GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Number of replies: 20

First time posting on the forums - hope the question is landing in the right place and is formatted appropriately!

I have recently installed Moodle on to a sub-domain purchased through GoDaddy. I performed my install using GIT commands in the terminal, and the Moodle site is accessible and operational - for the most part. 

There are two issues I have been attempting to troubleshoot - and repeatedly have run into dead ends. 

1) Unable to upload SCORM packages

2) Intermittent 'err_connection_closed" page displayed while using Moodle. Error will present for a couple minutes, and then Moodle will continue regular operation. 

I'm mostly wondering - if anyone has encountered similar issues, can these be resolved on a GoDaddy site where hosting *does not* include root access? Or should we be prioritizing a move to a server/vps with root access? I'm leaning towards the latter - as I believe I've read in documentation that not having root access can lead to configuration problems - but could use a second opinion or confirmation from someone with more Moodle experience!

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
It appears that you installed Moodle on a "hosted" GoDaddy server. I am not a GIT person, but I do have a GoDaddy VPS. I am actually surprised that you had success if you don't have a VPS or root access, but things are always changing.

What version of Moodle did you install?

If you go into your Moodle, Administration, Server, Environment, do you get all "ok's?

I don't use SCORM packages, so I cannot help with that question.

On my GoDaddy VPS, I don't get that "err-connection_closed" error. This could have something to do with PHP settings, but not sure. Maybe someone else will have an idea.

Yes, I tend to lean to a VPS, probably for the last 10 years.

GoDaddy is a server company, not a Moodle partner, so don't expect much help with Moodle issues. I have been pleased with their server and uptime.
In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Currently running 4.0.4

I was able to provide myself with SSH access - but have no sudo/root access. This at least let me setup Moodle through git which has made the main code pretty easy to maintain.

Greens all down the board in Server>Environment

Definitely not expecting much from GoDaddy support, and I seem to have stumbled into an area of IT that our company does not have any existing support for, so doing some heavy learning, investigating, and shopping for support :\

I think I want to lean towards switching to a VPS, but given I don't have experience managing that - don't know what I don't know about signing up to open that can of worms
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
Some companies, like GoDaddy, will let you purchase a VPS for a short period, like a month or two. I do this when I want to experiment with setting up a VPS. Based on your knowledge, you can see how easy or hard it is. I always need to buy the cPanel utility because I am not smart enough to do everything independently.
In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
This is helpful feedback and suggestions, thank you smile
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Evidently you are on or have leased a 'shared' server offering from GD.   Many providers offer levels of 'shared' hosting.   Cheapo/rock bottom cost usually equates to 'no enough' when it comes to a Moodle.   Which is yours?  Don't think the errors or inability is because of your Git install, but other ...

The typical response to a posting such as yours would be to turn on debugging - all the way to developer level.   When issues occur, copy the debug seen on screen to a text file.   Come back here and share the contents of that text file ... editing out sensitive info if there is any.

Do you have access to any logs?   In particular, error logs.   Some hosting providers have their PHP set to report errors in the directory where the error occurs.

from the root of moodle code:

find ./ -name error_log

See any?

'err_connection_closed' - is probably referenced in error logs.   Wonder if that's connection to the web service or the DB server, however, as on shared hosting one could also have a shared DB server - clue is in config.php for DB server.  That one you probably should ask GD help desk.

How large a file is the SCORM .zip file?

Shared hosting is limited ... has caps ... got any restrictions like that with your server plan?   If you are having trouble getting started now, predict more issues as you moodle grows.

Think I've said this before ... but will again ... 'better to have more than enough, than not enough'! smile

'SoS', Ken


In reply to Ken Task

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
%100 percent on the money Ken, currently on one of the shared hosting plans with GoDaddy - and kind of learning what restrictions that has me under as I go. I'm exploring switching to a plan that provides VPS with root access - but that is also opening another can of worms a little beyond my expertise - which is something this Moodle project was already was doing...

I should have access to everything (except that which GoDaddy does not give me access to), but as I said - a little outside of my expertise, so may need a little support in identifying/navigating to various pieces.

From my main Moodle folder I was able to view the error_log, but there are no entries since April.

I'll do some poking, submit some support, and see if I can get an error log from the db side.

The SCORM files range are 500-700mb. I have been able to manage my upload limits using .htaccess and all settings seem to indicate it should be fine, including the GoDaddy limits for the server in our package

This is where I'm worried about another layer of complexity... I actually had gotten SCORM packages to upload briefly for our Moodle configuration using .htaccess - that is, until we implemented our SSL certificate.

