Presentation given by Patrick Roth from the University of Geneve in teh Chamilo Users Day Madrid 2013 showing how to optimize Chamilo for a better performance.

1. Optimizing the performance of your LMS:
example with Chamilo
Patrick Roth, Abderrahim Oulmi, Laurent
Opprecht, Olivier Jeannin
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2. Institutional context
The University of Geneva
• # Students: 17500
• # Teachers: 2250
• # faculties: 8
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3. Institutional context
eLearning tools at University of Geneva
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4. Institutional context
Information and training
– Website: elearning.unige.ch
– Blog: ciel.unige.ch, twitter (@cielge)
– Workshops (Chamilo, Mahara, RCFE, etc.)
– Techno-pedagogical advice
– Copyright Expertise
– Events (BarCamp, webinars, workshops, etc.)
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5. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
– # Users: 18059
• # Teachers: 1571
• # Students: 16488
– # Active courses: 2068
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6. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
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7. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
2 million
visits per
academic
year
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8. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
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# of visits

9. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
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# of visits

10. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
12,000
# of visits
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
1-Oct-12 2-Oct-12 3-Oct-12 4-Oct-12 5-Oct-12 6-Oct-12 7-Oct-12
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11. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
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12. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
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Dokeos response time > 2 minutes

13. Institutional context
Dokeos@unige.ch
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14. Solution
Optimizing the performance of Chamilo
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15. Solution
• Plan
How ?
– Goal to reach
• Do
Plan
– Setup your simulation environment
Act
Do
• Check
– Measure
Check
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• Act
– Find the right optimization

16. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Goal to reach
• Obtain the best performance
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17. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Goal to reach
• Psychology of web performance
“How web page response time affect user psychology
and behavior”
(WebSiteOptimization, 2008)
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18. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Goal to reach
• Psychology of web performance
“lower perceived credibility”
(Fogg et al. 2001)
8 to 10 seconds
“lower perceived quality”
(Bouch et al. 2000)
“increase user frustration”
(King 2003)
Load times
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19. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Goal to reach
• Psychology of web performance
“perceived more interesting”
(Ramsay et al. 1998)
8 to 10 seconds
“perceived more attractive”
(Skadberg and Kimmel)
Load times
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20. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Goal to reach
Web page response time < 10 seconds
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21. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Setup your simulation environment
• Tool: Apache JMeter
– Test plan
• Scenario
• Thread Group
• Measure
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22. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Setup your simulation environment
• JMeter Test Plan: scenario
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23. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Setup your simulation environment
• JMeter Test Plan: thread group
2 seconds
delay
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2 seconds
delay
...
500 users

24. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Setup your simulation environment
• JMeter Test Plan: measure
– Average web page response time (in ms)
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25. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Measure
• Hardware
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26. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Measure
• Software
– Average web page response time
– Logs (apache, MySQL, etc.)
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27. Plan
Solution
Act
Do
Check
Find the right optimization
• Hardware configuration (CPU, RAM, disk, network, etc.)
• Operating System (Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.)
• Web server performance
– PHP performance (PHP accelerator, settings, etc.)
– Apache performance (settings, modules, etc.)
• Database performance (settings, engine, queries, etc.)
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28. Results
Our findings
1. Use real server instead of VM
2. Choose the right DB engine for each table
(InnoDB vs MyISAM)
3. Add the right PHP accelerator
4. Update your LAMP components (Apache, PHP,
MySQL)
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29. Results
Use real server instead of VM
Find the right optimization
• Hardware configuration (CPU, RAM, disk, network,
etc.)
• Operating System (Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.)
• Web server performance
– PHP performance (PHP accelerator, settings, etc.)
– Apache performance (settings, modules, etc.)
• Database performance (settings, engine, queries,
etc.)
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30. Results
Choose the right DB engine
Find the right optimization
• Hardware configuration (CPU, RAM, disk, network,
etc.)
• Operating System (Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.)
• Web server performance
– PHP performance (PHP accelerator, settings, etc.)
– Apache performance (settings, modules, etc.)
• Database performance (settings, engine, queries,
etc.)
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31. Results
Add the right PHP accelerator
Find the right optimization
• Hardware configuration (CPU, RAM, disk, network,
etc.)
• Operating System (Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.)
• Web server performance
– PHP performance (PHP accelerator, settings, etc.)
– Apache performance (settings, modules, etc.)
• Database performance (settings, engine, queries,
etc.)
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32. Results
Our findings
(Opcode Cache Benchmarks, 2013)
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33. Results
Update your LAMP components
Find the right optimization
• Hardware configuration (CPU, RAM, disk, network,
etc.)
• Operating System (Linux, Unix, Windows, etc.)
• Web server performance
– PHP performance (PHP accelerator, settings, etc.)
– Apache performance (settings, modules, etc.)
• Database performance (settings, engine, queries,
etc.)
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34. Results
Our findings
Component
Before
Updated
Apache
2.2.22
2.4.6
PHP
5.3
5.5.3
Update your LAMP components
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35. Results
Our findings
• Detect slow queries and optimize them
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36. Results
Our findings
• Detect slow queries and optimize them
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37. In summary
5 tips for optimizing your Chamilo
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Use a real server
Choose the right DB engine for each table
Update your LAMP components
Add the Zend Optimizer+ accelerator
Detect slow queries and optimize them
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38. Current situation
Measure this week with Chamilo 1.9.x
# of users
425
560
507
493
532
600
725
460
750
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Chamilo response time [ms]
483

39. Current situation
Measure this week
Chamilo response time < 1 second
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40. Thank you
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