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Use Moodle’s web restore when the .mbz file fits your site’s upload limits. For very large backups, a site administrator on Moodle 3.10 or later can run admin/cli/restore_backup.php directly on the server, avoiding browser and reverse-proxy upload ceilings. MoodleCloud limits course-restoration files to 250 MB, so larger courses need a smaller backup with videos and other large files stored separately. Asynchronous backup and restore can keep Moodle usable while lengthy jobs run.
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What a large Moodle course backup contains
Moodle course backups use the .mbz format. A backup can contain the course structure, activities, resources, blocks, filters, settings, and—if selected—user data. Moodle-generated filenames normally follow backup-moodle2-course-coursename-date-hour.mbz. A no-user backup adds -nu.mbz; an anonymised backup adds -an.mbz.
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Restoring does not simply unpack files into a folder. Moodle reads the backup schema, lets you select what to import, and then rebuilds the course in a new or existing destination. The destination choice determines whether content is created as a new course, merged into an existing one, or used to replace existing content.
Choose the right restore method
| Approach | Best fit | Access needed | Main constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web restore | Backups that fit the configured browser and hosting limits | A user allowed to restore courses from a course or category management screen | Upload limits and request timeouts can stop a large file before Moodle processes it |
| Command-line restore | Very large files on a self-hosted Moodle server | Site-administrator access and shell access to the Moodle server | The PHP/web account must read the backup and write Moodle’s temporary and data directories |
| Asynchronous restore or backup | Long-running jobs where staff must continue using Moodle | Administrator access to enable the feature | Jobs still require enough server CPU, memory, storage, and time to finish |
| MoodleCloud web restore | Hosted MoodleCloud courses at or below the documented file limit | Appropriate course-restoration permission | Moodle Services documents a 250 MB limit for course-restoration files |
The exact maximum for a self-hosted installation is not one universal Moodle number. The effective ceiling is the lowest applicable limit among Moodle’s file-upload setting, PHP configuration, web server, reverse proxy, hosting plan, available storage, and memory. A browser may report “file too large” even when Moodle itself could process the file, because an upstream server rejected the request first.
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Prepare the backup before uploading
Decide what belongs inside the .mbz
Videos, ISO files, software archives, high-resolution images, and large datasets often dominate a course backup. Decide whether those assets need to travel with the course or can be delivered from separate storage. MoodleCloud specifically recommends removing videos and other large files when the restoration file would exceed 250 MB, then keeping those files separately and restoring or linking them afterward.
Separating media reduces the size of the transfer and makes repeated course restores faster. It also changes the recovery plan: the course backup alone will no longer contain every asset, so document where the external files live and verify that restored links still work.
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Choose a full backup when enrolments, submissions, grades, completion data, or other user-related records must move with the course and the receiving site can accept them. Choose a no-user backup when you need the teaching structure without learner records. An anonymised backup is useful when names and identifying details should not be carried into a test or demonstration environment. Review these choices before starting because omitting data at backup time cannot be corrected during restore.
Check limits, permissions, and destination details
Measure the file against every limit
Record the size of the final .mbz file, not the size of the original course folder. On a self-hosted site, inspect Moodle’s maximum upload setting and the PHP, web-server, proxy, storage, and memory limits that apply to the request. MoodleDocs directs administrators to the file-upload-size configuration when an oversized file is rejected.
For MoodleCloud, keep the course-restoration file at or below 250 MB. Moodle Services published that limit on 28 October 2024; it applies specifically to course-restoration files.
Confirm restore permission
The restoring account must be allowed to restore courses. Depending on the site configuration, the entry point is either a course or category management screen or Course navigation > More > Course reuse > Restore. If the Restore option is absent, ask a site administrator to grant the required capability or perform the operation.
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Plan the destination
Decide whether the backup will create a new course or be applied to an existing one. For an existing course, decide in advance whether the available restore settings should add or merge content or replace the destination content. Treat replacement as destructive: verify the destination identifier and retain a separate backup of anything that must be preserved.
Restore a large-enough-for-browser backup through Moodle’s web interface
- Open Restore. From course or category management, open the restore function. Inside a course, use Course navigation > More > Course reuse > Restore.
