Moodle

Stack

Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised learning environments.

Configuration

Type

Compose

Platform

linux

Source

Repo

Template by xneo1·Source

Services

moodle-db

Configuration

Image

linuxserver/mariadb

Volumes

/config : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/db

Env vars

PUID=1026PGID=100TZ=Europe/AthensMYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpassMYSQL_DATABASE=moodleMYSQL_USER=moodleuserMYSQL_PASSWORD=moodlepass

Restart

always

Image details

Pulls: 417.9M

User: linuxserver

Created: Oct 13, 2015

Updated: 11 days ago

Status: active

moodle

Configuration

Image

bitnami/moodle:latest

Ports

9490:8080

Volumes

/bitnami/moodle : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data1/bitnami/moodledata : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data2

Env vars

MOODLE_DATABASE_HOST=moodle-dbMOODLE_DATABASE_PORT_NUMBER=3306MOODLE_DATABASE_NAME=moodleMOODLE_DATABASE_USER=moodleuserMOODLE_DATABASE_PASSWORD=moodlepassPHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=512MMOODLE_USERNAME=mariusMOODLE_PASSWORD=mariushostingMOODLE_SITE_NAME=Learn With Marius

Restart

always

Image details

Pulls: 28.5M

User: bitnami

Created: Jul 22, 2016

Updated: 12 months ago

Status: active

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Moodle

Installation method

Docker Run

Docker Compose

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
Log into your Portainer web UI
Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
Select Moodle, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json

Show Me

Original stackfile

The compose file this template deploys, straight from its repo:

services:
  moodle-db:
    image: linuxserver/mariadb
    container_name: Moodle-DB
    hostname: moodle-db
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    healthcheck:
      test: out=$$(mysqladmin ping -h localhost -P 3306 -u root --password=rootpass 2>&1); echo $$out | grep 'mysqld is alive' || { echo $$out; exit 1; }
    environment:
      - PUID=1026
      - PGID=100
      - TZ=Europe/Athens
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpass
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=moodle
      - MYSQL_USER=moodleuser
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=moodlepass
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/db:/config
    restart: always

  moodle:
    image: bitnami/moodle:latest
    container_name: Moodle
    hostname: moodle
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    ports:
      - 9490:8080
    environment:
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_HOST=moodle-db
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_PORT_NUMBER=3306
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_NAME=moodle
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_USER=moodleuser
      - MOODLE_DATABASE_PASSWORD=moodlepass
      - PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=512M
      - MOODLE_USERNAME=marius
      - MOODLE_PASSWORD=mariushosting
      - MOODLE_SITE_NAME=Learn With Marius
     #- MOODLE_SMTP_HOST=SMTPhost
     #- MOODLE_SMTP_PORT=SMTPport
     #- MOODLE_SMTP_USER=SMTPaccountuser
     #- MOODLE_SMTP_PASSWORD=SMTPaccountpassword
     #- MOODLE_SMTP_PROTOCOL=SMTPprotocol
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data1:/bitnami/moodle
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data2:/bitnami/moodledata
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      moodle-db:
        condition: service_healthy

Or deploy it directly from the source:

git clone https://github.com/xneo1/portainer_templates
cd portainer_templates
docker compose -f Template/Stack/moodle.yml up -d

More install options in our documentation.

Container Documentation

moodle-db Documentation

A Mariadb container, brought to you by LinuxServer.io.

moodle Documentation

Bitnami Secure Image for moodle

Serve Moodle on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxy Domain App port Upstream

Proxying moodle.example.com to http://moodle:8080

Add this to your Caddyfile

moodle.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://moodle:8080
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs <container>
Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:9490 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :9490
Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 9490:8080 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

Use your server's real IP: http://your-server-ip:9490. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
Give it a minute after first deploy, moodle can take a while to initialise.
Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 9490

Permission denied on volumes

If the logs show "permission denied", the app can't write to its data folder on the host.

Fix the ownership: sudo chown -R 1026:100 /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/db (and the same for the other mapped folders)
Or set the PUID and PGID variables (defaults 1026:100) to match your own user, found with id $USER

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull linuxserver/mariadb

"manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists. This template uses latest, so try pinning a specific version instead.
"toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
"no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The always restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
Get the exit code with docker inspect <container> --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Stack won't deploy

Compose stacks fail fast on small mistakes, and Portainer shows the reason just above the editor.

YAML only accepts spaces for indentation, a single tab breaks the whole file.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

Bug within the app: Open an issue within moodle's repo
Template not working: Open an issue on xneo1/portainer_templates
This website not working: Open an issue on lissy93/portainer-templates

A Compose stack

Moodle is a Compose stack, a set of containers (2 of them) defined in one file and brought up together by Portainer, then started and stopped as a single app.

The services

This stack is built from 2 containers that run side by side. Here's each one, with the image it runs and anything it waits for first:

moodle-db runs linuxserver/mariadb
moodle runs bitnami/moodle:latest, starts after moodle-db

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 9490:8080 means it's reachable on port 9490 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open http://your-server-ip:9490 in a browser. It opens:

9490:8080, likely the web interface

Volumes

A volume is where Moodle keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

/config from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/db on the host
/bitnami/moodle from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data1 on the host
/bitnami/moodledata from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/moodle/data2 on the host

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Moodle takes 16 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

PUID, defaults to 1026
PGID, defaults to 100
TZ, defaults to Europe/Athens
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD, defaults to rootpass
MYSQL_DATABASE, defaults to moodle
MYSQL_USER, defaults to moodleuser
MYSQL_PASSWORD, defaults to moodlepass
MOODLE_DATABASE_HOST, defaults to moodle-db
MOODLE_DATABASE_PORT_NUMBER, defaults to 3306
MOODLE_DATABASE_NAME, defaults to moodle
MOODLE_DATABASE_USER, defaults to moodleuser
MOODLE_DATABASE_PASSWORD, defaults to moodlepass
PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT, defaults to 512M
MOODLE_USERNAME, defaults to marius
MOODLE_PASSWORD, defaults to mariushosting
MOODLE_SITE_NAME, defaults to Learn With Marius

Restart policy

The restart policy here is always, so Docker brings Moodle back up after a crash and again when the server reboots. Good for anything you want running around the clock. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Users and permissions

The PUID and PGID settings tell it which user and group to act as on your host. Point them at your own account (find yours with id $USER) so the files it writes into your mounted folders come out owned by you rather than root.

Networking

Portainer puts these services on one shared private network, so they can find each other by name (like moodle-db) while only the ports above are open to you.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Moodle up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Moodle is a click rather than a wall of config.

Moodle

Configuration

Services

moodle-db

Configuration

Image details

moodle

Configuration

Image details

Standalone Install

Install on Portainer

Template Import URL

Container Documentation

moodle-db Documentation

moodle Documentation

Proxy configurator

Troubleshooting

Check the logs first

Port already in use

Running but the page won't load

Permission denied on volumes

Image won't pull

"exec format error"

Container keeps restarting

Stack won't deploy

Raise an issue

Config glossary

A Compose stack

The services

Ports

Volumes

Environment variables

Restart policy

Users and permissions

Networking

Platform

Portainer app templates