SQL Server 2008 - Shrinking the Transaction Log - Any way to automate?

Question

I went in and checked my Transaction log the other day and it was something crazy like 15GB. I ran the following code:

USE mydb
GO
BACKUP LOG mydb WITH TRUNCATE         


        

Answer 1

I think what you suggest in your question is the right approach. That is, "hook the Log shrinking onto" your nightly backup/maintenance task process. The main thing is that you are regularly doing transaction log backups, which will allow the database to be shrunk when you do the shrink task. The key thing to keep in mind is that this is a two-step process: 1) backup your transaction log, which automatically "truncates" your log file; 2) run a shrink against your log file. "truncate" doesn't necessarily (or ever?) mean that the file will shrink...shrinking it is a separate step you must do.