What are the steps to set up Sakai LMS on an AlmaLinux VPS?

What is Sakai LMS?

Sakai LMS is a powerful open-source learning management system (LMS) developed and maintained by the Apereo Foundation. It is designed to support teaching, research, and collaboration in higher education, making it an excellent choice for universities, colleges, and training organizations.

Being community-driven, Sakai is continuously updated with features that meet the evolving needs of educators and learners worldwide.

Key Features

Course Management – Build, organize, and manage courses with modules, assignments, assessments, and grading.
Collaboration Tools – Includes messaging, forums, wikis, announcements, and chat.
Assessment & Grading – Tools for quizzes, assignments, gradebook, and analytics.
Content Delivery – Upload, organize, and share files, videos, and resources.
Customization – Flexible UI, permissions, and tools that adapt to institutional needs.
Integrations – Supports LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) for third-party apps.
Multi-language Support – Accessible for global educational institutions.

Typical Use Cases

Universities & Colleges – Deliver online or blended courses.
Corporate Training – Upskill and reskill employees.
Non-profits & Community Education – Provide accessible learning platforms.
Research Collaboration – Create workspaces for research groups.

Technology Stack

Backend: Java (Apache Tomcat application server)
Database: PostgreSQL (recommended), MySQL, or Oracle
Frontend: Web-based, responsive for desktop & mobile
License: Open Source (Educational Community License 2.0)

Why Institutions Choose Sakai

Free & Open Source – No licensing costs.
Community-Driven – Developed with input from educators.
Scalable & Secure – Works for small classes or large universities.
Long-Term Support – Backed by the global Apereo community.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, ensure you have:

AlmaLinux 8 or AlmaLinux 9 VPS (at least 2 CPU cores & 4GB RAM recommended)
Root or sudo access to the VPS
Domain name pointing to your server (optional but recommended)
Firewall access to ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS)

Update system packages:

sudo dnf update -y

sudo dnf install epel-release -y

How to Install Sakai LMS on AlmaLinux VPS

1. Install Java (OpenJDK 17)

Sakai requires Java 17 or newer.

sudo dnf install java-17-openjdk java-17-openjdk-devel -y

java -version

2. Install and Configure PostgreSQL

Install PostgreSQL server and initialize the database:

sudo dnf install postgresql-server postgresql-contrib -y

sudo postgresql-setup --initdb
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresq

Create a user and database for Sakai:

sudo -u postgres psql

Inside the PostgreSQL shell:

CREATE USER sakaiuser WITH PASSWORD 'StrongPassHere';
CREATE DATABASE sakaidb WITH OWNER sakaiuser ENCODING 'UTF8';
\q

Edit authentication settings:

sudo vi /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

Change to:

host sakaidb sakaiuser 127.0.0.1/32 md5

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

3. Install Apache Tomcat

Download and install Tomcat:

sudo dnf install wget -y

cd /opt
sudo wget https://dlcdn.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-9/v9.0.109/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.109.tar.gz

sudo tar xzf apache-tomcat-9.0.109.tar.gz
sudo mv apache-tomcat-9.0.109 tomcat9

Create Tomcat user and set permissions:

sudo useradd -r -m -U -d /opt/tomcat9 -s /sbin/nologin tomcat
sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/tomcat9

4. Download and Deploy Sakai LMS

Download the latest Sakai release (example: v23):

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/sakaiproject/sakai.git

cd sakai

# Checkout a stable release,

git checkout 23.0

mvn clean install sakai:deploy -Dmaven.tomcat.home=/opt/tomcat9 -DskipTests

5. Configure Sakai Database Connection

Create Sakai configuration directory:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/tomcat9/sakai
sudo nano /opt/tomcat9/sakai/sakai.properties

Add the following:

# Database Settings

driverClassName=org.postgresql.Driver

url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/sakaidb

username=sakaiuser

password=StrongPassHere

hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect

# Server URL

serverUrl=http://yourdomain.com:8080

# File Storage

bodyPath=/opt/tomcat9/sakai-content

6. Add PostgreSQL JDBC Driver

cd /opt/tomcat9/lib
sudo wget https://jdbc.postgresql.org/download/postgresql-42.7.3.jar

7. Create a Systemd Service for Tomcat

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service

Paste:

[Unit]

Description=Apache Tomcat 9

After=network.target

[Service]

Type=forking

User=tomcat

Group=tomcat

Environment="JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk"

Environment="CATALINA_PID=/opt/tomcat9/temp/tomcat.pid"

Environment="CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat9"

Environment="CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat9"

ExecStart=/opt/tomcat9/bin/startup.sh

ExecStop=/opt/tomcat9/bin/shutdown.sh

[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start Tomcat:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable tomcat
sudo systemctl start tomcat

8. Open Firewall Ports

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

9. Access Sakai LMS

Open your browser and visit:

http://yourdomain.com:8080/sakai

Follow the web installer to complete setup.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Sakai LMS on AlmaLinux VPS with Java, PostgreSQL, and Tomcat. With this setup, you now have a robust, scalable, and open-source platform to power online learning and collaboration at your institution.