Overview
The principle behind this process is to provide schools with a standard process to reset their Moodle site at the end of each school year. The tools / options listed are designed to reset the database to clean up files (e.g. Reduce disk space / increase performance) while keeping the core of the system (e.g. courses / staff) intact.
The traditional way to accomplish a "fresh start" is to re-install Moodle and then re-install all the courses. But this takes a great deal of time in that courses, categories, and teachers have to be reloaded, then themes re-installed, groups set up etc. To help avoid this and still get a clean starting point, we are supplying processes that can be done (any or all can be used at your discretion).
Please understand that BCLN R&D hopes to support local server admins by providing these tools with the following understandings.
These should be implemented by a server technician who will:
- do a site backup prior to implementing any script.
- read the documentation below carefully.
- understand the process and outcomes of these scripts
- take responsibility for their own site
Processes (click to download reset.zip):
Reset all courses to remove accumulated data:
| Script = group_reset.php |
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What this script does:
- courses left from previous years still hold student data such as quizzes, assignments, forums, messages, etc... (which will continue to accumulate if not cleared)
- it will clear all students from courses, but leave teachers in place
- clearing this data can be done by "resetting" each course on the site (https://docs.moodle.org/33/en/Reset_course)
- if you have a large site, manually resetting each course is time consuming
- this file runs what is in effect a Moodle course reset for all courses on a given site
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Instructions:
- put site in maintenance mode
- download reset.zip (above) and unzip
- move the folder on your site in this location: yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/
- login as an admin
- from a browser, enter "yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/group_reset.php" and let it run
- it will display a message when routine is complete
- remove the files to avoid any future confusion
- take out of maintenance mode and thoroughly check site
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Clear out student accounts:
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Script = clear_accounts.php
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What this script does:
- deleting student accounts on your site through Moodle doesn't remove the accounts from the databases (it just marks them as "deleted")
- these files are stored in the mdl_user table.
- to reset your site, you can choose to actually clear this table of student accounts to make start-up cleaner (smaller, no email conflicts, etc....)
- this script clears all accounts in this table that is not currently a teacher or admin
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Instructions:
- put site in maintenance mode
- download reset.zip (above) and unzip
- move the folder on your site in this location: yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/
- login as an admin
- from a browser, enter "yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/clear_accounts.php" and let it run
- it will display a message when routine is complete
- remove the files to avoid any future confusion
- take out of maintenance mode and thoroughly check site
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Clear out logs & backup files:
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Script = clear_logs.php & clear_backups.php
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What this script does:
- log files and grades history can take up a large amount of space in your database.
- note Settings > Plugins > Standard Logs
- this script clears the accumulation of data in these areas
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Instructions:
- put site in maintenance mode
- download reset.zip (above) and unzip
- move the folder on your site in this location: yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/
- login as an admin
- from a browser, enter "yourmoodlesite.com/local/reset/clear_logs.php" and let it run
- it will display a message when routine is complete
- remove the files to avoid any future confusion
- take out of maintenance mode and thoroughly check site
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After these resets, run any Moodle upgrades, then load in the new courses.
