Enforcing Retention Policy

I have been asked by the head of the organization to enforce a 30 day retention policy for ALL emails in everyone's Outlook (Exchange 2010) - Inbox, Sent, Deleted, etc. (he deletes EVERY message as soon as he read it). So I went into the EMC
and following posted instructions, set and applied the policy. Only NO emails are ever deleted in anyone's Outlook (except of course his, since he continues to manually delete everything).
Need some help in figuring out WHY the policy is not working. Thanks.
Bill

I guess I'm just going to have to start the process all over from the beginning - and hope it "takes" this time. Yes, I did create the tags, etc with 30 days age limit and completely delete when reached - users were told to copy
anything they wanted to keep to offline archive folders which are backed up. Thanks - I'm just going to start from the top and see what happens.
Well, it's months later - this wasn't a priority - and I did go back and following all the documentation, created the tags with 30 day delete for Inbox, Sent, Deleted, Junk; set a policy, included the addresses of all users; double checked that it was applied
to all users. And now, 3 days later, there is still email over 30 day old (WAY over for some - as much as 7 years!) still in their Inbox, Sent, Deleted; Junk.
Now the only issue I can see that possibly makes this not work is a "warning" that says "Personal Tags are a premium
feature. Mailboxes with policies that contain these tags (or as a result of users adding the tags to their mailbox) require an Exchange Enterprise Client Access License."
But I'm not using the built in "Personal Tags," I created my own. I'm not trying to set a policy on Personal Folders,
just the Inbox, Sent, etc (and any subfolders they might have). Do I need "Enterprise CALs" to make these retention policies work? I thought such CALs were just paper licenses, nothing to install (this is a 2010 Standard Exchange Service)
and every where I search on line there's nothing about installing CALs in Exchange, it just says they are "paper" in case of an audit.
Yet in Exchange it says I'm missing both Standard and Enterprise CALs.
All too too confusing to accomplish what should be a relatively straightforward task - deleting messages after a set period of
time.
Any help appreciated.
Bill

Similar Messages

RMAN Retention Policy Dilemma

The RECOVERY WINDOW and REDUNDANCY options of the RETENTION POLICY parameter are mutually exclusive. I have to set one or the other. However, if I set REDUNDANCY = 3 and then RECOVERY WINDOW = 21 DAYS, I've been told that the recovery window of 21 days will be enforced and RMAN will keep only 3 backup copies within this window period? Is this correct?
Can you specify a maximum number of backups to keep within a window period of N amount of days?

You can not set them both. It is one or the other.
If you set recovery window = 21 days, then it will keep as many backups as necessary to restore back to 21 days.
If you set redundany=3, then it will only keep the most recent 3 backups.

Personal tags in Retention Policy only working in OWA, not Outlook 2010 client

Version: Exchange 2010 SP2
Client: Office Professional Plus 2010 SP1
As we don't want to enforce retention or archiving policies, but still give users the options to add tags to folders I set up new Retention Policy with the following tags only:
-Personal 1 Year move to archive with age limit of 365
-Personal 2 Year move to archive with age limit of 730
After enabling the Archive for a test user and adding their mailbox to the retention policy, in Outlook client assigned the "Personal 1 Year move to archive" tag (from Ribbon) to a folder with email going back several years. I ran Folder Assistant
in PS for that mailbox, but nothing happened.
I then assigned same tag to same folder using in
OWA and it worked immediately after running the Folder Assistant.
ManagedFolderWorkCycle is set with default setting of 1 day.
I have seen other posts and have tried the above in non-cached mode with no change.
I posted this in the Partner Network forum too but not much luck there
Has anyone come across this before?
Thanks,

