Chamilo LMS on Ubuntu 22.04

How to Install Chamilo LMS on Ubuntu 22.04

 February 7, 2023  Posted in Ubuntu

Chamilo is an open-source learning management system (LMS) used for delivering online courses and training programs. It provides features such as course content management, student registration and progress tracking, online assessments, and collaboration tools. Chamilo is a free, web-based platform that can be customized to fit the needs of schools, businesses, and organizations.

In this tutorial, we will show you step-by-step how to install Chamilo on Ubuntu 22.04 OS.

Step 1: Update Operating System

Update your Ubuntu 22.04 operating system to the latest version with the following command:

# apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Apache webserver

You can install it via apt package manager by executing the following command.

# apt install apache2

Verify the status of the Apache service using systemctl status command:

# systemctl status apache2

Output:

● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running)
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
   Main PID: 3489 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 2200)
     Memory: 4.8M
        CPU: 134ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─3489 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─3491 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─3492 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Step 3: Install PHP and PHP extensions for Chamilo

Chamilo requirement PHP7.4. So you will need to add the DEB.SURY.ORG repository to APT.

# apt install software-properties-common
# add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y

To install PHP and additional PHP modules to support Chamilo, run the following command:

# apt-get install php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-{cli,common,curl,zip,gd,mysql,xml,mbstring,json,intl,ldap,apcu}

Verify if PHP is installed.

php7.4 -v
Output:
PHP 7.4.33 (cli) (built: Jan 13 2023 10:42:56) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.4.33, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

After installing all the packages, edit the php.ini file:

# nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

Change the following settings per your requirements:

memory_limit = 512M
max_execution_time = 360
post_max_size = 128M
upload_max_filesize = 128M
date.timezone = America/Chicago

To implement the changes, restart Apache webserver:

# systemctl restart apache2

Step 4: Install MariaDB and create a database

To install MariaDB run the following command:

# apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Verify the status of the MariaDB service using systemctl status command:

# systemctl status mariadb

Output:

● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.6.11 database server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running)
       Docs: man:mariadbd(8)
             https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
    Process: 22423 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 22424 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 22427 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c [ ! -e /usr/bin/galera_recovery ] && VAR= ||   VAR=`cd /usr/bin/..; /usr/bin/galera_recovery`; [ $? -eq 0 ]   && >
    Process: 22492 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c systemctl unset-environment _WSREP_START_POSITION (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 22495 ExecStartPost=/etc/mysql/debian-start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 22463 (mariadbd)
     Status: "Taking your SQL requests now..."
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 2200)
     Memory: 61.0M
        CPU: 425ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/mariadb.service
             └─22463 /usr/sbin/mariadbd

By default, MariaDB is not hardened. You can secure MariaDB using the mysql_secure_installation script.

# mysql_secure_installation

Configure it like this:

- Set root password? [Y/n] Y
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y

Now run the command below to log in to the MariaDB shell.

# mysql -u root -p

Once you are logged in to your database server you need to create a database for the Chamilo installation:

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE chamilo;
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'chamilo'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Str0ngPasrf1';
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON chamilo. * TO 'chamilo'@'localhost';
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> exit;

Step 5: Download Chamilo

Download the latest version of Chamilo. Find the newest version of this software on the official download page.

As of writing this tutorial, the latest stable version is 1.11.18.

# wget https://github.com/chamilo/chamilo-lms/releases/download/v1.11.18/chamilo-1.11.18.zip

Extract the downloaded package:

# apt install unzip
# unzip chamilo-1.11.18.zip

Copy the extracted files to the Apache web root directory:

# mv chamilo-1.11.18 /var/www/html/chamilo

Set the ownership and permissions of the Chamilo directory:

# chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/chamilo
# chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/chamilo

Step 6: Configure Apache for Chamilo

Run the commands below to create a new VirtualHost file called chamilo in the /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory.

# nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/chamilo.conf

Paste the content as shown below:

 <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/chamilo/
    
    ServerName your-domain.com
    ServerAlias www.your-domain.com

    <Directory /var/www/html/chamilo/> 
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory> 

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/your-domain.com-error_log
    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/your-domain.com-access_log common

 </VirtualHost>

Remember to replace your-domain.com with the domain name of your server.

Save and exit the configuration file.

Then enable the "rewrite" module in Apache:

# a2enmod rewrite

To enable this site run the command:

# a2ensite chamilo.conf

To implement the changes, restart Apache webserver:

# systemctl restart apache2

Step 7: Access Chamilo Web Interface

To access the Chamilo installation wizard, go to your browser and visit http://your-domain.com.

Chamilo Installation Wizard

Select the language you’d like to use when installing:

Chamilo Installation Language

Then, you will see the system requirements screen:

Chamilo Requirements

At the bottom, you will see the New Installation button that you have to click:

Then, accept the application license:

Chamilo License

Set your company name, your name, and email, as well as the language to use. This data will help the program to evolve.

Company Set

Provide your database information and click on the Next.

MySQL Database Settings

Provide your site information and click on the Next.

Chamilo Config

You will see a summary of the installation:

Chamilo New Installation

Then, the installation will start and if everything went well, you will see the following screen:

Chamilo Installation Proces

To protect your config directory run the following command:

# chmod -R 555 /var/www/html/chamilo/app/config

To delete the installation folder, run the command below on the server:

# rm -r /var/www/html/chamilo/main/install

After deleting the folder go to http://your-domain.com/ and you will get the login page.

Login Page

Provide your admin username and password and click on Login. You will be redirected to the dashboard:

Chamilo Dashboard

 

Comments and Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Chamilo LMS. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Chamilo LMS on Ubuntu 22.04 OS.

For additional help or useful information, we recommend you to check the official Chamilo LMS documentation.

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