Is there anyway to transfer a very outdated 1.9v moodle to the newest version? What kind of options are there and how would I start?
It's possible but a load of grief. Not only do you have to upgrade Moodle through several different versions you will have to deal with a whole bunch of server software dependencies that differ between versions. A lot of reading and planning.
I would strongly advise you to consider simply installing a new version of Moodle and recreating your courses. It's usually less trouble and the end result will be better.
I wrote about some issues to consider.
One motivation to upgrade rather than start from scratch is if there are a lot of users to transfer without wanting to issue new passwords. (There may be workarounds to this by modifying the database).
It's the database that worries me the most I think. I have over a 1,000 student accounts that would have to be transferred and several long and lengthy courses and degree programs. I'm just worried about the software becoming so obsolete that it may not work in the future.
How much would it cost to hire someone to do this for me I wonder?
Sent you a pm. Ken is right that it can be complicated but it also not be too bad at all. Last four I did all got done without too much hassle and no loss of data. Upgrading is the only way to save your existing data (course records/grades/user accounts, etc..).
The obsolescence isn't so much of a problem, more that the software (both Moodle and the underlying server software) are no longer supported so if you did encounter problems addressing these may be difficult.
As Howard says, it's not a straightforward task and it's possible you'll run into unexpected issues which is why the testing is so important.
If you have the required skills then you can look at doing this in house but if you don't then realistically you'd need some paid consultancy for this work.
I think that you can download the users from 1.9 and upload them into 3.6. However, I don't think that there is a way to include their photos in the upload. (Actually, I just verified that I could upload users from 1.9 to 3.7dev. I had 738 users in my 1.9.)
When I moved from 1.9 to 2.0, I asked for this "upload photos" feature in the Tracker system. MDL-28680.
I agree with Howard's recommendation.
You should, however, do some experimenting on your own. Get a 3.6 up and running, export your users in CSV (text) format from 1.9. Then try uploading them into 3.6.
Also, you should realize that there are some server-side requirement differences.
Hi
Part of this data should not be in a live LMS. I mean the examination submissions and the grading. For example in our institution we need to be able to reproduce any examination work and its grading for the last ten years. We do not, and can not, depend on a running LMS (and a system administrator) to salvage that data. The institute heads, who have the responsibility, have developed their own methods for archiving this data. Ultimately they are ordered collections of files: the course handbook, examination papers, uploaded submissions, grading spread sheets, etc. Once they are in place, the LMS may die. In fact, being a four year programme, we don't keep courses older than that in our LMS.
OK, as a second line of defense, you can keep the old LMS running off-line. But start with a fresh installation of a current Moodle and export course content (without user data) in to the new Moodle. Ref. https://docs.moodle.org/19/en/Course_backup and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_restore. Optionally, in the unlikely case that the old students haven't still passed out, you can transfer the user database (or part of it) to the new Moodle.
Of course this is the way our institution look at it. Yours could be different.
Part of this data should not be in a live LMS. I mean the examination submissions and the grading. For example in our institution we need to be able to reproduce any examination work and its grading for the last ten years. We do not, and can not, depend on a running LMS (and a system administrator) to salvage that data. The institute heads, who have the responsibility, have developed their own methods for archiving this data. Ultimately they are ordered collections of files: the course handbook, examination papers, uploaded submissions, grading spread sheets, etc. Once they are in place, the LMS may die. In fact, being a four year programme, we don't keep courses older than that in our LMS.
OK, as a second line of defense, you can keep the old LMS running off-line. But start with a fresh installation of a current Moodle and export course content (without user data) in to the new Moodle. Ref. https://docs.moodle.org/19/en/Course_backup and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_restore. Optionally, in the unlikely case that the old students haven't still passed out, you can transfer the user database (or part of it) to the new Moodle.
Of course this is the way our institution look at it. Yours could be different.
In addition to what others have already said ... I have had experience at migrating 1.9.x in the past and most recently to highest at the time 3.5.x. BTW, am not applying for the job! ;) Just offering 2 cent advice.
Much depends on how your 1.9.x is currently hosted. Shared host? Forget it. Too much you cannot control. VPS hosted? even with them, depending upon provider and what they will allow customers to do with the system ... managed by them and you don't have enough control - self-managed and you do it all.
