Logical File Is Not Part Of Database Top 6 Favorites

A logical file is a file that contains logical views of data from one or more physical files. It is used to organize and present data in a way that makes sense to application programs.

However, a logical file is not part of a database in the sense that it is not a physical container for data like a database table. Instead, it is a way of accessing data from one or more physical files in a logical manner.

The physical files, on the other hand, are part of the database. They contain the actual data that is stored in the database.

In summary, a logical file is a logical view of data that is created for the convenience of application programs, while physical files are the actual containers for data that are part of the database.

In SQL Server, you can retrieve the logical file name of a database using the following query:

sql
SELECT name, physical_name AS 'Physical Name', type_desc AS 'File Type', 
       (size * 8) / 1024 AS 'File Size (MB)', FILEPROPERTY(name, 'IsLogFile') AS 'Is Log File',
       FILEPROPERTY(name, 'IsPrimaryFile') AS 'Is Primary File',
       FILEPROPERTY(name, 'IsReadOnly') AS 'Is Read Only',
       FILEPROPERTY(name, 'IsOffline') AS 'Is Offline'
FROM sys.database_files;

This query retrieves information about all the files associated with the current database. The name column contains the logical name of the file, which is the name that is used to reference the file within the database.

If you want to retrieve the logical name of a specific file, you can modify the query to filter the results based on the name column. For example, if you want to retrieve the logical name of the primary file, you can use the following query:

sql
SELECT name
FROM sys.database_files
WHERE type_desc = 'ROWS';

This query filters the results to only include the primary file, which is the file that contains the data for the database. The logical name of the primary file is typically the same as the name of the database.

To change the logical file name in SQL Server, you can use the ALTER DATABASE statement with the MODIFY FILE option. Here’s an example:

less
USE [master];
GO
ALTER DATABASE [YourDatabaseName] 
MODIFY FILE (NAME = 'OldLogicalName', NEWNAME = 'NewLogicalName');
GO

Replace [YourDatabaseName] with the actual name of your database, and replace OldLogicalName and NewLogicalName with the old and new logical file names, respectively.

Note that you may also need to update any references to the old logical file name in your applications or scripts to use the new name.