What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

b k -
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Background: I started using Moodle in the spring for several months, but got discouraged when the software admin work became more than my skills. Specifically I found the upgrading process (to the latest moodle version) onerous. Also, there were some other problems that dispite my best efforts I could not fix.

I am part of a fairly large church organization that I am sure would have a volunteer with the skills needed to do this work. But I have no idea what the qualifications are that I would be looking for. EDIT: Our installation is on a shared hosting plan (Dreamhost)

Question: What are the skills I should be advertising for someone to do the software administration work. For example I guess they need to know how to use sftp. Do they need to know PHP?

Hopefully if my question is not clear folks can help me figure out what I really need to be asking! I'm not talking about course administration. That seems to be a general skill set that I don't really need specific help with.


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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Yep, there are two "admin" jobs involved: system administrator - system in the sense of operating system, and Moodle administrator - the person who logs in as 'admin' to the Moodle's web interface. See https://docs.moodle.org/39/en/Beginning_Moodle_2.0_Administration (oddly it is called Beginning Moodle 2.0 Administration, must be still valid since it made its way to Moodle 3.9 docs).

You say, you can handle the Moodle administrator job. So a system administrator is missing. The required skills 'fcourse depend on what the "system" is. On own Linux servers it is LAMP, the counterpart in Windows is WAMP. But if your host at a (unmanaged) hosting partner and they give you their own control interface, then the system administrator has to be able to manage through that .
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回复Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

b k -
Thank you! I edited my post to include that our installation is on a shared hosting plan (Dreamhost).

I guess once I had a potential volunteer I would ask them if they felt confident to follow the upgrade instructions https://docs.moodle.org/39/en/Upgrading .
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Funny, my previous post is also still in the edit mode.

To the subject, the "system management" is not only upgrading, there are backups, security and privacy concerns, 2nd level support for the Moodle administrator, etc. So, a certain exposure to Moodle is also necessary. The two need a common ground to communicate, which could only be Moodlish.
眨眼
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回复Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

b k -
Right. Good point. So they would need to be willing to learn using the Moodle software to some degree, I guess. Thanks.
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Exactly. Many issues from Moodle administrators land here because their system administrators throw the ball back to the Moodle court, without taking the trouble to look in to the cause.
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Ken Task -
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Pardon intrusion ... this might be a matter of perception but ...

'skills' (to me) means ability to apply acquired knowledge ... an admin of moodle (the application) has acquired knowledge of those things that make moodle go ... php, mysql, apache and IMHO, are required (to a degree).  Case in point, moodle admin link to environment check and one see's 'must fix' rows.

IMHO, there hasn't been a control panel (like cPanel) [cept one] that gives user (admin) the tools needed to efficiently admin a moodle server.  And that is related to hosting ... 'shared hosting' for moodle hosting is problematic for there are some areas of tweaks - outside of moodle - that are needed when a moodle site's usage and content gets beyond levels that are restricted by shard hosting.

Bottom line ... a 'volunteer' admin must have the ability to find/acquire specific knowledge of tweaks outside of moodle but related.   Google is your friend there.   That person doesn't have to be an adult, BTW! 微笑

Maybe you should step back and make a list of issues you have with admin of your moodle - and what is required to 'fix'.  Don't forget things like site backups and ability (acquired knowledge) to restore.

'SoS', Ken



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回复Ken Task

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

b k -
Thanks! I agree the ability to learn things is critical. But I'm looking for a baseline.

Would you say that they would need to know php to handle things like upgrading and backing up?

In addition to upgrading and backing up, I would say that another issue would be troubleshooting why users aren't able to log in.
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Ken Task -
Particularly helpful Moodlers的头像

Well, if looking for 'baseline' ... simply stated ... Linux - but only those things one can do ... shared hosting is limited ... managed hosting - provider does the heavy lifting but moodle admin would have to be very clear about issues ... un-managed hosting ... you do it all.

PHP - only how to config/tweak.   Not going to hack core code nor plugins/addons.

Site backups are outside of PHP cept for tweaks and are operating system + DB server related.   Is there a Moodle doc for that?

