Hi Moodle community, and thank you for your help.
This is my first time posting here. I teach English at a university in Japan and have been using Moodle since April. My students use Moodle in class, we have a computer room and they all connect to my site at the same time, which twice has led to my site being shut down because too many people were connecting to it from one IP address and my SiteGround host's firewall shut down my site for security reasons. It is back online now but the SiteGround staff has recommended that I get the Virtual Private Server plan for $99 a month. They would configure the server to my needs so there would be no more firewall problems.
My question is... Do I need to go for this expensive plan with SiteGround or are cheaper options available? Or could I buy my own server and install Moodle on it? (But I am pretty much a beginner with high tech computer stuff... I am worried that I will have problems that I will not be able to solve on my own...)
Also, if I got my own server, would my students be able to use it to connect to the Internet for non-Moodle purposes, or would it have to be used for Moodle only?
Thank you to anyone who can help.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Claro in Kitami, Japan
To comment on your second question first... It's not quite rocket science to build a server and get Moodle running, but there are lots of places you can go badly wrong (e.g., security, backups). If you are starting from nothing then you either have a lot of reading to do or you need to buy some time from someone who can get you started. Moodle, by the way, is the easy bit 
Lots of people accessing Moodle at the same time is, of course, the best way to load up a Moodle server. It depends what they are doing to - everybody doing a quiz can quickly bring an inadequate server to it's knees. The VPS thing is in many ways irrelevant, you just want a hosting arrangement that allows the use you require. There will be other options, you might want to check out your nearest Moodle Partner (I *am* affiliated to a Moodle Partner just to be clear)
Lots of people accessing Moodle at the same time is, of course, the best way to load up a Moodle server. It depends what they are doing to - everybody doing a quiz can quickly bring an inadequate server to it's knees. The VPS thing is in many ways irrelevant, you just want a hosting arrangement that allows the use you require. There will be other options, you might want to check out your nearest Moodle Partner (I *am* affiliated to a Moodle Partner just to be clear)
Hello Jennifer in Kitami from Eric in Muroran
You definitely don't need to go for the bigger Virtual server. Siteground are notorious for trying to upgrade people to bigger than you need plans. The reason your site goes down is siteground often puts too many accounts on one server. You may like to type your site's address into the space here http://whois.domaintools.com/
you will probably find that your site, going by average siteground sites, is on a server with about 500 other accounts. That is way too many for one server. Hosting companies try to get as many on a server as possible. If your server has between 100 to 150 you are in the right ball park for a hosting company. I'm not sure what the average for moodle partners is (I'm not affiliated with any hosting company) but I imagine it is quite a deal less again than that.
Still, I have been very happy with the hosting company I've been with for the last 5 years and often have all 30+ students accessing my site during class.
If you get your own server it will depend how you set it up as to what you can do with it.
Good luck!
You definitely don't need to go for the bigger Virtual server. Siteground are notorious for trying to upgrade people to bigger than you need plans. The reason your site goes down is siteground often puts too many accounts on one server. You may like to type your site's address into the space here http://whois.domaintools.com/
you will probably find that your site, going by average siteground sites, is on a server with about 500 other accounts. That is way too many for one server. Hosting companies try to get as many on a server as possible. If your server has between 100 to 150 you are in the right ball park for a hosting company. I'm not sure what the average for moodle partners is (I'm not affiliated with any hosting company) but I imagine it is quite a deal less again than that.
Still, I have been very happy with the hosting company I've been with for the last 5 years and often have all 30+ students accessing my site during class.
If you get your own server it will depend how you set it up as to what you can do with it.
Good luck!
Hi Eric,
Thank you for your message. Please tell me which Moodle partner you are using, how much they charge, and what they offer.
Is Muroran in Japan??
Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Jennifer
Thank you for your message. Please tell me which Moodle partner you are using, how much they charge, and what they offer.
Is Muroran in Japan??
Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Jennifer
Actually, I'm not using a partner. I'm using a hosting company and have been using the same one for the last 5 years. I'm very happy with them. I mentioned which host I'm using in that tutorial link that was part of my last post.
You must be new to Hokkaido! Muroran is in Japan on the South coast of Hokkaido. Hope to see you at the JALT Hokkaido CALL conference in Sapporo in October!
All the best,
Eric
You must be new to Hokkaido! Muroran is in Japan on the South coast of Hokkaido. Hope to see you at the JALT Hokkaido CALL conference in Sapporo in October!
All the best,
Eric
I recommend hosting with a Moodle partner for these reasons:
- Partners know Moodle, and know how to host it efficiently and reliably - most have been using Moodle, running sites, etc. for many years.
