Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing any new software, ensure that your system is up to date. Run the following commands to update your package lists and install any available updates:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Keeping your system updated ensures stability and security, especially when using platforms like VPS Windows Servers.

Step 2: Install Nginx, MySQL, and PHP

Moodle requires a web server, a database, and PHP. Install Nginx, MySQL, and PHP with the following command:

sudo apt install nginx mysql-server php-fpm php-mysql php-xml php-zip php-gd php-intl php-curl php-mbstring -y

After installing these packages, start and enable Nginx and MySQL:

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql

Step 3: Configure MySQL Database for Moodle

Log in to the MySQL shell to create a new database and user for Moodle:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Inside the MySQL shell, run the following commands to create the Moodle database and a user:

CREATE DATABASE moodledb DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'moodleuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON moodledb.* TO 'moodleuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Replace your_password with a strong password of your choice.

Step 4: Download and Install Moodle

Navigate to the /var/www/html directory and download the latest Moodle package:

cd /var/www/html
sudo wget https://download.moodle.org/download.php/direct/stable310/moodle-latest-310.tgz

Extract the downloaded archive:

sudo tar -zxvf moodle-latest-310.tgz

Set the correct ownership and permissions for the Moodle directory:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/moodle
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/moodle

Step 5: Configure Nginx for Moodle

Next, create a new Nginx server block configuration for Moodle:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/moodle

Add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    root /var/www/html/moodle;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~* \.html$ {
        expires 5d;
    }

    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico)$ {
        expires 30d;
        log_not_found off;
    }
}

Save and close the file, then enable the configuration by creating a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/moodle /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Test the Nginx configuration and reload the service:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6: Obtain Free Let's Encrypt SSL

To secure Moodle with HTTPS, use Let's Encrypt to obtain a free SSL certificate. First, install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Run the following command to obtain and install the SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Follow the prompts to complete the SSL setup. Certbot will automatically configure your Nginx server block to use the new SSL certificate.

Step 7: Complete Moodle Installation

Open your web browser and navigate to https://yourdomain.com to complete the Moodle installation through the web interface. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up Moodle, providing the database details configured earlier.