLAN (If Required)

A VLAN is a logical network that separates traffic from different virtual machines or physical servers. It can be used to isolate network traffic and improve security.

Step 8: Select Add-ons - Backups and Private IP

Linode provides an easy way to create and store backups for your VM instances. Backups are highly recommended as they can help you with disaster recovery quickly. In the last step, You can enable the Private IP address for your VM instance if required.

Step 9: Click on "Create Linode"

Finally, Click on the Create Linode button at the end of the form to create a Linode VM instance. It usually takes around 2 minutes to create a new Linode instance. Once done, You can connect it with ServerAvatar for ease of site and server configuration management.

Initial Server Configuration

The Initial server configuration includes the installation and configuration of various packages required to host your website. Usually, You have to write commands and modify configuration files. Luckily, With ServerAvatar, Your full server configuration and optimization can be automated.

Here are the three ways to automatically configure your server with ServerAvatar.

wget https://srvr.so/install
chmod +x install
./install

Auto-install Moodle with ServerAvatar

Step 1: Create a PHP application

To create a PHP application, access the Application tab from the server panel and click the Create button.

Now fill up the required details in the application form to create an application.

Click on the Create Application button.

Note that:

If you want to host Moodle LMS on your domain, then make sure to point your domain to the current IP address of your server, and for that:

1. Log in to your hosting provider site, where you buy your domain. You can check your domain information with one click.

2. Access DNS Manager to edit your DNS records(contact the support team if you don’t find them)

3. Change the IP address of A Record of your website to the current server’s IP address.

Step 2: Auto-install Moodle application

On the application panel, click the Auto deploy tab from the sidebar.

Now click on the Moodle Install Now Card from the list of auto-deploying applications.

It asks you to enter details to deploy the Moodle application, which includes-

Registration details

• Full Name: Full site name displays to your users on the site home page
• Short Name: Site short name
• Summary: A brief description of your course that will appear on your site's home page
• Database Server: Choose the server from the connected server in which you want to host your database
• Database Name: The name of your database

PHP Settings

• PHP Version: Select the supported PHP version of Moodle

Admin Information

• Username: Admin username
• Email: Admin Email address
• Password: Admin password
• Support Email: Support email for your user.

Click the Install Now button after filling up all the details.

Access your site URL from the application panel to log in to your Moodle Admin area.