Explain XP_READERRORLOG or SP_READERRORLOG

Xp_readerrorlog or sp_readerrorlog has 7 parameters.

Xp_readerrorlog <Log_FileNo>,<Log_Type>,<Keyword-1>,<Keyword-2>,<Date1>,<Date2>,<’Asc’/’Desc’>

Log_FileNo: -1: All logs

0: Current log file

1: No1 archived log file etc

Log_Type: 1: SQL Server

2: SQL Agent

KeyWord-1: Search for the keyword

KeyWord-2: Search for combination of Keyword 1 and Keyword 2

Date1 and Date2: Retrieves data between these two dates

‘Asc’/’Desc’: Order the data

Examples:

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog 0 – Current SQL Server log

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog 0, 1 – Current SQL Server log

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog 0, 2 – Current SQL Agent log

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog -1 – Entire log file

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog 0, 1, ’dbcc’ – Current SQL server log with dbcc in the string

EXEC Xp_readerrorlog 1, 1, ’dbcc’, ’error’ – Archived 1 SQL server log with dbcc and error in the string

EXEC xp_readerrorlog -1, 1, ‘dbcc’, ‘error’, ‘2012-02-21’, ‘2012-02-22′,’desc’

Search entire sql server log file for string ‘dbcc’ and ‘Error’ within the given dates and retrieves in descending order.

Note: Also, to increase the number of log files, add a new registry key “NumErrorLogs” (REG_DWORD) under below location.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQL.X\MSSQLServer\
By default, this key is absent. Modify the value to the number of logs that you want to maintain.