Question : SQL Server 2005 LDF will not shrink

I have a SQL 2005 database with a rapidly-expanding logfile that I cannot get to stay at a reasonable size.  

- LDF has already filled disk once, forcing me to Detach, delete & then re-attach db
- Two days later it's already back up to 12 gig and growing steadily.
- Recovery model is already set to Simple.  Switching to Full then back to Simple has no effect.
- Daily maintenance plan including a Shrink, which has no apparent effect.
- Manually executing dbcc ShrinkFile('hydroweb_log',2) also has no effect, but returns the following:

Dbld  Field  CurrentSize   MinimumSize   UsedPages    EstimatedPages
10       2        1409936       128                     1409936         128

I'm not seeing anything unusual in the logs, nor any unusual activity in the monitor.

Answer : SQL Server 2005 LDF will not shrink

Try looking up long running transactions which could be making your log file grow.
The size of the log file for a database in simple recovery mode is dependent on a number of factors like:
- Length of transactions (long running transactions will grow the logs)
- Nature of transactions (transactions with lots of looping before a commit will grow the logs)
- Type of transactions (database maintenance exercises like reindexing huge tables grow the logs)

The best way of understanding your database system is by looking at the transactions which grow so that you're able to identify which ones grow the log most.

Launch SQL profiler to look at the nature of your transactions.
View sessions in SMSS process monitor to see the long running sessions.

Look at tempdb
Query against sysprocesses table (master db) to see the long running queries possibly you could get a hint.

Later on you might realise that your database actually requires more disk spacer because of this nature of transactions.

Also note that choosing the recovery model of your database should not be based on the disk free space available but it should be based on how critical your data is and then let the business buy more space since it has critical data.

Regards,
Chris Musasizi