Since I use moodle so much for my classes, I'm thinking about a private host that can handle the amount of traffic (about 60 students going onto Moodle @ the same time).
The database would contain a little over 400 students with 2 teachers facilitating.
What kind of space and bandwidth would be recommended??
http://www.hostradius.com/reseller/index.php
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
In reply to Sunyee W
Re: How much server space and bandwidth do I need for 400 students on Moodle?
by Timothy Takemoto -
Dear Sunyee
There does not seem to be a lot of precise information on scalability for good reason. My rough guess from listening to the buzz is as follows
I think that you would be safer with a (for offers click) dedicated rental server if you are going to have 60 students use the server at the same time. It is not the bandwidth or the diskspace that is going to be the limit, but the memory and processor power. I am sure that Moodle.com and other moodle partners can tweak better performance out of their servers but, from reading some posts it would seem that something in the low hundreds (er..say..200 or 400) is the sort of limit of students using a single server at one time. This translates to a large campus of several thousand students since under normal offline use, the students would not be using the server at the same time. After about this number, the server becomes slow. So on your average shared host there may be hundreds of web sites sharing the server. So with 60 students..hmm..I have used about 30 simutaneous students on a shared server, and it was slow.
Bear in mind that servers do not cost a lot of money, so if you have a connection to the Internet it would probably be better to find yourself a computer and install Linux. It is easy. I managed it.
Tim
tkmt
There does not seem to be a lot of precise information on scalability for good reason. My rough guess from listening to the buzz is as follows
I think that you would be safer with a (for offers click) dedicated rental server if you are going to have 60 students use the server at the same time. It is not the bandwidth or the diskspace that is going to be the limit, but the memory and processor power. I am sure that Moodle.com and other moodle partners can tweak better performance out of their servers but, from reading some posts it would seem that something in the low hundreds (er..say..200 or 400) is the sort of limit of students using a single server at one time. This translates to a large campus of several thousand students since under normal offline use, the students would not be using the server at the same time. After about this number, the server becomes slow. So on your average shared host there may be hundreds of web sites sharing the server. So with 60 students..hmm..I have used about 30 simutaneous students on a shared server, and it was slow.
Bear in mind that servers do not cost a lot of money, so if you have a connection to the Internet it would probably be better to find yourself a computer and install Linux. It is easy. I managed it.
Tim
tkmt
In reply to Timothy Takemoto
Re: How much server space and bandwidth do I need for 400 students on Moodle?
by Genner Cerna -
30 students is good for moodle when access at the same time, due to slow and hungry for memory depending on the server and ram. see posting for details about how the server run under 60 students and you'll be suprise for not so good result.
In reply to Sunyee W
Re: How much server space and bandwidth do I need for 400 students on Moodle?
by Michael Penney -
Is this a simultaneous login and then all doing something resource intensive (like take a quiz) or just 60 students may be in there at the same time doing various things?
As Tim pointed out, the main issue with simultaneous logins is a sudden need for lots of RAM by the server, so shared host or underpowered servers may stall at this time, and as Bernard has pointed out in the quiz module takes alot more server resources than the lesson module.
So if your students are going to be logging in at the same time, and taking a quiiz at the same time, you'll probably need a dedicated server with a good deal of RAM from a decent company.
If your students will be accessing asynchronously (60 at a time but not all logging in at the same time) you can probably get away with one of the better plans on your list.
Since this is all happening due to your sysadmins irrational fear of server infecting viruses, the least expensive thing would probably be to get them a class on server administration, which should teach theam a: how servers handle http requests for files and why that doesn't involve file execution on the server, and b: how to install anti-virus software on their servers.
As Tim pointed out, the main issue with simultaneous logins is a sudden need for lots of RAM by the server, so shared host or underpowered servers may stall at this time, and as Bernard has pointed out in the quiz module takes alot more server resources than the lesson module.
So if your students are going to be logging in at the same time, and taking a quiiz at the same time, you'll probably need a dedicated server with a good deal of RAM from a decent company.
If your students will be accessing asynchronously (60 at a time but not all logging in at the same time) you can probably get away with one of the better plans on your list.
Since this is all happening due to your sysadmins irrational fear of server infecting viruses, the least expensive thing would probably be to get them a class on server administration, which should teach theam a: how servers handle http requests for files and why that doesn't involve file execution on the server, and b: how to install anti-virus software on their servers.