Moodle on Azure: A Budget-Friendly LMS for Nonprofits
For many nonprofits, providing training and educational resources to staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries is essential. However, finding an affordable and scalable Learning Management System (LMS) can be challenging. Microsoft Community Training (MCT) is a robust solution, but for some nonprofits, the pricing may be a barrier. Fortunately, there’s an alternative: Moodle, an open-source LMS, which is available on the Azure Marketplace. This allows nonprofits to deploy Moodle within their Azure tenant, making use of their Microsoft Azure credits while keeping costs manageable. Why Choose Moodle on Azure? Moodle is a widely adopted, flexible LMS that enables nonprofits to create, manage, and deliver online training programs. By deploying it through the Azure Marketplace, nonprofits gain several advantages: ✅Cost-Effective You can host it within your Azure environment, using your Azure credits provided through Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact program (and pay for hosting/storage/servers), without having to pay just to access the application licensing. ✅Scalable & Secure Azure provides enterprise-grade security, ensuring your training content and user data are protected. ✅Seamless Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem Moodle on Azure integrates effortlessly with Microsoft tools like Teams, OneDrive, and Power BI, allowing nonprofits to streamline collaboration, document management, and analytics. Educators and learners can access training materials within Microsoft Teams, making the learning experience more accessible. ✅Flexible and Customizable With Moodle, nonprofits have full control over their LMS setup. Unlike proprietary solutions, which can limit flexibility and lock you into one provider, Moodle is open source allowing you to customize courses, branding, user roles, and many other features that allow you to adapt Moodle freely to meet your nonprofit’s unique training needs. ✅Optimized Performance on Azure Deploying Moodle on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) or Azure App Services ensures high availability, automatic scaling, and reliability. Nonprofits can adjust resources based on demand, preventing unnecessary expenses while maintaining a smooth learning experience. ✅Utilizing Microsoft Azure Credits Through Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact program, eligible nonprofits receive Azure credits, reducing hosting costs. By hosting Moodle on Azure Virtual Machines, nonprofits can reduce LMS costs while maintaining control over their data and infrastructure. By leveraging these credits, organizations can run a full-featured LMS without incurring many additional expenses. Getting Started with Moodle on Azure Since Moodle is available on the Azure Marketplace, nonprofits can deploy it within their own Azure tenant in just a few steps: 1️⃣ Sign in to Azure – Use your nonprofit’s Microsoft Azure account (with eligible nonprofit credits). If you have an Azure Sponsorship Subscription, you will need to make sure it is activated for your non-profit 2️⃣ Go to Azure Marketplace – Search for Moodle in the marketplace. In the search bar you can look for Marketplace. In Marketplace, search for “Bitnami LMS powered by Moodle" Please note that there are other Moodle options available from different providers. Bitnami, now part of VMware, provides pre-packaged, ready-to-run application stacks. Their Moodle offering is a Virtual Machine (VM) pre-configured with Moodle, making it easy to deploy and manage on Azure without extensive setup. 3️⃣ Select the Moodle Image – Choose the pre-configured Moodle on Azure deployment. 4️⃣ Configure Resources – Set up the appropriate virtual machines, storage, and networking based on your organization’s needs. During Setup up many of the settings will stay the same: *Under Administrator - choose authentication type as password, and creating a username and password *Under Network - The virtual machine and IP should create automatically, if not like create network. 5️⃣ Connecting to the Virtual Machine and Signing into Moodle Connecting to Virtual Machine 1. To connect to your Virtual Machine, you will need to click on the connect button. 2. There are options to SSH into your Virtual machine. Select “SSH using Azure CLI.” 3. You see the Command Line Interface connects on its own with the virtual machine. 4. Now logged into bitnami type the Linux command as follows: a. sudo cat /home/bitnami/bitnami_credentials The user commands with give you the user credentials you will need to sign in onto your Moodle LMS website. In the next steps you will learn how to login into your Moodle site. You can type exit in the terminal and close the Azure CLI. Signing into Moodle 1. In the resource group that hosts your Moodle LMS deployment. Select your virtual machine. 2. Under the essentials area locate the “Public IP Address.” 