Question
Managing Moodle sites vid DO
- Posted on December 5, 2022
- DigitalOceanUbuntuUNIX/Linux
Asked by f944930d0b4b41cb8163e21184aa40
Hi,
What’s the best way to manage Moodle sites, hosted on DO server? We recently took over a client with two Moodle sites. We have never managed these type of sites before and moved the two sites from a shared hosting environment (with cPanel) to a new DO server. We’ve since worked with a freelance sysdev who claims that it would have been better to keep the sites on the old, shared server, as cPanel is better when it comes to things such as updating the Moodle app. Is he correct and what can we do now, seeing as we don’t really want to setup a new shared hosting server just for these two Moodle sites. The sysdev has told me that he spent up to 4 hours doing backups, updating the two Moodle sites (from 4.0.2 - 4.1) and also setting cron jobs, where she said it would only have taken 15 minutes with cPanel. Is he right about cPanel being better/easier for Moodle and what can we do (within DO) to make future updates / service easier and faster?
Thanks!
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Hi @f944930d0b4b41cb8163e21184aa40,
Well, I don’t know about the 4 hours of work as, doing Backups, adding cron jobs and updating the Moodle sites is a straightforward job.
Having said that, hosting your websites on a server that has a Panel is always easier as you have a UI. With that said, there are free Panels that do not need payment for a license.
If you decide to use cPanel, you can always use the Marketplace image to get a Droplet with pre-install cPanel on it:
https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/cpanel-whm
You can also check the CyberPanel here:
https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/cyberpanel
All in all, having a panel like cPanel is for sure easier for the user but you’ll still need a Dev to support the cPanel service as well.
Now, if you decide to stay on the current setup, here are some tips. You can use DigitalOcean’s Backup solutions rather than doing backups manually:
Snapshots: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/images/snapshots/
Backups:
https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/images/backups/
In terms of updating Moodle, you can always follow this article by t he official owner:
https://docs.moodle.org/401/en/Upgrading
And in terms of cronjobs since they have been configured once, you w on’t need to reconfigure them.
Hope this helps!