This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure Gibbon Learning Management System (LMS) on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 LTS servers.
Gibbon LMS is a free, open-source platform created by teachers to solve problems teachers face daily in the classroom, allowing seamless planning, teaching, and assessment.
Teachers can use this Gibbon to create powerful tools to help students learn via a user-friendly and responsive interface where students can follow each course via any device.
This LMS platform is robust, mobile-friendly, and responsive out-of-the-box, so your students can enjoy reading and interacting with your courses from multiple devices anywhere.
For more about Gibbon LMS, please check their Homepage
To get started with installing Gibbon LMS, follow the steps below:
Install Apache2 HTTP Server
You will need a web server to run Gibbon LMS, and the Apache2 HTTP server is the most popular open-source web server available today. So go and get it for Gibbon LMS.
To install the Apache2 server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing the Apache2 web server, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
Now that Apache2 is installed browse your browser to the URL below to test whether the web server works.
http://localhost
If you see the page above, then Apache2 is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
Gibbon LMS also needs a database server to store its content. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Gibbon LMS.
To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Restart MariaDB server
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message.
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
Gibbon LMS is a PHP-based CMS, and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu’s default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default configuration file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
The lines below are a good setting for most PHP-based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Every time you change the PHP configuration file, you should restart the Apache2 web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Once PHP is installed, create a test file called phpinfo.php in the Apache2 default root directory to test whether it’s functioning. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address, followed by phpinfo.php
http://localhost/phpinfo.php
You should see the PHP default test page.
Create Gibbon LMS Database
Now that you’ve installed all the required packages, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Gibbon LMS database.
Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called Gibbon
CREATE DATABASE gibbon;
Create a database user called gibbonuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'gibbonuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the gibbon database.
GRANT ALL ON gibbon.* TO 'gibbonuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Gibbon LMS Latest Release
After installing the server and packages above, please get the latest copy of Gibbon LMS from its download site.
After downloading, use the commands below to extract the archived content into the Apache2 root directory.
cd /tmp wget https://github.com/GibbonEdu/core/archive/v18.0.01.zip unzip v18.0.01.zip sudo mv core-18.0.01 /var/www/gibbon
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the Gibbon LMS root directory and give Apache2 control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/gibbon/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/gibbon/
Configure Apache2
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Gibbon LMS. This file will control how users access Gibbon LMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called Gibbon.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/gibbon.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/gibbon
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/gibbon/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable the Gibbon LMS and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo a2ensite gibbon.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the Gibbon LMS setup wizard complete.
http://example.com/
Before continuing with the installation wizard, validate that all requirements are met.
Next, type in the database name, username, and password and optionally add the demo data and continue.
After that, create an admin account, set your school profile, and complete the setup.
That’s it!
Enjoy~
Congratulation! You have successfully installed Gibbon LMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04
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