Some more info ... found in another related posting. Trying to keep this info together rather than across postings.
https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=252273#p1242075
Just in case the above gets moved/etc. ... here's the text of above:
Follow Up ... using the command line backup.php script ...
from moodlecode/admin/cli/
nohup php backup.php --courseid=86 --destination=/home/backup/ &
nohup means no hang up ... i.e., run the script in the background
Be sure to use the & at the end because that tells the system to
put the command in the background immediately. This allows one to logout.
OR if your terminal session disconnects (due to time outs for shells), the
process won't be killed until it's completed.
One can see the output of what the backup script would have shown via:
cat nohup.out
== Performing backup... ==
Writing /home/backup/backup-moodle2-course-25-k-12_math-20150320-0748.mbz
Backup completed.
== Performing backup... ==
Writing /home/backup/backup-moodle2-course-86-techframe-20150320-0751.mbz
Backup completed.