Updating/Upgrading - there are Moodle docs for those.  Plus upgrading PHP/MySQL when Moodle requires it ... that's operating system/tools outside of Moodle.

Trouble shooting ... is a combo ... moodle (debug turned on) + learning how to 'read' debug .. + specific settings related to the problem in PHP or MySQL or Apache (if running AMP stack).  Wide topic.

If one has noted, much of the Moodle docs are linux and show command line.   Hint ... hint.

Also Docs are not specific to shared hosting or limited hosting or specific hosting providers.

'SoS', Ken

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回复Ken Task

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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Hi Ken

You are right about the "packaged" hosting, aka shared hosting, with their restricted system interface is inadequate for a professional Moodle site. But we don't know the size of OP's site and his demands. Specially knowing that it runs now without a system administrators, I assumed that somebody who'll operate the panel is better than nothing.

To the OP: I don't know why a volunteer should maintain your site. In case you are looking for Moodle know-how, there is Moodle jobs https://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=54. (You can add an entry with the same login, since it is a part of this Moodle.)
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回复Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

b k -
Dear Visvanath,

Well, I guess part of me is still not 100% in on the whole Moodle thing. I agree that paid, professional hosting and management is ideal. But at this point we have such a small number of students I can't really justify the expense right now. As I said, there are lots of people involved in our org, especially in IT, so I though I would try to tap that resource.

Thanks everyone!
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

C Behan -
Hi b k,

Consider Moodle Cloud: https://moodlecloud.com/app/en/
You won't need to worry about really technical stuff (e.g. what Visvanath metioned: upgrading, backups, security and privacy concerns). These skills are very specialised and normally quite expensive. For a small site you will not get better value than that and in truth it might be cheaper than a volunteer!
Catherine
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回复C Behan

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Visvanath Ratnaweera -
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I had a short PM exchange with the OP. His operation is really low-key and in a rural area. Above all, the site is still being developed/tested with a pilot group. I would say, there is no big risk running it as it is, provided that the OP gets his volunteer trained to make regular site backups and, in longer intervals, pull a copy to his desktop. This volunteer will not be able to provide the 2nd level support the OP needs. But for that he has a good rapport in the community. See his past discussions.

I agree, the general question, is shared hosting is good enough for a small operation, remains unanswered. In sheer numbers they I outweigh the VPS, dedicated, clustered sites, I would say. And generally they are lower risk operations than the professionals here encounter. Just a feeling, nothing scientific.
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回复b k

Re: What should I ask for when seeking a volunteer to do admin work?

Rick Jerz -
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(Ken got in a few minutes ahead of me, and his comments are always helpful.)

When I first got started with Moodle, I thought that I would need to know PHP. Not true! PHP programming is only needed if one is going to start modifying core.

Yes, one needs how to pick a PHP version, how to make PHP setting changes, but that's all that I can think about. PHP skills are not required for upgrading or backing up Moodle. Maybe Ken or others will add to this.

If you plan to run your own server, then, of course, server knowledge is needed. (I don't have this knowledge, but I run my small Moodle on a VPS.)

Oh, rule #1 is to not run Moodle on a shared hosting plan.  A VPS is considered by some to be the minimal.

For backup, some Linux/server knowledge is needed. Also, some Linux knowledge is very helpful for installing Moodle, doing upgrades, and some general server things, like using CRON. Knowing something about databases, for example how to make changes to my.cnf for MySQL, is helpful. The more "general" computer knowledge, the better. For example, knowing what a compressed (zip or gz) file is.

Some knowledge of CSS is helpful so that you can tweak some of the visual aspects of your Moodle. I use CSS much much more than PHP (which is nearly zero.)

Much of what one needs to know depends upon how "custom" your school envisions its Moodle to be. Some folks want to charge in and make all kinds of adjustments. My suggestion is to begin with a simple Moodle install, use it, and progress slowly from there.

A very simple test might be to have the person show that they can set up Moodle on a VPS. A one-month VPS costs under $30 US, so there is not much expense in this kind of challenge.

Well, I have already said more than I know, but maybe my comments will generate even more helpful ideas.
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