Learning Management System (LMS) Solution Using Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE)

Document Version 1.0 by Wayne Rachel, Solution Architect Dell Solution Center THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPO- GRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

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Table of Contents

1. Purpose and Scope 1

2. Introduction 1

3. Basic Usage 2

4. Roadmap and Sizing Guide 2

4.1. Operating System and Database 2

4.2. Servers 3

4.3. Load Balancer 3

4.4. Sizing and Roadmap Matrix 4

5. Important Customer Questions 5

6. Customer Engagement Process 5

6.1. General Tasks 5

6.2. Overview 6

6.3. Customer Questionnaire 6

6.4. Design Guide and Quote Creation 6

1. Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this document is to introduce a Dell Learning Management System (LMS) solution using Sakai. The overall intention is to provide the Dell sales team with hardware sizing guidance and a speciﬁc customer engagement process to ensure a successful design and implementation of a Sakai LMS solution.

2. Introduction

Sakai is a community of academic institutions, commercial organizations and individuals who work together to develop a common Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE). The Sakai CLE is a free, community source, educational software platform distributed under the Educational Community License (a type of open source license). The Sakai CLE is used for teaching, research and collaboration. Systems of this type are also known as Course Man- agement Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), or Virtual Learning Environ- ments (VLE).

The Sakai CLE is a Java-based, service-oriented application suite that is designed to be scalable, reliable, interoperable and extensible.

The Sakai software includes many of the features common to course management systems, including document distribution, a grade book, discussion, live chat, assignment uploads, and online testing.

In addition to the course management features, Sakai is intended as a collaborative tool for research and group projects. To support this function, Sakai includes the ability to change the settings of all the tools based on roles, changing what the system permits diﬀerent users to do with each tool. It also includes a wiki, mailing list distribution and archiving, and an RSS reader. The core tools can be augmented with tools designed for a particular application of Sakai.

3. Basic Usage

4. Roadmap and Sizing Guide

4.1. Operating System and Database

Linux Platform System Component Supported Versions Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS, ES 4.0+ Operating System CentOS 5.x+ SuSE Enterprise Server 9+

Application Server Tomcat 5.5.25+ Apache 2.0.x/2.2.x (with mod_jk connector 1.2.26) Web Server Tomcat 5.5.25+ Java JDK 1.5 MySQL 5.0.x (recommended) Database Oracle 9+

Microsoft Windows Platform System Component Supported Versions Operating System Windows Server 2003 Application Server Tomcat 5.5.25+ Apache 2.0.x/2.2.x (with mod_jk connector 1.2.26) Web Server Tomcat 5.5.25+

Java JDK 1.5 MySQL 5.0.x (recommended) Database Oracle 9+

4.2. Servers

There are three main functions of a Sakai LMS, as follows;

• Web Server – This is the main server role that handles the largest amount of Sakai workload. It is important to start with a Server that is initially sized but then scalable, i.e., Cores and Memory, to the projected growth.

• Content Files Storage – Can be moved to SAN or NAS for storage and network bandwidth management.

• Database Server and Storage – Can be moved to SAN for storage management.

4.3. Load Balancer

Load balancer can be hardware or software based. Options in use by Sakai community members include:

• Apache 2.2x + mod_proxy_balancer

• Pound

• F5 Big-IP

• ZXTMLB

4.4. Sizing and Roadmap Matrix

The following matrix indicates the optimal conﬁguration of Dell hardware for Sakai usage per type 1 through 4, i.e., Initial through Extra Large. The intention is to provide both an entry point based on industry standards and important customer usage questions and a roadmap for growth, as follows;

1. Initial sizing based on a highly scalable, typical LMS conﬁguration and speciﬁc customer requirements

2. Add an additional server to Separate the Database Server and File Storage

3. Add additional Cores and Memory to the Web Server. Add additional Cores to the Database Server and add SAN Storage as needed

4. A cluster conﬁguration can be used and comprised of one or more application servers running one or more instances of Tomcat 5.5 operating either in standalone mode or behind the Apache HTTP 2.2 web server. Each Tomcat instance runs a full copy of the Sakai CLE. The cluster is backed by a single database providing a transac- tional store of information. Storing binary content outside the database is a conﬁgur- able option in Sakai and highly recommended from a performance standpoint.

Dedicated Database and/ SAN Sakai Web Server or File Server Storage Device Con- Connec- Load Local Local File & Type Users current Server Cores Memory Server Cores Memory tions PC, Balance Storage Storage Data Users etc.

0 - 4x 146GB 1 Initial <500 0 - 2500 No 1x810 8 32 GB 0 0 0 0 0 8000 R10

2x 73GB R1 5000 - 2500 - 2 Medium <1000 Yes 1x810 8 32 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 6 6 GB 2x 300GB 0 15000 5000 R10

15000 - 5000 - 4x 146GB 3 Large <2000 Yes 1x810 16 32 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 6 32 GB 2.2 TB 25000 10000 R10

Extra 25000 2000 - 10000 4x 146GB 4 Yes 1x810 32 128 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 12 32 GB 3.5 TB Large + 5000 -200000 R10

5. Important Customer Questions

There are several questions that are important to appropriately sizing a Sakai LMS solution. The following questions are Sakai speciﬁc questions only;

Question ID Question 1 Name and Location of Institution? 2 Current Sakai Installation Version, OS, Platform? 3 How Many Students (Users)? 4 Routine Number of Concurrent Users? 5 Peak Number of Concurrent Users? 6 Current SAN Storage Available? 7 Current NAS Storage Available? 8 Desired Operating System Linux or Microsoft Windows? 9 Describe Your Preproduction? 10 Describe Your Disaster Recovery?

6. Customer Engagement Process

6.1. General Tasks

Salesforce.com is the Customer Relationship Management software used by Dell. Salesforce will be used to distribute this document, its related questionnaire and design templates. All sales activity needs to be managed within the Salesforce CRM system per standard proce- dures, as follows; 1. Add or Update customer Information 2. Add an additional server to separate the database server and ﬁle storage 3. There are three changes that need to be applied to grow from a medium load to a large, as follows;

• Additional cores and memory for the web server • Additional cores and memory for the database server • Add SAN storage as needed

4. There are three changes that need to be applied to grow from a large load to an extra-large, as follows;

• Additional cores and memory for the web server • Additional cores for the database server • Add SAN storage as needed a. Select all three Sakai LMS topics within the Customer Engagement, as follows; i. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Overview ii. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Customer Questionnaire iii. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Design Guide

6.2. Overview

The Sakai LMS Overview document will be maintained in Salesforce. The ﬁlename will be as follows; HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Overview This Overview will be used to guide the sales person through brieﬁng, design and proposal process.

6.3. Customer Questionnaire

The Sakai LMS customer questionnaire will be maintained in Salesforce. The ﬁlename will be as follows; HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Questionnaire This questionnaire will be sent to the customer to gather important information.

6.4. Design Guide and Quote Creation

The Sakai LMS Design Guide will be maintained in Salesforce. The ﬁlename will be as follows; HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Design Guide This Guide will contain templates and speciﬁc guidance on creating Sakai LMS designs. The completed designs will be used for creating quotes and ultimately presented to the customer.