My log file is growing huge! Why? Help ASAP! please

Since upgrading to 2005 from 2000, in my sql event log, for 2005, I am
seeing this multiple times each day:
---
Autogrow of file 'MyDatabase_Log' in database 'MyDatabase' was cancelled by
user or timed out after __ milliseconds. Use ALTER DATABASE to set a smaller
FileGrowth value for this file or to explicitly set a new file size.
---
(file growth = 10%)
At the same time, applications are experiencing timeouts on reads/writes,
which is a major problem, probably (I'm guessing) because this is causing a
database lock. This particular DB is about 3 GB and the log file is about
30 GB. The log file was only 1 mb before I did the upgrade. I have no
idea why this is happening. I am not using replication or log shipping or
anything like that.
a) what gets stored in the log file?
b) why is mine growing out of control?
c) how do I stop the growth?
d) how do I get the log file back to a small size again?Do a backup of the transaction log and then shrink the file.
Ben Nevarez, MCDBA, OCP
Database Administrator
"D. Patrick" wrote:

> Since upgrading to 2005 from 2000, in my sql event log, for 2005, I am
> seeing this multiple times each day:
> ---
> Autogrow of file 'MyDatabase_Log' in database 'MyDatabase' was cancelled b
y
> user or timed out after __ milliseconds. Use ALTER DATABASE to set a small
er
> FileGrowth value for this file or to explicitly set a new file size.
> ---
> (file growth = 10%)
> At the same time, applications are experiencing timeouts on reads/writes,
> which is a major problem, probably (I'm guessing) because this is causing
a
> database lock. This particular DB is about 3 GB and the log file is about
> 30 GB. The log file was only 1 mb before I did the upgrade. I have no
> idea why this is happening. I am not using replication or log shipping o
r
> anything like that.
> a) what gets stored in the log file?
> b) why is mine growing out of control?
> c) how do I stop the growth?
> d) how do I get the log file back to a small size again?
>
>|||Thanks for the reply, but I don't believe that solves the underlying
problem. Why is it growing? What should look at?
And BOL says that shrinking the file may not actually shrink the physical
file. I am very confused and would appreciate any information or
step-by-step instructions. Thank you.
"Ben Nevarez" <BenNevarez@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C306E3FF-132D-4E8C-A150-078DB9A2DB2D@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Do a backup of the transaction log and then shrink the file.
> Ben Nevarez, MCDBA, OCP
> Database Administrator
>
> "D. Patrick" wrote:
>|||It is normal for the transaction log file to grow. Are you doing regular
transaction log backups?
Try that first (backup and shrink) and let us know what happen.
Ben Nevarez, MCDBA, OCP
Database Administrator
"D. Patrick" wrote:

> Thanks for the reply, but I don't believe that solves the underlying
> problem. Why is it growing? What should look at?
> And BOL says that shrinking the file may not actually shrink the physical
> file. I am very confused and would appreciate any information or
> step-by-step instructions. Thank you.
>
> "Ben Nevarez" <BenNevarez@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C306E3FF-132D-4E8C-A150-078DB9A2DB2D@.microsoft.com...
>
>|||I have not been backing up the log. Is that the problem? When you do a log
backup, does that automatically then drop the file back to 1 MB again? A
command example that I can type in the query window would greatly help me.
"Ben Nevarez" <BenNevarez@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1CAE345F-A36B-4840-B190-495705186E06@.microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> It is normal for the transaction log file to grow. Are you doing regular
> transaction log backups?
> Try that first (backup and shrink) and let us know what happen.
> Ben Nevarez, MCDBA, OCP
> Database Administrator
>
> "D. Patrick" wrote:
>|||"D. Patrick" <replywithinthegroup@.thenotreal.com> wrote in message
news:NB59g.1899$uM4.1049@.tornado.socal.rr.com...
> I have not been backing up the log. Is that the problem?
Yes, that is exactly the problem.

> When you do a log
> backup, does that automatically then drop the file back to 1 MB again?
Not quite, it removes all complete transactions. If you have transactions
that aren't complete, they'll stay in the log until the next backup.

> A
> command example that I can type in the query window would greatly help me.
backup log <dbname> to disk='f:\log_backups\<dbname>_tlog_200605121724.trn'
But your best bet is to schedule a daily or more often backup.
(we do ours every 20 minutes for example so that we're never more than 20
minutes "out of date" in the event of disaster recovery.)

>
> "Ben Nevarez" <BenNevarez@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1CAE345F-A36B-4840-B190-495705186E06@.microsoft.com...
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>