Contents. Summary The complete install packages for Mac OS X are named Moodle4Mac and allow a very easy way to install Moodle on your Mac computer (laptop, desktop, server). Moodle4Mac is available from. You will find other downloads for Linux and Window Operating Systems that may involve more customization of configuration files. Moodle4Mac does not have sufficient security for public, production servers - only use for private, local testing purposes. If you want to use Moodle on an OS X Server connected to the internet please read the instructions.
These packages allow Moodle to be installed, along with the prerequisites that includes a web server, database and scripting language (Apache, MySQL and PHP in this case). Several versions of the complete install package are available.
You will find versions for Intel based Macs and for older PPC based Macs. Please use the correct version for your processor.
The instructions on the download page provide guidance on which version is likely to be most suitable. Note 1: The latest complete install package version components, may not be backwardly compatible. Always check version compatibility of each component if you intend to develop materials on a later version of Moodle than the version installed on your 'main' Moodle site. In short, complete install packages are designed for first time install on a 'clean' machine. Note 2: If you want a secure, public server with OS X, you may be interested to use the normal web server that comes preinstalled with every Mac Computer-see the for Moodle.
However, remember that the complete package Moodle4Mac is ready to use and no additional programs must be installed and configured together. System requirements + Apple OS X Computer + iMac, Mac mini, MacBook, Mac Pro, Xserve + Processor: Intel x8664 (i5, i7, Xeon, Core 2 Duo) + RAM: 2 GB or better + Hard Disk: 800 MB free + System Software: OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 Download and install Step 1: Download the zipped disk image file from Moodle. Please choose the correct file for your processor type. The zip archive should be unzipped automatically when the download is complete.
If the download file is not unzipped please do this manually. Step 2: Double click the disk image Moodle4Mac.dmg to mount the installation disk. Step 3: Move the folder MAMP into the folder Applications. Moodle4Mac is based on MAMP (Mac OS X, Apache, MySQL, PHP). MAMP does not save parameters in a registry or in system variables. If you want to delete Moodle4Mac you only need to move the MAMP folder into the Trash. For more information about MAMP please look at the.
Step 4: Now you are ready to start your web server. Go to the Applications folder.
Find the MAMP folder and open it. Step 5: Double click the MAMP icon to start the server.
Step 6: Start your browser and type or into the address bar. You will start your preinstalled Moodle. You do not need to do any installation. You are ready. Hey, that was easy, wasn't it?? Step 7: Login with the username admin and the password 12345 and you will be the main administrator of your new local Moodle.
Language packages By default Moodle4Mac is delivered in English, any other language must be loaded. The german standard package de translates all text strings to german, the additional package dedu adds the informal conversation du, the additional package dekids provides scholastic simplifications. The direct link for the language import is After importing addition, the settings for the default language for the user account and admin can be switched to German. Only then you will find the menus and settings dialogs your Moodle in German.
Of course, all text in the text boxes on the home page and in the two preloaded courses Moodle4Mac About and How to update as they were originally entered. If you like, you can change these texts like. Completely backup your server Just as you installed Moodle4Mac the first time on your computer, you can backup a customized system completely.
Because all files and configurations are stored within the directory MAMP, you can easily backup your MAMP directory to an external disk. Your Moodle will be frozen together with all settings and all the courses, and it can be recovered at any time in the same form.
First stop all server processes like httpd and mysqld, then exit the MAMP program. After everything stopped you can copy or move the MAMP directory.
If you want to transfer MAMP to one or more other computers, you will create a ZIP archive containing the MAMP directory. This ZIP archive can be copied anywhere. To an USB memory, to a web server, on a burned CD. The target computer must be a Mac. On this Mac, unpack the ZIP archive and move the MAMP folder to the Application folder.
Everything is going exactly as in section download and installation. In this way you can prepare your Moodle for a presentation or a training lab, and you can distribute it. Server in your local network In various workshops we used Moodle4Mac as a quick server installation for our local network.
Make sure that you change the passwords for Moodle and MySQL before you allow access to this server. Otherwise, you'll be amazed how creative your user group can be. Please read the safety instructions of Moodle4Mac.
In this section you will see all required settings to use the server in the local network. Only three steps are required. The first step is to change one line in the config.php for Moodle. In the second step you need to adjust the base address in Moodle.
And in your third step you open the firewall for httpd. To get your Moodle to another computer in your local network your Mac must be clearly addressable. You may use a fixed IP address or a DNS name. In local networks usually ip addresses of the private sections 10.xxx, 172.xxx, or 192.168.xx are assigned. If your Moodle4Mac gets an ip address this address must never change. Please do not use any static ip address if you do not know exactly what you do. In case of doubt ask the administrator of the local network.
You can't use Moodle4Mac as a local server which is intended to work on different networks. Edit config.php For the following your computer should be a Mac in a computer lab.
