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.
2025-09-10 (first published: 2013-04-24)
8,727 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
2025-06-25 (first published: 2012-01-27)
11,635 reads
Tony describes in more detail the SIMPLE recovery model, and the way it works, its advantages and disadvantages.
2025-06-11 (first published: 2011-11-18)
8,802 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.
2025-05-28 (first published: 2011-09-07)
10,951 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.
2025-05-14 (first published: 2011-08-17)
16,732 reads
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.
2025-04-30 (first published: 2011-06-17)
27,826 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)
3,291 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)
11,029 reads
