Tutor Open edX installation, tips & tricks

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

• https://github.com/overhangio/tutor/releases

• https://docs.tutor.overhang.io/