I decided to document exact steps trying to use Message Management on a different mailbox. Steps and results below. Note all these steps
were with Outlook in online mode:
Executive summary
Adding tags to a folder in OWA works as expected. The same process in Outlook client (even in Online mode) does not.
1. Enabled Archive for mailbox
2. Assigned Policy
3. Opened Mailbox in Outlook client (2010 Professional Plus SP1)
4. Assigned 1 Year tag to a folder with emails going back 2+ years
5. Ran "Start-ManagedFolder Assistant" on Exch Svr
6. Opened mailbox in OWA, folder does not show as having policy assigned
7. Opened Outlook
8. Checked in Ribbon if policy still assigned to folder, none showing as selected
9. Checked Archive, only some mails moved to archive, many that are much older than 1 year not moved
10. Re-set same tag in Ribbon
11. Closed Outlook, re-opened, tag still not showing as assigned
12. Opened Mailbox in OWA
13. Added 1-year tag to another folder with emails going back 2+ years
14. Re-ran StartManagedFolderAssistant on Exch Svr
15. Opened Mailbox in OWA
16. All emails correctly matching the tag moved to the archive
17. Policy added to folder in OWA showing as assigned correctly
18. Policy added to folder in Outlook not showing as having a tag assigned
19. Opened Outlook
20. Tags in Ribbon still not showing as having policy assigned
21. Properties of folder changed through Outlook showing as having “Parent Policy”
22. Properties of folder changed through OWA showing correct tag/policy

Exchange 2013 CU3 Retention Policy Not working for Calendar & Tasks

We are currently on Exchange 2013 CU3 with Online Archiving Enabled for the user
Default policy is set to move all the items in mailbox which are older than 30 days to online archive mailbox.
Calendar and Tasks Items are also getting archived alongwith other Outlook items from Inbox,Deleted Items etc
Followed Technet website and created RPT for Calendar and Tasks with retention disabled
Still DPT takes precedence and move all the items under Calendar and Task to Online Archive Mailbox

Hi Sam,
I recommend you refer to the following article, despite this for Exchange 2010, however the same applies to exhcnage 2013:
Prevent archiving of items in a default folder in Exchange 2010
To prevent the <acronym title="Default Policy Tag">DPT</acronym> from being applied to a default folder, you can create a disabled <acronym title="Retention Policy Tag">RPT</acronym> for that folder (or disable
any existing RPT for that folder). The Managed Folder Assistant, a mailbox assistant that processes mailbox items and applies retention policies, does not apply the
retention action of a disabled tag. Since the item/folder still has a tag, it's not considered untagged and the DPT isn't applied to it.
Why are items in the Notes folder still archived?
If you create a disabled <acronym title="Retention Policy Tag">RPT</acronym> for the
Notes folder, you'll see items in that folder are not deleted, but they do continue to be moved to the archive! Why does this happen? How do you prevent it?
It's important to understand that:
A retention policy can have a <acronym title="Default Policy Tag">DPT</acronym> to
archive items (using the Move to Archive retention action) and a DPT to
delete items (using the Delete and Allow Recovery or
Permanently Delete retention actions). Both apply to untagged items.
The move and delete actions are exclusive of each other. Mailbox folders and messages can have both types of tags applied - an archive tag and a delete tag. It's not an either/or proposition.
If you create a disabled RPT for the Notes folder to not delete items, the archive DPT for the mailbox would still apply and move items.
When it comes to archiving, there's only one archive policy that administrators can enforce – the <acronym title="Default Policy Tag">DPT</acronym> with 'Move to archive' action.
You can't create a <acronym title="Retention Policy Tag">RPT</acronym> with the 'Move to archive' action. This rules out using the disabled RPT approach to prevent items from being moved.
Best regards,
Niko Cheng
TechNet Community Support

RMAN backups does not match its retention policy

Hello,
I have couple of PROD instances on Windows environment with 11.2.0.3 DB version. RMAN retention policy is set to 14 days but I have noticed that backup is showing longer than that.
For example: LIST BACKUP OF DATABASE whows backups since 13th October. I also checked backup pieces at netapp share and they are present.
DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE do not remove anything as expired backup.
I have clear retention policy and set to 14 days again but does not seem to work.
I would appreciate suggestion(s) regarding the strange issue.
Thanks a lot.
Best Regards

