The transaction log is used by SQL Server to maintain data consistency and integrity. If the database is not in Simple-recovery mode, it can also be used in an appropriate backup regime to restore the database to a point in time.
2025-04-09 (first published: 2011-06-17)
25,537 reads
In order to make it easier to understand truncation, space reuse and fragmentation in the log file, Tony gives a brief explanation of how the transaction log works.
2025-04-09 (first published: 2011-08-17)
14,791 reads
This article discusses the different types of backup and recovery models and gives the essential facts that will guide you to being able to achieve a recovery of a database to a point in time.
2025-04-09 (first published: 2011-09-07)
9,722 reads
Tony describes in more detail the SIMPLE recovery model, and the way it works, its advantages and disadvantages.
2025-04-09 (first published: 2011-11-18)
7,528 reads
In FULL recovery mode it is possible to do a point-in-time restore of a database. It is thankfully a rare event. Tony explains what's involved
2025-04-09 (first published: 2012-01-27)
10,423 reads
Our major goal in terms of log maintenance for all databases under our care is to optimize for write performance, in order to support all activities that require SQL Server to write to the log, including data modifications, data loads, index rebuilds, and so on. However, it's also important to keep an eye on possible log fragmentation, which, as described previously, can affect the performance of processes that need to read the log, such as log backups and the crash recovery process.
2025-04-09 (first published: 2013-04-24)
7,534 reads
A document search on a billion row "EAV" table is predicted to take 134 days. With a few design tweaks and an efficient relational division algorithm, Peter Larsson got it down to milliseconds.
2024-08-07 (first published: 2013-12-09)
3,185 reads
All sorts of project and organizational analysis go into selecting the right database system for the requirements....or so you'd think.
2022-08-27
197 reads
The whole universe, the well-guarded people—may they all query databases together in a single language!
2022-08-13
246 reads
As a developer, DBA or manager, you may not really want to know all about XML, replication or Reporting Services, but if your next project uses one or more of these technologies heavily then the best place to start is with the 'jungle roof' view of each topic that this Crib Sheet compendium provides.
2022-04-27 (first published: 2013-03-15)
11,008 reads
By Steve Jones
Many organizations list customer testimonials and quotes on their websites or literature. It makes...
pg_cron is a simple cron-based job scheduler for PostgreSQL that runs inside the database...
By Steve Jones
I heard someone say recently that you can’t change a primary key value in...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Life Moves Pretty Fast
Hello SSC, Happy Friday! I have to optimize a process that uses dynamic SQL...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 50 Years of Microsoft
Can I have a collation expression like this in SQL Server 2022?
... WHERE ColumnA = ( 'abc' COLLATE French_CI_AS) COLLATE French_CS_AS ...See possible answers