backup.php

<?php

$filename='database_backup_'.date('G_a_m_d_y').'.sql';

$result=exec('mysqldump database_name --password=your_pass --user=root --single-transaction >/var/backups/'.$filename,$output);

if($output==''){
   echo "done";
  /* no output is good */
}
else {
  echo "something went wrong";
  echo $output;
  /* we have something to log the output here*/
}