Moodle in English: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 8:36 PM

I shall be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction to the best practice in installing window 2003 and IIS and then Moodle and what are the precautions, pitfalls etc.

I am unable to lay my hands on any good post .

All the help is welcome???

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Viorel Tabara - Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 11:46 PM

Hi Garry,

I would respectfully and strongly suggest you to look at the Linux alternative and here's on of my arguments: whenever I choose a product I am trying to mimic the configuration used by the developers, i.e. if I want to use Microsoft Exchange I will choose Microsoft Windows 2003 Server as a platform. Looking at Moodle and according to Netcraft at http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.moodle.org, Moodle developers are using Linux. Martin Dougiamas on his site runs Linux too - have you ever asked yourself why? So I think before jumping into a solution you should do a thorough assessment of your objectives and gather as much information as you can in order to make the right decision.

Viorel

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 12:44 AM

Thanks for the suggestion.

The problem is that running Linux servers (expertise) is a liitle difficult at this stage and we were considering to install a production environment in windows and simultaneously work on the linux on a test environment. After gaining experience and comfort we propose to moove onto a Linux server.

Hope you agree with this strategy so as to go into a production environment and migrate into Linux.

Regards

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dayron D - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 2:14 AM

I have installed and run Moodle on a Windows 2003 server for the same reasons you mention (ease of administration etc). When using Windows and uploading files to thye Moodle site you will find you have to change your relative path options ( I think thats the term). THere is something about how PHP calls those uploaded files that IIS doesn't like very much. However, once I changed that option in Moodle it was fine.

Also, Windows doesn't run Cron jobs. Moodle relies on Cron jobs for scheduled tasks. So, you will need a cron utility (called Win Cron I believe). However, that works fine for me as well).

Lastly the CHAT function in Windows can put a heavy load on the system. If this is going to be a heavilyused system I recommend dual processor, 2GB RAM minimum, and one SCSi mirror and one SCSI raid 5. Windows will sit on the mirrored RAId and the Moodle files and DB will si ton the raid 5.

Thats how we run Moodle on Win2k3 with those few mentioned issues. I too plan to migrate to linux when I have time to dedicate to learning more about linux.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Friday, 30 June 2006, 10:29 AM

Hi Dayron,

Thanks for the help.

Could you guide me as to how you got the cron setting in place.

I have downloaded the cron and hope to install the same. If the script you are running are available it will be really nice. Or how you have configured the same and got it going.

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dayron D - Friday, 30 June 2006, 8:54 PM

Hey Garry,

Actually I was mistaken on the name of the Cron utility. It's Moodle Cron, not Win Cron. It's actually availale on the moodle.org site in the downloads\integration section. Click here:Moodle Cron . It comes wih a good readme.txt file that has good instructions. If I recall correctly I may have just run the .exe and set up it that way without a ot of commandline configuration.

The setting I was speaking of concerning uploading and displaying files is called "slasharguments" that are set within the Moodle admin interface in Administration > Configuration > Variables. You'll need to set slasharguments to "file.php/pic.jpg" in the dropdown menu for a Windows based moodle site to display uploaded content properly. There is a util I read about long ago (can't recall off hand what it is) that you can configure on your IIS site which allows you to keep your "slashargument" settings to the default Linux\APache settings. I may have read about it in a Moodle forum. It was free is you used it for one site, but had to pay a minimal fee for multiple sites.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Ken Wilson - Friday, 30 June 2006, 2:05 PM

Dayron

An alternative to installing moodle-cron is to use the Windows scheduler. See these instructions: http://www.kassblog.com/index.php?itemid=14. We have had this setup on our production site without any issues.

Ken

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Friday, 30 June 2006, 7:02 PM

Ken

That is nice could you advice where are the event logs available to see for checking out errors

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Ken Wilson - Friday, 30 June 2006, 8:02 PM

Garry

Event logs are viewed in Windows systems using the Event Viewer (Start, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer). Look in the Application section.

Ken

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Friday, 30 June 2006, 8:41 PM

Hi Ken & Dryon,

Thank for the pathway.

I am going to have multiple instances of Moodel on the same MAchine. Each with its own Database.

