moodle-performance

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h1. Moodle Quiz Load Test Results — Moodle 4.5 (March 2026)

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This page documents load test results for Moodle 4.5 quiz under concurrent exam conditions.

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The goal is to share infrastructure sizing experience that may be useful for other institutions

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running large-scale simultaneous online exams.

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For the test procedure and files (JMeter script, quiz backup, users file), see:

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[[Load_tests_in_moodle_41_(update_2025)]]

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---

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h2. Summary

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We tested a Moodle 4.5 deployment with 2000 and 3000 simultaneous virtual users (VUs) completing

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a 16-question quiz. The system handled 2000 VUs comfortably with no errors and good response times.

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At 3000 VUs, the only point of stress was the synchronized exam start (startattempt spike);

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all subsequent quiz navigation remained stable even at that load.

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The main finding is that *CPU is the actual bottleneck* in this architecture, not RAM.

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With PHP-FPM + OPcache + a separated database server, memory pressure was minimal even at peak load.

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This challenges the common Moodle documentation recommendation that frames RAM as the primary

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performance lever — that guidance appears to be a legacy of older mod_php architectures without OPcache.

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We also tested Apache mod_cache on the reverse proxy. It reduced latency for static assets and

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pre-exam navigation (10–35% improvement), but had a paradoxical effect on the startattempt spike:

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pages load faster, so users arrive at the synchronization point more tightly clustered,

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slightly increasing peak pressure at exam start.

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h2. Infrastructure

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|_.Component|_.Details|

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|Reverse proxy|Apache 2.4 (MPM event), mod_shib, mod_cache, mod_remoteip|

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|Web / app server|Apache 2.4 + PHP-FPM 8.3, Debian 13, *12 vCPU / 12 GB RAM*|

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|Database server|MySQL Community 8.4, Debian 13, *4 vCPU / 16 GB RAM*|

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|PHP acceleration|OPcache enabled. Moodle Universal Cache (MUC): file cache (default)|

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|PHP-FPM pool|pm = dynamic, pm.max_children = 90|

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|Virtualization|VMware (VMs on shared physical hardware — introduces run-to-run variability)|

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|Storage|SAN/shared storage with SSD tier|

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|Monitoring|Custom shell script (CSV, 10s interval) + Percona PMM (DB) + nmon (DB server)|

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h2. Test Quiz Characteristics

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|_.Parameter|_.Value|

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|Moodle version|4.5|

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|Quiz pages|8 pages, 2 questions per page (16 questions total)|

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|Question types|12 multiple choice, 2 true/false, 1 matching, 1 short answer (free text)|

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|Images in questions|4 questions with small images (< 50 KB each)|

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|Time limit|None|

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|Navigation|Sequential (one page at a time)|

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h2. Load Test Configuration

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|_.Parameter|_.Value|

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|Tool|Apache JMeter 5.6.3|

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|JMeter machine|Dedicated, 32 GB RAM / 8 CPU, @-Xms8g -Xmx8g -XX:+UseG1GC@|

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|Virtual users (VUs)|2000 / 2500 / 3000|

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|Ramp-up|180 seconds|

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|Think time|Random per thread, uniform distribution 30–90 s|

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|Exam start simulation|Synchronizing Timer (all VUs held before startattempt, then released together)|

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|Approximate test duration|~30 minutes per run|

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The Synchronizing Timer models the real-world scenario where all students click "Start attempt"

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within a short window at the beginning of a scheduled exam. This is the most demanding moment

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for the infrastructure.

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h2. Results

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h3. 2000 VUs — Stable, comfortable headroom

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Two runs in identical conditions confirmed high reproducibility (TOTAL p95 differed by only 2 ms

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between runs). Key figures:

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|_.Metric|_.Value|

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|TOTAL p95|~408 ms|

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|TOTAL p99|~503 ms|

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|startattempt p95 (controller)|~924 ms (avg of both runs)|

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|Quiz pages p95 (pages 1–8)|410–490 ms|

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|Errors|< 0.002% (effectively zero)|

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|PHP-FPM busy peak|10–20 workers / 90 configured|

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|RAM peak|~1.6 GB used / 12 GB available|

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|Swap|0 at all times|

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The startattempt spike lasted approximately 2 minutes, after which load dropped steadily.

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All quiz navigation after exam start was unaffected.

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h3. 3000 VUs — Acceptable, with a localized spike at exam start

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|_.Metric|_.Value|

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|TOTAL p95|423 ms|

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|TOTAL p99|859 ms (driven by startattempt outliers)|

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|startattempt p95 (controller)|2689 ms|

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|Quiz pages p95 (pages 1–8)|399–483 ms|

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|Errors|0.033% — all on startattempt endpoint|

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|PHP-FPM busy peak|77 workers / 90 configured|

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|RAM peak|~2.2 GB used / 12 GB available|

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|Swap|0 at all times|

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Pages 1–8 response times at 3000 VUs were virtually identical to the 2000 VU runs.

