This article provides the resolution for the The transaction log for database 'vim_vcdb' is full error on a Microsoft SQL database server.

Symptoms:

• The transaction log (.ldf) of the VirtualCenter database may grow to an excessive size.
• The Windows event error states:
  
  Faulty Application: vpxd.exe
   
• Cannot start the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.
• In the Virtual Center vpxd.log file when connected to Microsoft SQL database, you see the error similar to:
   

  ODBC error: (42000) - [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]The log file for database '<database>' is full. Back up the transaction log for the database to free up some log space.
   
• Verbose logging in the VirtualCenter vpxd.log file shows an error similar to:
  
  [VpxdVdb] Failed to get next sequence number: "ODBC error: (42000) - [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]The transaction log for database 'VIM_VCDB' is full. To find out why space in the log cannot be reused, see the log_reuse_wait_desc column in sys.databases" is returned when executing SQL statement "update vpx_sequence WITH (ROWLOCK) set id = ? where name = ?"

VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x

Microsoft SQL 

On a Microsoft SQL server:

1. Log in to the Microsoft SQL Server as an administrator.
2. Open up SQL Management Studio.
   
   Note: If you are using MS SQL 2005, ensure that you use MS SQL Management Studio 2005. Alternatively, if you are using MS SQL 2008, ensure that you use MS SQL Management Studio 2008.
    
3. Right-click the database that VirtualCenter is using.
4. Click Properties.
5. Click the Options link.
6. Set the Recovery Model to Simple:
   
    
7. Click OK.
8. Right-click on the database again.
9. Click Tasks > Shrink > Files.
10. On the Shrink Database window select the file type as Log . The file name appears in the filename drop down as databasename_log:
    
    
    
    The space used versus the space allocated displays. After you set the recovery model to Simple, the majority of the space in the transaction log released.
11. Ensure that the Release unused space radio button is selected.
12. Click OK on this window to shrink the transaction log.

Workaround:
To work around this issue:

1. Log in to SQL Server Management Studio Express.
2. Select vCenter database.
3. Right Click on vCenter database and select  Properties as shown below.

4. Click on Files and set the Maximum File size as shown in the below screenshot:

5. Click OK.

When the database is in simple recovery mode, regular backups of the transaction logs are not required as they do not grow substantially in size. The downside of this model is that it does not keep a record of the transaction logs, and therefore if there is a database failure all changes made after the last full backup are lost. If recovery from a failure is a high priority than the full recovery model must be used. Ensure that regular maintenance is performed by backing up the database and transaction logs. This allows for recovery of all data up until the point of failure. For more information, see the Microsoft article Recovery Models (SQL Server).