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Setup: Hyper-V 2012 R2 host, primary guest is TFS single server installation w/ SharePoint (includes SQL for TFS ops)

This question was posted on StackExchange SharePoint WRT the SharePoint aspect of the server, but posted here because of the OS and the other non-SharePoint applications that are also on the server:

Server 2012 R2, TFS, SQL (for TFS)

The problem is that the server VHD (originally 100G) filled up, which I'm guessing is a straightforward issue of logging from the list above plus SharePoint.

I was able to easily expand the Hyper-V VHD size to 120G, but I suspect the problem will return again. I'd like to fix the underlying cause(s).

Do each of the items listed above (OS & apps) have to have changes made to default settings to limit their disk usage? At the link above it was indicated SQL does, but I haven't yet located where to go in SQL to check out the suggestion.

The following posts had many helpful tips and links, but I wanted to ask this question here to consolidate/focus-on basic potential logging issues on servers that otherwise seem to be working fine.

Server 2012 R2 System Disk Filling

Freeing up disk space (WinDirstat suggested here as other posts - good/safe idea?)

Edit after solution below: The SQL .ldf was a serious space user and the solutions recommended in #2 below solved the issue. Wanted to post a link that provided the specific query commands that worked well to shrink the .ldf and a link for a tool to find where space is being consumed.

Dell Support page for general guidance to shrink an ldf file

WinDirStat which is very useful to find where space is being used.

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I don't work with IIS or SQL Server very often but I'd take a look at two things:

  1. IIS logging. There isn't any automated IIS log maintenance built in to Windows, so IIS logs may be consuming ever greater amounts of disk space.

  2. SQL Server transaction logs. If the SQL server databases aren't set to the Simple Recovery Model and if there are no database or transaction log maintenance tasks configured that are managing the transaction log sizes then the database transaction logs may be consuming ever greater amounts of disk space.

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  • Installed WinDirStat as you & others recommended in another post (incredible tool-wow!). Anyway, here's the culprit: SharePoint_Config_log.ldf - it weighs in at 51.4 GB; clearly the problem! But, it's confusing. The SharePoint forum as linked above explains this is not the same thing as what is controlled in Central Admin Maintenance WRT logs, so it seems to be uniquely an SQL issue. Confusing b/c I would have thought basic setup would not leave such an 'open door', well, 'open'. But there it is, so I'll set about trying to fix that. BTW, it ate 5GB w/i minutes of getting the new space.
    – Alan
    Mar 10, 2016 at 22:01
  • It may be worth investigating setting the database Recovery Model to Simple for whatever databases are on the server. With the Simple Recovery Model, SQL will manage the transaction log automatically (purge and truncate). I don't know if/how/when the transaction log is used for TFS recovery/restore so look into that.
    – joeqwerty
    Mar 10, 2016 at 22:06
  • that file is a database log file. it is not appliaction logging int eh way you may think. it is specific to any RDMB. it is the log for transnational databases. the size of the file is not representative of the space used or needed. it grows and shrinks and if you want to force the shrinking you have to run an SQL backup, the issue a shrink statement. you can set a limit to the size of the log file but this affects performance.
    – Ricardo C
    Mar 10, 2016 at 22:06
  • FULL and SIMPLE recovery models are a subject of study. it affects how transactions are corded for fault tolerance. the SIMPLE model has low tolerance since a large transaction is whole, all or none, to fail or succeed, and FULL will record each single change, and can be recovered to a 'point in time' from backups.
    – Ricardo C
    Mar 10, 2016 at 22:09
  • all of my previous comments are oversimplifications. these are large and specialized subjects of study.
    – Ricardo C
    Mar 10, 2016 at 22:12

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