- Provide the backup. Upload the
.mbzfile or select it from an available backup area. If the upload fails immediately, stop and resolve the size or server limit before repeating the operation. - Confirm the backup. Moodle reads the archive and displays its identifying information. Check that the course name, backup date, and user-data scope are what you intended.
- Choose a destination. Select Restore as a new course or choose an existing course. Verify the category and destination course carefully.
- Select content and settings. Choose whether to include activities, blocks, filters, files, and other components offered by the backup. Review user-data options separately from activity selection.
- Review the schema. Check the course name, short name, start date, section structure, and other schema details before committing.
- Review the summary and run it. Confirm the displayed settings, then select Perform restore.
- Continue after completion. Wait for Moodle to finish processing and follow the continuation link. Do not assume that closing the browser cancels a job safely; use the status shown by Moodle.
Restoring into an existing course
When the destination already contains material, the restore form determines whether imported items are merged with or replace existing content. Make the choice explicit and compare the destination’s current section count, activities, enrolments, and gradebook with the backup scope. A replacement restore should only be used after confirming that the destination is disposable or has its own recovery backup.
Cross-site administrator conflicts
Moving a backup between sites can create a conflict when an administrator account in the backup has the same identifying details as an account on the destination. Moodle documents an Allow admin conflict resolution setting for handling this case. Using distinct administrator usernames and email addresses across sites can prevent avoidable collisions; enable conflict resolution only when you understand which account should remain authoritative.
Restore very large backups from the command line
MoodleDocs states that, from Moodle 3.10 onward, site administrators can restore large backup files with a CLI script. The documented pattern is:
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Replace /path/to/backup/file.mbz with the absolute path to the archive and replace 1 with the destination category ID. The web/PHP account shown in the example is www-data; use the account that your installation actually uses.
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Restore into an existing course
The current Moodle source also supports --courseid for restoring into an existing course. Use the course ID instead of a category destination when the restore must target a specific existing course. Confirm the ID before running the command, especially if the operation can replace or merge content.
Show developer-level diagnostics
Add --showdebugging when troubleshooting requires Moodle’s developer-level debugging output. Enable this only for an administrative operation because diagnostic output can expose implementation details that are not appropriate for ordinary users.
Prepare the server for CLI processing
- Copy the
.mbzfile to a location readable by the account that will execute PHP. - Check that Moodle’s temporary restore area and Moodle data directories have enough free space for extraction and processing. The archive can require substantially more working space than its compressed file size.
- Run the command as the web/PHP account, or otherwise ensure that the resulting files and directories have ownership and permissions Moodle can use.
- Use either
--categoryidor--courseidas appropriate; verify that the destination exists. - Monitor the command output and server resources. If it fails, preserve the error text, confirm permissions and disk space, and rerun only after correcting the cause.
The CLI script extracts the backup into Moodle’s temporary restore area and invokes Moodle’s restore controller. It avoids the browser’s upload request, but it does not remove Moodle’s need for adequate memory, temporary disk space, PHP execution capacity, and a valid destination.
Keep Moodle responsive with asynchronous processing
MoodleDocs notes that large courses benefit from asynchronous backup and restore because staff can continue working while a lengthy job runs. Configure it at Site administration > Courses > Backups > Asynchronous backup/restore.
New Moodle 4.4 installations enable asynchronous course backups by default. Sites upgraded from an earlier release may require an administrator to review and enable the setting. Asynchronous processing changes when the work runs, not the amount of storage or memory the job needs.
MoodleCloud’s 250 MB restoration limit
Moodle Services documents a 250 MB limit for course-restoration files on MoodleCloud. If the course backup is larger:
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- Remove videos, large archives, and other bulky resources from the course or from the backup selection.
- Create a new, smaller
.mbzbackup. - Restore that file into MoodleCloud.
- Keep the removed files in separately managed storage.
- After restoration, upload the files independently or recreate links to the external locations.
- Test every media link with a normal learner account as well as an editing teacher account.
This limit is specific to MoodleCloud’s documented course-restoration workflow. It should not be presented as the universal maximum for self-hosted Moodle, where the effective limit depends on the complete server stack.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Upload large files from an external integration
For integrations, Moodle’s version 4.5 developer documentation recommends the authenticated /webservice/upload.php endpoint. The endpoint places uploaded files in the user’s draft area; a receiving web-service function then processes them.
