Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by shrikant gakhare -
Number of replies: 6

Viva and other forum members,

We are planning to move from Moodle 1.9.4 to some higher stable version of moodle, which is headache free. Please suggest which that should be from your experience.

Shall we go for fresh install or upgrade? Current moodle is customised little bit, and it would be easier if we upgrade while retaining customisation. What do you suggest?

MOODLE upgrade is required for security reasons. Current PHP version 5.2.17 has vulnerabilities as per Vulnerability Assessment Report we got. The security team suggested to move to 5.3.12/5.4.2 or later. And if we have to upgrade PHP, then obviously 1.9.4 is not supported. We will have to go for MOODLE version 1.9.12 and above. Pls suggest which is the best combination of PHP and MOODLE?

And we are going to have this on 3-tier architecture. Mr.Viswanth has given some pointers in other forum. We will go thru those threads.

Thanks for Sharing!

Shrikant

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In reply to shrikant gakhare

Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
To other forum members

Here is some background:
- "Upgrading Moodle (PHP and Mysql) and Hardware for Large IT Company" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=213149
- "Migration from single box to 2-tier architecture" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218322
- "Apache/Mysql/PHP upgraded and site migrated" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218647
- "No performance Improvement after migration to new hardware" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218732
- "Same application,different hardware,No change in performance" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218782

@Shrikanth
I just wonder, if you could separate the issues and concentrate on one issue in one thread, whether you've made better progress then.

Your question is different from "Upgrade Moodle 1.9.9 to 2.2" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=219217. I already gave it a new title. Please ask the moderators to split your post from the the other thread under the new title.

Now to the current problem:
> We are planning to move from Moodle 1.9.4 to some higher stable version of moodle, which is headache free. Please suggest which that should be from your experience.
>
> Shall we go for fresh install or upgrade? Current moodle is customised little bit, and it would be easier if we upgrade while retaining customisation. What do you suggest?
>
> MOODLE upgrade is required for security reasons. Current PHP version 5.2.17 has vulnerabilities as per Vulnerability Assessment Report we got. The security team suggested to move to 5.3.12/5.4.2 or later.

Is that the sole reason for upgrading Moodle?

> The security team suggested to move to 5.3.12/5.4.2 or later. And if we have to upgrade PHP, then obviously 1.9.4 is not supported. We will have to go for MOODLE version 1.9.12 and above.

Who made that statement, the security team?

> And we are going to have this on 3-tier architecture. Mr.Viswanth has given some pointers in other forum. We will go thru those threads.

Yes, please keep the performance related discussions limited to those discussions already started in "Hardware and Performance" if possible.
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by shrikant gakhare -

Thanks Viswanath Sir!

All the issues raised in the forum were resolved.

 

Upgrading Moodle (PHP and Mysql) and Hardware for Large IT Company" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=213149- (asked before migration)
- "Migration from single box to 2-tier architecture" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218322 (This was when we thought of moving to 2 -tier architecture)
- "Apache/Mysql/PHP upgraded and site migrated" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218647 (This question was asked after migration of the site)
- "No performance Improvement after migration to new hardware" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218732 (This query was asked when new server was slow)
- "Same application,different hardware,No change in performance"  https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218782 ( Identified the bottleneck and fixed it)

I will act on your advise given earlier about moving/deleting threads. 

Is that the sole reason for upgrading Moodle?

Yes! I remember reading somewhere that MOODLE V above 1.9.12 need PHP Version 5.3.X or vice versa. Actually Security Team asked us to use PHP 5.3.12 / 5.4.2 or later and if we have to use this version then we will have to install/upgrade to moodle higher than 1.9.12 or higher. Please correct me if I am wrong?

Who made that statement, the security team?

No! Our understanding from certain posts in forums.

 

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In reply to shrikant gakhare

Re: Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by Bret Miller -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Earlier versions of Moodle 1.9.x (like 1.9.4) do not work completely right with PHP 5.3 while Moodle 2.x requires at least PHP 5.3. So my advice would be to:

  1. upgrade first to Moodle 1.9.latest (1.9.19+ at present)
  2. upgrade php to 5.3.12 or later 5.3.x
  3. then upgrade to Moodle 2.2.latest (2.2.6+ at present)

Test, test, test between each of these to make sure things are working still.