3. Copy the address and enter the IP Address into your search bar. 4. You will see the screen for your LMS. Sign in into the LMS with the user credentials you copied from Azure CLI. 5. You are now signed into your LMS. You will need to be signed in as an administrator and toggle the edit mode to make any changes to the website. 6️⃣ Deploy and Customize – Launch Moodle and integrate it with Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, and Power BI for reporting. For integrations, follow this step-by-step guide: Install Moodle integration with Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn 🔹 Customization Tips: Configure branding and themes to align with your nonprofit’s identity. Enable Single Sign-On (SSO) for seamless access 📌 Support Note: Since this is deployed via the Azure Marketplace, support is provided by Bitnami/Moodle, not Microsoft. Take Control of Your Training Platform By deploying Moodle on Azure, nonprofits can implement a powerful, cost-effective LMS solution that aligns with their existing Microsoft ecosystem. This ensures they can continue offering valuable training programs without exceeding their budgets.How to Re-Register MFA
Working closely with nonprofits every day, I often come across a common challenge faced by MFA users. Recently, I worked with a nonprofit leader who faced an issue after getting a new phone. She was unable to authenticate into her Microsoft 365 environment because her MFA setup was tied to her old device. This experience highlighted how important it is to have a process in place for MFA re-registration. Without it, even routine changes like upgrading a phone can disrupt access to your everyday tools and technologies, delaying important work such as submitting a grant proposal. Why MFA is Essential for Nonprofits Before we discuss how to reset MFA, let’s take a step back and discuss why MFA is a necessity for nonprofits the way it is important for any organization. In the nonprofit world, protecting sensitive or confidential data—like donor information, financial records, and program details—is a top priority. One of the best ways to step up your security game is by using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). MFA adds an extra layer of protection on top of passwords by requiring something you have (like a mobile app or text message) or something you are (like a fingerprint). This makes it a lot harder for cybercriminals to get unauthorized access. If your nonprofit uses Azure Active Directory (AAD), or Microsoft Entra (as it is now called), with Microsoft 365, MFA can make a big difference in keeping your work safe. Since Microsoft Entra is built to work together with other Microsoft tools, it’s easy to set up and enforce secure sign-in methods across your whole organization. To make sure this added protection stays effective, it’s a good idea to occasionally ask users to update how they verify their identity. What Does MFA Re-Registration Mean for Nonprofits? MFA re-registration is just a fancy way of saying users need to update or reset how they authenticate, or verify, themselves. This might mean setting up MFA on a new phone (like the woman in the scenario above), adding an extra security option (like a hardware token), or simply confirming their existing setup. It’s all about making sure the methods and devices your users rely on for MFA are secure and under their control. When and Why Should Nonprofits Require MFA Re-Registration? Outside of getting a new phone, there may be other situations that raise cause for reason to re-register your MFA. A few scenarios include: Lost or Stolen Devices: Similar to the scenario above, if someone loses their phone or it gets stolen, you will have to re-register the new device. Role Changes: If someone’s responsibilities change, their MFA setup can be adjusted to match their new access needs. Security Enhancements: Organizations may require users to re-register for MFA to adopt more secure authentication methods, such as moving from SMS-based MFA to an app-based MFA like Microsoft Authenticator Policy Updates: When an organization updates its security policies, it might require all users to re-register for MFA to comply with new standards Account Compromise: If there is a suspicion that an account has been compromised, re-registering for MFA can help secure the account by ensuring that only the legitimate user has access With Microsoft Entra, managing MFA re-registration is straightforward and can be done with an administrator to the organization’s tenant. How to require re-registration of MFA To reset or require re-registration of MFA in Microsoft Entra, please follow the steps below. Navigate to portal.azure.com with your nonprofit admin account. Select Microsoft Entra ID Select the drop-down for Manage In the left-hand menu bar select Users > Select the user's name that you want to reregister to MFA (not shown). Once in their profile, select Manage MFA authentication methods Select Require re-register multifactor authentication Congratulations! The user will now be required to re-register the account in the Microsoft Authentication app.
