A common logging system (a "virtual logging system") that presents to one or more log clients the appearance that each log client is interacting with a dedicated logging system. In reality, the virtual logging system is multiplexing virtual log streams, including log records, for each log client into a single transactional log. In particular, the invention is directed at a scheme for mapping virtual identifiers that a client uses in connection with the client's own records to physical identifiers that represent the physical location of the client's records in the single transactional log