These will be at the same common root. Eg .../www/

Eg:

Moodle Instance Moodle Database

Moodle 1 DB1

Moodle 2 DB2

Moodle n DBn

I understand that I need to have different cookies name for each instance.

QUESTIONS THAT ARISE:

Cron Related:

Now if I were to make sure the cron works for all the instances Anything special required to be Done.

How do I ensure the cron runs on all the instances.

Will the scheduler do or the moodle cron from the sight will be sufficent.

HOw do we configure the same???

MY METHOD TO BE ADOPTED IS IT CORRECT:

I propose to complete one instance will all the contrib addons. Thereafter export the database.

Create new instance by coping this Moodle 1 into a second folder)named as Moodle 2). Go to the config file change the DB name and create a database and import the database into the datbase for the new instance under the new name. Import all the exported files inot the new database. Go to the new instance(Moodle 2) change the cookie namein the [ Config --> VAriables---> cookies name. Save it ].

Does this meet with the technical requirements for two independent instances. Or there is something more that is required to be done.

Looking for your thaughts

Garry

Thanks in advance.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Friday, 30 June 2006, 8:56 PM

Going to the event viewer I find that

MoodleCRon.exe gives the follwoing message as an ERROR:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( Moodlecron.exe ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event: Socket Error # 10061

Connection refused.."

THE MOODLE CRON THAT I HAVE INSTALLED GIVES THE FOLLOWING MESSSAGE:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( MoodleCron ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event: Service started.

What have I done wrong ?? How do I resolve the issue?????

I do not have a clue could you help me out to debug the issue.

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dayron D - Friday, 30 June 2006, 9:08 PM

Hey Garry,

GIve Ken's advice a try and use Windows task scheduler in place of Moodle Cron. Moodle Cron sounds like it's not even needed at all.

Ken's post was:

"An alternative to installing moodle-cron is to use the Windows scheduler. See these instructions: http://www.kassblog.com/index.php?itemid=14. We have had this setup on our production site without any issues."

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Rory Allford - Friday, 30 June 2006, 11:47 PM

Where you read "Enter the name and password of a user who has directory privileges on your /moodle/admin folder" for the scheduled task, you should enter the local IUSR_[Something] account's credentials (you may have to reset the accounts password to a known value and insert this in the IIS manager snapin under "Sites" and "Application Pools" as well).
Entering an "interactive" user account to run php as is generally bad security practice, especially under Windows, unless it is locked down by an appropriate security policy (important settings are "run in a job object/service" and "deny interactive logon"). For example if the cron script was somehow compromised any code would run with whatever privileges the account had (and too many lazy admins run scheduled tasks as their account).

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Re: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE--CRON PROBLEM

by Bhupinder Singh - Wednesday, 5 July 2006, 12:50 AM

Hi Ken, Dan and other moodlers,

I am stuck with cron and need your help urgently.

I have tried to solve the Cron problem but I am stuck sad .

I have tried both approaches

Using Moodle Cron and Scheduler but the cron is not running.

The error in the log file with the Scheduler is as under

"The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( Moodlecron.exe ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event: The service process could not connect to the service controller."

Moodle Cron

he description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( Moodlecron.exe ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event: The service process could not connect to the service controller.

The Moodel Cron was installed using the Wizard.

I shall be gratefull if you could bail me out.

Garry

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Re: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE--CRON PROBLEM

by Iñaki Arenaza - Wednesday, 5 July 2006, 3:05 AM

Have you tried the wget method described at http://docs.moodle.org/en/Cron#On_Windows_systems ?

It works for me

Saludos. Iñaki.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dayron D - Friday, 30 June 2006, 9:04 PM

It's a funny thing how something that simple can escape you. I sit asking myself... WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?!?!?!?!?

I'm a network admin by trade and heavily use task scheduler. I guess due to my limited understanding of PHP it never even occured to attempt to run scheduled jobs using php.exe.

I'm going to try this out. If it works for me (and I have no doubt it will) I recant on Moodle-Cron. I hope the info you linked me to will be posted to the regular Moodle docs.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Viorel Tabara - Friday, 30 June 2006, 6:08 AM

I agree, it is a wise decision - unfortunately, I cannot provide any help at this stage, so hopefully Dayron's reply can help you get on track.

