About Lotus Domino transaction logs

Lotus Domino has the ability to log transactions for one or more Lotus Domino databases. Lotus Domino databases are logged by default when transaction logging is enabled on the Lotus Domino server and the database is in the Domino data directory.

When transaction logging is enabled on the server, each Lotus Domino database is assigned a database instance ID (DBIID). Each transaction recorded in the log includes the DBIID, which is used to match transactions to the database during a restore.

A new DBIID may be assigned to the database when some Lotus Domino operations are performed. When the new DBIID is assigned, all new transactions recorded in the log use the new DBIID; however, previous transactions have the old DBIID and will not match the new DBIID for the database. To prevent data loss, it is recommended that a full backup be performed when a database receives a new DBIID since transactions with the old DBIID cannot be restored to the database. A full backup includes all current transactions on the database and ensures that only the transactions with the new DBIID are needed to restore the database.

You can select only one logging style when transaction logging is enabled on the server.

Following are the two styles of logging for Lotus Domino databases:

Archive logging. This logging style produces a transaction log that is limited only by the capacity of your mass storage. Archive logging is the recommended logging style to be used with the Lotus Domino Agent since all the transaction logs can be backed up and marked for recycling. When the transaction logs are recycled the Lotus Domino server reuses the existing transaction logs after they are backed up to create space for new transaction logs.
Circular logging. This logging style reuses the log file after a specific log file size is reached. By reusing the log file you are saving resources; however, you are also limiting your recovery options because the database can only be recovered to the point of the last full backup. If the incremental or differential backup method is selected for a backup job, a full backup of the changed databases is performed since transaction logs cannot be backed up.

Caution:

When circular logging is enabled, the circular transaction log cannot be backed up, which could result in the loss of changes made to the database since the last backup was performed.