Home / server / Questions / 30735
Accepted
Sean Earp
Asked: 2009-06-24 19:05:58 +0800 CST

How can I find the space used by a SQL Transaction Log?

  • 772

The SQL Server sp_spaceused stored procedure is useful for finding out a database size, unallocated space, etc. However (as far as I can tell), it does not report that information for the transaction log (and looking at database properties within SQL Server Management Studio also does not provide that information for transaction logs).

While I can easily find the physical space used by a transaction log by looking at the .ldf file, how can I find out how much of the log file is used and how much is unused?

sql-server transaction-log

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Found the answer just after I submitted the question :)

    It looks like dbcc sqlperf(logspace) and dbcc loginfo are my friend.

    http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1225

    • 5 
  2. create table #dbsize 
(Dbname varchar(30),dbstatus varchar(20),Recovery_Model varchar(10) default ('NA'), file_Size_MB decimal(20,2)default (0),Space_Used_MB decimal(20,2)default (0),Free_Space_MB decimal(20,2) default (0)) 
go 

insert into #dbsize(Dbname,dbstatus,Recovery_Model,file_Size_MB,Space_Used_MB,Free_Space_MB) 
exec sp_msforeachdb 
'use [?]; 
  select DB_NAME() AS DbName, 
    CONVERT(varchar(20),DatabasePropertyEx(''?'',''Status'')) ,  
    CONVERT(varchar(20),DatabasePropertyEx(''?'',''Recovery'')),  
sum(size)/128.0 AS File_Size_MB, 
sum(CAST(FILEPROPERTY(name, ''SpaceUsed'') AS INT))/128.0 as Space_Used_MB, 
SUM( size)/128.0 - sum(CAST(FILEPROPERTY(name,''SpaceUsed'') AS INT))/128.0 AS Free_Space_MB  
from sys.database_files  where type=0 group by type' 





go 
select * from #dbsize
    • 2

  3. Another way - perform in MS SQL Management Studio the following command:

    • Right click on the database
    • Tasks
    • Shrink
    • Files

    and select File Type = Log you will not only see the file size and % of available free space.

    • 1

  4. For a more GUI approach SQL Management studio can create a disk space (amongst others) report for a database (right click on the database node in the object explorer, select reports).

    This report will also show information on recent file resizes.

    • 0

  5. Another way - fire up perfmon and check out the following counters:

    • SQLServer:Databases Log File(s) Size(KB)
    • SQLServer:Databases Log File(s) Used Size(KB)
    • SQLServer:Percent Log Used

    These values update in real-time.

    • 0