Moodle Quick Test Environment

This project provides a lightweight and easy-to-use Docker image with an optional Docker Compose file to quickly spin up a Moodle instance for development, testing, or local evaluation purposes.
It is designed to be simpler and faster than the official Moodle development images, with no additional testing frameworks, no FPM, and no OPcache — just Apache + PHP with all necessary extensions pre-installed to support all common Moodle databases.

DO NOT USE IN ANY PRODUCTION ENVIROMENT

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Features

• Pre-installed PHP + Apache (no FPM, no OPcache).
• Supports PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQL Server, and Oracle out-of-the-box.
• Simple setup — just bind your Moodle directory.
• Docker Compose file included to easily manage services.
• Data persistence through Docker volumes.
• Exposes Moodle on port 8080 by default.
• Easy to run multiple instances simultaneously by adjusting project names and ports.

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Quick Start

Using Docker Compose (recommended)

1. Download the docker-compose.yml alongside your Moodle directory

curl -o docker-compose.yml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TuchSoft/phpmoodle/refs/heads/master/docker-compose.yml

or

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TuchSoft/phpmoodle/refs/heads/master/docker-compose.yml

Make sure your Moodle codebase is available locally and ready to bind.

2. Edit the docker-compose.yml:

• Make sure the path to your local Moodle source (./moodle) is correctly set.
• Uncomment the database block you want to use (PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle).

3. Start the environment:

docker-compose up -d

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Using Docker

Run the container manually:

docker run -d --name moodle-server \
  -v $(pwd)/moodle:/var/www/html \
  -p 8080:80 \
  tuchsoft/phpmoodle:latest

You will need to manually configure your database separately if not using Docker Compose.

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Access Moodle

Open your browser at:

http://localhost:8080

Follow the installation wizard, and when prompted for database settings, use:

Database	Host	User	Password	Port
PostgreSQL	database	moodle	moodle	5432
MySQL/MariaDB	database	moodle	moodle	3306
SQL Server	database	SA	moodle	1433
Oracle	oracle	moodle	moodle	1521

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Persistence of Data

The following volumes are defined to ensure your data is preserved across container restarts:

Volume Name	Description
moodle_data	Moodle's moodledata directory (for file uploads, cache, etc.)
db_data	Database persistent storage

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Running Multiple Instances

To run multiple Moodle test environments simultaneously:

• Duplicate your project folder.
• Edit the docker-compose.yml:
  • Change the name: field at the top.
  • Bind to different ports (e.g., 8081:80, 5433:5432).
• Launch both setups

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Notes on Database Selection

• PostgreSQL is enabled by default.
• To use another database:
  • Comment out the PostgreSQL section.
  • Uncomment the desired database section (MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle).

You can only enable one database container per instance at a time.

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Special Instructions for Oracle Database

Oracle DB (supported up to Moodle versions ≤ 4.4:) requires a slight manual adjustment when installing :

• In your Moodle source folder, locate the file:

  moodle/lib/dml/oci_native_moodle_package.sql
  

• Prepend the following lines, replace occurrences of $APP_USER with your actual database username (typically moodle).

    CONNECT SYS/$APP_USER@FREEPDB1 AS SYSDBA;
    ALTER SESSION SET CURRENT_SCHEMA = $APP_USER;
    GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_LOCK TO PUBLIC;

• This step ensures correct package permissions during Oracle database initialization.

If using the provided compose setup that's all all you need to do, an automatic initialization is attempted by mounting a custom my-init.sql file into the Oracle container.

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Troubleshooting

• Permission issues: Ensure the moodle folder and its contents have correct permissions for the container to access.
• Ports already in use: Change the ports in docker-compose.yml if needed.
• Database connection problems: Make sure the database service is fully initialized before starting Moodle installation.

Author

👤 Mattia Bonzi @ TuchSoft mattia@tuchsoft.com

• Website: tuchsoft.com
• Github: @tuchsoft

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues and feature requests are welcome!

Feel free to check the issues page.