Best Practices Basic Logging

The recommended method of using basic recovery logging is:

  1. Optimize your log file activity.

    Basic recovery logging can severely affect performance. To optimize logging activity, you can use the /o l option in the database reference file to switch logging off for files that do not need to be recovered in the event of a failure. Alternatively, use the /e option to remove such files from the database reference file altogether.

  2. Set low disk space warnings.

    If you have a large number of updates being logged, the log file can grow very large, very quickly. If the disk where the log file resides were to become full, the ability to write records to the log file could be lost, resulting in an incomplete log file, forcing the Fileshare Server to close down. Use the /p option in the database reference file to configure a warning to be displayed when the amount of free disk space for the log file drops below a certain percentage of the total disk. If you see this warning, close down the Fileshare Server and take a new backup of your data files. This enables you to discard the log file and continue with a new one when the Fileshare Server is restarted.

    If you ignore the warning message and the log file continues to grow larger, the Fileshare Server suspends operation when the free disk space available for the log file drops below 200,000 bytes. It displays error message FS030 and waits for the old log file to be backed-up remotely or removed manually before continuing with a new log file.

  3. Take regular backups.

    Regular backups (preferably daily) keep the size of the log files as small as possible; larger log files means that recover time is longer.

  4. Automate the backup process.

    Use the /backup option to automate backing up of the data files and stating a new log file when you start Fileshare Server.

  5. Delete redundant log files.

    Once you have backed up your data files, delete any associated log files, because they are now obsolete; you only need to log updates since your last backup.