- Partners contribute 10% of all revenue back to Martin's core development team, so that they can continue to develop the software. Places like Siteground usually don't contribute anything.
- Often a Moodle partner will be the same price or cheaper when you get to the larger size sites (standard webhosts low costs offerings are generally only tuned to handle a few users logged in at the same time).
Dear Michael, Eric, and Howard,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I am now checking out Moodle partners abroad and here in Japan.
Thank you for writing so quickly.
Cheers,
Jennifer
Thank you very much for your feedback. I am now checking out Moodle partners abroad and here in Japan.
Thank you for writing so quickly.
Cheers,
Jennifer
Though I commend the moodle partners I wouldn't say give up on hosting all together. I know that teachers don't get a whole lot of money and they want to use it as well as possible. You could look at this tutorial that goes through the steps of getting a host and setting up moodle via cpanel. Though it was a few years ago, the only moodle partner hosting set up I saw was one where a number of courses from different colleges were at the same web address. I was quite shocked as teachers had access to the student information of students at the other colleges - not only there own students. I hope that is not indicative of the general moodle partner set up and imagine there is quite a deal of difference amongst the moodle partners. There is no doubt that they do a great deal for the moodle community and supporting them is ideal. However if you have limited funds, I don't think you have to. I would also do my homework before committing to one. Good luck!
Hi Eric,
Thank you for your message. I think that right now I will go with a Moodle partner as I don't have the time or expertise to get started with my own server now. Maybe someday...
Thanks again for your message.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
Thank you for your message. I think that right now I will go with a Moodle partner as I don't have the time or expertise to get started with my own server now. Maybe someday...
Thanks again for your message.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
*Disclaimer* my company is also a Moodle Partner and we have already made contact.
Just to add to Michael's and Howard's comments for the benefit of other readers.
Going with just a hosting service like Siteground is a DYI venture.
Your decision might weigh on whether you wish to spend time to tinker under the hood or have a professional do the work for you.
What Moodle Partners do and is not really clearly understood is usually:
1. Backup Moodle sites on a daily basis, usually in a completely different location and keep a 'snapshot' on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. We recently restored a course that a teacher accidentally deleted from a site backup we made a few days earlier.
2. By contract with the Moodle Trust, Moodle Partners must maintain a 99.9% uptime record for their servers. That calculates to just under 9 hours a year. Therefore, Moodle Partners choose server configurations carefully with the best data centers available.
3. Update Moodle in case of bug fixes and security patches, upgrade to later versions, all for free and when available.
4. Keep a low user to sever ratio. That is, the servers are not overcrowded.
5. Offer help desk support. This means that you spend less time searching for answers to your questions and problems on moodle.org. The Moodle Partners do that for you, they usually respond within 24 hours. They also have direct contact with the Moodle Trust in case there is a difficult problem with an installation.
6. They tap into the collective wisdom of not only core developers, but with other Moodle Partners, finding ways to improve their services to their clients and comparing notes on technical issues. In some cases they collaborate, supporting each other in areas they might need mutual assistance.
Just to add to Michael's and Howard's comments for the benefit of other readers.
Going with just a hosting service like Siteground is a DYI venture.
Your decision might weigh on whether you wish to spend time to tinker under the hood or have a professional do the work for you.
What Moodle Partners do and is not really clearly understood is usually:
1. Backup Moodle sites on a daily basis, usually in a completely different location and keep a 'snapshot' on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. We recently restored a course that a teacher accidentally deleted from a site backup we made a few days earlier.
2. By contract with the Moodle Trust, Moodle Partners must maintain a 99.9% uptime record for their servers. That calculates to just under 9 hours a year. Therefore, Moodle Partners choose server configurations carefully with the best data centers available.
3. Update Moodle in case of bug fixes and security patches, upgrade to later versions, all for free and when available.
4. Keep a low user to sever ratio. That is, the servers are not overcrowded.
5. Offer help desk support. This means that you spend less time searching for answers to your questions and problems on moodle.org. The Moodle Partners do that for you, they usually respond within 24 hours. They also have direct contact with the Moodle Trust in case there is a difficult problem with an installation.
6. They tap into the collective wisdom of not only core developers, but with other Moodle Partners, finding ways to improve their services to their clients and comparing notes on technical issues. In some cases they collaborate, supporting each other in areas they might need mutual assistance.
2. By contract with the Moodle Trust, Moodle Partners must maintain a 99.9% uptime record for their servers. That calculates to just under 9 hours a year.
One of us can't add up. I make 99.9% uptime 86.4 hours per year.
9 hours per year is a tough standard to set. We certainly don't do that well at the OU, although we do much better than 86.4 hours downtime per year.
