Setting up a Domino server for transaction logging

You can enable and set up transaction logging on any server.

Procedure

  1. Make sure that all the databases you want to log are in the Domino® data directory, either at the root, or in a subdirectory.
  2. From the Domino Administrator, click the Configuration tab, expand the Server section, and click All Server Documents.
  3. Select the Server document for the Domino server you want to edit and then click Edit Server.
  4. Click the Transactional Logging tab, complete these fields, and then save the document:
    Table 1. Transaction Logging tab
    Field Action
    Transactional Logging

    Choose one:

    • Enabled -- To start transaction logging
    • Disabled (default) -- To not use transaction logging

    A server restart is required before the change takes effect.
    Log path

    Enter the path name location of the transaction log.

    For best results, use a separate mirrored device, such as a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) level 0 or 1 device with a dedicated controller. This provides better performance and data integrity than using the default path (\LOGDIR) in the Domino data directory.

    Note: If the device is used solely for storing the transaction log, set the Use all available space on log device" field to Yes.

    A server restart is required before the change takes effect.
    Use all available space on log device

    For circular and linear logging only. Choose one:

    • Yes -- To use all available space on the device for the transaction log. Choose Yes if you use a separate device dedicated to storing the log.
    • No -- To use the default or specified value in the Maximum log space field.
    Maximum log space

    For circular and linear logging only. The maximum size, in MB, for the transaction log. Default is 500MB. Maximum is 4096MB (4GB).

    Allocate a separate disk with at least 1024MB (1GB) of disk space for the transaction log.

    Domino formats at least 3 and up to 64 log files, depending on the maximum log space you allocate.
    Automatic fixup of corrupt databases

    Choose one:

    • Enabled (default) -- To run the Fixup task automatically if a database is corrupted and Domino cannot use the transaction log to recover it. Domino assigns a new DBIID and notifies the administrator that a new database backup is required.
    • Disabled -- To not run the Fixup task automatically. Domino notifies the administrator to run the Fixup task with the -J parameter on corrupted logged databases.
    Runtime/Restart performance

    This field controls how often Domino records a recovery checkpoint in the transaction log. This affects server performance as databases may be flushed from the cache to disk.

    To record a recovery checkpoint, Domino evaluates each active logged database to determine how many transactions would be necessary to recover each database after a system failure. When Domino completes this evaluation, it:

    • Creates a recovery checkpoint record in the transaction log that lists each open database and the starting point transaction needed for recovery
    • Forces database changes to be saved to disk if they have not been saved already

    Choose one:

    • Standard (default and recommended) -- To record checkpoints regularly.
    • Favor runtime -- To record fewer checkpoints. This option requires fewer system resources and improves server run-time performance but causes more of the log to be applied during restart.
    • Favor restart recovery time -- To record more checkpoints. This option improves restart recovery time because fewer transactions are required for recovery.
    Logging style

    Choose one:

    • Circular (default) -- To re-use the log files and overwrite old transactions.
    • Archived (recommended) -- To re-use the log files after they are archived. A log file can be reused when it is inactive, which means that it does not contain any transactions necessary for a restart recovery. Use a third-party backup utility to copy and archive the existing log. When Domino using the existing file again to Start, Domino increments the log file name. If all the log files become inactive and are not archived, Domino creates additional log files.
    • Linear -- To re-use the log files and overwrite old transactions for log size greater than 4GB.

    After you change the logging style, Domino assigns a new DBIID to each database. You must restart the server and perform another full backup