Good luck!

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Chris Pratt - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 4:32 AM

Hi Viorel

Stop driving your car into work and ride a unicycle instead! Thats is what you are suggesting to Garry. I find it hard to believe that anyone would reply to a post asking for best practices using Windows that your suggestion is dump your OS of choice and move to completely different one!

Chris

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 5:15 AM

HI Viorel,

I'd consider myself a Moodle Developer, and I run our production site in a Win2K3/IIS6/MySQL environment. - I would also suggest there are other developers using a similar configuration......

The type of server you run as your webserver SHOULD be tied to whatever you feel most comfortable with. - If your organisation has mainly a "microsoft based" knowledge set, then there is no doubt you should run a Windows server. - If you have a good Linux base knowledge in your organisation, then you should run a Linux server.

If you have people in your organisation that have a good knowledge base on both linux and MS then linux is the "preferred" option for a couple of reasons - you will get more "bang for buck" on your hardware specs, and you will (probably) be running an "open source" server.

Our Uni is a Microsoft Shop. - we have staff with linux experience, however all our systems for things like patching/backups/storage are geared towards MS technologies - It's also a lot easier to manage a single OS internally rather than having a series of different OS's on our machines. - As much as I would "prefer" to run on a linux machine personally, it really makes no tangible difference to us in the end. In fact running on a Windows box keeps our support costs down because there is a larger number of staff internally that can manage/maintain/support the box if it falls over - and we don't have to have different patching/backup/storage management for linux boxes.

good luck!

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Martín Langhoff - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 6:22 AM

> I'd consider myself a Moodle Developer, and I run our
> production site in a Win2K3/IIS6/MySQL environment.

Well said! Doesn't mean we won't tease you about it

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 6:25 AM

yeah well - I'll talk to you about that on Monday.......

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Penny Leach - Thursday, 29 June 2006, 7:16 AM

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Chris Hodson - Friday, 30 June 2006, 7:20 PM

I have just setup a Windows 2003 server and moodle, i used Apache instead of IIS 6 though, tried using IIS 6 with moodle and it kept throwing up problems and issues. Might be worth investigating?

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Ken Wilson - Friday, 30 June 2006, 8:05 PM

Chris

For the benefit of anyone else trying to get moodle working with IIS6, can you let us know what the problems were with it?

Thanks

Ken

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Phil Rand - Thursday, 15 February 2007, 11:25 AM

Hi all,

Great advice, Dan. I'm setting up a small Moodle pilot for Spring Quarter (Northern Hemisphere), and need to decide between Linux and Windows. We're primarily a Windows shop, but do need to support Unix for our student records system (Banner on Oracle), and a few Linux servers, mainly as the hosts for Vmware server. I'm not the only guy around who knows some Unix/Linux, but there's a lot more depth on the Windows side.

My personal preference would be for Linux, and I already have a linux vm running for testing. But Dan's argument about going with what you can support better is a telling one. So I want to do "due dilligence" on a Windows test installation.

It really is frustrating trying to find step-by-step guidance on the windows side, so I had the idea of going with the XAMPP install to get up and running right away, and then harden it for security and robustness as I go along. I would use darcs to keep careful track of all my configuration changes. Any pitfalls in that approach?

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by John Mc Hale - Thursday, 15 February 2007, 10:23 PM

Hi Phil,

some would consider an XAMPP installation as a pitfall for a production environment. While XAMPP is a great way to get up and running in a short time, it is not configured (from a security point of view) for a production system.

My first installation was XAMPP, just to get the look and feel of Moodle, and how to configure it. Soon after, I installed the full package of Apache 2.2.X, MySql 5.0.x and Moodle 1.6.x, taking my time to learn enough about each product to install it competently. While there is undoubtedly more effort required, the end result is that you have complete control over the security of each individual component part without having to burrow deep into the bowels of your XAMPP installation.

3 cheers for XAMPP, Apache, MySQL and Moodle, each an excellent product in it's own right!

Hope this advise helps.

Regards.