For this example it has the the fixed ip address 192.168.0.200. You must edit now the configuration /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/moodle24/config.php and change the wwwroot from localhost to 192.168.0.200. You must use your own address for your own network!! After your changes you should get your Moodle with the address dbtype = 'mysql'; $CFG-dbhost = 'localhost'; $CFG-dbname = 'moodle24'; $CFG-dbuser = 'moodle'; $CFG-dbpass = 'moodle'; $CFG-dbpersist = false; $CFG-prefix = 'mdl'; $CFG-dboptions = array ( 'dbpersist' = 0, 'dbsocket' = 1, ); // Use the ip address of your computer instead of localhost $CFG-wwwroot = '// $CFG-wwwroot = '$CFG-dataroot = '/Applications/MAMP/data/moodle24'; $CFG-admin = 'admin'; $CFG-passwordsaltmain = 'someverylongsecret!#A!'
; $CFG-directorypermissions = 00777; // try 02777 on a server in Safe Mode requireonce('$CFG-dirroot/lib/setup.php'); // There is no php closing tag in this file, // it is intentional because it prevents trailing whitespace problems! Replace the base address The original base address localhost is stored in many places within the database, your Moodle will not work properly with the modified base address. But images can not be displayed because they are accessible only from their correct address. From your local computer you might not see the problems but if you are outside on a computer getting access to the site. Moodle has a tool that allows you to replace the database entries from to. You call this tool via the address No.
There is no menu option for it, probably because at thoughtless action with this tool also can shred the database. In the first field enter, in the second field (or the ip address that you have assigned in your installation). Use the correct spelling in both fields! With the hook you acknowledge that you know about the risk. Open the firewall The firewall in OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 can be enabled and disabled the System Preferences Security Firewall. If the firewall is disabled, although Moodle4Mac works without further settings in the network, but your computer is vulnerable to all requests from the outside. The latter you should not do!
The the system firewall of OS X is a packet filter that determines for each program if a data packet should be passed or blocked. If the firewall is enabled every program must be entered on a list to respond to requests from outside. Moodle4Mac (or MAMP) uses the httpd program to deliver the sites. You will find httpd in the MAMP folder.
The path is /Application/MAMP/Library/bin/httpd. To enter httpd into the whitelist of the firewall you must click forward on this path. No idea if there would be a configuration file which you can edit. You need to get this setting for the firewall only once. If httpd is approved then all computers in your local network can access to Moodle.
By the way it is not important which is used by httpd. Port 8888 or port 80. Do not open the firewall for mysqld because Moodle itself gets a connection to mysql on the server but no user should communicate with mysql directly from the client. Connect Moodle from your network. Your web server can be connected with the url in your local network, where 192.168.0.200 is an example address which your Mac got from the local router on your LAN.
Usually such numbers start with 10.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x, or 192.168.x.x. All users from any computer in your network can use your Moodle via this address.
Mac Portable Computers
This also works if your computer is connected to the internet directly. If you open the firewall in your internet router and if you forward the port 8888 to your computer then any user everywhere on the world would be able to work with your Moodle. But please remember also that there are a lot of security risks if you do this. It would be better if you don't do this!! Some words about the security. MAMP is designed for local computers MAMP can be used for testing and developing websites locally on their Apple computers. MAMP should not be used in a production environment because everybody knows all the settings and all the predefined passwords.
It's prepared for an easy start and not for a public web server!! But with some careful modfications, you can sufficiently secure MAMP and Moodle4Mac to use them in public development environments. How to secure MAMP? I found some ideas in the following document:. It's really old and some of the instructions are not correct for the current version.
There is also a new package MAMP Pro that will let you do a lot of settings for a more secure web server. Please look to the web page for this product. You can find a describtion for MAMP Pro on the. It's commertial and not free! Step by step to secure Moodle4Mac Secure connections with HTTPS The text is copied from (excepted the last steps). stop MAMP.
backup your /Applications/MAMP/conf folder. open a terminal. enter: openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024. Enter a password twice.
enter: openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr. Enter the previous password. You need to answer some questions. Common name expects your local name (for me it was jerome.moodle.local).
enter: openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt. enter: cp server.key server.tmp. enter: openssl rsa -in server.tmp -out server.key. Enter the previous password.
Syncthing is still in development, although a large number of features have already been implemented:. Web GUI. Configure and monitor Syncthing via a responsive and powerful interface accessible via your browser. Works on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and OpenBSD.
Run it on your desktop computers and synchronize them with your server for backup. Syncthing doesn't need IP addresses or advanced configuration: it just works, over LAN and over the Internet.
Every machine is identified by an ID. Just give your ID to your friends, share a folder and watch: UPnP will do if you don't want to port forward or you don't know how. Synchronize as many folders as you need with different people.