Cannot access Moodle for first time use

Nicolas

What's the result of:

systemctl status hostapd.service

Baam

Nicolas

the result is the service is running.
refer to this image

Baam

#Update

I also have tried connecting my Pi to home network by using the network cable, assigned to 192.168.1.150. Also in this network, I connect my laptop using cable, assigned to 192.168.1.100.

I have run ping and traceroute command, my laptop found and able to ping to my pi, but somehow still I couldn't access/open the Moodle website. It says,

This site can't be reached
moodlebox.home's server IP address cound not be found.
Try checking the connection
ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

FYI, I also follow your instruction to fix the DNS in here https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/218-first-launch-error/4

but still, couldnt open/access the Moodle website.

Ratna

Baam

If the Ethernet interface of your MoodleBox gets the IP address 192.168.1.150 and you want to open the Moodle sites homepage under http://192.168.1.150, you need to put exactly that, 'http://192.168.1.150', in $CFG->wwwroot.

Nicolas

I'm lost. Maybe a faulty SD card?

Baam

Nicolas

hmm, I don't think so, because i have tried all my three Sandisk SD Card. and the result is the same. im also lost. hehe

Baam

@Nicolas
is there is any other way to install MoodleBox? or install Moodle in Raspbian OS? Can that work?

Nicolas

Baam Sure, but it is a long and tedious process (hence the reason of MoodleBox existence).

I'd try to find what's the problem with MoodleBox and your configuration before to look after other ways. Maybe other users will have an idea… Waiting one day or two for other answers would be wise IMHO.

Baam

Nicolas

Alright, thank you Nicolas for the insights.

I will check this post every day and update any issues.
let me know if you need anything.

Baam

Ratna
@Nicolas

here are some updates, after gain some insight from Ratna and help from Google to changing Moodle sites homepage under http://192.168.1.150, to 'http://192.168.1.150', in $CFG->wwwroot in config.php.

$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://192.168.1.150';

I manage to access the Moodle site, however, if i change it back to $CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
I cannot access again and back to zero.

Does this ring anything to you?

Ratna

Baam We are going in circles on a network configuration issue. Google is notorious for sending people in circles!
;-)

What do you want to achieve:
a) What is the URL you want: http://192.168.1.150 or http://10.0.0.1 or http://moodlebox.home or all three or something entirely different?

b) Where is the client device: Is that device connected to the wi-fi hotspot of the MoodleBox or is it connected to a Ethernet LAN to which MoodleBox's Ethernet port is connected to?

Baam

Ratna

Thank you for holding on to me,
Let me clear this out. So, so far,

I have my laptop and my Pi connected to my home router while my phone connects to the Access Point from my Pi.
My home router IP is 192.168.1.1
My laptop IP is 192.168.1.100
My Pi IP is 192.168.1.150 and at the same time 10.0.0.1

Ratna a) What is the URL you want: http://192.168.1.150 or http://10.0.0.1 or http://moodlebox.home or all three or something entirely different?

by default, i would love to access Moodle using default URL (http://moodlebox.home/) but i could not access it.
thus, after few hours digging and try and error.
i only can access the Moodle site after changing the in $CFG->wwwroot in config.php.

Baam
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://192.168.1.150';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://10.0.0.1';

Ratna b) Where is the client device: Is that device connected to the wi-fi hotspot of the MoodleBox or is it connected to a Ethernet LAN to which MoodleBox's Ethernet port is connected to?

My client devices would be my laptop and my phone. My laptop connected to the home router via ethernet cable same as my Pi while my phone connected to the access point by the Pi.

Baam

after i edit the config.php file to this

$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://192.168.1.150';
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://10.0.0.1';

I can access the Moodle site from http://192.168.1.150 and http://10.0.0.1' only. this http://moodlebox.home is not working at all as the beginning.

Ratna

Baam

My client devices would be my laptop and my phone. My laptop connected to the home router via ethernet cable same as my Pi while my phone connected to the access point by the Pi.

Then leave the MoodBox at its default $CFG->wwwroot = 'http://moodlebox.home'; and,

a) make sure that your laptop resolves the domain moodlebox.home to 192.168.1.150. The easiest method is called the "hosts file". If the laptop is Linux, it is enough to put a line
192.168.1.150 moodlebox.home moodlebox
in its /etc/hosts file. Windows has a similar thing.

