Is it possible to restore backup that has been deleted from the repository?

Question

Hi,
with Rman 9i I do a full database backup including the current controlfile each night (with the catalog option). If the backup has been successful all backups older than 3 days are deleted (because of a lack of disk space).
Now I have to restore a backup older than 3 days which can be written back to disk from tape.
On disk there is a backup still available which is 2 days younger than the one I have to restore. That means in its controlfile the backup to be restored doesn't have the status DELETED yet.
Can I restore this controlfile first, then resync my catalog and restore the old backup after the entry is back to the catalog ?
How do I specify which controlfile and which backupset should be restored ?

Answer 1

Hi ebrian,
thank you for your quick answer.
Just to be sure that I understand you right:
I startup the database in nomount mode.
Then I restore the controlfile from the backup which is 2 days younger than the one I have to restore because this controlfile contains the desired backup record with status "not deleted". Is that right ?
Each of my backup consists of 3 backup pieces. How can I find out which of the pieces contains the controlfile ? Or can I try one after the other until it works ?
After the controlfile is restored successfully I use the following commands to restore and recover the database:
rman target=sys/<syspw>@target_db
run {
alter database mount;
allocate channel c1 type disk;
set until time '<point of time a little bit prior to the point of time of the backup to be restored>';
restore database;
recover database;
release channel c1;
open database resetlogs;
exit;
Because of the "resetlogs" I take a full backup of the database afterwards.
For the future I intend to change the process of deleting backups as described below:
* delete them from disk with operating system command not with the rman delete command
* configure retention policy to recovery window of n days (n = number of days backups are preserved on tape)
* start rman script each night: \\     allocate channel for maintenance device type disk; \\     delete obsolete; \\     release channel;
Is it possible to restore each backup from tape if required with the procedure described ?
One last question concerning the recovery:
instead of the "set until time " before using the "restore database" command is it possible to specify a concrete backup to be restored (e.g. specifying the exact time it is taken or the backup piece numbers) ?
Thanks in advance.