Do I need to leave some extra space available on the disk which my database log files reside, for log backup...












1















If I size my log files to evenly split the entire drive they reside on, leaving no extra space available, will log backups still be able to occur successfully?



Is it good practice to not leave any space on the drive available, i.e. allocate it all to the log files? (The drive is dedicated to the log files in this case, data and the OS live on their own partitions.)










share|improve this question























  • You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

    – Shanky
    1 hour ago
















1















If I size my log files to evenly split the entire drive they reside on, leaving no extra space available, will log backups still be able to occur successfully?



Is it good practice to not leave any space on the drive available, i.e. allocate it all to the log files? (The drive is dedicated to the log files in this case, data and the OS live on their own partitions.)










share|improve this question























  • You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

    – Shanky
    1 hour ago














1












1








1








If I size my log files to evenly split the entire drive they reside on, leaving no extra space available, will log backups still be able to occur successfully?



Is it good practice to not leave any space on the drive available, i.e. allocate it all to the log files? (The drive is dedicated to the log files in this case, data and the OS live on their own partitions.)










share|improve this question














If I size my log files to evenly split the entire drive they reside on, leaving no extra space available, will log backups still be able to occur successfully?



Is it good practice to not leave any space on the drive available, i.e. allocate it all to the log files? (The drive is dedicated to the log files in this case, data and the OS live on their own partitions.)







sql-server sql-server-2008-r2 transaction-log disk-space logs






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 1 hour ago









J.D.J.D.

472311




472311













  • You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

    – Shanky
    1 hour ago



















  • You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

    – Shanky
    1 hour ago

















You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

– Shanky
1 hour ago





You should leave some space on drive where log file resides no matter how better you calculated the space requirement, there is always a chance of a query forcing it to grow more. Why take a risk

– Shanky
1 hour ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















2














There is no technical problem for SQL Server if the drive where the log file exists has no free space, assuming the log itself doesn't run out of available VLF entries.



If the log runs out of space, you'll not be able to commit any transactions until you resolve the problem. If the entire drive is consumed by the log file, the only action you can take is to add a log file on a different drive to the database; however that can be problematic if you can't actually write anything to the existing log file. Adding a log file when you're already out of log space can be impossible since the mere fact of adding a log file modifies the primary data file, which necessitates writing to the log. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If you proactively manage your log file, and never run out of log space, there is no technical prohibition from doing what you're contemplating.



Having said that, I wouldn't recommend sizing your log file to consume all available drive space:




  1. Windows will complain about the disk being out of space, which can be annoying.

  2. If you do run out of log space, and you almost certainly will at some point, the database will not be accessible.

  3. How much does disk space cost? Almost nothing. Ask yourself why you wouldn't leave a little space free on the drive.






share|improve this answer































    1














    Well log backups don't change the size of the log file, and the only reason you'd need space on that drive is if you were backing up the log there (which is the same kind of bad idea as putting your house key and the backup on the same key ring). But a slightly different question, do you expect none of your log files to ever grow? Leaving a bit of space at least gives you some canary time where you can deal with a log file that is growing atypically. With no space leftover, as soon as the log file needs to grow, you're down.






    share|improve this answer























      Your Answer








      StackExchange.ready(function() {
      var channelOptions = {
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "182"
      };
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
      createEditor();
      });
      }
      else {
      createEditor();
      }
      });

      function createEditor() {
      StackExchange.prepareEditor({
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
      convertImagesToLinks: false,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: null,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader: {
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      },
      onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      });


      }
      });














      draft saved

      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function () {
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdba.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f232048%2fdo-i-need-to-leave-some-extra-space-available-on-the-disk-which-my-database-log%23new-answer', 'question_page');
      }
      );

      Post as a guest















      Required, but never shown

























      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      2














      There is no technical problem for SQL Server if the drive where the log file exists has no free space, assuming the log itself doesn't run out of available VLF entries.



      If the log runs out of space, you'll not be able to commit any transactions until you resolve the problem. If the entire drive is consumed by the log file, the only action you can take is to add a log file on a different drive to the database; however that can be problematic if you can't actually write anything to the existing log file. Adding a log file when you're already out of log space can be impossible since the mere fact of adding a log file modifies the primary data file, which necessitates writing to the log. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If you proactively manage your log file, and never run out of log space, there is no technical prohibition from doing what you're contemplating.



      Having said that, I wouldn't recommend sizing your log file to consume all available drive space:




      1. Windows will complain about the disk being out of space, which can be annoying.

      2. If you do run out of log space, and you almost certainly will at some point, the database will not be accessible.

      3. How much does disk space cost? Almost nothing. Ask yourself why you wouldn't leave a little space free on the drive.






      share|improve this answer




























        2














        There is no technical problem for SQL Server if the drive where the log file exists has no free space, assuming the log itself doesn't run out of available VLF entries.