John.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Phil Rand - Friday, 16 February 2007, 12:55 AM

Hi John,

So the Apache and MySQL packaged inside XAMPP aren't complete? If so, maybe I should just use a copy of XAMPP on my desktop as a pattern for full installs on my server.

One bump in my road was that the only binary I saw for Apache is labelled no ssl. Do I really need to build from sources, or can I add openssl myself to the apache binary installation?

It's ironic that the windows server install is harder than linux, since ease of use is supposed to be one of windows' advantages.

Phil

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by John Mc Hale - Friday, 16 February 2007, 2:54 AM

No way Phil,

check http://www.apachelounge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5996 for a download of Apache 2.2.4 for Win32 with compiled in SSL support.

You should'nt rush to the gatepost to install all the components; take the luxury of some time to configure each piece of the jigsaw.

Getting SSL up and running might take some effort (At a minimum, you will require a server certificate. This can either be obtained from a commercial Certificate Autohority - VeriSign or Thwate etc., or if like me, you have a $0 budget, you can create a self-signed certificate).

I've already been throw this particular mill, so if I can help you out, message me.

IMHO, installing the separate components individually is the only way to go...but you're absolutely right; you can use XAMPP as the steppingstone (e.g. by harvesting the http-d.conf configuration file and copying and pasting 'bits' in).

Whatever choice you make, good luck, and once again help is available.

Regards.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Phil Rand - Friday, 16 February 2007, 7:49 AM

Thanks John,

Downloading now. I've installed Apache quite a few times, just never on Windows. I hadn't looked at the Apache Lounge before. I'll have to spend some time there.

Regarding rushing to the gatepost, I do have deadlines. They won't delay the start of Spring quarter just so I can take my sweet time studying all about Apache, PHP and MySQL on Windows. But I know what you mean.

--Phil

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by John Mc Hale - Friday, 16 February 2007, 8:35 AM

Phil,

pay particular attention to the fact that you have to download and install the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Re-Distrib. I think the link to that is also on the page ref.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Sharon Schultz - Monday, 23 October 2006, 9:08 PM

Is it necessary to purchase a separate server for Moodle? We are starting out with 4 -5 users and I don't know what server specifications are appropriate?

Thanks in advance

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Iñaki Arenaza - Tuesday, 24 October 2006, 3:11 AM

For 4-5 users, anything will do it

Saludos. Iñaki.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by John Mc Hale - Friday, 16 February 2007, 7:23 AM

My first (intranet) Moodle server was a Dell Optiplex GX(320 I think?) workstation with 512MB RAM, running Windows 2003 Server, Apache 2.0.59, PHP 5.1.4, MySQL 5.0.18. It was'nt the fastest kid on the block, but happily trundled away with visitor numbers in the 10's-20's.

I've since been graced with a Dell Poweredge server with 4MB RAM, Twin 160GB SCSI Hard Disks, which has'nt been taken for a decent testdrive yet!

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Mark Little - Friday, 30 June 2006, 9:06 PM

Hi

If you are going to use Windows for your Server I would recommend using Apache and not IIS.

We have been using Windows 2003 Server and Apache with php 5 with no problems for over 6 months now and it works nicely with Moodle.

Mark

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Rory Allford - Friday, 30 June 2006, 11:37 PM

Here here, especially if you want to do virtual hosting. Plus even running PHP using ISAPI on IIS doesn't begin to touch the apache module in terms of performance/scalability, and anyway Apache is just far better (cue flame war)

.

In terms of its featureset compared to IIS it does proper HTTP compression, proxying, redirecting, load balancing, hostname as well as IP based vhosts, directory-level config without requiring access to the mmc, smaller resource footprint and is much more tweakable, has had far less critical security vulnerabilities, will happily and easily run without ISA server...
in fact almost as many advantages as linux has over windows tongueout

. And don't forget it's open source.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Saturday, 1 July 2006, 12:42 AM

Hi Allford,

Could you share with us what are the precautions that need to be taken while installing Win 2003 Server.

Precautions to avoid pitfalls.

Regarding setting up Cron using Moodle cron or the Event Scheduler requires some skill which some of do not have on this forum. Kindly look at the problems faced by me in this forum trying to get Cron going.

