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Learning Management System (LMS)Solution Using Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE)

Document Version 1.0

by Wayne Rachel, Solution Architect

Dell Solution Center

THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPO-

GRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS,

WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

© 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information,

contact Dell.

Dell, the DELL logo, and the DELL badge, PowerConnect, and PowerVault are trademarks of

Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either

the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprie-

tary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

Table of Contents

1. Purpose and Scope 1

2. Introduction 1

3. Basic Usage 2

4. Roadmap and Sizing Guide 2

4.1. Operating System and Database 2

4.2. Servers 3

4.3. Load Balancer 3

4.4. Sizing and Roadmap Matrix 4

5. Important Customer Questions 5

6. Customer Engagement Process 5

6.1. General Tasks 5

6.2. Overview 6

6.3. Customer Questionnaire 6

6.4. Design Guide and Quote Creation 6

Learning Management System (LMS) Solution using Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE)

© 2012 Dell Inc. All Rights Reserved. i

1. Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this document is to introduce a Dell Learning Management System (LMS) so-

lution using Sakai. The overall intention is to provide the Dell sales team with hardware sizing

guidance and a specific customer engagement process to ensure a successful design and

implementation of a Sakai LMS solution.

2. Introduction

Sakai is a community of academic institutions, commercial organizations and individuals who

work together to develop a common Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE). The

Sakai CLE is a free, community source, educational software platform distributed under the

Educational Community License (a type of open source license). The Sakai CLE is used for

teaching, research and collaboration. Systems of this type are also known as Course Man-

agement Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), or Virtual Learning Environ-

ments (VLE).

The Sakai CLE is a Java-based, service-oriented application suite that is designed to be scal-

able, reliable, interoperable and extensible.

The Sakai software includes many of the features common to course management systems,

including document distribution, a grade book, discussion, live chat, assignment uploads, and

online testing.

In addition to the course management features, Sakai is intended as a collaborative tool for

research and group projects. To support this function, Sakai includes the ability to change the

settings of all the tools based on roles, changing what the system permits different users to

do with each tool. It also includes a wiki, mailing list distribution and archiving, and an RSS

reader. The core tools can be augmented with tools designed for a particular application of

Sakai.


© 2012 Dell Inc. For Internal Use Only | Page 1.

3. Basic Usage

4. Roadmap and Sizing Guide

4.1. Operating System and Database

Linux PlatformLinux Platform

System Component Supported Versions

Operating System

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS, ES 4.0+

CentOS 5.x+

SuSE Enterprise Server 9+

Application Server Tomcat 5.5.25+

Web ServerApache 2.0.x/2.2.x (with mod_jk connector 1.2.26)

Tomcat 5.5.25+

Java JDK 1.5

DatabaseMySQL 5.0.x (recommended)

Oracle 9+



Microsoft Windows PlatformMicrosoft Windows Platform

System Component Supported Versions

Operating System Windows Server 2003

Application Server Tomcat 5.5.25+

Web ServerApache 2.0.x/2.2.x (with mod_jk connector 1.2.26)

Tomcat 5.5.25+

Java JDK 1.5

DatabaseMySQL 5.0.x (recommended)

Oracle 9+

4.2. Servers

There are three main functions of a Sakai LMS, as follows;

• Web Server – This is the main server role that handles the largest amount of Sakai

workload. It is important to start with a Server that is initially sized but then scalable,

i.e., Cores and Memory, to the projected growth.

• Content Files Storage – Can be moved to SAN or NAS for storage and network

bandwidth management.

• Database Server and Storage – Can be moved to SAN for storage management.

