How to clear transaction log

[guentherschmidt]

I'm trying to clear a database transaction log that has gotten much too large. I backed it up hoping that this would clear the "active" log, but now I just have two copies of a huge transaction log. How do I clear the active log?
Thanks in advance.

[Jim]

use the dump tran command -

you can dump your transaction log to a file or, if you just want to get rid of the transaction log , you can use one of the options of dump tran (i.e. with truncate only, no_log - see BOL for the appropriate option).

[Jim]

one thing i forgot - if your transaction log has become too large (this can happen by leaving the autogrow option on while not backing up the transaction log) you can shrink it.

look in BOL for 'shrink transaction log' and you will see instructions on how to shrink the transaction log.

jim

[navneet]

Check this article.....Q272318 which uses DBCC ShrinkFile.

[rmiao]

Backup log will truncate commited logs, but not active logs. You can use 'backup transaction db_name with truncate_only' to truncate log without backup file.