        If the log runs out of space, you'll not be able to commit any transactions until you resolve the problem. If the entire drive is consumed by the log file, the only action you can take is to add a log file on a different drive to the database; however that can be problematic if you can't actually write anything to the existing log file. Adding a log file when you're already out of log space can be impossible since the mere fact of adding a log file modifies the primary data file, which necessitates writing to the log. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If you proactively manage your log file, and never run out of log space, there is no technical prohibition from doing what you're contemplating.



        Having said that, I wouldn't recommend sizing your log file to consume all available drive space:




        1. Windows will complain about the disk being out of space, which can be annoying.

        2. If you do run out of log space, and you almost certainly will at some point, the database will not be accessible.

        3. How much does disk space cost? Almost nothing. Ask yourself why you wouldn't leave a little space free on the drive.






        share|improve this answer


























          2












          2








          2







          There is no technical problem for SQL Server if the drive where the log file exists has no free space, assuming the log itself doesn't run out of available VLF entries.



          If the log runs out of space, you'll not be able to commit any transactions until you resolve the problem. If the entire drive is consumed by the log file, the only action you can take is to add a log file on a different drive to the database; however that can be problematic if you can't actually write anything to the existing log file. Adding a log file when you're already out of log space can be impossible since the mere fact of adding a log file modifies the primary data file, which necessitates writing to the log. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If you proactively manage your log file, and never run out of log space, there is no technical prohibition from doing what you're contemplating.



          Having said that, I wouldn't recommend sizing your log file to consume all available drive space:




          1. Windows will complain about the disk being out of space, which can be annoying.

          2. If you do run out of log space, and you almost certainly will at some point, the database will not be accessible.

          3. How much does disk space cost? Almost nothing. Ask yourself why you wouldn't leave a little space free on the drive.






          share|improve this answer













          There is no technical problem for SQL Server if the drive where the log file exists has no free space, assuming the log itself doesn't run out of available VLF entries.



          If the log runs out of space, you'll not be able to commit any transactions until you resolve the problem. If the entire drive is consumed by the log file, the only action you can take is to add a log file on a different drive to the database; however that can be problematic if you can't actually write anything to the existing log file. Adding a log file when you're already out of log space can be impossible since the mere fact of adding a log file modifies the primary data file, which necessitates writing to the log. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If you proactively manage your log file, and never run out of log space, there is no technical prohibition from doing what you're contemplating.



          Having said that, I wouldn't recommend sizing your log file to consume all available drive space:




          1. Windows will complain about the disk being out of space, which can be annoying.

          2. If you do run out of log space, and you almost certainly will at some point, the database will not be accessible.

          3. How much does disk space cost? Almost nothing. Ask yourself why you wouldn't leave a little space free on the drive.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          Max VernonMax Vernon

          51.5k13114228




          51.5k13114228

























              1














              Well log backups don't change the size of the log file, and the only reason you'd need space on that drive is if you were backing up the log there (which is the same kind of bad idea as putting your house key and the backup on the same key ring). But a slightly different question, do you expect none of your log files to ever grow? Leaving a bit of space at least gives you some canary time where you can deal with a log file that is growing atypically. With no space leftover, as soon as the log file needs to grow, you're down.






              share|improve this answer




























                1














                Well log backups don't change the size of the log file, and the only reason you'd need space on that drive is if you were backing up the log there (which is the same kind of bad idea as putting your house key and the backup on the same key ring). But a slightly different question, do you expect none of your log files to ever grow? Leaving a bit of space at least gives you some canary time where you can deal with a log file that is growing atypically. With no space leftover, as soon as the log file needs to grow, you're down.






                share|improve this answer


























                  1












                  1








                  1







                  Well log backups don't change the size of the log file, and the only reason you'd need space on that drive is if you were backing up the log there (which is the same kind of bad idea as putting your house key and the backup on the same key ring). But a slightly different question, do you expect none of your log files to ever grow? Leaving a bit of space at least gives you some canary time where you can deal with a log file that is growing atypically. With no space leftover, as soon as the log file needs to grow, you're down.






                  share|improve this answer













                  Well log backups don't change the size of the log file, and the only reason you'd need space on that drive is if you were backing up the log there (which is the same kind of bad idea as putting your house key and the backup on the same key ring). But a slightly different question, do you expect none of your log files to ever grow? Leaving a bit of space at least gives you some canary time where you can deal with a log file that is growing atypically. With no space leftover, as soon as the log file needs to grow, you're down.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 27 mins ago









                  Aaron BertrandAaron Bertrand

                  152k18293490




                  152k18293490






























                      draft saved

                      draft discarded




















































                      Thanks for contributing an answer to Database Administrators Stack Exchange!


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function () {
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdba.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f232048%2fdo-i-need-to-leave-some-extra-space-available-on-the-disk-which-my-database-log%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                      }
                      );

                      Post as a guest















                      Required, but never shown





















































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown

































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Why is a white electrical wire connected to 2 black wires?

                      Waikiki

                      What are all the squawk codes?