[Moodle] OT intranet gateway

Wed Jun 20 09:31:33 EST 2007

We are also using VMWare virtual servers, but not for moodle, or SQL etc.
We had a very complicated print server that we could not rebuild onto a new
physical machine due to a number of customised apps, so we sucked it into a
VM and it runs well.  We also run our MRBS and Squid machines on VM.  

We will not run SQL etc on a VM due to the CPU and HD loads it causes.
Remember that if you have two virtual machines running on one host OS that
you have the total load of three OS's and three antivirus packages etc
running on the same CPU.   Even with a twin xeon our tests we had a very
noticeable increase in response times. 

Stephen Bloomer

IT Department

St. Peter's College

Cranbourne-Frankston Road

Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3977

Email support at stpeters.vic.edu.au 

Phone  +61 3 5996 6733

Fax      +61 3 5996 8277

-----Original Message-----
From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Donald Hew
Sent: Wednesday, 20 June 2007 9:01 AM
To: moodle at edulists.com.au
Subject: Re: Re: [Moodle] OT intranet gateway

My school is similar to Roland's and we have purchased 2 new servers this
term (4Gb RAM, 1Tb RAID 10 SATA HDD etc) instead of purchasing 4 separate
"real" servers. Less space is definite an advantage as we are running our of
space in the server room. Our new moodle is running on a virtualised
environment.

BTW, our Moodle v1.81 plus has Moodle Networking activated at
http://moodle.vermontsc.vic.edu.au, anyone interested in trialing this with
us???

Given the advantages outlined by Roland, however, with the current trend in
virtualisation (I believe there are 3 types of virtualisations), and we are
using VMware as well, I found that performance is slightly down compared to
having a "real" server due to the intensive hard drive access. This might be
an important factor for you to consider before moving to virtualisation!

-----Original Message-----
From: "Roland Gesthuizen" <rgesthuizen at gmail.com>
To: "The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List" <moodle at edulists.com.au>
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:17:45 +1000
Subject: Re: [Moodle] OT intranet gateway

hahaha I have to invite you over for another show and tell but to be honest,
I got my inspiration for this from Jeff Clement and what Kevork and others
are already doing with file servers at school.

Instead of having a large farm or shelf with many assorted file servers, you
work with a souped up file server (s) .. with say 4 Gb, 1 Terrabyte of
raid10 x 4 HDD etc. You then run virtual file servers on this hardware using
the free but very powerful VMWare technology.

Backups are as easy to do as scheduling to move the VMWare file to another
server or storage media, migrations involve moving this virtual machine file
then flicking the virtual start button. Each virtual server can even run a
different operating system, as many as you want or need .. with say, a new
Moodle server to check out an upgrade, a backup proxy on stand by after you
fiddle about with some changes.

VMWare is free and in for the long haul. Google are an inspiration, already
doing exactly this with their tens thousands of servers. I cut my teeth
playing about with the free workstation version. :-)

Regards Roland

On 19/06/07, Laurie Savage <sav at pvgc.vic.edu.au> wrote:
>
> Somebody had to bite! Roland was just waiting for somebody to take the
> bait!!!!!
>
> Laurie
>
> On Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 01:07:43PM +1000, Stephen Digby mentioned:
> > What is the multiple server virtualisation project ?
> > ====================================================
> > Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> > mailto: admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au
> > Cheltenham Secondary College www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au <
> http://www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au/>
> > Ph: 613 955 55 955  Fx: 9555 8617 Mb: 0431-701-028
> > ====================================================
> > The Good Parent: What well nourished child wants to leave the womb ?
> What loved child wants to leave the
> > breast ? What beloved child wants to leave the home ? All growth
> includes some pain. We are here for you
> > whenever and whatever you need. Stephen Digby
> >
> >
> >   _____
> >
> > From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:
> moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Roland Gesthuizen
> > Sent: Monday, 18 June 2007 3:13 PM
> > To: The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [Moodle] OT intranet gateway
> >
> >
> > We are using Moodle too as our CMS and a wise choice to stick with a
> FLOSS solution. Money saved each can go
> > into staff training, support and hardware for the CMS .. as one parent
> on school council kindly noted, school
> > money spent that is invested back in the local school community. We will
> explore setting up a Drupal server
> > once the dust settles down from our recent multiple server
> virtualisation project. :-)
> >
> > Regards Roland
> >
> >
> > On 15/06/07, WEIR Andrew <WEIR at thomascarr.vic.edu.au> wrote:
> >
> > Apologies for the Cross post. (I know we are all busy with reports)
> >
> > The college has decided to implement a content management system as the
> > first step to a full LMS however we have run into an issue where by due
> > to cost it is prohibitively expensive to by licenses for every student
> > to use the system. To over come this the students use the guest access
> > and staff use there own password protected accounts.
> >
> > What I would like to know is if anyone has used? Is using ? Or has heard
> > of any Gateway tool that we could put between this system and the
> > internet to force students to log into using there current School
> > accounts which them lets them see the guest account.
> > This also prevents Google from indexing the CMS.
> >
> > Thanking you in advance
> > Andrew
> >
> >
> >
> > Andrew Weir
> > VK3HFT
> > Information Technology Coordinator
> > Intranet Manager
> > Thomas Carr College
> > 35 Thomas Carr Drive
> > Tarneit
> > 3024
> > Phone 97484 466
> > Fax 9748 4388
> >
> > There is no place like 127.0.0.1
> > Please consider the environment before printing this message.
> >
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> > _______________________________________________
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> > Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> > http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
> >
> > "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
> change the world; indeed it is the only
> > thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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> > Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> > http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au  <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au> - Victorian
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> Information Technology Teachers
> > Association Inc
> >
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> --
> Laurie Savage
> ====================================================================
> Markbook/Moodle Coordinator::Pascoe Vale Girls College::03 9306 2544
>
> If you can read this, you're too close.
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
> and
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers
> Association Inc
>

-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

--
Donald Hew 
Director of ICT, Cisco Instructor & Webmaster
Vermont Secondary College
P O Box 138 Morack Road
Vermont VIC 3133 Australia
tel: (+61) 3 8872 6345
fax: (+61) 3 9874 4368

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