sccm 2012 question

[takeru]

when sms site backup task runs, is it doing a file level copy of the database file or an actual backup?

 

[Mavtech]

Just a regular copy of the files and and an export of the site settings. No compression and the files are replaced when the backup runs. I still prefer this method due to the logging and alerting available to the ConfigMgr admins. External backups of the DB are fully supported. So, you can backup the DB any way you see fit.