This document outlines several important considerations for self-hosting Moodle, including application needs, system architecture, network requirements, disaster recovery and archiving plans, security measures, support structures, and options for cloud hosting. It prompts questions about intended Moodle usage, technical infrastructure, integration needs, code management, backups, monitoring, user authentication, network capabilities, and staff skills for ongoing administration and support. The goal is to help institutions evaluate their needs and resources for successfully self-hosting the Moodle learning management system.

1. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER
Mike Hughes
City University London
Mike.Hughes.1@city.ac.uk
CityMoodle

2. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
Let’s look at some questions that
you might be asking …

3. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• What are you going to use Moodle for?
• Which version of Moodle are you going to run?
• Will you allow 3rd party plugins / customisations?
• What other systems will you integrate with?
• How will you manage your codebase?
• Will you need a developer?

4. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• What platform will you run Moodle on?
• What flavour database?
• Are virtualised or physical servers?
• Will you need need multiple servers?
• load balancing?
• database clustering?
• What level of availability/resilience?
• How will you authenticate users?
• What backup strategy will you need?
• What monitoring tools do you need?

5. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• Where will your traffic come from?
• Do you need a firewall?
• Is your network fast enough?
• What monitoring tools do you need?

6. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• What is your Disaster Recovery Plan?
• What happens at start of new year?
• When does stuff get archived?
• How much space will you need for archiving?

7. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• How will you authenticate users?
• Is there a password policy?
• Will you allow 3rd party plugins?
• What is backup/DR strategy?
• How secure are your servers?
• Will you be able to keep Moodle code updated?
• How will you safeguard against DDoS attacks?

8. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• Do you have the skills to support all of the above?
• How will users report issues?
• What are your supported hours?

9. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
Application
Architecture
Network
DR/Archiving
Security
Support
Cloud
• What is cloud hosting?
• How much does it cost?
• Will I still need a system administrator?

10. MOODLE SELF-HOSTING
MEET THE CITY TEAM
Mike Hughes
City University London
Mike.Hughes.1@city.ac.uk
CityMoodle
Rob Amarjit Mike Iain Eric Andy Paolo Robert Mark Russ Naomi Mike Amanda