sharepoint logs growing large?

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2011-05-08

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_{Sunday, May 8, 2011 6:36 AM}

Hi there,

on one of our server, the sharepoint logs is pretty large: 5GB and counting (I think about 10MB a day).
c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\LOGS

is such size expected or I need to do something about it?
is it safe to delete them?

thank you for the advice.

Andrew P.

All replies (7)

_{Sunday, May 8, 2011 7:38 AM ✅Answered}

Yes you can delete all, no problem.

At least keep the latest in case you want to look for something, also you can change the path where SharePoint Logs are saved.

This is from: Central Administration > Monitoring > under Reporting section > click Configure Diagnostic Logging > you can change the path, and you can even tell SharePoint what to write in the logs to reduce the logs size by specifying what interests you so that SharePoint can write.

_{Wednesday, May 11, 2011 4:06 AM ✅Answered}

You can change the Size of Trace Logs from [Central Administration > Monitoring > Configure Diagnostic Logging]Mai Omar | Senior Solutions Developer | ITEgyptCorp | MCP, MCTS, MCPD, MCITP & MCT Microsoft Certified Trainer | Email: [email protected] | Blog: http://maiomar.itegyptcorp.com

_{Sunday, May 8, 2011 11:58 PM}

thanks for that.
the folder is backed up regularly so that's fine.

is there a way to set so the log will re-write the old one instead of creating a new one?
do I have to do this every few months?

Andrew P.

_{Monday, May 9, 2011 11:21 AM}

Rewrite the old one.. no there isn't. But there is max storage for trace logs that is by default 1000 GB.

You can write a windowns application and put it in windows schedule to backup those log files and clear them every month.

_{Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:45 PM}

thanks Mai.
one question though, you said:
"... there is max storage for trace logs."
Do you mean there's a setting to specify what would be the size limit of the logs?Andrew P.

_{Wednesday, May 11, 2011 2:34 AM}

There are a few things to consider here. I definitely would not recommend having only one file a day. I typically shoot for one every hour in most environments, or 30 minutes in larger environments. You can also adjust what is logged. If everything is set to verbose it is going to write much more. If there is something wrong, or things like search or timer jobs consistantly failing then they can grow quite large even in 30 minutes. Take a look at the diagnostics and logging settings in CA and tweak as needed.

SharePoint Server MVP | Architect | Developer | Administrator | Speaker-- Twitter -- Blog - http://www.mikeoryszak.com

_{Wednesday, May 11, 2011 4:08 AM}

I agree with Mike, about not recommending one file for trace logs.

And from Diagnostic Logging you can tell SharePoint what to write wether warnings or errors... etc and even about what service.

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sharepoint logs growing large?

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