Could you or anyone else tell us how to configure with paths and if possible an example. This will go a ling way in buidling up this best practice document. and get cron out of the way as we move forward.

Look for your and anyone elses help and assistance.

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Rory Allford - Friday, 30 June 2006, 2:55 PM

Hi Bhupinder,

To clarify what I meant above then, regarding Ken's suggestion:

The moodle cron can be run either as a "loopbacked" web request, or by manually executing it within the php interpreter. The downloadable moodle cron service for windows uses the first method, but I was referring to the caveat that, if the second is chosen, php should be executed as an unprivileged account, ideally in the IIS guest/process account, so as to prevent any security risks.

The problem is to setup a scheduled task to run as the IUSR_[something] (IIS guest) account, the password needs to be known. This can be achieved by:

Using the Local Users snap-in (run lusrmgr.msc) to reset the password to a known (strong) value
Open the IIS manager (run mmc and file->Add/Remove Snapin, click Add, choose Internet Information Services, click Add and then OK) and right click the website -> properties
On the Directory Security tab click Edit (Anonymous Access and Authentication Control)
In the credential box, uncheck Allow IIS to Control Password and enter the new password, and confirm, and save changes

Then when you come to set up a scheduled task as per Ken's instructions, use this username and password (fully qualified name would thus be [Local Computer Name]\IUSR_[Something]).

Note that if you're running php in cgi mode then the correct account to use is IWAM_[something] and IIS requires the password to be set on the Application Pool rather than Website properties (which you can only access in IIS on windows server, not Pro!).

The simpler alternative is to just execute it as a web request, as the performance advantage of running php standalone is far less marked on windows than linux. Then of course the better alternative is to run linux.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Saturday, 1 July 2006, 9:48 AM

>Here here, especially if you want to do virtual hosting. Plus
>even running PHP using ISAPI on IIS doesn't begin to touch the
>apache module in terms of performance/scalability, and anyway
>Apache is just far better (cue flame war) .

hmmm.... I "understand" what you are saying when Apache is running on a Linux box. - but I am yet to be convinced (with real proof based on proper analysis rather than conjecture!) that running Apache on a windows box is better than running IIS! - I was hoping to do such a study specifically with Moodle - but unfortunately I haven't had the chance yet!

PHP isn't a "2 click" process to install on IIS6, but if you are able to follow instructions it's not all that difficult. - takes me under a minute to install PHP on a fresh IIS 6 box - did an install on Friday.

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Saturday, 1 July 2006, 10:50 AM

Hi Dan,

Could you forward a link on the steps to install PHP on Windows IIS box. I eman the step by step approach that is necesssary.

I would like ot use PHP and not IIS. Do you agree??

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Sunday, 2 July 2006, 12:59 PM

Hi Garry,

You should use whatever you find most comfortable to work with. - at this stage there is no real evidence on whether Apache or IIS will be "faster" or more efficient

If you aren't all that familiar with either, you could run one of the moodle package installers that install php,apache, and mysql in one go.

as far as installing php on win2k3 - have a look here:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/install.windows.manual.php
have a good look at the comments at the bottom of the page as well. It's long reading - but will hopefully give you a good base knowledge of installing php.

good luck!

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Bhupinder Singh - Sunday, 2 July 2006, 2:27 PM

Dan,

Thanks for the advise.

Any must reads on Apache and Mysql( Links I mean)

I have used EasyPHP 1.7 and had no difficulty at all.

I am told that this has security Problems?? ( I am new cannot comment. Read this somewhere on the forums. What is your opinion)? This is recommended on the moodle site. Only thing is that one has to upgrade the MySQL database to 4.1.6. Next It hase Apache Version 1.4.3 And PHP Version 4.3.3. And what is recommended is PHP 5.0 and Apache 2.2.

What is your opinion on Easy PHP1.8 another installer.

Any such installers you have in mind that give PHP 5+ Apache 2+ Mysql 5+.

IF there are any such they will go a long way in obviating sad our worries so that we can big grin .

If I were to install on 2003 individually should I install IIS or only the OS and go forward with the rest of the installation. (Sorry for this question as my experiece is with 2000 Server and we need to upgrade it I think)?

