Deploy a Moodle learning platform

Deploy Moodle on Clever Cloud with a managed MySQL database, persistent data files and scheduled tasks.

Moodle is an open source learning management system for creating courses and personalised learning environments. It runs on Clever Cloud’s PHP runtime with a managed database and persistent storage outside the application code.

This guide was tested with Moodle 5.2.2, PHP 8.4 and MySQL 8.4. Check the requirements for your Moodle release before selecting other versions.

Prepare Moodle

Download the release you want to deploy, then initialise a Git repository:

MOODLE_VERSION=5.2.2
mkdir myMoodle
cd myMoodle
curl -L "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/archive/refs/tags/v${MOODLE_VERSION}.tar.gz" | tar -xz --strip-components=1
git init

Create config.php at the project root. It reads the linked MySQL credentials and the public URL from environment variables, and keeps Moodle data outside the public directory:

<?php

unset($CFG);
global $CFG;
$CFG = new stdClass();

$CFG->dbtype = 'mysqli';
$CFG->dblibrary = 'native';
$CFG->dbhost = getenv('MYSQL_ADDON_HOST');
$CFG->dbname = getenv('MYSQL_ADDON_DB');
$CFG->dbuser = getenv('MYSQL_ADDON_USER');
$CFG->dbpass = getenv('MYSQL_ADDON_PASSWORD');
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_';
$CFG->dboptions = [
    'dbpersist' => false,
    'dbport' => getenv('MYSQL_ADDON_PORT'),
    'dbsocket' => '',
    'dbcollation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
];

$CFG->wwwroot = getenv('MOODLE_URL');
$CFG->dataroot = getenv('APP_HOME') . '/moodledata';
$CFG->admin = 'admin';
$CFG->directorypermissions = 02777;
$CFG->sslproxy = true;

require_once(__DIR__ . '/public/lib/setup.php');

Moodle ignores config.php by default to prevent accidental credential commits. This version contains no credentials, only environment variable references, so the deployment step adds it explicitly.

Create the application and services

Install Clever Tools, log in, then create a PHP application and a linked MySQL add-on:

npm i -g clever-tools
clever login

clever create -t php -a myMoodle
clever addon create mysql-addon myMoodleDatabase -p xs_sml --link myMoodle

Clever Tools targets your personal organisation by default. To use another organisation, add --org ORGANISATION or -o ORGANISATION when you create or link a resource.

Display the generated application domain:

clever domain

Set MOODLE_URL to that HTTPS URL. You can instead add a custom domain, which also requires DNS configuration:

clever domain add your.website.tld

Configure the public directory, supported PHP version, Moodle URL and required PHP input limit:

clever env set CC_WEBROOT /public
clever env set CC_PHP_VERSION 8.4
clever env set MAX_INPUT_VARS 5000
clever env set MOODLE_URL https://your-application.cleverapps.io

Create and link an FS Bucket for moodledata, then mount it into the absent directory expected by config.php:

clever addon create fs-bucket myMoodleData --link myMoodle

FS_BUCKET_HOST="$(clever env -F json | jq -er 'first(.fromAddons[] | select(.addonName == "myMoodleData") | .env[] | select(.name == "BUCKET_HOST") | .value)')"
clever env set CC_FS_BUCKET "/moodledata:${FS_BUCKET_HOST}"
unset FS_BUCKET_HOST

The name lookup expects the add-on name to be unique. If several add-ons use that name, retrieve the host with clever addon env ADDON_ID -F json and the ID returned when the add-on was created. Do not create or commit the mount target, because an existing non-empty directory prevents the FS Bucket from being mounted.

You can also create and link these resources from the Clever Cloud Console.

Schedule Moodle tasks

Moodle recommends running its cron task every minute. Create a login-shell script so the scheduled process receives the application environment:

#!/bin/bash -l

cd "$APP_HOME"
php admin/cli/cron.php

Declare the schedule in clevercloud/cron.json:

[
  "* * * * * $ROOT/cron.sh"
]

Make the script executable:

chmod u+x cron.sh

Deploy and install Moodle

Commit and deploy the project. Use git add -f for the environment-backed config.php, which Moodle’s default ignore rules exclude:

git add .
git add -f config.php
git commit -m "Deploy Moodle"

clever deploy
clever open

The browser opens Moodle’s installer. Confirm the environment checks, then define the site and administrator account. Database connectivity, the public URL and moodledata are already configured. The scheduled task starts succeeding after installation creates the database schema.

The MySQL add-on preserves courses, users and configuration while the FS Bucket preserves uploads, caches and other data files when application instances are replaced.

Update Moodle

Before an update, back up MySQL and the FS Bucket, then follow Moodle’s upgrade procedure. Replace the application sources with a compatible release while preserving config.php, cron.sh and clevercloud/cron.json, commit the changes and deploy them:

clever deploy

Moodle applies required database changes after deployment through its web or CLI upgrade process. Review release-specific requirements before changing the PHP or database version.

Learn more