This to say, you might also be looking at moving from shared host to managed or un-managed hosting with same provider OR a new provider and that adds yet another layer. Best to have un-managed and a minimal install of an OS (Linux) so that one can migrate the 1.9 due to having to march not only the moodle upwards, but PHP and MySQL upwards at an appropriate time in the march of Moodle.
BTW, most recent experience at 1.9.x to 3.5.x ... Plan A turned into Plan B which turned into Plan C. Got it done but not without Moodle Admin person having to redo quizzes - very time consuming for OP.
Anyhoo ... my 2 cents.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
Oh yes, we share many such stories.
My last one was a Moodle 2.3 to 3.5. That got complicated because of a plug-in amoung other things. There are two plug-ins for course certificates, from the same author, the newer one is supposed to replace the old one at some time. In long jumps like this, that time window gets lost. To make the matters worse, I was a complete beginner to the course certificate functionality. All is settled, but took painfully long.
My last one was a Moodle 2.3 to 3.5. That got complicated because of a plug-in amoung other things. There are two plug-ins for course certificates, from the same author, the newer one is supposed to replace the old one at some time. In long jumps like this, that time window gets lost. To make the matters worse, I was a complete beginner to the course certificate functionality. All is settled, but took painfully long.
Is there a way to just free this moodle in time? Make sure sever side that it remains functional in the long run?
Background: This was a tuition-free volunteer-based educational institution that I built pretty much on my own back in 2008 and want to keep running for decades to come. It's focused on frontier psychological sciences and consciousness studies. I spent my life writing all of the academic textbooks for it, exams, assignments, the whole shebang.
I really wanted to update for stability, but I'm about to launch the FIRST masters second-degree in a subfield ever, and I would prefer it to be as stable as possible. I suppose I could secure a volunteer to build a new moodle and put that program over there, but it just seems like it would take so long to do and we are so close to launching the program, 6 years in the making.
I'd do it all myself in half the time if I could, but I've been unable to do this kind of stuff for 4 years now due to a progressive neurological disability. I updated it and weeded out as many glitches as possible, and did a design overhaul, right before my condition took a turn for the worse, so I'm so grateful to my former self for pulling that off just in time.
Hi
Did I understand you correctly: You made your follow up programme, the masters, also on the same Moodle 1.9?
Did I understand you correctly: You made your follow up programme, the masters, also on the same Moodle 1.9?
Yes, it's about 75% complete on the 1.9 moodle.
So there are two sets of data, which you may have to treat differently:
1. The initial, already conducted programme
2. The new, 75% finished, not yet conducted programme.
The answer to 2 is easy. Transfer the content to a supported Moodle version, i.e. 3.5 or 3.6, through https://docs.moodle.org/19/en/Course_backup and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_restore.
There is no unique answer to 1 - go through the options others have given.
1. The initial, already conducted programme
2. The new, 75% finished, not yet conducted programme.
The answer to 2 is easy. Transfer the content to a supported Moodle version, i.e. 3.5 or 3.6, through https://docs.moodle.org/19/en/Course_backup and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_restore.
There is no unique answer to 1 - go through the options others have given.
I was able to update to 2.0, but none of themes will load and all I get is text. SO no images showing or css. I also get this warning :
Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/www/qpsychics.com/university/login/config.php on line 5
"Is there a way to just free this moodle in time? Make sure sever side that it remains functional in the long run?"
If I understand you correctly, you want to keep the 1.9 site available, while updating your server and Moodle to the latest version. I found myself in the same situation and solved it with an Odroid XU4, Small Board Computer (SBC). This SBC is on my intranet only, is usually turned on ONLY when I need to find or refer to something in an old Moodle, the operating system is NOT updated so it will not break the old Moodle, and I keep a backup of everything elsewhere in case the Odroid should have problems.
NOTE: When I was actively teaching, I created a new Moodle with the latest version each year. So, I actually have a backup of each year on that Odroid.
I just tried to update from 1.9 to 2.0. Everything checked out ok, but now I'm stuck with this and if I just keep clicking continue I go around in circles. Any idea how to fix or bypass this?
