Uploading themes to synology Moodle

Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Beto Boton -
Number of replies: 10

Hello

I have a moodle site on an a hosting service.

I would like to duplicate this site on my local synology Moodle installation (both Moodle versions identical 3.2.2)

I'm on a MAC using 10.9.5

I know how to install the plugins, but I have no access to the Moodle folders structure to copy the theme inside the themes folder. Only Theme on moddledata folder is visible. 

HOW do I install a theme to a Synoology (DS414Play) installation of Moodle.

 (I doubt I'm the only one w/ this issue but there is no mention on the forums)


Thanks for any help


Beto Boton

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In reply to Beto Boton

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Depends on information not yet provided ... like hosting provider.

Then again ... you should have some customer tools to view your files ... including all the moodle code and moodledata.  cPanel?  Could you, using provider tools, archive/zip (backup) your Moodle code directory and then download the zip?

Contact provider for a how 2 or check providers customer FAQ's, KB, or helpdesk.

'spirit of sharing', Ken

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In reply to Ken Task

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Beto Boton -

Sorry but my question was specific to the Moodle installation on Synology diskstation Ds416play.

On my hosting server I can just ftp the theme folder that is quite simple. 

The fact is synology keeps apps installed very far from users access and Moodle is an application that requires access to is structure to perform a few tasks. There is no "theme installation" or "theme upload" tool per se.


Thanks anyway for your attempt to answer my question


Kind Regards

Beto Boton


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In reply to Beto Boton

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

To be honest, running Moodle from a package on what is essentially network attached storage sounds like a very bad plan. For reasons you have just discovered. 

Your problem isn't really a Moodle one. You need to be asking whatever support Synology provides how to modify the installed Moodle.

However, I just looked at the Synology forums for Moodle and most questions seems to go unanswered. Hmm... sad

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In reply to Beto Boton

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Just H -

"If" Moodle is running properly on your NAS you should be able to upload through the UI (Site administration ► Plugins ► Install plugins) I would hope.

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In reply to Just H

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

...not if the permissions on those files are set inappropriately (which they probably are by default). Personally, I would not recommend setting permissions to allow this - on a world accessible site anyway.

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Just H -

Lost me there Howard, are you suggesting built in functionality is a security risk?

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In reply to Just H

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Yes - most definitely a security risk. 

There was once quite a spate of Moodle config.php files getting modified by hackers. They were presumably using some vulnerability in Apache or PHP and it was easy because most people allow the Moodle install to create config.php and then do not modify the permissions. 

The thing is, if the Moodle program files are not writeable by the web server then it massively reduces the chance of them getting hacked if you are unlucky enough for your web server to get hacked. I admit that it's not very likely but security vulnerabilities (almost by definition) never are very likely. It's about minimising your risk. You don't *need* the web-based install (or if you do, only change the permissions for the time you are upgrading/installing)

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

To @OP ... so it's similar to an E-Smith server.   That one I've had first hand experience with and can say that Howard is 100% correct - not a good idea to host Moodle on such a machine.

This last posting regarding security brings up an idea ... not original cause other open source packages have a little thing to address security of the app .... from within the admin interface. (Joomla specifically)

It would be nice to have an admin tool accessed by superuser only like 'lock down' and, of course, the compliment to that 'un-lock' for when needing to do updates/upgrades.  Natch, this might present problems to remotely hosted shared sites or similar ... but those days are numbered, me thinks.

'spirit of sharing', Ken


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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Just H -

Sorry, must be having a blonde moment (there'll be hell to pay for that cool) but still lost, what has the config file got to do with installing plugins using the built in functionality?

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In reply to Just H

Re: Uploading themes to synology Moodle

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Nothing. I just mentioned that altering the config.php (against the knowledge and will of the owner) was a quite common hack although I've not seen it in a while. It's an obvious file to target as it's included in almost every other file and it's very commonly left writeable after installation. However, in principal, this could be done to any other file with "insecure" permissions. 

Here an example out of the distant past - https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=342923 - but there are lots and principal stands. Restrict your file access to minimise such risks.

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