(This post first appeared on SQLperformance.com four years ago as part of a blog series, before that website was mothballed later in 2022 and the series was curtailed. Reposted here with permission, with a few tweaks.)
Previously I’ve talked about why logging is required and the architecture and circular nature of the log, so now it’s time to look at the real heart of the logging system—the log records themselves. As always, I recommend you read the previous posts in the series before reading this one.
What Are Log Records?
The simplest definition of a log record: it describes a