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Tutor Open edX installation, tips & tricks

Tutor Open edX installation, tips & tricks

JayRam Nai's photo
JayRam Nai
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4 min read

Table of contents

Tutor Installation

Requirements

  • Docker: v18.06.0+

  • Docker Compose: v1.22.0+

  • Ports 80 and 443 should be open

  • Hardware:

    • Minimum configuration: 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU, 8 GB disk space

    • Recommended configuration: 8 GB RAM, 4 CPU, 25 GB disk space

  • Other requirements:

      sudo apt install python3 python3-pip libyaml-dev

Installation

There are 2 ways to install Tutor:

  1. Install with pip:

     pip install "tutor[full]==v13.3.0"

    Or download the pre-compiled binary and place the tutor executable in your path:

     sudo curl -L "https://github.com/overhangio/tutor/releases/download/v13.3.0/tutor-$(uname -s)_$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/tutor
 sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/tutor

  2. Run tutor local quickstart

    • Answer a few questions

  3. And Open edX is installed!

Useful Commands

  • List down all available commands under tutor

      tutor local help

  • Stop, Start, Restart

      tutor local stop
  tutor local start -d
  tutor local restart
  tutor local restart lms

  • Check logs

      # Change lms with the service name for which you want to check logs
  tutor local logs lms -f --tail 100

  • Tracking logs directory

      (tutor config printroot)/data/lms/logs/tracking.log
  (tutor config printroot)/data/cms/logs/tracking.log

  • Check all container/service status

      tutor local status

  • Create a user with staff and admin access

      tutor local createuser --staff --superuser -pedx edx edx@example.com

  • Import the demo course

      tutor local importdemocourse

  • Set theme

      # For first time only
  git clone https://github.com/jramnai/mytheme.git
  cp -r /home/ubuntu/mytheme "$(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/themes/"
  tutor local settheme mytheme

  # If there is some change in `mytheme`
  cd mytheme
  git pull origin main
  rm -rf "$(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/themes/mytheme"
  cp -r /home/ubuntu/mytheme "$(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/themes/"
  tutor local settheme mytheme

  • Running management commands, find some useful management commands here

      tutor local run cms ./manage.py cms reindex_course --all --setup --settings tutor.production
  tutor local run lms ./manage.py lms compile_sass --settings tutor.production

  • Reloading Open edX settings

      tutor local exec lms reload-uwsgi

  • Open service/container shell

      # replace lms with your service/container name
  tutor local exec lms bash
  tutor local exec mysql bash

  • Installing extra requirement

      # For first time only
  cd $(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/requirements/
  git clone https://github.com/jramnai/my_package.git
  echo "-e ./my_package" >> "$(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/requirements/private.txt"
  tutor images build openedx --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/jramnai/edx-platform.git --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION=open-release/maple.master
  tutor local stop
  tutor local start -d

  # If there is some change in `my_package`
  cd $(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/requirements/my_package
  git pull origin main
  tutor images build openedx --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/jramnai/edx-platform.git --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION=open-release/maple.master
  tutor local stop
  tutor local start -d

    or simple

      echo "git+https://github.com/open-craft/xblock-pdf@b4e404b1f94ffab15c52de5c1382d61235cd8c81#egg=xblock-pdf==1.1.0" "$(tutor config printroot)/env/build/openedx/requirements/private.txt"
  tutor images build openedx --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/jramnai/edx-platform.git --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION=open-release/maple.master
  tutor local stop
  tutor local start -d

  • View config.yml file content

      cat "$(tutor config printroot)/config.yml"

  • Set parameter in config.yml file

      tutor config save --set PARAM1=VALUE1 --set PARAM2=VALUE2

  • Print config value

      tutor config printvalue OPENEDX_COMMON_VERSION

  • Create tutor image build

      tutor images build openedx --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/jramnai/edx-platform.git --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION=open-release/maple.master
  or
  tutor images build openedx --no-cache --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_REPOSITORY=https://github.com/jramnai/edx-platform.git --build-arg EDX_PLATFORM_VERSION=open-release/maple.master

  • Install and enable plugin

      pip install tutor-myapp
  tutor plugins enable myapp
  tutor local quickstart

  • List installed plugins

      tutor plugins list

  • Enable/disable a plugin

      tutor plugins enable myplugin
  tutor plugins disable myplugin
  tutor config save

  • Print location of plugin root

      tutor plugins printroot

  • Using Gmail as an SMTP server

    • Check connectivity

        telnet smtp.gmail.com 587

    • Disable Tutor SMTP server

        tutor config save --set RUN_SMTP=false

    • Configure SMTP credentials

        tutor config save \
  --set SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com \
  --set SMTP_PORT=587 \
  --set SMTP_USE_SSL=false  \
  --set SMTP_USE_TLS=true \
  --set SMTP_USERNAME=YOURUSERNAME@gmail.com \
  --set SMTP_PASSWORD='YOURPASSWORD'

    • Restart your platform

        tutor local quickstart

    • Test it

        tutor local run --no-deps lms ./manage.py lms shell -c \
    "from django.core.mail import send_mail; send_mail('test subject', 'test message', 'YOURUSERNAME@gmail.com', ['YOURRECIPIENT@domain.com'])"

  • Creating DB dumps

      tutor local exec \
      -e USERNAME="$(tutor config printvalue MYSQL_ROOT_USERNAME)" \
      -e PASSWORD="$(tutor config printvalue MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD)" \
      mysql sh -c 'mysqldump --all-databases --user=$USERNAME --password=$PASSWORD > /var/lib/mysql/dump.sql'
  tutor local exec mongodb mongodump --out=/data/db/dump.mongodb

    The dump.sql and dump.mongodb files will be located in $(tutor config printroot)/data/mysql and $(tutor config printroot)/data/mongodb.

  • Changing Open edX settings (or Creating a Tutor plugin)

    • Create plugins root folder

        mkdir -p "$(tutor plugins printroot)"

    • Create an empty “myplugin.py” file in this folder

        touch "$(tutor plugins printroot)/myplugin.py"

    • Verify plugin is correctly detected

        tutor plugins list

    • Add content in myplugin.py file (the setting which you want to set/modify)

        from tutor import hooks

  hooks.Filters.ENV_PATCHES.add_item(
      (
          "openedx-common-settings",
          """
  X_FRAME_OPTIONS = "ALLOWALL"
  """
      )
  )

    • Enable the myplugin

        tutor plugins enable myplugin

    • Re-render your environment

        tutor config save

    • Restart the platform

        tutor local restart

References

#howtosopen edxtutortipsInstallation