John-MK wrote:
Hello,
I have couple of PROD instances on Windows environment with 11.2.0.3 DB version. RMAN retention policy is set to 14 days but I have noticed that backup is showing longer than that.
For example: LIST BACKUP OF DATABASE whows backups since 13th October. I also checked backup pieces at netapp share and they are present.
DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE do not remove anything as expired backup.
I have clear retention policy and set to 14 days again but does not seem to work.
I would appreciate suggestion(s) regarding the strange issue.
Thanks a lot.
Best Regards
We would need to know what kind of backups and when they were taken. Consider this scenario:
retention policy of 7 days.
Incremental level 0 backup taken on Sundays
Incremental level 1 backups taken Mon through Sat.
Let's say Oct 1 is a Sunday, so we take an inc-0 backup on Oct 1, and again on Oct 8.
Now let's say we are at Oct 10. Our 7 day retention policy dicatates that we be able to recover to any day back to Oct 3.
The only way we can recover to Oct 3 is to begin with that inc-0 backup from Oct 1.
All recovery begins with the last inc-0 backup prior to the point in time to be recovered. In a normal, regularly cycling schedule of backups, you will actually end up with backups 1 day short of being twice as old as your retention period.
Let's take a more extreme example. Same 7-day retention period, but after a single inc-0 backup, you don't take any more backups for 3 months. That one single backup is still needed to enforce your recovery window, and so is not obsolete, despite the fact it is 3 months old and your recovery window is only 7 days.
Also, you mention 'expired'. In terms of oracle backups, 'expired' is not the same as 'obsolete'.
"Obsolete" means 'no longer needed to enforce recovery policy'.
"Expired" is a bit more complex.
when a backup is taken, or an archivelog is written, a record of that is written to the repository. when you do an rman 'crosscheck', those repository records are compared to reality -- to see if the recorded backup file or archivelog file actually exists. Maybe someone used an OS command to delete them. Any file found to have 'gone walkabout' have their repository records marked as 'expired'. An rman 'delete expired' then removes those records from the repository.

Can i use the retention policy without using the Flash Recovery area?

