1. Create " MDL-67502 " course. 2. Set Automated backup to manual: php admin/cli/cfg.php --component=backup --name=backup_auto_active --set= 2 3. Set the schedule: php admin/cli/cfg.php --component=backup --name=backup_auto_weekdays --set= '1111111' 4. Set execute time: php admin/cli/cfg.php --component=backup --name=backup_auto_hour --set= 1 5. Generate mdl_backup_courses records: php admin/cli/automated_backups.php 6. Update nextstarttime: Postgres: update mdl_backup_courses set nextstarttime = round(extract(epoch from now())); MySQL: update mdl_backup_courses set nextstarttime = UNIX_TIMESTAMP(); 7. Generate ad-hoc task: php admin/cli/automated_backups.php 8. Confirm , that ad-hoc task was created: select classname, nextruntime, faildelay, customdata from mdl_task_adhoc where classname = '\core\task\course_backup_task' ; 9. Delete record from mdl_backup_courses table: delete from mdl_backup_courses; 10. Run cron: php admin/cli/cron.php 8. Confirm , that cron log has correct exception and looks like: Processing automated backup for course: MDL- 67502 Automated backup for course: MDL- 67502 encounters an error. Exception: Can't find data record in database table backup_courses. Debug: SELECT * FROM {backup_courses} WHERE courseid = ? AND laststatus = ? [array ( 0 => '1' , 1 => 6 , )] Automated backup for course: MDL- 67502 completed. ... used 5 dbqueries ... used 0.0023899078369141 seconds Adhoc task complete: core\task\course_backup_task Cron script completed correctly   9. Run SQL: select classname, nextruntime, faildelay, customdata from mdl_task_adhoc where classname = '\core\task\course_backup_task' ; 10. Confirm , that ad-hoc task has been finished:   classname | nextruntime | faildelay | customdata -----------+-------------+-----------+------------ ( 0 rows)