Installation Instructions Open eClass 2.4
The Open eClass platform is a complete Course Management System. It is the solution offered by the Greek Academic Network GUnet to support Asynchronous eLearning Services. It is mainly designed, developed and supported by the GUnet Asynchronous eLearning Group and is distributed for free as open-source software.
The Asynchronous Open eClass 2.4 eLearning platform has been tested and operates well in:
Actions before installation - prequisities
A series of applications needs to exist and operate in order for the eClass platform to be installed and operate as well. These applications are:
1. Web Server (Apache2.x)
Apache has to be able to control pages of the .php .inc. type.
If you have not set the server yet, adding the following line to the httpd.conf file is enough:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .inc
You will also have to define that the default charset of pages sent by the Web Server is UTF-8. In Apache, this can be done by placing the following statement in the httpd.conf file:
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
It is recommended, for security reasons, to deactivate directory indexing.
Add the -Indexes option on the httpd.conf to the list of Options. If eClass is installed on /var/www/html, add the following statement to httpd.conf:
<Directory /var/www/> ................ Options -Indexes ................ </Directory>
If Microsoft Webserver (IIS) runs on your computer, you will have to deactivate it. Follow Start->Programs->Administrative Tools->Services and click on 'stop' in order to stop the «World Wide Web Publishing Service». Click right on the service and click on «Disabled» from the «Startup type» options to disable IIS permanently. Please notice that platform Open eClass operates without any problems under IIS web server, but without being exhaustive tested.
2. Scripting Language PHP (versions >= 5.0)
During PHP installation, it is important to activate the Apache support for PHP. Note that you will need to activate support for mysql, zlib, pcre, mbstring and gd modules in PHP. If you wish to use an LDAP server to authenticate users, you have to activate the module for ldap support as well. Most of the PHP distributions have built-in support for these modules (except for the ldap module maybe). Satisfaction of the above is checked during Open eClass installation.
You will also have to define the following parameters on the php.ini file:
short_open_tag = on magic_quotes_gpc = on
As far as the maximum file size allowed to be uploaded on the platform is concerned, you can adjust it to the following lines in the php.ini file:
upload_max_filesize = 40M (predefined value is 2M)
memory_limit = 25M (predefined value is 8M)
post_max_size = 45M (predefined value is 8M)
max_execution_time = 100 (predefined value is 30 sec)
What is more, if a PHP notice comes up during the application, search for the display_errors variable in file php.ini
and modify it in:
display_errors = Off
extension = php_ldap.dll
SMTP = mail.gunet.gr
sendmail_from with a valid sender email address
Finally, you are advised to define the default charset again by the following line:
default_charset = "UTF-8"
As soon as you have finished with changes, restart Apache Web Server.
3. DatabaseMySQL (versions 4.1.x or 5.x)
Along with the MySQL installation, a user account with database creation rights has to be created.
4. Mail Servers sendmail or postfix (optional)
In some of the platform operations (e.g. during users' registration), emails are sent. If any of the email submission applications does not function, platform mails are not sent anywhere.
For Windows only: Alternatively, in order to install the above, use the EasyPHP package or XAMPP package.
You can decompress the openeclass-2.4.tar.gz file using the tar xzvf openeclass-2.4.tar.gz command.
The sub-directory created during decompression of the packet includes all the application files and has to be placed in an accessible point by the computer web server.
To give access rights to web server you can type the following commands (e.g. if the web server runs as a www-data user)
cd (path of eclass) (e.g. cd /var/www/html/openeclass)
chown -R www-data *
find ./ -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
find ./ -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
Administrator's rights (root) are usually necessary for the above commands.
In order to start installing, visit the /install/ sub-directory address with a web browser.
If, for example, the main eclass directory is located in http://www.example.gr/openeclass/,
the address you have to type is http://www.example.gr/openeclass/install/.
Then follow the platform installation guide steps like the ones presented on your screen.
Note that during the installation process you will be required the following:
Decompress the openeclass-2.4.zip file in the root directory of the Apache. The subdirectory created during the decompression of the package includes all files of the application. This sub-directory has to be placed in an accessible path by the web server.
