Read the transaction log (ldf) file. My first post ever :)

Hi!

The purpose is to se history of which user updated, inserted or deleted a row in the database.

Can't seem to find any publications from microsoft on how to parse and interpret the log file.

Any documentation on how the log file is structured?
Is it possible to obtain this information through the system views

I don't want to use triggers.

Thanks

Consider the use of a third-party application for this job. That is money that's well spent.

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Thanks for the reply.

I know there exist som applications that can read log files, like Lumigent Log Explorer.

But it would be nice with an freeware version

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If you really want to learn, here the docuemnt on basic level.. I found few months back very unexpectedly... Nice one....

But this document is not sufficient to start programing with Tx Log files.. As Frank says you can use the 3rd party tools.. there are lot of products available on the market...

https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-07/Fowler/Presentation/bh-usa-07-fowler.pdf

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J-A.G. wrote:

I know there exist som applications that can read log files, like Lumigent Log Explorer.

But it would be nice with an freeware version

TANSTAAFL

But in order to learn you can always use something like the undocumented

DBCC LOG (Northwind, -1)

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good frank!

This undocumented command works on sql2000?

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Yes it does. But as with all undocumented features the use is at your own risk.

|||Tks!