Note that the jump to Moodle 2.x is a big one and lots of things will change. It is my impression that they are still applying security fixes to 1.9, so the upgrade to 2.x is not yet required for security. However, it will be at some point. I would highly recommend upgrading a test copy of your site first to make sure everything you need is available and working.

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In reply to Bret Miller

Re: Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by shrikant gakhare -

Thanks Bret for these valuable inputs. From security point of view, PHP upgrade is mandatory. Is it possible to retain Moodle 1.9.4 and have PHP version 5.3.12 / 5.4.2 or higher just to close vulnerability assessment issues.As I understand if we want to upgrade to this version of PHP then we must have 1.9.19 or higher. Am I right?

 

Thanks

Shrikant

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In reply to shrikant gakhare

Re: Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Shrikanth

You wrote:
> All the issues raised in the forum were resolved.
>
>> - Upgrading Moodle (PHP and Mysql) and Hardware for Large IT Company" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=213149
> (asked before migration)
>
>> - "Migration from single box to 2-tier architecture" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218322
> (This was when we thought of moving to 2 -tier architecture)
>
>> - "Apache/Mysql/PHP upgraded and site migrated" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218647
> (This question was asked after migration of the site)

Good to know that you got them solved.

>> - "No performance Improvement after migration to new hardware" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218732
> (This query was asked when new server was slow)

I believe that topic continued in the next discussion. I've wrote a note accordingly.

>> - "Same application,different hardware,No change in performance" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218782
> (Identified the bottleneck and fixed it)

That is interesting. Could you conclude that thread as explained here: http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Moodle.org_forums_Code_of_Conduct#Provide_feedback_for_others ?

> I will act on your advise given earlier about moving/deleting threads.

As already explained here https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=218782#p952656, you can neither move nor delete. What you can do is to write a final message to conclude the discussion. Of course Helen can move and delete posts, but you need to send her a request.

>> Is that [a vulnerability in PHP version 5.2.17] the sole reason for upgrading Moodle?
> Yes!

What about the vulnerabilities Moodle has cleared since 1.9.4? The most logical thing for me is to get Moodle upgraded to 1.9.latest (1.9.19+ right now) and upgrade PHP together to a version of your liking.

Just curious, can you link to the report to that particular PHP 5.2.17 vulnerability?

> I remember reading somewhere that MOODLE V above 1.9.12 need PHP Version 5.3.X or vice versa.

Memory is bad company. Anything on written?

http://download.moodle.org/ gives PHP 4.3.0 as the minimum requirement for Moodle 1.9.19. I'm pretty sure it was like that from the beginning of 1.9.

> Actually Security Team asked us to use PHP 5.3.12 / 5.4.2 or later

Then get it! http://demo.syndrega.ch has PHP 5.3.3-7 and runs Moodle 1.6 to 2.4.

> and if we have to use this version then we will have to install/upgrade to moodle higher than 1.9.12 or higher. Please correct me if I am wrong?

Not known to me. Any evidence?

>> Who made that statement, the security team?
> No! Our understanding from certain posts in forums.

Which posts? Keep in mind that public forums deem to contain wrong information, take the current discussion for example.
smile

I understand that you have a major operation to handle. If I were you, I won't touch my production server based on "guarantees" given to me by volunteers in a public forum. I would get a test machine.
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Advice on upgrading Moodle, currently 1.9.4

by shrikant gakhare -

Thanks Viswanath Sir!

A server is in production and we won't touch it. We have got one more set-up and as mentioned earlier it is a 3-tier architecture.

Migrating as it is (with current moodle 1.9.4) from production to 3-tier is easy but now we want to have higher version of PHP and of course MOODLE. If any higher version of PHP (lets say 5.4.10) and moodle 1.9.4 are compantible then we think we will not upgrade moodle. What is the experience of moodlers here?

And if managerial decision compells us to upgrade MOODLE also then there is no way. We will have to upgrade. I have read many horro stories on this forum about issues faced by moodlers in version upgrade. As suggested in this forum, we can plan for 1.9.19+. Any other views/opinions are invited.

Vaulnerability Report- Our secuity team conducts security testing and shares report. The application can be exposed to internet only after closing VA issues.

Note- Our existing moodle installation was customised for certain conditions, situations, etc. We have a theme also.

Thanks and Regards!

Shrikant

 

 

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