Of course, most of the down-time tends to be around upgrade time, which you can try to schedule for non-busy times. We probably have less than 9 hours downtime per year if you exclude version updates, but I would not like to be contracted to deliver that myself.
2. By contract with the Moodle Trust, Moodle Partners must maintain a 99.9% uptime record for their servers. That calculates to just under 9 hours a year.
One of us can't add up. I make 99.9% uptime 86.4 hours per year.
9 hours per year is a tough standard to set. We certainly don't do that well at the OU, although we do much better than 86.4 hours downtime per year.
Of course, most of the down-time tends to be around upgrade time, which you can try to schedule for non-busy times. We probably have less than 9 hours downtime per year if you exclude version updates, but I would not like to be contracted to deliver that myself.
I get 365 * 24 / 1000 = 8.76 hours.
HI all,
re the discussion on web site availability, check out Wikipedia here, where indeed it clarifies the issue - ie 99.9% = a downtime of 8.45 hours per year.
However, you must be careful in using this as a measure of how good a web host service is, as a downtime of 365 hrs a year ( approx 95% uptime ) would not necessarily be of concern if it was consistently at 2am in the morning - however 8 occurrences at 10am in the morning ( still 99.9% uptime ) over the year would be seen as "flaky" service.
Wikipedia have another good article called the Myth of the Nines which I recommend you read, as it explains in detail that quoting a percentage ( eg 99.9% ) is not always that relevant.
There are many issues that need to be considered in this arena, not just moodle expertise, but accessibility to the qualified engineers and not just help desk bunnies, timezone, and all the other usual business metrics.
Incidentally, when the The Planet ( who host Moodle.org ) had their big explosion in the power room and knocked their Houston Data Centre out earlier this month, the Moodle.org website was restored quickly to another server, but the Forums were unable to send emails for 3 days ( that's a 99.00% uptime if nothing else happened that year ). So while your server may have a good uptime, the infrastructure of the Internet as a whole can come into play. Sometimes things are just out of your control!!!
kind regards
Gary
"check out Wikipedia here, where indeed it clarifies the issue - ie 99.9% = a downtime of 8.45 hours per year"
Just nitpicking (defending my calculations ), Wikipedia says that it is 8 hours, 45 minutes and 56 seconds, not 8.45 hours 
Just nitpicking (defending my calculations
Hi,
Just to clarify and provide context.
The downtime restriction is not exactly strict in the contract. I had to re-check. ;)
Not to get into particulars, we interpret 99.9% uptime as a guideline for the level of professionalism to which we endeavor to adhere and what is expected from Moodle.
Also, as you mention with The Planet incident, downtime in this case was due to an accident. It would be nearly impossible to keep to these standards in this case unless we design our servers to the level similar to banks and online gambling services.
What we interpret for our services is that the downtime due to incompetence or neglect should not be more than just under 9 hours per year.
Of course, as other providers, we put sites in 'Maintenance mode' for upgrades and fixes. However, this is a planned event and the site is not 'down' unexpectedly and we do coordinate this with our clients beforehand.
Bill
Just to clarify and provide context.
The downtime restriction is not exactly strict in the contract. I had to re-check. ;)
Not to get into particulars, we interpret 99.9% uptime as a guideline for the level of professionalism to which we endeavor to adhere and what is expected from Moodle.
Also, as you mention with The Planet incident, downtime in this case was due to an accident. It would be nearly impossible to keep to these standards in this case unless we design our servers to the level similar to banks and online gambling services.
What we interpret for our services is that the downtime due to incompetence or neglect should not be more than just under 9 hours per year.
Of course, as other providers, we put sites in 'Maintenance mode' for upgrades and fixes. However, this is a planned event and the site is not 'down' unexpectedly and we do coordinate this with our clients beforehand.
Bill
Thanks for clarifying, and apologies for my inability to do simple arithmetic. I obviously don't have enough maths degrees yet, either that or two many.
Anyway, that sort of up time guideline is certainly a good argument in favour of going with a Moodle partner.
Anyway, that sort of up time guideline is certainly a good argument in favour of going with a Moodle partner.
Hi all,
Bill said "Also, as you mention with The Planet incident, downtime in this case was due to an accident. "
Again this is where the use of the "nines" percentage gets unreliable. The US Missile defence System reportedly has a guaranteed uptime of 6 nines ( 99.9999% ) - including accidents. But at what cost? The relationship between the nines and $$$ is very exponential.
So it comes down to the old adage of "you get what you pay for". But as mentioned before, don't get too hung up on these percentages, as they don't really give a good indication of the reality of quality of service.
kind regards
Gary