***********
System
Error reading from database
Debug info: Illegal mix of collations (utf8_unicode_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,IMPLICIT) for operation '='
SELECT DISTINCT c.id AS courseid, ra.enrol, c.timecreated, c.timemodified
FROM uas_course c
JOIN uas_context ctx ON (ctx.instanceid = c.id AND ctx.contextlevel = 50)
JOIN uas_role_assignments ra ON (ra.contextid = ctx.id AND ra.enrol <> '')
LEFT JOIN uas_enrol e ON (e.courseid = c.id AND e.enrol = ra.enrol)
WHERE c.id <> ? AND e.id IS NULL
[array (
0 => '1',
)]
SELECT DISTINCT c.id AS courseid, ra.enrol, c.timecreated, c.timemodified
FROM uas_course c
JOIN uas_context ctx ON (ctx.instanceid = c.id AND ctx.contextlevel = 50)
JOIN uas_role_assignments ra ON (ra.contextid = ctx.id AND ra.enrol <> '')
LEFT JOIN uas_enrol e ON (e.courseid = c.id AND e.enrol = ra.enrol)
WHERE c.id <> ? AND e.id IS NULL
[array (
0 => '1',
)]
Stack trace:
- line 391 of /lib/dml/moodle_database.php: dml_read_exception thrown
- line 718 of /lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php: call to moodle_database->query_end()
- line 4082 of /lib/db/upgrade.php: call to mysqli_native_moodle_database->get_recordset_sql()
- line 1309 of /lib/upgradelib.php: call to xmldb_main_upgrade()
- line 252 of /admin/index.php: call to upgrade_core()
OK, so I was able to figure this out, but now the install is finished and none of themes will load and all I get is text. I also get this warning :
Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/www/qpsychics.com/university/login/config.php on line 5
You are in for a journey ... which may not be accomplished without bumps in the road and some trouble shooting. That really can't be avoided and is dependent up many factors ... I no longer have a 2.0 running anywhere to actually look at ... so much of what I might have are suggestions from memory ... which is many years past now! :|
Let's try to address what you are facing right now:
in 2-> themes are plugins.
the 1.9 -> 2.0 jump the themes were converted to 2.x themes.
In order to make it easier to upgrade the 2.0 code may have included themes you didn't actually have installed ... and if you had used a custom theme those customizations might no longer be compatible.
site might be attempting to use a 'forced' 'standard'.
Suggest using an addition line in config.php to set a theme to standard.
Add:
$CFG->theme='standard';
You don't need to restart any services for that to take affect ... just hit the site.
You can set the above to any theme in code/theme/ that is compat with 2.0.
You have to visit config.php file to find out what's on line 5 because that's what the error is telling you.
What is on line 5?
Also, moodle caches a bunch ... hit url:
http://yoursite/admin/purgecaches.php
SoS, Ken
Im literally sick of so-called experts..... best thing is to do sth myself, solving all the hoops by myself.....
The more you browse the web, the less you know as there are much more people who claim to be an expert just for the sake of it.... in reality being no expert at all.....
In case of troubles, use Google and/or any other search engine possible...
Hmmmm ... 'expert' defined as 'guessed right 3 times in a row'?
While it might be true all one needs to do is Google and one can find an answer to anything, then why didn't you share some of your 'google golden nuggets' with the original poster?
Know that the 'job' was more than just 1.9.x to something higher Moodle wise .. tip of the iceburg really. Did you?
So please, feel free to share your expertise in finding what to do and when to do it ... and how 2's ... to help Theresa. ... for that matter, share with the entire '*volunteer* moodle community'.
Oh, yeah ... ya did ... ya educated many on moodle install on Gentoo. And with the help of many 'community volunteers' that hung in there with ya despite a less than friendly discussion.
Hmmmm ... 'Plan? I just wanted to install it as any other admin would without any plan or whatsoever."
Looks like she got there? Did you help?
SoS, Ken
I want to start by saying thank you so much Ken, your posts over the years
have helped me so much with this learning software, enough that I recognized your name
immediately. Yes, I backed everything up, just in case. And it may have been an .htaccess issue (something similar happend years ago and that was the cause now that I think of it), but I was able to upgrade all the way to 3.6 today and everything seems to be working great now....and will hopefully stay that way. It took about 8 hours in all, a few hoops, but I made it.
Welcome! And congrats! ... what you did wasn't easy (was checking on ya from time to time today and at one point was considering another PM 'tip').
Do expect at least one more PM later as your focus was on Moodle and 8 hours can drain ya!
SoS, Ken
Thank you! It was certainly not easy, but like 100 times easier then fixing that moodle version after it was hacked and injected years ago. I should have just updated it way back then, but I was afraid it was just too unstable. Thankfully I was wrong, and it held on through all those updates. I'm looking forward to sleep!! LOL