Yes ,lets see here
RMAN>list backup summary
C:\>dir *.bus
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\
File Not Found
C:\>dir *.arc
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\
File Not Found
RMAN> crosscheck backup
2> ;
using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN> list backup summary
2> ;
RMAN> show retention policy
2> ;
RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
RMAN> run {
2>   allocate channel ch0 type disk;
3>   backup as compressed backupset database format
4>   'c:\rman_%s_%d_%T.bus'
5>   plus archivelog format 'c:\arch_%s_%d_%T.arc';
6>   release channel ch0;
7>   allocate channel ch1 device type disk format 'c:\arch_%s_%d_%T.arc';
8>   release channel ch1;
9>   delete force noprompt obsolete;
10>   allocate channel ch2 device type disk format 'c:\rman_%s_%d_%T.bus';
11>   release channel ch2;
12>   delete force noprompt obsolete;
13> }
released channel: ORA_DISK_1
allocated channel: ch0
channel ch0: sid=146 devtype=DISK
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
current log archived
channel ch0: starting compressed archive log backupset
channel ch0: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=24 recid=79 stamp=652108461
input archive log thread=1 sequence=25 recid=80 stamp=652112650
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ARCH_130_ORCL1_20080415.ARC comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:05
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: starting compressed full datafile backupset
channel ch0: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\SYSTEM01.DB
F
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\SYSAUX01.DB
F
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\USERS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\UNDOTBS01.D
BF
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\RMAN_131_ORCL1_20080415.BUS comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:45
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
current log archived
channel ch0: starting compressed archive log backupset
channel ch0: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=26 recid=81 stamp=652112703
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ARCH_132_ORCL1_20080415.ARC comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL1\AUTOBACKUP\2008_
04_15\O1_MF_S_652112718_408X3ZVJ_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 15-APR-08
released channel: ch0
allocated channel: ch1
channel ch1: sid=146 devtype=DISK
released channel: ch1
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 1
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=146 devtype=DISK
Deleting the following obsolete backups and copies:
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Backup Set           128    15-APR-08
Backup Piece       128    15-APR-08          C:\ARCH_130_ORCL1_20080415.ARC
Archive Log          79     15-APR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVELOG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_24_408RYXDF_.ARC
Archive Log          80     15-APR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVELOG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_25_408X1SCR_.ARC
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ARCH_130_ORCL1_20080415.ARC recid=128 stamp=652112652
deleted archive log
archive log filename=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVEL
OG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_24_408RYXDF_.ARC recid=79 stamp=652108461
deleted archive log
archive log filename=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVEL
OG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_25_408X1SCR_.ARC recid=80 stamp=652112650
Deleted 3 objects
released channel: ORA_DISK_1
allocated channel: ch2
channel ch2: sid=146 devtype=DISK
released channel: ch2
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 1
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=146 devtype=DISK
no obsolete backups found
RMAN>
C:\>dir *.bus
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\
04/15/2008 02:24 PM        96,813,056 RMAN_131_ORCL1_20080415.BUS
               1 File(s)     96,813,056 bytes
               0 Dir(s) 61,960,724,480 bytes free
C:\>dir *.arc
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\
04/15/2008 02:25 PM            56,832 ARCH_132_ORCL1_20080415.ARC
               1 File(s)         56,832 bytes
               0 Dir(s) 61,960,724,480 bytes free
C:\>
RMAN> run {
2>   allocate channel ch0 type disk;
3>   backup as compressed backupset database format
4>   'c:\rman_%s_%d_%T.bus'
5>   plus archivelog format 'c:\arch_%s_%d_%T.arc';
6>   release channel ch0;
7> }
released channel: ORA_DISK_1
allocated channel: ch0
channel ch0: sid=146 devtype=DISK
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
current log archived
channel ch0: starting compressed archive log backupset
channel ch0: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=26 recid=81 stamp=652112703
input archive log thread=1 sequence=27 recid=82 stamp=652112873
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ARCH_134_ORCL1_20080415.ARC comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: starting compressed full datafile backupset
channel ch0: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\SYSTEM01.DB
F
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\SYSAUX01.DB
F
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\USERS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\ORADATA\ORCL1\UNDOTBS01.D
BF
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\RMAN_135_ORCL1_20080415.BUS comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:45
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting backup at 15-APR-08
current log archived
channel ch0: starting compressed archive log backupset
channel ch0: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=28 recid=83 stamp=652112925
channel ch0: starting piece 1 at 15-APR-08
channel ch0: finished piece 1 at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ARCH_136_ORCL1_20080415.ARC comment=NONE
channel ch0: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
Finished backup at 15-APR-08
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 15-APR-08
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL1\AUTOBACKUP\2008_
04_15\O1_MF_S_652112928_408XBKCZ_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 15-APR-08
released channel: ch0
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 1
Report of obsolete backups and copies
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Backup Set           129    15-APR-08
Backup Piece       129    15-APR-08          C:\RMAN_131_ORCL1_20080415.BUS
Backup Set           130    15-APR-08
Backup Piece       130    15-APR-08          C:\ARCH_132_ORCL1_20080415.ARC
Backup Set           131    15-APR-08
Backup Piece       131    15-APR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL1\AUTOBACKUP\2008_04_15\O1_MF_S_652112718_408X3ZVJ_.BKP
Backup Set           132    15-APR-08
Backup Piece       132    15-APR-08          C:\ARCH_134_ORCL1_20080415.ARC
Archive Log          81     15-APR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVELOG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_26_408X3HRP_.ARC
Archive Log          82     15-APR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL1\ARCHIVELOG\2008_04_15\O1_MF_1_27_408X8RXN_.ARC
RMAN>Note: i have archivelog which is at FRA ,it also apply there and as well yours own defined backupsets path.
Yours comments are wellcome.
http://oraware.blogspot.com/2008/04/can-i-use-retention-policy-without.htmlKhurram

Hmmm, I can't see where the confusion originates. The table near the bottom of www.apple.com/timecapsule/specs.html has one row labelled "For backup using Time Machine" and another row labelled "For AirPort Disk with a USB hard drive".
The requirement for backup via Time Machine is OS 10.5.1 or better. Time Machine is not supported in pre-Leopard (OS 10.5) nor in Windows.
The requirement for using Time Capsule as a remote disk is identified as "Mac with Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later" or "PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour for Windows (included on Time Capsule CD)".
Doesn't that pretty much spell out that Time Capsule works as a network drive without the need for Time Machine?
Also Joe (the OP) never indicated any desire to use it with Windows so I'm not sure why all the discussion about Windows compatibility. ??
Also the quote posted by Henry seems pretty clear:
"Time Capsule with Time Machine in Leopard is the ideal backup solution. But that doesn’t mean Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users can’t enjoy the benefits of Time Capsule, too. Because it mounts as a wireless hard drive, Tiger and Windows users simply access Time Capsule directly from the wireless network for exchanging and storing files quickly and easily."

