OS backup

Hello.

New MSSQL guy coming from Oracle. I've read and understand that you can create backup files for a database using the server management studio.

However, I'm wondering if that is really necessary. Suppose I do not care about the loss of transaction logs, is copying the .mdf database files via OS command a viable backup strategy? If so do I need to bring down the database engine before starting the file copy?

Thanks a lot

You can get a valid backup of a SQL Server database by shutting down the instance and then taking a full OS backup, but you do lose significant functionality by doing so:

Obviously, you're giving up the ability to take your backups with the database online. Native SQL database backups are all online.|||Thank you Kevin.

Our production operations run on Oracle systems. We have to run 1 small MSSQL instance since some MSFT application only use that. So, I'm not really concerned about that DB's size, around-the-clock availibility, or point-in-time recovery.

Given the above requirements and the fact that I have no experience in MSSQL, backing up via the OS route seems to be the path of least resistence :)

Thanks again!