Use Server Manager to control server-side components. Despite the name, the Server Manager utility doesn't manage servers—just the server-side components of Log Explorer. The Server Manager is a separate utility that you access through the Server Manager window, which Figure 2, page 30, shows. Server Manager lets you inspect and change several of Log Explorer's server-side registry parameters. For example, as Figure 2 shows, you can control whether Log Explorer captures NT usernames and how long it retains the data by entering the settings in the Session login Information Capture Mode text box. You can then click Update to send that information to the registry for the component to read. In earlier Log Explorer releases, you have to use T-SQL scripts to set these parameters.
Server Manager also lets you change the port that Log Explorer uses to connect to its server-side extended stored procedure component. Type the new port number in the Server Component Port# text box, and click Update to write the new port number to the registry. The Server Component box at the bottom of the Server Manager window lets you manage the Log Explorer server component's registry information. The Read Registry option tells the server-side component to read the registry in realtime (without requiring you to reload the component, which is a nice convenience); the Reload option reloads the server-side component, and the Unload option unloads the component. If you unload the component from a server, your Log Explorer utility won't be able to attach to any server's transaction logs until you reload the component on some server.
Use Log Explorer with Datacenter. Log Explorer 3.03 has Windows 2000 Datacenter Server certification, so you can use the utility on a Datacenter server. This certification means that the product survived extensive testing with Datacenter, so you can have confidence that the product is robust.
Other enhancements. In Log Explorer 3.03, you can restrict your recovery scripts to records from the log that have no subsequent changes. This ability means that you keep only the DDL statements that are most current. If you have Log Explorer 3.03's Enterprise Edition, the enterprise-level installation option lets you install the server-side component on several servers. The Professional Edition installs the server-side component on only one server.
Corrections and Bug Fixes
Log Explorer's designers have made many cosmetic fixes to the product, and they've fixed some bugs along the way. For example, Log Explorer 3.03 can now attach to databases' transaction logs by using the Bulk-Logged recovery model. This release also includes fixes to the Run Script dialog box. And Log Explorer now provides a server-side uninstall option in addition to the client-side uninstall facility. You can uninstall a server-side component from Control Panel's Add/Remove dialog box even if Log Explorer's client software isn't currently installed on the machine.
Lumigent continues to release interim bug fixes for Log Explorer. Most notably, Log Explorer 3.02 fixes a potential buffer overflow problem in the xp_logattach extended stored procedures. This fix makes the 3.02 release a crucial upgrade.
Remaining Problems
Log Explorer still has some problems. You can find a helpful list of reported problems in the Release Notes that come with the latest download of the product. Lumigent also includes these notes with the free trial version. I noticed a few minor problems that weren't listed in the Release Notes for Log Explorer 3.03. The Attach Log File dialog box defaults to attaching to the online database log, which could affect the performance of a busy production database. But Lev Vaitzblit, the head of Lumigent and the company's lead developer and designer, told me that Log Explorer affects SQL Server performance only slightly when reading an online transaction log and not at all when attaching to a backup file. Another problem is that the Attach Log File dialog box doesn't browse for SQL Servers on a network but looks for a computer name. So if you're using a named instance, you'll have to type in the name.
Also, as of Log Explorer's 3.03 release, Server Manager's online Help doesn't document the server component buttons Read Registry, Reload, and Unload. And if you unload the server component by using Server Manager, your attempt to connect Log Explorer to SQL Server will fail, but the error message won't cite unloading as a possible cause.
Finally, Log Explorer has a security problem. You can use the Log Explorer client utility to attach to a database log file if you have permissions to execute the xp_logattach stored procedure in the master database and if your login has access to that database. By default, installing Log Explorer doesn't grant you EXECUTE permissions on that stored procedure, which effectively means only a systems administrator (sa) can use xp_logattach. You can let other logins use Log Explorer on a server by granting EXECUTE permissions on the xp_logattach stored procedure. But those users will then be able to read the transaction log of any database on the instance to which they have database access. So a user who has EXECUTE permissions on the xp_logattach stored procedure and minimal access to a database can see database object activity that the user might not have permissions to see. When using Log Explorer, exercise careful control over permissions to the xp_logattach extended stored procedure.
A Necessary Tool
Log Explorer 3.03 is an important tool for SQL Server DBAs. It's the only available tool that lets you selectively recover data from a transaction log. When you need to recover data, you need to do it right away. And Log Explorer 3.03 gives you the ability to recover data quickly and completely.
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