We are running Moodle 1.9.5, PHP 5.2.6, Apache 2.2.10, Windows 2003 and MYSQL 5.0.51A. Our mysql is on a separate server. Both servers have 4 processors and 6 GB of ram. They are virtual servers. The problem is our quizzes are slow, freezing or they kick the student out of the course. It seems to be worst if the questions are random in a secure window. At the present, we don't have an accelerator running because I have read that some of them will crash apache. Has anyone had any successful with this type of configuration? Can you suggest what I need to do. Thanks for any help.
In reply to Doris Johnson
Re: Windows server: Quizzes are freezing and slow
by Luis de Vasconcelos -
Yes, accelerators might crash Apache - if they haven't been setup and tuned correctly. The trick is to get them tuned correctly, but that means that you have to do some research if you aren't already familiar with the process. Or you could get an expert to do it for you... But avoiding the use of a php accelerator because you read somewhere that it might crash Apache isn't doing you any good. That's like refusing to drive a car because you might crash it! Did you find out under what circumstances an accelerator might crash Apache?
You seem to have some good hardware so, if I was in your position, I would install Moodle, Apache and Mysql on a test machine. Then I would install an accelerator on that test machine and see if it's stable. If it does crash Apache then you need to find out why and if there are any fixes for the problem. Then, once you've resolved all the problems on the dev box and done thorough testing, you can roll that "problem free" php accelerator enabled setup onto your production box. Using a test machine greatly reduces the risk that you might make your production version of Moodle more unstable when you're making changes like installing an accelerator. And it gives you the freedom to tune performance, test upgrades and play with new features without any stress or downtime on your production environment.
We have also experienced some issues with the secure window mode in Moodle, but I don't know of any magic cures, apart from not using the 'secure' window. One option that you could investigate as an alternative to the secure window is the Safe Exam Browser option that has now been integrated into Moodle 1.9.6. I haven't tried it myself yet, so I can't say whether it's a good or better solution than the current secure window option in Moodle. But it does concern me that Safe Exam Browser seems to require the user to install a client on his computer. That kind of requirement always comes attached with a certain amount of support baggage. Like any other change, you need to test it thoroughly before you implement it on production!