In order to start installation, visit the /install/ sub-directory address with a web browser.
If, for example, the main eclass directory is located in http://www.example.gr/openeclass/,
the address you have to type is http://www.example.gr/openeclass/install/.
Then follow the platform installation guide steps like the ones presented on your screen.
Note that during the installation process you will be required the following:
eClass introduces 3 tentative / general Schools / Faculties. (Faculty 1-Code TMA, Faculty 2-Code TMB etc). You will have to change and adjust them to the Schools-Faculties of your own institute. You can do this through the administrator tool. You will find more and further information for these actions in the Administrator's manual (included in the administator tool).
In case some institutes intend to substitute the initial eClass logo with one of its own, they just have to substitute the picture.
(path of Open eClass)/template/classic/img/logo_openeclass.png
with its own.
The default theme of platform is 'classic'. You can change it later from the admin tool to 'modern'. Note the change will be visible to users after next login to platform.
If you want to modify any message of platform then proceed with the following actions: Create a file of type .php with name english.inc.php (or greek.inc.php) and place it in directory (eclass path)/config/. Find the varible name which contains the message you wish to change and assing it the new message. e.g. If you want to change message
$langAboutText = "The platform version is";create english.inc.php in directory (eclass path)/config/ like this:
<? $langAboutText = "Version is"; ?>With the above way, you preserve custom messages from future upgrades of platform.
You can modify the names of the basic roles of the users of the platform by modifying the message file (eClass_path)/modules/lang/english/common.inc.php
You can add a text (e.g. informative) on the left and right of the platform homepage. For that reason, assign the value - message in variables $langExtrasLeft και $langExtrasRight, correspondingly in file (path του eClass)/modules/lang/english/common.inc.php
Open eClass supports mathematical symbols in subsystems "Exercises", "Forums" and "Announcements". In "Exercises" you can add math symbols in fields "Exercise Description" while a new exercise is created (or modified), in field "Comment" when a new question in an exercise is created (or modified). In subsystem "Forums" when you compose a new message or reply to an existing one and in subsystem "Announcements" when a new announcement is created. Math symbols must be enclosed with tags <m> and </m>. E.g. when you type
<m>sqrt{x-1}</m>
square root of x-1 will be drawed. For syntax of all mathematical symbols, read manual in http://(Open eClass url)/manuals/PhpMathPublisherHelp.pdf
Platform suppports English and Spanish language. If you wish to deactivate any of these language, just open config.php and simply add the following statement
$active_ui_languages = array('el', 'en'); (if you wish to deactive spanish) or
$active_ui_languages = array('el', 'es'); (if you wish to deactivate english).
By default the value of the above variable is
$active_ui_languages = array('el', 'en', 'es'); e.g. supports all three languages.
In the config.php file, the close_user_registration variable, which is FALSE by definition, will be defined. Changing the value to TRUE, registration of users with 'student' rights will not be free anymore. Users will have to follow a process similar to the teacher account creation process, namely filling in a student account application form, in order to obtain a platform account. The application will be examined by the administrator who either approves of it and opens an account, or rejects it.
The platform is delivered through the phpMyAdmin management tool. For safety and security reasons, access to phpMyAdmin is done through the browser's cookies. If you want to change it, you can refer to the config.inc.php file of phpMyAdmin.
During installation of eClass table config is created. Each row of table is a (optional) setting of platform. Installation program asks for these settings. If you don't know what to do, leave it as they are. All of them have a default value. You can change them later in via the admin tool. These settings are:
If you want to use the platform with a Web server which has the SSL support activated (e.g. https://eclass.gunet.gr), you can do it by defining the urlSecure variable on config.php. e.g.$urlSecure = "https://eclass.gunet.gr"
Finally, it should be noted to the users of the platform that they need to have javascript activated on their browser.
After completing installation, you are advised, for security reasons, to change access rights for
the /config/config.php and /install/index.php
files and allow reading only. (persmissions must be set to 444) e.g.
chmod 444 /config/config.php /install/index.php