4.3. Load Balancer

Load balancer can be hardware or software based. Options in use by Sakai community

members include:

• Apache 2.2x + mod_proxy_balancer

• Pound

• F5 Big-IP

• ZXTMLB



4.4. Sizing and Roadmap Matrix

The following matrix indicates the optimal configuration of Dell hardware for Sakai usage per

type 1 through 4, i.e., Initial through Extra Large. The intention is to provide both an entry

point based on industry standards and important customer usage questions and a roadmap

for growth, as follows;

1. Initial sizing based on a highly scalable, typical LMS configuration and specific cus-

tomer requirements

2. Add an additional server to Separate the Database Server and File Storage

3. Add additional Cores and Memory to the Web Server. Add additional Cores to the

Database Server and add SAN Storage as needed

4. A cluster configuration can be used and comprised of one or more application serv-

ers running one or more instances of Tomcat 5.5 operating either in standalone

mode or behind the Apache HTTP 2.2 web server. Each Tomcat instance runs a full

copy of the Sakai CLE. The cluster is backed by a single database providing a transac-

tional store of information. Storing binary content outside the database is a configur-

able option in Sakai and highly recommended from a performance standpoint.

Sakai Web ServerSakai Web ServerSakai Web ServerSakai Web ServerSakai Web ServerDedicated Database and/

or File Server

Dedicated Database and/

or File Server


or File Server


or File Server

SAN

Storage

1

2

3

4

Type UsersCon-

current Users

DeviceConnec-tions PC,

etc.

Load Balance

Server Cores MemoryLocal

StorageServer Cores Memory

LocalStorage

File & Data

Initial0 -

8000<500 0 - 2500 No 1x810 8 32 GB

4x 146GB

R100 0 0 0 0

Medium5000 -

15000<1000

2500 -

5000Yes 1x810 8 32 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 6 6 GB

2x 73GB R1

2x 300GB

R10

0

Large15000 -

25000<2000

5000 -

10000Yes 1x810 16 32 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 6 32 GB

4x 146GB

R102.2 TB

Extra

Large

25000

+

2000 -

5000

10000

-200000Yes 1x810 32 128 GB 4x 73GB R1 1x 610 12 32 GB

4x 146GB

R103.5 TB



5. Important Customer Questions

There are several questions that are important to appropriately sizing a Sakai LMS solution. The following questions are Sakai specific questions only;

Question ID Question

1 Name and Location of Institution?

2 Current Sakai Installation Version, OS, Platform?

3 How Many Students (Users)?

4 Routine Number of Concurrent Users?

5 Peak Number of Concurrent Users?

6 Current SAN Storage Available?

7 Current NAS Storage Available?

8 Desired Operating System Linux or Microsoft Windows?

9 Describe Your Preproduction?

10 Describe Your Disaster Recovery?

6. Customer Engagement Process

6.1. General Tasks

Salesforce.com is the Customer Relationship Management software used by Dell. Salesforce

will be used to distribute this document, its related questionnaire and design templates.

All sales activity needs to be managed within the Salesforce CRM system per standard proce-

dures, as follows;

1. Add or Update customer Information

2. Add an additional server to separate the database server and file storage

3. There are three changes that need to be applied to grow from a medium load to a

large, as follows;

• Additional cores and memory for the web server

• Additional cores and memory for the database server

• Add SAN storage as needed



4. There are three changes that need to be applied to grow from a large load to an

extra-large, as follows;

• Additional cores and memory for the web server

• Additional cores for the database server

• Add SAN storage as needed

a. Select all three Sakai LMS topics within the Customer Engagement, as follows;

i. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Overview

ii. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Customer Questionnaire

iii. HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Design Guide

6.2. Overview

The Sakai LMS Overview document will be maintained in Salesforce. The filename will be as

follows;

HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Overview

This Overview will be used to guide the sales person through briefing, design and proposal

process.

6.3. Customer Questionnaire

The Sakai LMS customer questionnaire will be maintained in Salesforce. The filename will be

as follows;

HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Questionnaire

This questionnaire will be sent to the customer to gather important information.

6.4. Design Guide and Quote Creation

The Sakai LMS Design Guide will be maintained in Salesforce. The filename will be as follows;

HIED-1001-Sakai LMS Design Guide

This Guide will contain templates and specific guidance on creating Sakai LMS designs. The

completed designs will be used for creating quotes and ultimately presented to the cus-

tomer.

