SQL Server Transaction log - A short how-to Page 1 of 6

The Purpose of the

SQL Server Transaction Log
SQL Server Transaction Log:

While working with SQL Server, there can be huge amounts of data in the database that is
stored in the underlying files.

SQL Server stores its data in files that are

maintained by the database engine. These files
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If something goes wrong with the database
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So what is the SQL Server transaction log and

how can it be used to the advantage of the developers and administrators who interact
with it?

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What is the transaction log in SQL Server?

When SQL Server is functioning and operating, the database engine keeps track of almost
every change that takes place within the database by making entries into the transaction
log so that it can be used later if needed.

The location of the SQL Server transaction log is configured at the same time the
database is created. When creating a database, the location of the SQL Server transaction
log is specified as well as other options associated with the transaction log.

The following screen shows the SQL Server transaction log options that can be set during
the creation of the database.

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The options allow you to specify the location of the SQL Server transaction log files that are
used by the database that you are creating. These transaction log files are stored just like
the data files used in SQL Server.

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These files can also be configured just like the data files in SQL Server. The screen above
shows the options available.

For example, along with the file location you can specify a minimum size to start the SQL
Server transaction log file out with. This size is just the minimum starting point because
as the database is used the transaction log will grow.

The growth must be planned for and the options must be configured to handle the growth
accordingly or error messages can occur relating to the transaction log being full.

The rate at which the transaction log files grow can be specified by a size in megabytes or
by a percentage. This setting tells SQL Server that when the transaction log reaches a
specified point, automatically grow the file by the amount of growth specified in order to
accommodate future transactions.

The other option that can be set is the maximum size of the transaction log files. They can
be set to have unrestricted file growth or they can be set to only occupy a specific amount
of space in megabytes.

One thing to keep in mind is that the transaction logs can be used in a backup situation so
possibly putting them on a disk other than that occupied by the primary data files may be
a good idea for future use.

To elaborate on the idea of using the SQL Server transaction log as part of the backup
and storing it on a separate drive, the transaction log can be backed up and used to
recover transactions since your last backup.

The last entries you have made will be stored in the transaction log and can be reenacted
on the database to give a better database restoration by minimizing the amount of work
lost since the last backup.

So what exactly occurs during the logging of a transaction? When a transaction is logged
in the database it can occur in different manners based on the statement that is being
logged.

In essence, however, all transactions log a copy of the old data and the new data in the
transaction log. Some transactions will log of copy of the entire row and other
transactions will log the bytes that have changed during the transaction.

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On many occasions it is not necessary to know exactly what is occurring in the transaction
log as long as it is utilizing correctly when programming with it.

How can the SQL Server transaction log be used when developing stored procedures,
database objects or interactions with the database in order to ensure that proper recovery
methods can be implemented during the development of these objects or segments of
code?

When using Transact-SQL to interact with the database engine to process the statements
needed, effective use of certain statements within the code will allow for transactions and
recovery options to be implemented in case something occurs in the code we create.

These statements are the Begin Tran, Rollback Tran, Commit Tran and the Save
Tran.

The Begin Tran statement will instruct the database engine to being a transaction block
within the database so that the work can be handled explicitly in the code.

For example, if you wanted to insert a group of records into a specified table only if a
certain condition was true, you could begin the transaction, insert the records and check
the condition to see if it was met.

If the condition was met you could then issue the Commit Tran command to commit the
block of transactions since the last Save Tran or Begin Tran was encountered.

If the condition was not met you could, on the other hand, issue the Rollback Tran in
order to stop the transaction and rollback all changes to the database since the last Save
Tran or Begin Tran was issued.

The Save Tran command is issued to save a point in the transaction handling that will
allow a save point to be specified. For example, you could create a save point during a
large operation every so often so that the rollback or commit trans is not having to handle
as many records when it is performed.

One thing to keep in mind with this is that it causes an impact on performance during
execution of these statements as they are database operations just like statements you
execute.

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We have examined the transaction log and how it may prove valuable to us when working
with SQL Server and have found some good uses for the transaction log and the ways to
interact with it.

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