Hi, Chris Richter from Moodle at Ricoshae here. Today, we’re diving into Moodle admin hint number eight: how to check your performance overview. Regularly checking these performance indicators is crucial to ensure your Moodle system runs smoothly and efficiently. To access these settings, you’ll need to be a site administrator. Let’s explore the reports section in Moodle.
Accessing Performance Overview
As an administrator, I’ve logged into Moodle version 3.6. Navigate to Site administration > Reports > Performance overview. Here, you’ll find five key areas to review.
1. Theme Designer Mode
You’ll notice “Theme designer mode” at the top. If you’ve been working on theme modifications, like I have, this might be enabled. While useful for development, it slows down your system by preventing certain caching. On a production server, theme designer mode should definitely be disabled. For development environments, it’s fine, but remember to switch it off once your theme design is complete. You can easily do this by clicking the cog icon on the right, which takes you to the theme designer settings.
2. Cache JavaScript
The next item is “Cache JavaScript.” If this is disabled, pages may load slower. Ideally, it should be enabled, indicated by a green status. This means your JavaScript is being cached, which is exactly what we want for optimal performance.
3. Debug Messages
You might have seen me adjust debug messages before, especially when I’m working on theme changes or troubleshooting plugin issues. I often set this to “Developer” to view more detailed messages. However, on a live production server, you want “None (do not show any errors or warnings)” to be selected, which is indicated by a green status. This prevents unnecessary messages from appearing and potentially impacting performance.
4. Automated Backups
Automated backups are important, and it’s perfectly fine to have them enabled. However, pay close attention to the message: “Performance may be affected during the backup process if an enabled backup should be scheduled for off-peak times.” When setting up automated backups, ensure they are scheduled during your server’s downtime, when there’s minimal user activity. This minimizes any potential performance impact.
5. Enable Statistics
Lastly, “Enable statistics” is another setting to consider. On my development server, I have it disabled. While some third-party plugins might require statistics to be enabled for monitoring and logging, it’s generally preferable to have them disabled if not strictly necessary, as they can also slow down your system.
Conclusion
Taking a few moments to review your Moodle’s performance overview can significantly impact its efficiency. By understanding and optimizing these settings, you give your Moodle system the best opportunity to work as efficiently as possible.
I’m Chris Richter from Moodle at Ricoshae. I hope this has been helpful! If you’d like to learn more about the top 10 admin tasks every Moodle administrator should know, check out the link below this video. We’ll cover topics like clearing the cache, running cron, setting tasks, turning on debugging, reading log files, editing the config, running automated backups, checking security reports, and using ad-hoc database queries. Stay tuned for more videos on making the most out of your Moodle learning management system.