Moodle warns that many devices do not have enough memory to encode and decode requests containing large files. Avoid designing an integration that first converts a large archive to base64 and embeds it in a normal web-service request. Send the file to the dedicated upload endpoint using the authenticated user context, then pass the resulting draft-file reference to the operation that imports or restores it.
Troubleshoot failures by symptom
“File too large” appears before processing starts
- Compare the archive size with Moodle’s maximum upload setting.
- Check PHP upload and post-size limits.
- Check web-server and reverse-proxy request limits and timeouts.
- Check hosting-plan restrictions and available storage.
- On MoodleCloud, reduce the restoration file to 250 MB or less.
- For a self-hosted site, use the CLI restore when you have administrator and shell access.
The backup stalls near completion
MoodleDocs identifies insufficient server RAM as a common recommendation point when a backup stalls near completion. A non-standard course format can also contribute. Check memory availability while the job runs, review the course-format configuration, and retry after reducing unnecessary large resources if the server remains under pressure.
The CLI reports permission or file errors
- Run the command as the account that can read the backup.
- Verify write access to Moodle’s temporary and data directories.
- Use an absolute file path and confirm that the file still exists.
- Check free disk space for extraction and temporary files.
- Confirm the category ID or course ID and ensure it belongs to the intended site.
Administrator accounts conflict after a cross-site restore
Use distinct administrator usernames and email addresses when preparing the source and destination sites, or use Moodle’s documented Allow admin conflict resolution option when the destination administrator must take precedence. Review the resulting account mapping before allowing staff or learners into the restored course.
Activities appear without their expected sections
If the destination has fewer sections than the backup, MoodleDocs notes that extra sections can appear as orphaned activities. Increase the destination course’s section count, then move the orphaned activities into the intended sections.
Calendar events are not visible immediately
Moodle adds restored calendar events through cron. A restore can finish successfully while those events are still waiting for the next scheduled cron run. Check cron operation and allow the scheduled task to complete before treating missing events as a restore failure.
Validate the restored course before publishing it
- Open the course as an administrator, editing teacher, and representative learner where possible.
- Check the course name, short name, category, start date, visible sections, and enrolment method.
- Open every activity type included in the backup and verify that attached files, links, completion settings, and access restrictions behave as expected.
- Review the gradebook, groups, roles, and user-data scope against the backup decision made before transfer.
- Test videos and other separately stored media from the restored course, including permissions and expiry rules on the external storage.
- Confirm that cron has processed deferred calendar events and other scheduled work.
- Take a fresh backup of the restored course once validation is complete.
Planning choices that prevent repeat failures
Use a media strategy deliberately
Embedding every video and archive in the .mbz makes the backup more self-contained but increases transfer size, extraction time, and storage demand. Keeping large media separately reduces those costs but requires a documented storage location, access controls, and a link-verification step after every restore.
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Teachers and category managers generally work through the web interface and are constrained by the configured upload path. Site administrators with server access can place the file locally and invoke the CLI, which removes browser-upload overhead but carries responsibility for shell permissions, destination IDs, temporary storage, and server health.
Choose data scope before the backup
A full course transfer, an activities-only template, a no-user backup, and an anonymised backup serve different purposes. Decide whether learner records are legally and operationally appropriate for the destination before generating the archive; the restore screen cannot recreate user data that was excluded from the backup.
Protect the destination
For a new course, verify category placement and naming before making it visible. For a merge, inventory existing activities and gradebook items first. For a replacement, retain a separate destination backup and obtain explicit approval because existing content may be overwritten.
Quick Recap
Practical decision sequence
- If the archive is within the site’s effective upload limits and you have restore permission, use the documented web workflow.
- If the archive exceeds a browser or hosted limit but the site is self-hosted on Moodle 3.10 or later, use
admin/cli/restore_backup.phpwith a verified category or course destination. - If the operation will occupy Moodle for a long time, enable asynchronous backup and restore and monitor the resulting job.
- If the site is MoodleCloud and the archive exceeds 250 MB, create a smaller backup and handle videos and other large files separately.
- If another system is sending the archive, upload it through authenticated
/webservice/upload.phprather than base64-encoding the entire file in a web-service request.
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