A more sophisticated method would be to add a DNS record to the same effect to the DHCP configuration of the router.

b) if your smart phone connects to the wi-fi access point (hotspot) of the MoodleBox, it should resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. I don't know why it doesn't do that in your case. Often if you try to visit http://10.0.0.1 initially, it jumps to http://moodlebox.home and will stay there.

Baam

Ratna

Ratna add a DNS record

DNS record? sound like a new idea. I will look into it later

Ratna if your smart phone connects to the wi-fi access point (hotspot) of the MoodleBox, it should resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. I don't know why it doesn't do that in your case. Often if you try to visit http://10.0.0.1 initially, it jumps to http://moodlebox.home and will stay there.

it does jump to http://moodlebox.home when i try to go to http://10.0.0.1, but however, in the page it says ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED and in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN so I cannot access the Moodle website

@Nicolas
this may sound like a silly question, where do you configure to go to http://moodlebox.home ? in the Moodle config or something? or is there is any documentation i can read? i would like to try and error changing the URL for testing.

Baam

Greetings everyone,
Thank you for holding on to me.
Here is an update so far.

I have start over with a fresh MoodleBox image and I connect the pi to my home network. In my home router, I bind the Pi's MAC address to 192.168.1.60 so I don't have to configure in /etc/dhcpcd.conf file. I also have configured my home network DNS configuration to the Pi (192.168.1.60), but still i couldn't access the Moodle website.
After some brainstorming with my colleagues, I manage to get access the website.
Let me explain the steps.
after reconsidering @Ratna 's advice. to add a DNS record, I have do homework on how to add a record in DNSMASQ.

Ratna add a DNS record

Turns out, you can add records easily in /etc/hosts file, as the DNSMASQ will also look in the /etc/hosts file. So, I have add (in the /etc/hosts file)

192.168.1.60 moodlebox

Next, restart the dnsmasq.service.

sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq.service

***after this step, i still cannot access the Moodle website yet. but after i have add this line in /etc/dnsmasq.conf

listen-address=192.168.1.60
address=/home/192.168.1.60

Now, i can successfully access the Moodle website. I can access it using http://moodlebox.home, http://192.168.1.60 (will also redirect to http://moodlebox.home). without editing hosts file on my windows notebook.

BUT make sure to turn off DNS/VPN on your devices (windows, mac, iphone, android). because I personally configure my DNS to dns.adguard.com to block all the ads.

I am not sure why but if there are other DNS configured, I cannot access the Moodle website.

Thus, my issue is solved! Yey. Thank you @Nicolas, @Ratna, @ralfkrause

Ratna

Baam

in the page it says ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED and in other page says DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN so I cannot access the Moodle website

Means your device doesn't know what moodlebox.home is, i.e. it does not resolve moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. The expected behaviour is, when a device gets the IP address through DHCP it also gets the IP address of a DNS server. That DNS server, in this case also running in the MoodleBox, resolves moodlebox.home to 10.0.0.1. Your device somehow does not behave that way.

I don't know nothing about smart phones and their OSes, but if you provide as much information as possible about your smart-phone and how you connect it to the MoodleBox wi-fi, others might be able to help.

Nicolas

Baam where do you configure to go to http://moodlebox.home ?

The doc is here: https://moodlebox.net/en/help/domain-name-change/.

But you should really use the advices of @Ratna. See also, if you haven't yet: https://moodlebox.net/en/help/how-to-access-the-moodlebox-via-ethernet/.

Baam

Ratna

Got it, I will look into the DNS server configuration also then

Thank you for the insight, Ratna.

Baam

Nicolas

Great! I will note this also.

I will update my changes here to keep track of my work and others can refer.

ralfkrause

Can you please tell us something about your Raspberry Pi case? Is there a lot of metal around it?

Baam

ralfkrause

ralfkrause Can you please tell us something about your Raspberry Pi case? Is there a lot of metal around it?

yes sure.
my Raspberry pi is protected by plastic/ABS case. i put it beside my laptop on the table, no metal around it that i am aware of.