Transaction Log Basics

The transaction log records changes made to the database and stores enough information to allow SQL Server to recover the database. The recovery process takes place every time a SQL Server instance is started, and it can take place every time SQL Server restores a database or a log from backup. Recovery is the process of reconciling the data files and the log. Any changes to the data that the log indicates have been committed must appear in the data files, and any changes that are not marked as committed must not appear in the data files. The log also stores information needed to roll back an operation if SQL Server receives a request to roll back a transaction from the client (using the ROLLBACK TRAN command) or if an error, ...

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