Project Background
In the Fall of 2012, I was asked by the Aldine Independent School District to begin the process of updating the existing instance of MOODLE (version 1.9.1) to the latest version of MOODLE (version 2.3.3+) for the Aldine ISD Virtual School Academy. The Aldine VSA has over 72,000 users actively enrolled in it. The platform is located at http://aisdvs.aldine.k12.tx.us.
Besides the fact that the outage had to be synchronized during an extended “down-time” for the Virtual School, the main challenge of this upgrade was to not only update the MOODLE software, but to also move from one physical server to another during the upgrade. The upgrade was performed offsite via VPN on a Windows-based desktop. The entire process took 4 days to complete and was performed over the the Thanksgiving Break.
The general process was as follows…
1. Place MOODLE into “Offline/Maintenance” Status
2. Install and Configure MOODLE 1.9.1 onto the new hardware
3. Transfer MySQL database from old hardware to new hardware via MySQL Remote Copy Command
4. Transfer MOODLEDATA folder from old hardware to new hardware via SCP
5. Swap IP addresses of old hardware and new hardware for DNS
6. Verify functionality of MOODLE 1.9.1 platform on new hardware
7. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
8. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
9. Run Dropbox Assignment Upgrade Scripts
10. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
11. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.1.x
12. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.2.x
13. Run Database Upgrade Scripts
14. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.2.x
15. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.3.3
16. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.3.3
17. Allow 24-hours for system to “settle”
18. Place MOODLE into “Online/Operational” Status
2. Install and Configure MOODLE 1.9.1 onto the new hardware
3. Transfer MySQL database from old hardware to new hardware via MySQL Remote Copy Command
4. Transfer MOODLEDATA folder from old hardware to new hardware via SCP
5. Swap IP addresses of old hardware and new hardware for DNS
6. Verify functionality of MOODLE 1.9.1 platform on new hardware
7. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
8. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
9. Run Dropbox Assignment Upgrade Scripts
10. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.0.x
11. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.1.x
12. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.2.x
13. Run Database Upgrade Scripts
14. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.2.x
15. Upgrade to MOODLE 2.3.3
16. Verify upgrade to MOODLE 2.3.3
17. Allow 24-hours for system to “settle”
18. Place MOODLE into “Online/Operational” Status
The upgrade went very well and while there was a transitional phase for the instructors to make the move from the older 1.9.x platform to the 2.3.x instance. This period took about a month with the majority of the transition-related questions coming the first two or three days.
To-date, the client has been very pleased with the operation of the platform and has entered into a 12-month support contract with me to maintain the platform and provide instructor assistance as needed.
