fallocate -l 1G /swapfile1G
mkswap /swapfile1G
swapon /swapfile1G
swapon -s

nano /etc/fstab

to add the ff entry:

/swapfile1G   none    swap    sw    0   0

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php7.3
apt update && sudo apt upgrade
apt install -y mysql-client mysql-server php7.3 libapache2-mod-php7.3 php7.3-mysql php7.3-mysqli graphviz aspell ghostscript clamav php7.3-pspell php7.3-curl php7.3-gd php7.3-intl php7.3-xml php7.3-xmlrpc php7.3-ldap php7.3-zip php7.3-soap php7.3-mbstring apache2

• install mysql

   apt install mysql

• secure it and set the root password

   mysql_secure_installation

Set your root password, remove anonymous users, disallow root's remote login, remove test database, reload privilege tables now.

• set up the moodle database

  mysql -u root -p[rootpasswordhere]

CREATE DATABASE moodle;
CREATE user 'moodleadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Secur3P@zzwd';
GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES,DROP,INDEX,ALTER ON moodle.* TO moodleadmin@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'Secur3P@zzwd';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit;

sudo chown www-data:www-data -R /var/www/html/moodle
sudo chmod 775 -R /var/www/html/moodle

sudo mkdir -p /var/moodledata
sudo chmod 775 -R /var/moodledata
sudo chown www-data:www-data -R  /var/moodledata

cd /var/www/html/moodle/
sudo cp config-dist.php config.php
nano config.php

Set up your config.php

$CFG->dbtype    = 'mysql';    
$CFG->dblibrary = 'native';     
$CFG->dbhost    = 'localhost';  // eg 'localhost' or 'mysite.com' or IP
$CFG->dbname    = 'moodle';     
$CFG->dbuser    = 'moodleadmin';   // your database username
$CFG->dbpass    = 'Secur3P@zzwd';   // your database password
$CFG->prefix    = 'mdl_';       // prefix to use for all table names

$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://<domain name>';
$CFG->dataroot  = '/var/moodledata';

• Create your vhost config file

cd  /etc/sites-available/
nano mymoodle.prime.edu.ph.conf

<VirtualHost *:80> 
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/moodle/ 
ServerName myrmoodle.prime.edu.ph 
  <Directory /var/www/html/moodle/> 
  Options +FollowSymlinks 
  AllowOverride All 
  Require all granted 
</Directory>  
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log 
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined  
</VirtualHost>

• enable your vhost or site

sudo a2enmod rewrite

sudo a2ensite mymoodle.prime.edu.ph.conf 
systemctl restart apache2

You may also have to disable the default vhost. Check the actual file. It could be

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
systemctl restart apache2

• Set it up via

http://[server-IP]/install.php

• Fill out these fields:

    Web address: [ your IP address or domain name ]
    Moodle directory: /var/www/html/moodle
    Data Directory: /var/moodledata

Click next. Get to database section and fill out these fields:

    Database host: localhost
    Database name: moodle
    Database user: moodleadmin
    Database password: Secur3P@zzwd
    Tables prefix: mdl_

Get to the section where you have to set up the site administrator. Under General, you see

    Username: 
    New password: 
    First name: 
    Surname: 

• Files to backup

    /var/moodledata
   /var/www/html/moodle
   [ db backup ]

• To backup db

 mysqldump -h localhost -u root --password=mypassword -C -Q -e --create-options moodle > moodle-database.sql

• To restore db

mysql -u root -pmypassword moodle < moodle-database.sql

In case you don't have an email account that can be used to send out emails in bulk, you may also use the Moodle server itself as a send-only postfix mailer.

 sudo apt install mailutils

If prompted for type of mail configuration, just choose Internet site. For the system mail name, it is important you key in your FQDN (fully qualified domain name), the one reflected on your rDNS, so something like

 mymoodlesite.prime.edu.ph

Once done, you may configure your postfix:

 nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

Replace the appropriate lines with these:

inet_interfaces = loopback-only
inet_protocols = ipv4
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, $mydomain
sudo systemctl restart postfix

Once done, you may test your mailer with this:

 echo "Just testing the send-only postfix" | mail -s "Testing 1 2 3" <yourdestinationemailhere>

Note that the initial messages coming out of this server will be flagged as “spam”. If you want it to be “perfect” right from the get-go, you need to know more about TXT records, SPF, DKIM, Amavis. Otherwise, your mails will get better over time.

Every site needs encryption these days. So you may install an SSL Certificate on your site. This section requires that you have a proper rDNS entry on your machine and your DNS points to your machine's IP with an A/AAAA record.

 sudo apt install snapd
 sudo snap install --classic certbot
 sudo certbot --apache

We recommend an autoredirect to the secure site. Once done, confirm by adding S to your address in the “http”. So something like httpS://mymoodlesite.prime.edu.ph