From some of the reading I've been doing, it sounds like if the SSL is configured poorly in apache it can cause errors like this? It's something I've wanted to dig into more - but without root access, I'm not even sure how I can check those settings

I've turned on all the debugging I can for now - and also looked at the console in browser while attempting a SCORM upload - will upload a screenshot of what I'm seeing there in case it helps point me in a direction for further investigation!
Attachment SCORMuploaderror.png
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Emma Richardson -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
Those are big files for a hosted server. You could well be hitting a php timeout. I would suggest bringing GoDaddy support in on this.
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Emma Richardson

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
I downloaded another package, 232,690kb - still hits the same 413 error. Immediately returns 'Alert - An error occurred whilst communicating with the server'

I'm fairly confident the file size is not the issue, as I have uploaded files of this size previously?
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

First work-around (ugh!) ...

In moodle setup a file system repo.

Call it SCORMS - upload the zips there.

That can be done outside of Moodle.

Login to the moodle, begin your building of that SCORM link, and select as the resource for the zip file the SCORMS file system repo zip file - it's already on the server!

'SoS', Ken

Uhhh ... are we pounding a square peg into a round hole ... and if we are successful (for now), what happens when we've kept pounding and finally split that square peg?   Ahhh ... I know ... we now seek wood putty - so we have a work-around to the work-round ... and the spin goes on until ...  All the Kings horses and all the Kings men (meaning GD Tech Support) ....



Average of ratings: Useful (2)
In reply to Ken Task

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Alright - this workaround definitely worked. Thanks for the suggestion, not sure I would have thought of it!

Also, hearing you on the endless cycle of workarounds - and that is a concerning path... going to continue assessing our setup and if I can transition to something that will provide better control and support long term
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Emma Richardson -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
Have you reached out to GoDaddy support??
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Emma Richardson

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Short answer is no - our site is purchased through a reseller account managed by some of our contracted IT services. Unfortunately, the stuff I'm working on falls outside the skillset of our contracted IT services...

Trying to find the 'support' information/contact for our reseller site!
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

'Reseller site' ... so that means GoDaddy is hop #2 when it comes to support. :|

We already know GoDaddy ... but who is the reseller - ok to mention company.

On such systems the 'reseller' has or probably has something called 'Web Hosting Management' from which they allocate servers - when they do that they also allocate resources that server will have.   The fix for your upload issue really might come from there.

What did you use to get the SCORM zips to your file system repo?  FTP/SFTP?

You have ssh/shell access and you did say you used git to install ... so let's find out a little more about the server you have.

uname -an

free

df -h

Some ini files might have a warning at the top about 'don't edit this.' and mention it is controlled by WHM.

php.ini might be one of those ...

In the moodle, Site Admin - Server - PHP Info ... that will display what php.ini file is being loaded - the path to it.  Then, from command line:

head -n 20 /path/to/that/php.ini

That will show the top 20 lines of that file.

When it comes to hosting a DIY moodle ... support is always an issue.

'SoS', Ken


In reply to Ken Task

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Reseller is our contracted IT services company I believe, am following up for more details. Very busy people - response times not always fantastic.

Ended up uploading the files via the file manager in cpanel (seemed easier than doing via terminal)

uname -an

Linux p3plzcpnl476739.prod.phx3.secureserver.net 2.6.32-954.3.5.lve1.4.82.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Mar 16 17:47:27 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 74231184 70321620 3909564 4729600 3506136 46893320
-/+ buffers/cache: 19922164 54309020
Swap: 0 0 0

df -h

df: cannot read table of mounted file systems: No such file or directory

Nothing in the PHP about WHM or anything sad
"[PHP]

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; About php.ini ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; This file controls many aspects of PHP's behavior. In order for PHP to
; read it, it must be named 'php.ini'. PHP looks for it in the current
; working directory, in the path designated by the environment variable
; PHPRC, and in the path that was defined in compile time (in that order).
; Under Windows, the compile-time path is the Windows directory. The
; path in which the php.ini file is looked for can be overridden using
; the -c argument in command line mode.
;
; The syntax of the file is extremely simple. Whitespace and Lines
; beginning with a semicolon are silently ignored (as you probably guessed).
; Section headers (e.g. [Foo]) are also silently ignored, even though
; they might mean something in the future.
;
; Directives are specified using the following syntax:
; directive = value"

Thanks for the support thus far - am on a steep learning curve.
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Thanks for running those ... more 'education' ...

uname -an and the response:

Linux p3plzcpnl476739.prod.phx3.secureserver.net 2.6.32-954.3.5.lve1.4.82.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Mar 16 17:47:27 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

shows that the linux core is el6 - that's short for either Redhat Enterprise Release version 6 or CentOS Enterprise Release version 6.  Support for that core version ended some time ago.   Of course, on shared, you don't see what/if upgrades are available - they don't want you to know and figure since you are on shared, you don't wanna know!   One can be ignorant .... to a point! :|

free - 

total used free shared

Mem: 74231184 70321620 3909564

Total used is 74 looks to be Meg?  most of that free????

