dumb questions

Here I am, jumping in again for this month’s Meme Monday.  For June, Tom LaRock(t|b) is asking for our dumb SQL questions.

Can you disable the transaction log?

The answer is, emphatically, “NO”.  Most people I’ve run into ask this because they struggle with delays caused by locking and deadlocks, or they’re looking for ways to speed up inserts.  The facts are that without the transaction log and everything that comes with it, you lose the ACIDity (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) within the database.  In other words, you lose all the elements that control and maintain the integrity of your data while thousands of different statements are trying to get at it.

So the next time someone comes to you asking about just disabling this key feature, send ’em to this great article by Steve Jones.