A transaction log restore operation restores a copy of the transaction log. You can either restore only the transaction logs or restore the latest copy of the backed-up database, which includes data and the transaction logs.
You can also apply the latest backed-up data which contains both the data and the transaction logs, periodically to a hot standby server. A hot standby server contains the latest backed-up copy of the databases on your production server. When the database on your production server fails, to minimize the downtime, you can get the restored database on the standby server online. For more information, see Hot Standby Server Restore.
Avoid performing multiple full restores when you are not sure of the point of restore. To run a transaction log restore, you must first restore the database in a standby state. Then, you must apply each differential or transaction log, one at a time, to the database. The method used to append the logs to a database is called Step Restore. When you apply the logs one at a time, you can scan the changes committed between each log backup. Then, you can append the required log to the database.