Configuring the Authoring Tool
This article aims to give you a run-down of the different configuration options available for your authoring tool installation, what they mean and how to use them.
If you're looking for course configuration options, you're in the wrong place, go here.
The global tool configuration settings live in conf/config.json. This file is created and populated during install (see install.js for specifics). Any of the settings listed below can be added to the config.json. You can see an example config.json file here.
- Required fields are marked with a
* - Where specific values are expected for a given setting, these are listed in the Expected values column (a
-here signifies any reasonable value).
- General options
- Feature options
- Server options
- Database options
- SMTP/Mail options
- Master tenant options
- CKEditor options
- Command line install options
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
root* |
String | - | Path to the server root in the server file system |
dataRoot* |
String | - | Path to the 'data' folder, relative to the server root |
rootUrl |
String | - | URL the authoring tool instance can be accessed at |
buildServerStatusUrl |
String | - | |
sessionSecret* |
String | - | Session cookies are signed with this 'secret' to prevent tampering |
authoringToolRepository* |
String | - | A git repository to be used for the authoring tool application source |
frameworkRepository* |
String | - | A git repository to be used for the framework source |
frameworkRevision* |
String | - | A valid git revision for the frameworkRepository specified above |
maxLoginAttempts |
Number | - | Number of failed login attempts until a user is locked |
maxFileUploadSize |
String | - | File upload limit (for course assets, plugins, course import, ...), defaults to 200mb. Supported units: b, kb, mb, gb, tb
|
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
outputPlugin* |
String | adapt |
Which plugin to use for course output |
auth* |
String |
local (i.e. username/password) |
Which plugin to use for authentication |
useffmpeg |
Boolean |
true/false
|
Whether to use the FFmpeg library for the asset library (note: FFmpeg must be installed) |
useAnalytics |
Boolean |
true/false
|
Whether to enable Google Analytics for data collection |
trackingId |
String | - | The identifier for your Google Analytics property (see Google's documentation for more) |
isProduction |
Boolean |
true/false
|
Whether the server is used in production. Note: this is set during the grunt build process, so shouldn't generally be changed manually. |
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
serverName* |
String | - | The URL of the tool's host server |
serverPort* |
Number | - | Port number the tool is accessed at |
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
dbType* |
String | mongoose |
The type of database used for the authoring tool instance |
dbHost* |
String | - | The URL of the database's host server |
dbName* |
String | - | Name of the database |
dbPort* |
Number | - | Port number the database is accessed at |
dbUser |
String | - | Username for accessing the database |
dbPass |
String | - | Password for the above user |
dbReplicaset |
Array | - | A list of hosts and ports for the database to persist to |
dbOptions |
Object | - | An object specifying custom options to be passed to the database driver. See the documentation for your chosen database for more (Mongoose options can be found here). |
For more on configuring a mail server, go to this page.
Note: rootUrl is also required when sending out some emails (see General options).
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
useSmtp |
Boolean |
true/false
|
Whether an SMTP server should be used |
smtpService |
String | See list of supported services | Name of the service to use for sending mail |
smtpUsername |
String | - | Username for the SMTP service account |
smtpPassword |
String | - | Password for the above |
fromAddress |
String | - | Email address to user as the sender on any emails |
useSmtpConnectionUrl |
Boolean |
true/false
|
Use a SMTP connection URL to connect to the SMTP server |
smtpConnectionUrl |
String | e.g. smtps://username:password@smtp.example.com/?pool=true
|
If useSmtpConnectionUrl is set to true, you must provide a valid SMTP connection string. |
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
masterTenantName* |
String | - | Name of the tool's master tenant |
masterTenantID* |
String | - | ID of the master tenant. |
| Name | Type | Expected values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
ckEditorExtraAllowedContent |
String | - | Overwrite CKEditor config for content filtering. |
ckEditorEnterMode |
String |
"ENTER_P", "ENTER_BR", "ENTER_DIV"
|
Configure the behaviour of the ENTER key. |
| Option | Accepted values | description |
|---|---|---|
--useJSON |
Y/N | Use existing config values? |
--install |
Y/N | Continue? Y/n |
--serverPort |
number | Server port |
--serverName |
string | Server name |
--dataRoot |
string | Data directory path |
--authoringToolRepository |
string | Git repository URL to be used for the authoring tool source code |
--frameworkRepository |
string | Git repository URL to be used for the framework source code |
--frameworkRevision |
string | Specific git revision to be used for the framework. Accepts any valid revision type (e.g. branch/tag/commit) |
--dbName |
string | Master database name |
--useConnectionUri |
Y/N | Will you be using a full database connection URI? (all connection options in the URI) y/N |
--dbConnectionUri |
string | Database connection URI |
--dbHost |
string | Database host |
--dbPort |
number | Database server port |
--dbUser |
string | Database server user (only specify if using database authentication) |
--dbPass |
string | Database server password (only specify if using database authentication) |
--dbAuthSource |
string | Database server authentication database (only specify if using database authentication) |
--useSmtp |
Y/N | Will you be using an SMTP server? (used for sending emails) y/N |
--useSmtpConnectionUrl |
Y/N | Will you use a URL to connect to your smtp Server y/N |
--fromAddress |
string | Sender email address |
--rootUrl |
string | The url this install will be accessible from |
--smtpService |
string | Which SMTP service (if any) will be used? (see https://github.com/andris9/nodemailer-wellknown#supported-services for a list of supported services.) |
--smtpUsername |
string | SMTP username |
--smtpPassword |
string | SMTP password |
--smtpConnectionUrl |
string | Custom connection URL: smtps://user%40gmail.com:pass@smtp.gmail.com/?pool=true |
--masterTenantName |
string | Set a unique name for your tenant |
--masterTenantDisplayName |
string | Set the display name for your tenant |
--suEmail |
string | Super user email address |
--suPassword |
string | Super user email password |
--suRetypePassword |
string | Confirm super user email password |