If I were to install all three separately

Is the following sequence correct

1. PHP 5.0

2. Apache 2.2

3. MySQL 5.0

4. PHP MYADMIN

Should these be installed at the route or in a separate folder like in the case of EASY PHP. Why I am asking is then we could install different versions if required .

Sorry for these questions But your views shall be nice and allow me to firm up the production server environment.

Garry

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Sunday, 2 July 2006, 6:31 PM

Hi There - I'm guessing your best bet would be to use the windows installer on the moodle download page here:
http://download.moodle.org/

scroll down to the bottom and there is a windows installer package that installs Apache/PHP/MySql and Moodle for 1.5 or 1.6 - definately the easiest way to go!

As far as the order you install things manually:

install win2k3 - new secure by default design means IIS isn't automatically installed - don't install IIS - unless you decide to use it instead of Apache.

then Install Apache. (unless you've decided to install IIS)

Then install PHP (make sure you enable MySQL support in the php.ini file)

create a php file with the following code inside to test php is working (and mysql extension installed - mysql will appear on the page somewhere if you've got it right!)
<? phpinfo(); ?>

then install Mysql

Then install Moodle

Good luck!

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Rory Allford - Saturday, 1 July 2006, 11:38 PM

Yeah, having said all that, PHP FastCGI performance under IIS using Shane Caraveo's ISAPI process manager is extremely impressive (once you've got it working!) and is certainly my choice when running IIS.

Unfortunately his ISAPI DLL project on which it all hinges appears to be dead or inactive (http://www.caraveo.com/fastcgi/) though the version in PHP CVS (1.1 in HEAD/fastcgi-isapi/) is stable and runs well on IIS 6.

The IIS/Apache debate is almost as multipartite as the *nix/Windows one but my personal opinion is that where PHP is concerned the natural orientation of the developers means that they'll be designing for Apache first.

It would be an interesting project to objectively compare like for like performance of Apache to IIS running PHP under windows, though there certainly are favourable statistics for LAMP versus WIMP.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Dan Marsden - Sunday, 2 July 2006, 12:54 PM

> my personal opinion is that where PHP is concerned the natural
> orientation of the developers means that they'll be designing > for Apache first.

...you could say the same thing about IIS being designed for Windows.......

It would be nice if someone actually did a proper study on this! - then there would be some facts to go on.

Dan

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Randy Obert - Sunday, 2 July 2006, 1:03 AM

I am not a big fan of PHP/Mysql/Apache combos on Windows boxes just because Linux runs them so much quicker. BUT if one must insist on this combo, here is the "Easiest" install I have found to date:

http://firepages.com.au/

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by lsa bug - Thursday, 13 July 2006, 2:39 AM

I have a question about the IUSR_ internet guest account that is installed with IIS. Is there a similar user for Apache if you don't install IIS?
Thanks.
Lisa

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by Rory Allford - Thursday, 13 July 2006, 3:34 AM

The Apache service as installed runs in the built-in highly privileged (locally) NT AUTHORITY\LocalSystem account. This is a significant security risk, though given the large number of Windows services that run as SYSTEM anyway your server is far more likely to be compromised due to, oh say, a buffer overflow in the RPC Locater services (responsible for the exploits leading to various super-worms like Blaster). A well-configured SPI gateway firewall is essential, DEP (Data Execution Prevention) if your processors support it, and don't even think of putting a Windows box on an unprotected DMZ (unless you're running something like CoreForce wink

).

Also if I may be subjective, I have a far higher opinion of the ratio of vulnerabilities to lines of code in Apache than Windows, given that it's open to public scrutiny.

Nevertheless, http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/platform/windows.html#winsvc describes how to set up Apache to run as a specially created under-privileged account, similar to the IUSR_ ones, which you would also run the cron in using scheduled tasks etc.

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Re: Windows server: WINDOWS 2003 Server for Moodle 1.6 -- BEST PRACTICE

by lsa bug - Thursday, 13 July 2006, 4:38 AM

Thank you for the response.
Apache 2 is running under a specific account just for the Apache service. I read the documentation you referred to and, if I understand the docs and what you stated correctly, this user is similar to the IUSR_ for IIS?
Many thanks for the clarification.
Lsabug

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