Deleting RMAN Backups

Advantage of Using DELETE Instead of Operating System Commands

Always use DELETE command within RMAN to remove RMAN backups, rather than an operating system or media manager utility or command. Otherwise, the RMAN repository can contain records of backups that are no longer available for use in restore operations.

If you delete backups without using RMAN, you can use one of the following methods within RMAN to update the RMAN repository directly without performing a crosscheck:

• Use CROSSCHECK to change the status of these files to EXPIRED and then run DELETE EXPIRED to delete the records from the RMAN repository

• Use CHANGE ... UNCATALOG to remove the catalog records

Deletion of Obsolete Backups

The DELETE OBSOLETE command provides a convenient way to delete backups that are no longer needed. It uses the same REDUNDANCY and RECOVERY WINDOW options as the REPORT OBSOLETE command.

If you have configured a retention policy, then you can run DELETE OBSOLETE periodically to delete all backups considered obsolete by this policy. For example, you can run DELETE OBSOLETE in a script every night with a scheduling utility, freeing disk and tape space used by backups that are no longer needed.

Note that using a flash recovery area as the destination for all backups eliminates the need to manage obsolete backups. Obsolete backups will be deleted from the flash recovery area automatically as disk space is needed to store backup-related files.

Deletion of Expired Backups

The CROSSCHECK command updates the repository status for a backup to EXPIRED when it cannot locate it at the location to which it was backed up. This condition could occur if, for example, a backup was deleted from disk at the operating system level. You can identify expired backups by running the CROSSCHECK command as in the following example:

RMAN> CROSSCHECK BACKUP;

crosschecked backup piece: found to be 'AVAILABLE'
backup piece handle=0ad8d32i_1_1 recid=10 stamp=445025363
crosschecked backup piece: found to be 'AVAILABLE'
backup piece handle=c-1334876723-20011105-00 recid=11 stamp=445025367
crosschecked backup piece: found to be 'EXPIRED'
backup piece handle=0cd8d361_1_1 recid=12 stamp=445025473
crosschecked backup piece: found to be 'AVAILABLE'
backup piece handle=c-1334876723-20011105-01 recid=13 stamp=445025475
Crosschecked 4 objects

If you run CROSSCHECK while some backup device is temporarily not accessible, this can mark backups as expired when in fact they are still present on the backup device, and are available again once the device is accessible. For example, this can happen if a disk is unmounted or if RMAN does not correctly connect to a media manager. In such a case, fix the problem that prevented RMAN from finding the backups and rerun CROSSCHECK.

The DELETE EXPIRED command removes the record of expired backups from the RMAN repository, by actually deleting the recovery catalog records for expired backups, and updates their control file records to status DELETED.

This command is especially useful if a user inadvertently deletes RMAN backups or archived logs from disk with an operating system utility. In such a case, the RMAN repository is not synchronized with the actual contents of disk. By running the CROSSCHECK command, RMAN marks the backups that it cannot find as expired. Then, you can run DELETE EXPIRED to remove the records for these files.

Deletion of Archived Redo Logs That Are Already Backed Up

You may want to delete files such as archived logs only if they have been backed up a specified number of times to tape. The DELETE command supports this behavior. The following example deletes all archived redo logs that have already been backed up at least two times to tape:

RMAN> DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DEVICE TYPE sbt;

BACKUP... DELETE INPUT With Corrupt Archive Logs

During backup of archived redo logs, RMAN checks the file being backed up for corruption. If corruption is found, RMAN automatically switches to reading another copy of the same archived redo log, if one exists. For example, assume that /log1 and /log2 are the only enabled archiving destinations, and that they contain logs with sequence number up through 150. You run this command:

RMAN> BACKUP ARCHIVELOG FROM SEQUENCE 123 DELETE ALL INPUT;

RMAN can start reading from any copy of a given log, and switch to reading a different copy if it is unable to read the first copy in its entirety. For example, if RMAN starts reading the copy of log sequence 123 from /log1 and discovers corruption in the file, it continues reading from the copy in /log2. Because DELETE ALL INPUT is specified, RMAN deletes all copies of logs on disk of sequence 123 and higher.