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The system degraded *only* at the synchronized exam start, not during the exam itself.

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h3. Effect of mod_cache on the reverse proxy (2000 VUs)

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Tested with a whitelist-based mod_cache configuration on the reverse proxy caching static assets,

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requirejs bundles, and shared pluginfile.php resources.

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|_.Endpoint|_.p95 without cache|_.p95 with cache|_.Delta|

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|get / (homepage)|215 ms|140 ms|*-75 ms*|

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|POST /login|272 ms|244 ms|-28 ms|

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|course/view.php|139 ms|124 ms|-15 ms|

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|Quiz pages (avg pages 1–8)|435 ms|415 ms|*-20 ms*|

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|Errors|0.002%|0.000%|—|

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The cache improved all static and navigation endpoints. The startattempt controller worsened

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because mod_cache accelerated pre-exam page delivery, causing VUs to arrive at the

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synchronization point more tightly clustered, amplifying the spike.

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In real exams with natural student dispersion this effect would be attenuated.

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h2. Key Findings

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h3. CPU is the bottleneck, not RAM

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With PHP-FPM + OPcache + a separated database server, the memory footprint per worker is low

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(~60–70 MB private RSS; shared OPcache loaded once). At 2000 VUs peak, only ~260 MB of additional

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RAM was consumed. CPU was consistently the limiting resource.

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This is relevant because Moodle's official documentation historically emphasizes RAM as the

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primary sizing parameter. That guidance reflects mod_php architectures without OPcache,

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where each Apache process carries a full PHP interpreter in memory. With PHP-FPM and OPcache,

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the architecture is fundamentally different.

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h3. The startattempt spike is the sole critical point

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All quiz page navigation (pages 1–8, finish) remained stable across all load levels.

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The only metric that degraded significantly with increased VUs was the synchronized exam start.

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Any optimization that reduces the startattempt spike (staggered start, exam scheduling,

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reduced synchronization) has disproportionate impact on perceived performance.

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h3. The database was not a bottleneck

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At 2000 VUs, MySQL operated almost entirely from the InnoDB buffer pool (zero read I/O observed

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via nmon). Write I/O peaked at ~6.5 MB/s during the startattempt spike (disk ~98% busy),

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but iowait on the DB server remained below 4%, indicating writes did not block query execution.

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DB server CPU peaked at 70% during the spike and recovered quickly.

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The 16 GB RAM on the DB server allowed the working set to remain in the buffer pool throughout

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the test — a key factor for this result.

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h3. Reproducibility and VMware variability

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Running on shared VMware infrastructure introduces run-to-run variability. We ran at least two

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identical runs at each load level to distinguish real behavior from hypervisor noise.

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At 2000 VUs the results were highly consistent (TOTAL p95 ±2 ms). Some variability was observed

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in the startattempt spike (p95 range: 775–1072 ms across two runs), which is expected given

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its sensitivity to exact CPU availability at the moment of the synchronized burst.

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h2. Practical Sizing Reference

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Based on these results, for this infrastructure profile:

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|_.Concurrent students|_.Assessment|

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|Up to ~1600|Comfortable headroom. CPU peak well under 70%, PHP-FPM pool far from saturation.|

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|~2000|Supported with margin. Startattempt spike reaches ~65% CPU for ~2 minutes. No errors.|

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|~2500|Under evaluation (results pending).|

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|~3000|Functional but at the limit of the startattempt spike. 0.03% errors at exam start, CPU queuing during spike. All subsequent navigation unaffected.|

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*Note:* these figures assume a fully synchronized exam start (worst case).

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Real exams where students enter over 2–5 minutes will perform significantly better at any load level.

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h2. Monitoring Setup

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The following metrics were captured at 10-second intervals via a shell script during each run:

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* @load average@ (1, 5, 15 min) — primary CPU saturation indicator

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* RAM used and swap

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* Apache processes

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* PHP-FPM: total workers, busy, idle

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* HTTPS connections (port 443)

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* MySQL TCP connections

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The DB server was monitored independently with @nmon@ (5-second interval), capturing CPU per core,

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memory, disk I/O (read/write KB/s, %busy), and network throughput.

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Percona PMM was used for MySQL-level metrics.

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h2. References and Resources

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* Test procedure and files (JMeter script, quiz backup, users CSV): [[Load_tests_in_moodle_41_(update_2025)]]

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* Moodle documentation on performance: https://docs.moodle.org/en/Performance_recommendations

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* PHP-FPM process manager configuration: https://www.php.net/manual/en/install.fpm.configuration.php

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* Apache mod_cache documentation: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_cache.html

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_Results contributed by SECIU — Universidad de la República (Uruguay), March 2026._

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_Infrastructure: eva-perf.seciu.edu.uy (test environment)._

Load test results in moodle 45 (feb 2026)