MDL-28505 will introduce asynchronous backup and restore functionality.

Currently there is no way to trigger asynchronous restores via webservices.  Using an external system to backup / restore and duplicate courses in Moodle is a common pattern,  so having these webservices in core will remove the reliance on plugins and custom integrations.

The following webservices are proposed:

• core_course_restore_async
  • Asynchronously restore a course
  • Params
    • categoryid (int) Category to restore course into - Required
    • localfile(object) Moodle internal backup file details returned from webservice/upload.php
      • contextid (int) context id of backup file
      • filecontextid (int)
      • itemid (id)
    • Options (list of objects) Duplication options - Optional
      • activities (int) Include course activites (default to 1 that is equal to yes)
      • blocks (int) Include course blocks (default to 1 that is equal to yes)
      • filters (int) Include course filters (default to 1 that is equal to yes)
      • users (int) Include users (default to 0 that is equal to no)
      • enrolments (int) Include enrolment methods (default to 1 - restore only with users)
      • role_assignments (int) Include role assignments (default to 0 that is equal to no)
      • comments (int) Include user comments (default to 0 that is equal to no)
      • userscompletion (int) Include user course completion information (default to 0 that is equal to no),
      • logs (int) Include course logs (default to 0 that is equal to no)
      • grade_histories (int) Include histories (default to 0 that is equal to no)
  • Returns
    • restoreid (string) The unique ID of the restore process
• Core_course_restore_async_get_status
  • Get the status of a pending/ inprogress asynchronous course restore
  • Params
    • restoreid (string) The unique ID of the restore process  - Required
  • Returns
    • status (int) The status of the restore
    • progress (float) The progress of the restore