Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Natarajan M -
Number of replies: 7

Hi all,

The Moodle setup what we have is:

  • A virtual server with 3GB RAM, Xeon processor and T1 network connection.
  • Single server - Windows 2003/SQL 2005/IIS 6.0/PHP5.2/Free TDS
  • The hosted eLearning course is developed using Adobe Flash. Each screen contains text, graphics and audio. The audio duration is approximately 1 min per screen. The learner need to listen to the audio completely before proceeding further
  • The cumulative size of each screen (text, graphic, audio) will be approximately 1 MB supported with Flash preloading scripts.
  • All users need to complete the course mandatorily within a stipulated time which results in consistent usage of 1000 unique users accessing the course everyday.
  • The CPU utilization, database usage were always on intermediate level (approx. 60% usage).

Now, the problems that we are facing now are multifold:

  • Lot of users complained about the slowness of the LMS application screens. We have increase the PHP scripts limit from default 10 to 50 but still the improvement is very less to be seen.
  • The Flash course screens load very slow or freezes sometimes.  However, the course loading issue never appears in non-peak hours where the concurrent users will be only 10s of users.
  • The course is SCORM conformant and the SCORM data on completion status is communicated every 30 screens. However, this data is surprisingly missed to register in Moodle's SCORM table during peak hours (100's of concurrent users) though on the course screen it shows as "Completed". Also, the SCORM data consistenly works fine in off-peak hours without any data or session loss.

What could be the problem for missing SCORM data and course/LMS freezing issues?

  • Will the addition of more RAM or additional servers be really helpful? If yes, what would be the need for 500 and 1000 concurrent users?
  • Will the RAM capacity skips to write the SCORM data by any chance based on peak usage?

Looking for expert advice here from Moodle veterans. Will be able to provide more information, if required.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

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In reply to Natarajan M

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Marcus Green -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

In my experience SCORM has a general problem of data loss. I have used different scorm editors/generators and different VLE systems (Blackboard and several versions of Moodle). None gave satisfactory results. I was speaking to an experienced Moodle consultant recently who has had similar experiences over many years. I decided in the end to go for flash animations followed by Moodle Quizzes. It is not as feature filled as the promise of SCORM, but it works every time.

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In reply to Natarajan M

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

probably also worth noting there are a bunch of other issues that could cause data loss in scorm that aren't directly related to usage. You haven't posted which Moodle version you are using either.

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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Vignesh SP -

1.9.5

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In reply to Vignesh SP

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

well - that's pretty old.... there are a lot of SCORM bugs in the tracker that have been fixed since then - not to mention 1.9.5 contains a range of security related bugs that could allow a hacker to severly compromise your site.

You should upgrade on the basis of the security issues alone.

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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by david zacarias -

Hi Marcus and Dan, we are having the same problem with our server, our moodle version is 2.0.5

We have integrated 3 new courses with scorms like the principals activities, an after two years without problems, now we have it sad

So maybe an alternative is to look for another kind of resources and dont use scorms? is a good option to flash animations and Moodle Quizzes??

I hope you can share with us your advices.

Regards!!!

 

- David Tiquet

 

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In reply to david zacarias

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
If it's IE 9 users having issues you should modify your site theme and make sure this line appears as the first item in the area of your theme: more info on this here: http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-29213 If you have the option of using something other than SCORM - eg normal moodle quizzes I'd certainly go for it - the reports are a lot better, the grading is more reliable, and it's less error prone.
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In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Any possibility of SCORM data loss on peak usage?

by david zacarias -

Hi Dan, thank you for you quick response

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