Forma Learning Management System (LMS) is a complete learning management platform. Its community edition is built on the LAMP / LEMP stack and allows users and educators to manage and deliver online training courses and share them across many devices.
Forma LMS ensures consistent compliance and competency management for highly regulated industries. In addition, many businesses use the Forma LMS platform for employee training sessions.
Some of its features include allowing students easy integration with any intranet software, which extends its functions with a wide range of plugins.
For more about Forma LMS, please check its Homepage
To get started with installing Forma, follow the steps below:
Install Apache2 HTTP Server
Forma CMS requires a web server, and Apache2 HTTP is the most popular open-source web server available today. To install the Apache2 server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
Now that Apache2 has been installed browse your browser to the URL below to test whether the web server works.
http://localhost
If you see the page above, then Apache2 is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
Forma also requires a database server to store its content. MariaDB is a great place to start if you want a genuinely open-source database server. To install MariaDB, run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the service to start when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 18.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Once MariaDB is installed, run the commands below to test whether the database server was installed.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Type the root password when prompted.
The server was successfully installed if you see a similar screen.
Install PHP 7.0 and Related Modules
Forma LMS is a PHP-based LMS, and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.0 may not be available in Ubuntu’s default repositories. To run PHP 7.0 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.0
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.0 libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-common php7.0-mysql php7.0-gmp php7.0-ldap php7.0-curl php7.0-intl php7.0-mbstring php7.0-xmlrpc php7.0-gd php7.0-bcmath php7.0-xml php7.0-cli php7.0-zip
After installing PHP 7.0, run the commands below to open the PHP default configuration file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini
The lines below are a good setting for most PHP-based LMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Every time you change the PHP configuration file, you should restart the Apache2 web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Once PHP is installed, create a test file called phpinfo.php in the Apache2 default root directory to test whether it’s functioning. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then, type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address, followed by phpinfo.php
http://localhost/phpinfo.php
You should see the PHP default test page.
Create Forma Database
Once you’ve installed all the packages required for Forma to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank Forma database.
To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then, create a database called forma
CREATE DATABASE forma CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
Create a database user called for a user with a new password
CREATE USER 'formauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then, grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON forma.* TO 'formauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Forma Latest Release
To get Forma’s latest release, you may want to get it from its download page below
http://www.formalms.org/download.html
Extract the downloaded content and copy it to the Apache2 root directory.
cd /tmp wget -c "https://sourceforge.net/projects/forma/files/latest/download?source=files" -O formalms-v2.0.zip sudo unzip -d /var/www/html/forma /tmp/formalms-v2.0.zip
Then, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the Forma root directory and give Apache2 control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/forma/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/forma/
Configure Apache2
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Forma. This file will control how users access Forma content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called format. conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/forma.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/forma/formalms
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/forma/formalms/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable the Forma and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo a2ensite forma.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the Forma setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com/
Then, follow the on-screen instructions. Finally, select the installation language and continue.
Verify all the requirements are met, then continue.
Type in the database connection info you created above and continue.
Next, create an admin account and continue.
After that, Forma LMS should be installed and ready to use.
You will be prompted to download the config.php file and save it in the Forma root directory.
sudo cp ~/Download/config.php /var/www/html/forma/formalms/
Finally, delete the install folder.
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/forma/formalms/install
Enjoy!
That’s it!
Congratulation! You have successfully installed Forma LMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.
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