Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.

Global Open Versity

Systems Integration Hands-on Windows Labs Training Manual

Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim Web Meeting and
MS Office Add-in on Windows

Kefa Rabah
Global Open Versity, Vancouver Canada
krabah@globalopenversity.org
www.globalopenversity.org

Table of Contents Page No.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTALL GUIDE FOR MOODLE WITH DIMDIM WEB

MEETING AND MS OFFICE ADD-IN ON WINDOWS 2
Part 1: Installing Xampp Server 2
Step 1: Installing XAMPP on Windows 2
Step 2: Access MySQL Command Line in XAMPP 5

Part 2: Installing Moodle 6

Step 1: Moodle Pre-Installation Setups 6

Part 3: Install Dimdim Web Meeting Server 5

Part 4: Integrating Moodle with Dimdim Web Meeting 11

Step 1: Pre-requisites: 12
Step 2: Moodle-Dimdim Integration Steps 12
Step 3: Download & Installations 12

Part 5: Schedule Web Meeting Course from Moodle 15

Step 1: Pre-requisites: 15
Step 2: Creating a Course in Moodle – a Teacher’s Perspective 15
Step 3: Starting the Meeting 18
Step 4: Joining the meeting – a Student’s Perspective 19

Part 6: Moodle LMS and MS Office 2007 Integration 20

Step 1: Install OAM Plug-in 21
Step 2: Working with Moodle and OAM plug-in 23
Step 3: Open an Office file from a Moodle course 25
Step 4: Save an Office file to a Moodle course 27

14BWeb Content Management Training 29

A GOV Open Knowledge Access Technical Academic Publications License

Enhancing education & empowering people worldwide through eLearning in the 21st Century

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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

Global Open Versity

Systems Integration Hands-on Windows Labs Training Manual

Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim Web Meeting

and MS Office Add-in on Windows

By Kefa Rabah, krabah@globalopenversity.org Aug. 09, 2009 GTS Institute

Moodle is a free and open source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management
System, Learning Management System (LMS), or Virtual Learning Environment. Moodle is designed to
help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. Its open source license and
modular design mean that people can develop additional functionality. Development is undertaken by a
globally diffused network of commercial and non-commercial users, streamlined by the Moodle company
based in Perth, Western Australia.

Dimdim is Open Source web meeting product. With Dimdim you can show Presentations, Applications
and Desktops to any other person over the Internet.

MS Office Add-in for Moodle (OAM) is a free add-on that could make life easier for teachers, professors,
and others who use the online educational system Moodle. The plug-in, which works with Office 2003
and Office 2007, allows users to save Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents directly to the open source
online service. It also allows users to edit directly in Office a document saved on Moodle, which is widely
used in colleges and at some K-12 schools as well.

Solution
In this Hands-on Labs module, you will learn how to install Moodle LMS on Windows OS. It’s assumed
that you know how to install Windows OS: Win XPSP3/Vista/7/2003/2008. Next, you’ll learn how to
deploy a multimedia solution for Moodle LMS using Dimdim Web Meeting for your Web meeting,
Webinars, and video streaming. You’ll also learn how to install and configure MS Office Add-in for
Moodle to give you the capability to work directly from your MS Office on your PC while seamlessly
connected to your Moodle server. For LAMP server we have used XAMPP server. The entire lab training
was performed on VMware, however, do feel free to use any virtual machine as desired for the hands-on
labs. Upon completion of this Hands-on lab session you should have gained capability and expertise to
plan design and deploy Moodle LMS solution.

Part 1: Installing Xampp Server

Step 1: Installing XAMPP on Windows

1. Go to http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#641 and click "XAMPP Windows
1.7.1". Download the Installer options. At the time this article was written the version was:
"xampp-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe".

2. Run the installer. If you want, you can choose to install the Apache and MySQL servers as Services,
which will make them start automatically every time you start Windows. If you don't choose this
option, you will need to use the XAMPP Control Panel application to start the servers individually
each time you need them. This may be desirable if you don't intend to use your servers that often.

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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

3. Upon completion of installation, the XAMPP Control Panel will open (if not, click Start » All
Programs » Apache Friends » XAMPP » XAMPP Control Panel). This tool lets you start
and stop the various servers installed as part of XAMPP.

Fig. 1

4. Start Apache and MySQL by clicking on the "Start" buttons next to each item. If prompted by
Windows Firewall, click the button labeled "Unblock".
5. Go to http://localhost/xampp . If you are directed to a page with the XAMPP logo, your installation
was successful. Congratulations!

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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

Fig. 2: Xampp home page

6. Click Security link to look down your server against cybercriminals, and the wizard to complete
the lockdown. Secure only XAMPP, MySQL and PhpMyAdmin but not PHP as we’re working only
on development test, however, do lock it down if under production.

Fig. 3

• To fix the problems for mysql, phpmyadmin and the xampp directory simply use
=> http://localhost/security/xamppsecurity.php <= [allowed only for localhost

Note: You can add or change the files in C:\xampp\htdocs to change what you see at http://localhost/
on any local web browser. You may need to delete index.php in that directory to stop the server from
automatically redirecting you to the XAMPP configuration interface.

