Log shipping is the process of automating transaction log copy and apply in order to maintain identical database copy for high-availability or disaster recovery proposes.

Transaction log files are copied from the production SQL server, and then restoring them onto a standby server. But this is not all. The key feature of log shipping is that is will automatically backup transaction logs throughout the day (for whatever interval you specify) and automatically restore them on the standby server. This in effect keeps the two SQL Servers in “synch”. Should the production server fail, all you have to do is point the users to the new server, and you are all set. Well, its not really that easy, but it comes close if you put enough effort into your log shipping setup.