Moodle on Docker

Initialise a Moodle development environment inside containers using Docker.

The instructions here should be enough to get you started. However, it's advised to have some knowledge in Docker to debug issues should you need too.

What you'll need before you start

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Perl (optional)
  • Needed for the install_database script
  • macOS and the various Linux distros have Perl included
• Ruby
  • Prerequisite for docker-sync
• docker-sync
  • gem install docker-sync

How to install

Copy docker-config-template.php into your local Moodle directory and rename it to config.php.

Set execute permissions on the following scripts:

chmod +x moodle-docker install_database

In the config file, set the LOCAL_MOODLE_PATH variable:

LOCAL_MOODLE_PATH=<path of your local Moodle folder>

If you are running on macOS, install the Unison File Synchroniser via Homebrew:

brew install unison
brew tap eugenmayer/dockersync
brew install eugenmayer/dockersync/unox

The instructions above are not applicable to Linux

Configure HTTPS

Create the TLS certificate and private key:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /tmp/nginx.key -out /tmp/nginx.crt

Move the created certificates into the tls folder in this project.

Create the containers and download the Docker images

./moodle-docker start

Note: First-time initialisation may take awhile (2-10 mins). This is because it's downloading several images from Docker Hub and propagating the files in the Moodle folder into the containers.

When switching between branches, allow some time for the files to sync across to the containers before using the install_database script. You can view the state of the sync on the terminal tab where you initially ran the command: ./moodle-docker start

Install a fresh instance of Moodle.

./install_database

You can now access the Moodle instance by going to https://localhost in your browser.

Why docker-sync?

Running Docker volumes on macOS is slow when a large number of files are involved (Moodle contains a lot of files).

Docker will start a virtual machine to insert the containers into using the currently slow osx file system for volumes. A combination of these two factors is why this issue exists.

The Docker developers are aware of this and is actively working on it, the long term plan for this project is to remove docker-sync for a more unified interface once this issue is fixed.

The Unison file synchroniser is a good alternative to propagating files.

Docker on a Linux distro do not have these limitations, as it's run natively on the kernel.

See this link for more info.

Usage

To execute commands within a container:

docker exec -i -t <container name> /bin/bash

If you specify the phpfpm container, you can, for example, run Moodle's purge_caches.php script.

To stop the running containers CTRL + C.

You can view the state and name of the containers by entering the following command:

docker ps

To remove the containers:

./moodle-docker clean

Behat

You will need to enable File Sharing in Docker by adding the path of your local Moodle directory (Preferences -> File Sharing).

VNC Viewer

To view the progress of Behat tests in a browser - download VNC Viewer.

1. Open the application
2. While the containers are running, enter 0.0.0.0:<VNC_PORT> into the field
3. You will be prompted for a password. The password is secret

In the config file, you can set the VNC_PORT. For example, you can do this if the default port is already in use.

Xdebug

Xdebug is installed into the PHP-FPM container, however, it has only been tested and verified to be working on macOS Mojave 10.14.2 with PHPStorm 2018.3.3.

Troubleshooting

It's slow

You may need to allocate more resources to Docker by going to the Advanced tab and adjusting the CPU and Memory values.

The Postgres container does not work?

Ensure the pgdata folder is empty; yes, even hidden files.

I get the following error "Please move or remove them before you can switch branches"

Something went wrong when syncing the files to the container, use the command:

git clean -f -d

Then checkout the branch again.

Note: If you have untracked files, the command above will remove them; either Git stash or ignore them.

If all else fails?

Remove the containers and reinitialise the environment:

./moodle-docker clean

./moodle-docker start

Other:

The customised PHP-FPM container can be found in Docker Hub.

Tested on:

• macOS Mojave 10.14.2
• Ubuntu 18.04