How to install Chamilo with CentOS 7

Introduction

Chamilo is a  software which is used for virtual/online trainings or Learning Management System. Chamilo is absolutely free and comes under GPL License, with Chamilo you can store and organize all of study materials which can be utilized by tutors and students.

Some of the important features of Chamilo are

1. Course and user management based on various user’s profiles like students, Teachers, Session Managers, Administrators.
2. You can Download, upload or hide some course contents as and when required.
3. Create, add , delete questions in the form of multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching type questions or open questions.
4. Various types of survey can be conducted with the help of Chamilo.
5. You can enable deadline based assignments.
6. Users can be generated in bulk.
7. CSV/Excel data can bde downloaded or uploaded and Instant results reports can be generated.

Installation

Prerequisites

A CsntOS 7 machine configures with 4 GB RAM, 10 GB Free disk space, and Dual core processor. Apache, Mariadb, php are required for software support.

Steps

Install and update CentOS machine

# yum update

Install required packages

# yum install mariadb mariadb server httpd php
# yum install gcc-c++ libuuid-devel

Start web service

# systemctl start httpd 
# systemctl enable httpd

Start and Configure Database services

# systemctl start mariadb
# systemctl enable mariadb

Create database for chamilo

# mysqladmin -u root password password
# mysql -u root -p

Create some database and  user for this newly created database

Sample output

Enter password:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 4
Server version: 5.5.44-MariaDB MariaDB Server

Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

MariaDB [(none)]> create database chamilo;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

MariaDB [(none)]> create user 'chamilo'@'localhost' identified by "P@ssw0rd";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

MariaDB [(none)]> grant all on chamilo.* to 'chamilo'@'localhost';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

MariaDB [(none)]> \q
Bye

Download latest version of Chamilo

 # wget https://github.com/chamilo/chamilo-lms/archive/v1.10.0.zip

Sample output

--2015-12-28 10:25:29--  https://github.com/chamilo/chamilo-lms/archive/v1.10.0.zip
Resolving github.com (github.com)... 192.30.252.131
Connecting to github.com (github.com)|192.30.252.131|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://codeload.github.com/chamilo/chamilo-lms/zip/v1.10.0 [following]
--2015-12-28 10:25:30--  https://codeload.github.com/chamilo/chamilo-lms/zip/v1.10.0
Resolving codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)... 192.30.252.144
Connecting to codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)|192.30.252.144|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘v1.10.0.zip’
[                                      <=>                              ] 25,82,225 120KB/s

Append /etc/php.ini and add following line at the end of file

date.timezone = 'America/New_York'
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 600
memory_limit = 256M
post_max_size = 100M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
short_open_tag = Off
safe_mode = Off
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
magic_quotes_runtime = Off
session.cookie_httponly = On
extension = xapian.so

Decompress Downloaded folder

# unzip v1.10.0.zip

Move to your web directory and change permission

#  mv chamilo-lms-1.10.0/ /var/www/html/chamilo
# chmod -R /var/www/html/chamilo
# chown -R apache: /var/www/html/chamilo
# setenforce 0

Restart web service

# systemctl restart httpd

Open Browser and type

<IP_ADDR>/chamilo

Click to Install chamilo and start

Select language you wants to prefer

System will check all of the required dependencies are fulfilled or not, proceed for next step

Accept license agreement and proceed

Provide your database and user credentials

Give Admin password and other informative credentials

Cross verify your settings and proceed

Let the installation process be complete and login to portal

After login now you will be able to manage you curriculum

Installation process is over, let us have some demonstration examples.

Import users in bulk, click on Administration and click to import users list, now you can import users in bulk, exmple format is provided

Create a Course

Go to your home page and on Left hand side all of the course  management links are provided from where you can manage all of your courses

Conclusion

Although moodle is already available as very efficient Online Exam Management system, but Chamilo looks to be refreshing and well featured which comes with exciting themes and rich features.

Have fun!