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How to Upgrading Open edX

Learn how to safely upgrade your Open edX installation to the most recent version. This detailed how-to walks you thru backing up, preparing your environment, and how to trouble-shoot common upgrade-related issues. Summary If you just need a good script then follow these instructions and god speed. cd ~ git clone https : //github.com/lpm0073/edx.scripts.git sudo chmod 755 edx . scripts /* sudo nohup edx.scripts/edx.platform-upgrade.sh > upgrade.out & This script does the following: Stops all running Open edX services creates a timestamped backup of /edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform/ creates timestamped backups of each of the four json configuration files located in /edx/app/edxapp/ creates a timestamped backup of /edx/app/edxapp/edxapp_env/, the Python virtual environment associated with pip creates a timestamped backup of /edx/app/edxapp/venvs/, the Ruby virtual environment creates a timestamped backup of /edx/app/edxapp/nodeenv...

How To Add SSL Encryption to Open edX

Add SSL Encryption to Open edX Add a free Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS certificate to your Open edX installation in just a few minutes using this step-by-step how-to guide. Summary Let’s Encrypt  is a free, automated, and open Certificate Authority that is sponsored by Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) which itself is a venerable who’s who of silicon valley Internet companies. Let’s Encrypt has made it much easier to request, install and maintain SSL/TLS certificates on your web servers. For Ubuntu/Nginx web apps like Open edX, Let’s Encrypt uses a platform named  Certbot  that provides a simple installation process that  MOSTLY  works, barring a couple of minor hiccups. By following these instructions you should be able to get HTTPS working on your server in less than an hour. If you’re already familiar with Nginx then you can probably jump over to  Certbot’s installation guide for Ubuntu 16.04 / Nginx , and if ...

Open edX: How To Install an XBlock

Learn how to install an Open edX XBlock code extension with this detailed step-by-step how-to guide. This step-by-step guide works for any XBlock. Let’s get started! Summary XBlock is the extensibility framework for Open edX. That is, it’s a framework that allows the open source software development community to extend and enhance edX to meet future needs. If you’re familiar with the content management system WordPress then, architecturally speaking, XBlocks are nearly identical to plugins. ExtensionEngine wrote  this great blog article  on XBlocks. However, a big difference between WordPress plugins and XBlocks is that installing them is a murky process. In this blog post I set out clarify and simplify the exact steps that are required to install any XBlock. For this tutorial we’ll install a really cool XBlock named In-Video Quiz which, as the name implies, will abruptly pause a video to present the student with a problem. This XBlo...