WeBWork Technical Requirements and Integration 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which web server software is officially recommended for hosting a WeBWorK installation?
- nginx only
- Apache HTTP Server (Correct answer)
- Microsoft IIS
- Caddy Server
Correct answer: Apache HTTP Server
Apache HTTP Server is the officially recommended and most widely supported web server for WeBWorK deployments.
Question 2: What is the minimum recommended RAM for a WeBWorK server supporting a single course with moderate student load?
- 256 MB
- 512 MB
- 1 GB (Correct answer)
- 4 GB
Correct answer: 1 GB
At least 1 GB of RAM is recommended for a functional WeBWorK server handling a single course.
Question 3: Which LTI version does WeBWorK 2.17+ support for integration with Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle?
- LTI 1.0
- LTI 1.1
- LTI 1.3 (Correct answer)
- LTI 2.0
Correct answer: LTI 1.3
WeBWorK 2.17 and later supports LTI 1.3 for modern LMS grade passback and authentication.
Question 4: When configuring WeBWorK behind a reverse proxy, which configuration file must be updated to reflect the correct server name?
- localOverrides.conf (Correct answer)
- webwork2.conf
- site.conf
- global.conf
Correct answer: localOverrides.conf
localOverrides.conf is where site-specific settings such as the server name and URL are customized.
Question 5: Which database engine does WeBWorK use to store course, user, and grade data?
- PostgreSQL
- SQLite
- MySQL / MariaDB (Correct answer)
- MongoDB
Correct answer: MySQL / MariaDB
WeBWorK uses MySQL or its drop-in replacement MariaDB as its primary relational database backend.
Question 6: What happens if the PATH environment variable is not correctly set in WeBWorK's Apache configuration?
- The database connection fails
- LaTeX and external binaries cannot be found, causing render errors (Correct answer)
- Students cannot log in
- Problem sets cannot be exported
Correct answer: LaTeX and external binaries cannot be found, causing render errors
WeBWorK calls external binaries like LaTeX and dvipng; an incorrect PATH means those binaries are not found and math rendering fails.
Question 7: Which Perl module is essential for WeBWorK's web framework and must be installed before WeBWorK can start?
- DBI (Correct answer)
- Mojolicious
- CGI::Application
- Dancer2
Correct answer: DBI
DBI (Database Interface) is the core Perl module required for WeBWorK to communicate with its MySQL database.
WeBWork Technical Requirements and Integration 2
Which web server software is officially recommended for hosting a WeBWorK installation?