Performance and optimization an overview

LAMP software in general and Moodle in particular have very distinct application layers consisting of the operating system, web server, database server, and the application developed in a programming language. Each layer has its own idiosyncrasies when it comes to optimization. We will mainly focus on the application layer, which is the focus of this book.

The following areas are not dealt with in detail in any of the following pages, and it is necessary to refer the respective documentation on performance and optimization issues:

• Operating system performance: The choice of operating system and its configuration will have a major impact on how Moodle will perform. In principle, Linux or any other Unix derivative performs better than any other operating system. PHP applications such as Moodle run significantly slower in a Windows environment than on Linux. Some aspects of this have been covered in Chapter 1,Moodle Installation.

• Database performance...