Backupset retention

Question

Hello,
is there a way to check how a retention policy is being applied to a specific backupset and why it's not being deleted after a backup completes? This question is probably very unclear, so I will try to explain my problem.
First off, my RMAN configuration
RMAN> show retention policy;
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name HPROD91 are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVERY WINDOW OF 7 DAYS;
RMAN>The backup policy is a weekly level 0 incremental and daily level 1.
Here is an shortened version of RMAN's backup list.
List of Backup Sets
===================
BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
2645573 Incr 0  3.24G      DISK        00:05:02     14-JUL-12     
        BP Key: 2721550   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20120714T200130
        Piece Name: E:\ORACLE\ORAFLASH\HPROD91\BACKUPSET\2012_07_14\O1_MF_NNND0_TAG20120714T200130_803FPG5W_.BKP
  List of Datafiles in backup set 2645573
  File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time  Name
  4    0  Incr 844623414  14-JUL-12 E:\ORACLE\ORADATA\HPROD91\DATAFILES\USERS01.DBF
  5    0  Incr 844623414  14-JUL-12 E:\ORACLE\ORADATA\HPROD91\DATAFILES\UNDOTBS02.DBF
BS Key  Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
2645722 989.00K    DISK        00:00:01     14-JUL-12     
        BP Key: 2721445   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20120714T201824
        Piece Name: E:\ORACLE\ORAFLASH\HPROD91\BACKUPSET\2012_07_14\O1_MF_ANNNN_TAG20120714T201824_803FZLDH_.BKP
  List of Archived Logs in backup set 2645722
  Thrd Seq     Low SCN    Low Time  Next SCN   Next Time
  1    248     844622509  14-JUL-12 844623680  14-JUL-12
  BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
2720694 Incr 0  5.61G      DISK        00:03:59     13-SEP-12     
        BP Key: 2742775   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: NO  Tag: TAG20120913T093719
        Piece Name: E:\ORACLE\ORAFLASH\HPROD91\BACKUPSET\2012_09_13\O1_MF_NNND0_TAG20120913T093719_85339V3Y_.BKP
  List of Datafiles in backup set 2720694
  File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time  Name
  8    0  Incr 855453278  13-SEP-12 E:\ORACLE\ORADATA\HPROD91\DATAFILES\ADAPP.DBF
  12   0  Incr 855453278  13-SEP-12 E:\ORACLE\ORADATA\HPROD91\DATAFILES\BNAPP.DBFThe problem is, that I have these several backupsets that are 2 months old and this just seems like a way too long of a time to keep even a level 0 backup.
I also have a recovery catalog available for any operations. I will be happy to provide any further details.

Answer 1

Honza wrote:
Oh I was focusing too much about why the backup isn't expired, I forgot about obsolete, however not all of the backupsets get reported as obsolete. I believe it's only those files that became obsolete due to todays backups I ran manually."Expired" means the backupset was deleted outside of rman, so there was no record of the deletion in the repository and rman thinks it's still there. A 'crossheck' command compares the repository with reality, and marks the entry for any files found missing as 'expired'. These expired entries get deleted when you do a 'delete expired'.
"Obsolete" means the backupset is no longer needed to enforce the retention policy. Backupsets are not 'marked' as obsolete, the are evaluated as such when you do a 'report obsolete' or 'delete obsolete', and is based on the retention policy in effect at the time of the command. A backup can get created at a time that the retention policy is recovery window of 7 days, and if it not deleted it will still be around after the seven days. And if the retention policy is changed to, say 30 days, that backup that was considered obsolete is no longer so.
another thing you need to know about obsolete is that a backup is not obsolete until it is no longer needed to enforce a retention policy, regardless of how old it is. All restore operations must begin with a level 0 backup. Say you have a recovery window of 7 days. Say your most recent level 0 backup is 30 days old. That level 0 backup is not obsolete, becuase it is still needed to guarantee your 7 day recovery window. Even if you take a level 0 every Sunday, on Saturday your level 0 from 2 Sundays ago is still needed to enforce your 7 day window - which goes back to the Saturday just prior to your most recent level 0.