Here are the locations of some configuration and log files you may want to view or change:

Type Location

C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf,
Apache configuration
C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\*.conf

C:\xampp\apache\logs\access.log,
Apache logs
C:\xampp\apache\logs\error.log

PHP configuration C:\xampp\php\php.ini

MySQL configuration C:\xampp\mysql\bin\my.cnf

Notes about XAMPP

Note that "localhost" (often resolving to the reserved IP address 127.0.0.1) is a special name defined
in the DNS system as a name that a host uses to reference itself, using the loopback interface. URLs that
refer to "http://localhost/" can only be used on the system with XAMPP installed. However, by
default, XAMPP configures Apache to allow connections from outside your system, so people on your
network, or in some cases users from anywhere in the world, may be able to access your Apache-served
files using your IP address.
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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

You can go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ to use the locally-installed copy of phpMyAdmin, a tool

useful for manipulating your MySQL databases in a graphical environment.

If you installed under C:\ on the Windows version of XAMPP, you can use the command-line interface
(CLI) version of PHP at C:\xampp\php\php.exe. If you want to be able to execute PHP by simply
typing "php" at the command line (CMD) in either operating system, you need to add the directory
containing PHP (C:\xampp\php on Windows and /Applications/xampp/xamppfiles/bin on
Mac OS X) to your "path" variable. There are tutorials available for doing this on Windows and on Mac
OS X.

If you want to fine-tune your Apache, MySQL, or PHP settings, you can go to http://localhost/xampp/ to
view and change parts of your XAMPP configuration. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can
also hand-tweak the configuration files in the XAMPP installation directory.

Note that XAMPP may tell you that PHP is insecure because it is not running in "safe mode". However,
PHP's safe mode feature is considered a broken security measure (and has been removed in the next
version, PHP 6.0) and should not be enabled.

Step 2: Access MySQL Command Line in XAMPP

Or XLMPP for that matter

There are two ways to do it. Both are basically the same, but one just makes it a lot easier. We'll go over
the harder one first.

1. First Method:
1. Start the command prompt, and cd to the xampp directory. It'll usually be something like:

cd ..\..\Program Files\xampp

if you used the installer and default install location.

Once in there, cd to the mysql bin directory.

C:\Program File\xampp\mysql\bin>

2. Now, run the command:

mysql –u root -p

Note: You’ll be prompted for password. If you've changed the username or password of the MySQL
user, you need to change the –u <username> and –p <password> accordingly.

2. Second method:
Basically the same way as before, but we'll create a batch file to make it easier.

1. First, create a file called mysql_command.bat in the XAMPP directory.

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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

2. Edit this file with Notepad or any text editor, and paste in this:

@echo off

echo Starting MySQL command line...

"C:\Program Files\xampp\mysql\bin\mysql.exe"

pause

3. Save it, and ensure to change the –u <username> and –p <password> accordingly.

4. Now, run mysql_command.bat and a command prompt will show up with the MySQL command
line running.

That’s it - It's as easy as that.

Part 2: Installing Moodle

Step 1: Moodle Pre-Installation Setups

1. Start Windows Explorer and under C:\Program Files\xampp\ make a new folder and name
it: moodledata, which hold our uploaded files.
2. Download the latest .ZIP version of Moodle from http://download.moodle.org/ and unzip it under
C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs folder.

2. Create Moodle database

mysql -u root -p
> CREATE DATABASE moodle DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;
> USE moodle;
> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON moodle.* TO 'moodleuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY
'moodlepass';
> GRANT SELECT,LOCK TABLES on moodle.* TO 'moodlebackup'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'moodlepass';
> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
> QUIT

The above also creates a backup user moodlebackup so that you can use mysqldump to make database
backups without accident.

We have now performed the necessary pre-install requirement for Moodle and very ready for final
configuration round.

3. Configure Moodle website

1. Now ipconfig (look for your server’s IP address)
2. On another computer within the LAN open a web browser and put in your server address:
http://192.168.83.150/moodle replace 192.168.83.150. with your computer IP.

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Fig. 4

3. Click the Next button and ensure your PHP setting declared as Pass, and click the Next button.

Fig. 5

4. On this page ensure that Web Address, Moodle Directory and Data Directory are set
correctly and then click the Next button.

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Fig. 6

5. On this page ensure that your MySQL settings are entered correctly, and then click the Next button.

Fig. 7
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Global Open Versity Labs Step-by-step Install Guide for Moodle with Dimdim on Windows v1.1

6. On Checking your environment page, ensure that items are all verified as checked/OK, i.e., there is
no warning or problem, then click then Next button.

Fig. 8

7. Follow the link below to access the full doc.

The full document has moved to Docstoc.com. You can access download it from here:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/30271824/?key=MDdhNzQyZDAt&pass=Y2ZlNi00Yzhm

-----------------------------------------------
Kefa Rabah is the Founder of Global Technology Solutions Institute. Kefa is knowledgeable in several
fields of Science & Technology, Information Security Compliance and Project Management, and
Renewable Energy Systems. He is also the founder of Global Open Versity, a place to enhance your
educating and career goals using the latest innovations and technologies.
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