Today, I want to go over what Virtual Log Files are and how to handle them if you have too many in your databases.
A SQL Server log file is made up of smaller files called Virtual Log Files (VLFs). As the log file grows, so will the count of VLFs. I haven’t seen or heard of a calculation that can be worked out to determine how many VLFs you should have or how many is too many for a database. I’ve heard that you shouldn’t have more than a few hundred. I’ve also heard to not worry about VLFs until you break 1000. If you check your databases and have thousands in a database, I would say it’s best to get that count lowered whether you’re seeing issues yet or not.
Read on to see how.