Deploying Opencast for Moodle

[mjencabh]

Hi,

First of all, what a great project! I have managed to get it up and running, but I’m facing some issues regarding access control that I hope you can help with.

My setup:

Opencast v. 19

Moodle 4.5.8+

Plugins: tool_opencast, mod_opencast (and others)

The issue: I can set up LTI, and teachers can edit and upload without problems. However, I want to keep the videos "safe" so they are only accessible within Moodle, unless a teacher explicitly sets the view rights to fully public.

Currently, the "Test connection" is all green. But:

If I set mod_opencast to API, it doesn't show anything in the player.

If I change it to engage_player, the video shows up, but then students can easily share the direct link with people outside of Moodle.

My questions:

What is the best practice for securing these links? For my understanding an what I can read out of docs I need to configure OAuth and specific LTI settings in both the Opencast config and the Moodle plugin?

Do I need to set up a separate External LTI tool in Moodle, or is the mod_opencast plugin enough?

Do I need to setup other roles than default for Moodle users (we use the default student role)?

Should I still use api or engage_player as the publication channel in mod_opencast when aiming for a restricted setup?

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards
Michael

[ferishili]

Hi Michael,

I'd suggest joining the Opencast Moodle Community Matrix channel for ongoing discussions.

To clarify the situation here: if you want to use LTI authentication for better security, you cannot use the mod_opencast plugin. In that case, you must use an LTI-based approach, such as the Moodle LTI module (External tool).

The mod_opencast plugin only works when the Secure Static Files option in Opencast is disabled, which effectively means minimal security.

In short:

• With LTI authentication (secure): use the Moodle LTI module or the filter_opencast plugin, which supports LTI auth.
• Without security checks: mod_opencast is sufficient.

For more details, see the documentation:
https://moodle.docs.opencast.org/
(This will be updated soon to reflect the latest changes.)

[mjencabh]

Thx for your time and clarifying! Much appriciated.
I have also joined the channels, I were just in doubt about where to go with what.

The docs er a bit "heavy" I have been going on them for weeks, so now I had to reach out.

I will have me a round five and hopefully get the LTI up running.

Best regards
Michael

[ferishili]

You're very welcome!
You'll usually get answers a bit faster in the channel than here 😄

If you decide to go with LTI, I'd recommend trying filter_opencast, since it supports LTI authentication. The LTI module setup can be a bit tricky, so this is often the easier option.