Abstract: A SQL database server system having an enhanced logging system is described. The logging system implements a "private log cache" (PLC) for reducing the contention on the system's "log" resource (which is protected by a log semaphore). An area of memory private to a user's task is set aside as a PLC--a cache where log records are built and stored before being posted to the log. Each PLC may hold multiple log records for a single transaction before they are flushed to the log (page chain) through the log semaphore. When a transaction commits or the memory fills with log records, the PLC associated with the transaction is flushed to the log. Also described is improved log deallocation methodology provided by the system which alleviates the needs to read each of the log pages to be deallocated, as was conventionally required. The operation to do the deallocation occurs at the allocation page, not at the individual pages (which are to be deallocated).