ApexSQL Log - General overview

This video provides you with a quick overview of ApexSQL Log and its core features

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Closed Caption:

hello and welcome to this video on basic
data recovery and change auditing and
apex equal log of X equal log is a
microsoft sequel server transaction log
reader allows users to view the data
contained within transaction log files
and display them in a form is easy to
read and understand
in addition apex equal log allows users
to roll back or forward any changes
found the transaction log files recover
data and determine who made those
changes when and how
in order to showcase the main features
of X equal log
let's run a demo script to create our
environment once we execute this script
database along with our test table will
be created
make sure that the recovery model is set
to fall and create a full backup to
initiate the transaction log
let's now quickly insert several records
to populate the table
in order to simulate malicious or
unintended changes
let's delete some records in the table
we just created and populated
at this moment one would think that the
deleted data is completely lost
but that's not the case since our
database is in full recovery model
online transaction log file contains
information on all transactions that
have occurred will now use apex equal
log to undo the unwanted changes deletes
in our case that have occurred
once apex equal log it started let's
select our sequel server and the demo
one database we've worked with us far
and provide valid connection details
next step of the wizard data sources
apex equal log is automatically added
and selected online transaction log file
for analysis in case we have transaction
log backups or have a detached
transaction log file that might contain
auditing data that we require we simply
need to add them as sources in this step
for now let's continue to the next step
in the select output step of the wizard
we can choose between various outputs
export results to file with this option
we can directly export results at this
point to any of the supported formats
including sequel sequel ball
xml CSV or export directly to a database
create before after report similar to
the export results
this option allows users to directly
create before and after reports in any
supported formats from this point
undo redo
we can directly create an undo a reduced
script to roll back or forward any
changes found in the analyzed
transaction logs open results to grid
this will display results and a grid and
allow us to perform in-depth analysis of
the audit results for now let's choose
to show auditing results in the grid
filter setup step of the wizard offers
various filters which can be used to
fine tune the auditing process and the
end results
filters vary from daytime oriented
filters operation filters table filters
as well as a couple of advanced options
to show all of our changes will include
ddl this would pick up the table we
created at the start of our demo
once filters have been specified
clicking on the finish button or end the
session wizard and after a couple
moments transaction log files will be
audited to the grid as per the filters
a pixel logs now read the transaction
log file of our database and displayed
all operations that have occurred on our
test table we can see all operations
we've executed create table followed by
five inserts and five deletes a pic
sequel log is able to show various
details and valuable information for all
operations audited
from transaction log files including who
made the change and win full operational
detail which can be seen at the bottom
as well as a sequel server transaction
information also full rollback forward
scripts
for each individual operation can be
seen in the undo/redo script pains since
we have confirmed via SMS the data has
been deleted in that the current table
is empty
to get our data recovered will now undo
those changes by creating an undo or
roll script
this is a simple process one only needs
to do the following
select and check operations we want to
undo and click on the create undue
script button
at this point apex equal log is created
the script that one do changes have
occurred which we can see and also edit
here directly if we wish to now simply
execute to create undue screw up against
our database and get our data back
we now go to SMS and inspect our
database we can confirm that our data
has been restored and that the delete
operations have been rolled back as you
can see
deleted data has been completely
recovered as if it was never missing in
the first place
another core feature of X equal log is
before-and-after auditing addition to
being able to show values before and
after the change occurs a pixel logs
able to show the full roll history for
each and every table roll
let's quickly update some rose and the
test table we've used so far
now when we refresh apex equal log
auditing results
three updates will be shown in addition
to the previous results in order to
check before an update values as well as
throw history
simply select the update operation in
the grid
and inspect the bottom panels
the operation details we can see initial
value and after change value for the
selected update and in the row history
pain
apex equal log displays the full roll
history for the row affected by the
selected operation in the example we can
see that the user originally inserted
the row with value George in the name
column and that the name was
subsequently updated twice by another
user with different values
this feature provides powerful forensics
information especially when
investigating who change what and why
our results shown in the grid can
further be filtered by using the grid
filter in order to fine-tune the output
results to easily locate specific
operations or transactions
additionally great results can be
exported to all supported formats either
standard or before and after reports