Problems integrating BBB with Moodle over SSL

[Karl-Johan Grahn]

Hi,

I'm setting up a BigBlueButton 1.0 server and I've run into a problem getting Moodle to talk to it over SSL. I'm stuck and would appreciate any/all help.

We're using these software versions:
* BigBlueButton 1.0.0
* Moodle 3.1.1+ (Build: 20160811)
* BigBlueButtonBN plugin 2.1.1 version 2016051905

I've enabled SSL on the BBB server per http://docs.bigbluebutton.org/install/install.html#configuring-https-on-bigbluebutton, and it seems to work as expected. The correct certificates are being used.

From Moodle, I try adding a new BigBlueButtonBN to Topic 1.

I enter a virtual classroom name "TEST" and click "Save and return to course", and get:

Unable to connect. Please check the url of the BigBlueButton server AND check to see if the BigBlueButton server is running.

More information about this error
Debug info:
Error code: general_error_unable_connect
Stack trace:

    line 495 of /lib/setuplib.php: moodle_exception thrown
    line 54 of /mod/bigbluebuttonbn/mod_form.php: call to print_error()
    line 201 of /lib/formslib.php: call to mod_bigbluebuttonbn_mod_form->definition()
    line 95 of /course/moodleform_mod.php: call to moodleform->__construct()
    line 255 of /course/modedit.php: call to moodleform_mod->__construct()

I click "Continue" and get:

Section error!

More information about this error
Debug info:
Error code: sectionerror
Stack trace:

    line 495 of /lib/setuplib.php: moodle_exception thrown
    line 26 of /admin/settings.php: call to print_error()

Output of bbb-conf --check (server name changed):

BigBlueButton Server 1.0.0 (1058)
                    Kernel version: 4.6.3-x86_64-linode70
                      Distribution: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS (64-bit)
                            Memory: 3950 MB

/var/www/bigbluebutton/client/conf/config.xml (bbb-client)
                Port test (tunnel): ourserver.xyz
                              Red5: ourserver.xyz
    <logging enabled="true" target="trace" level="info" format="{dateUTC} {time} :: {name} :: [{logLevel}] {message}" uri="https:
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
ourserver.xyz
              useWebrtcIfAvailable: true

/opt/freeswitch/conf/sip_profiles/external.xml (FreeSWITCH)
                    websocket port: 5066
                    WebRTC enabled: true

/etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton (nginx)
                       server name: ourserver.xyz
                              port: 80
                              port: 443 ssl
                    bbb-client dir: /var/www/bigbluebutton

/var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/classes/bigbluebutton.properties (bbb-web)
                      bbb-web host: ourserver.xyz

/var/www/bigbluebutton/check/conf/config.xml (client check)
                      client check: ourserver.xyz

/usr/share/red5/webapps/bigbluebutton/WEB-INF/red5-web.xml (red5)
                  voice conference: FreeSWITCH
                     capture video: true
                   capture desktop: true

/usr/local/bigbluebutton/core/scripts/bigbluebutton.yml (record and playback)
                     playback host: ourserver.xyz


** Potential problems described below **
# IP does not match:
#                           IP from ifconfig: 123.456.789.10
#   /etc/nginx/sites-available/bigbluebutton: ourserver.xyz
# Warning: The client self check is installed and accessible from:
#
#    https://ourserver.xyz/check
#

Connecting directly to https://ourserver.xyz/bigbluebutton/api with a browser returns:
<response><returncode>SUCCESS</returncode><version>1.0</version></response>

Running this command from the Moodle server returns:
# wget -O - --quiet https://ourserver.xyz/bigbluebutton/api; echo
<response><returncode>SUCCESS</returncode><version>1.0</version></response>

Any and all help appreciated!

[Karl-Johan Grahn]

Yesterday I got help from Fred Dixon investigating our problem and we are quite certain it is the Moodle server that is the culprit here. All settings and logs looked as expected, but when I tried accessing the course multiple times, sometimes the meeting would start, sometimes not. I tried it again today and same behavior, sometimes the course will enable me to start a conference, sometimes not. So it is most probably a bad network or bad server that is running our Moodle installation.