And not surprising that df -h responded with ...

"df: cannot read table of mounted file systems: No such file or directory"

on shared systems providers tend to cram as many customers on such as possible.

On a VPS one should see the device names, mount points, and partitions size.

example of a CentOS 7 with a hosting provider that offers storage devices for data and since it is a VPS I've added a Google Bucket mounted:

devtmpfs        3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs           3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           3.9G  401M  3.5G  11% /run
tmpfs           3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/xvda1      158G   57G   94G  38% /
tmpfs           782M  4.0K  782M   1% /run/user/0
/dev/xvdb        99G   67G   27G  72% /mnt/data
sossrv          1.0P    0  1.0P   0% /mnt/gbucket

So, yeah, when you move to a true VPS, you'll have more control for sure! smile

In some cases, it is 'easier' with a panel ... I do the same with Webmin.

'SoS', Ken


In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
To follow up on a few things that have been said.

Emma is right. You should follow up with your hosting provider (even if it is not GoDaddy). GoDaddy does allow people to become "resellers." I tried this many years ago but aborted the plan because it didn't make sense. If you are working with a reseller, that is who you should reach out to when you have problems. However, sometimes the GoDaddy website articles can help.

If you end up with a VPS, you will have many things you can do and control. (I have never found any problem with my Moodle, but this is not to say that I have tried everything in the world.) You will have ssh and FTP features. You will be able to pick your database and PHP versions.

I have uploaded and downloaded big files from my VPS. For example, each day I download a 10GB backup file of my Moodle. I am unsure if your problem is related to a SCORM-specific file because I don't do SCORM. Ken has provided some useful ideas that seem to be helping.

You will need to estimate your server size. If, for example, you have 100 of these 1GB SCORM files, you will certainly need 100GB storage on your server. (You probably know this, but I thought I would mention it.)

Right now, I do not have a video showing how I do this. Learning how to manage a VPS will take some time. Some hosting companies, like GoDaddy, expect a VPS owner to be able to do more things on their own.

GoDaddy is just one of several hosting companies that I see folks using. Bluehost is another example. I am not trying to "sell" anyone on any particular company. I am simply letting you know that I have had success with GoDaddy, and GoDaddy's pricing has been reasonable for what I am trying to do.
In reply to Rick Jerz

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ryan Tanner -
Makes sense - our current hosting package seems to offer unlimited storage - I'm expecting this might change when/if we switch to a VPS for costing reasons, and I'll have to be a lot more mindful.

I'm not expecting high SCORM usage - but there are some basic digital literacy packages offered by microsoft that could be some low hanging fruit for offering some additional support for folks in our organization. Niche things like this will be nice to be able to support.

Thanks kindly for the insight on GoDaddy - it is definitely helpful, as I had been exploring a few other hosting options as well.
In reply to Ryan Tanner

Re: GoDaddy Hosting - Moodle Stability and Issues

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

First line shows a 413 error.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=apache+error+413

And now you know I use FireFox! smile

If you want to take a deep dive in setup of cert for server:

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

You do probably need to do that at some time ... but not now!   Kinda have to pick your battles ... one at a time.   So focus ... try not to get distracted.

It's a journey ... never ending, BTW.

OS - Ubuntu is a good choice ... LTS version ... lots of stuff on net.   Most moodle docs reference Ubuntu.

managed vs un-managed ...

managed (shared hosting and VPS Managed), provider does the heavy lifting ... but then you need to watch out ... moodle is kinda sensitive about PHP version, MySQL/MariaDB version etc.  You are limited ... as you are/will discover - period ... can't get blood out of a turnip!

unmanaged ... you do the heavy lifting.   Yep, water now lapping over your nose and sometime difficult to breathe!   But ... it gets easier ... less scary ... over time.

Learn:

package manager - apt-get/yum/dnf

ownerships/permissions ..

and perhaps the most important command: 'man' ... the online manual!!!! smile

Have a Ubuntu Guru friend of yours on 'speed dial'! smile (in same time zone!).

'SoS', Ken