I’m not highly experienced with SQL operations, and whenever I need to move past the basic tasks, I end up running into challenges. I have a test database that doesn’t contain a lot of data, yet the transaction log appears to be unreasonably large. Can someone explain the correct method or command to remove or truncate the transaction log entries effectively for SQL Server?
The recommended procedure involves switching the recovery model temporarily to SIMPLE, which effectively truncates the transaction log, followed by a DBCC SHRINKFILE command to reclaim disk space. This process safely clears unneeded log space for a test database without requiring a backup of the log. It is important to note that such steps should be performed with caution in production environments, ensuring that proper backups are made to avoid potential data integrity issues and maintain transactional consistency.