Performance Issue when turning on Retention Policy

Hello,
I am currently in the process of enabling retention policy for my organization. We have 18,000+ mailboxes. How much of a performance impact (if any) will it be to the end users if we were to enable retention polices for so many mailboxes at once?
We have not had retentions enabled for about 3 years and the goals to basically delete/purge anything over 15 months. I tried doing some research on this and can't seem to find any topics pertaining to this particular question.
Thanks,
Emmanuel
Emmanuel Fumero Exchange Administrator

The user impact of enabling retention on this many mailboxes at once is not your primary issue - your primary issue will be how long it will take to complete the process on all of your mailboxes so it can "just keep up" from that point onward.
I'll give you some information about our own results and let you decide how you wish to implement retention for your users.
We have 14,000+ mailboxes running on Exchange 2010, fully updated. We migrated three years ago from "another messaging platform" well known for allowing users to have huge mailboxes with little or no capability to restrict how large the
mailboxes grew - and they grew. When I started here, our average mailbox size had just popped over 2GB, and our corporate target mailbox size limit was 2GB. We had mailboxes over 30GB, and messages older than 10 years (our corporate retention policy
states no emails older than 7 years is allowed). We were tasked with implementing retention across the board, with the following settings:
Daily emails will be kept only for 60 days, and can be recovered (if necessary) for another 60 days
Working emails (things needed for projects, etc) can be kept for 2 years, and can be recovered (if necessary) for another 60 days
Messages required for legal reasons can be kept for up to 7 years, and can't be recovered if they are deleted
Messages saved for legal reasons do not count against the 2 GB mailbox size limit
Due to my previous experience implementing retention (when I was a consultant focused on Microsoft Exchange), I knew that deploying to all users at once would cause a hit on our servers (your current fear, and well founded), but I had only deployed to smaller
organizations, and never in so radical a manner - previously, size limits had been in effect, so retention was just to "maintain the status quo", rather than to hack huge amounts of stale data from the system. However, we did have huge servers
(72 GB RAM and 24CPUs, but multirole) that, early on, were not highly taxed (under 15% CPU average during the peak timeframe, and we are in only two time-zones, so all 13,000 users will connect during the 7:00-10:30 Eastern timeframe). So we determined
that we would ramp retention across the organization in the same manner that we migrated - each 1000 users would get retention enabled weekly in a phased manner.
When we started our first group, the IT group (naturally), most users kept their mailboxes relatively small - only 1.8 GB average - so retention ran from Thursday (the day we kicked off the implementation) through the weekend. However, as each subsequent
group was placed into retention, we found that the retention task was taking longer and longer. Toward the end, we had to slip some of our retention groups a day or so because retention for the previous mailboxes hadn't completed. We attribute
this to two factors - 1) the mailboxes were larger on average, and B) there were also more and more mailboxes in retention already that also had to be handled.
In the end, we took 22 weeks to fully implement retention across the organization, and the process took another two weeks to get to the point that is was "running the status quo", rather than yanking huge volumes of stale email out of mailboxes.
During implementation, our servers' performance numbers were good - still under 30% CPU - and users weren't complaining about poor performance due to that (cached mode is a godsend), but getting the process to complete was our sticking point. If
you turn on retention for all 18,000 of your mailboxes at once, you will see some server performance degradation (especially if your servers aren't as beefy as ours), but the process may never have a chance to complete across the board. Our 22 weeks
may well take over a year for your mailboxes.
HTH - you are going to need all the help you can get. (-;

Control_file_record_keep_time vs retention policy

Its not thread nor question just read from documents and tried to imply the fact of documents and i think its written correct what i tried to do proof it practically ,neither i am trying to be smart just share with you guys is my observation correct or not.i am using FRA area for backup.
<quote>
Relation between RMAN retention period and control_file_record_keep_time
RMAN backup keeps the backup metadata information in the reusable section of the controlfile.Its depends on the parameter CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME. CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME specifies the minimum number of days before a reusable record in the control file can be reused.
In the event a new record needs to be added to a reusable section and there is not enough space then it will delete the oldest record, which are aged enough.
Backup retention policy is the rule to set regarding which backups must be retained (whether on disk or other backup media) to meet the recovery and other requirements.
If the CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME is less than the retention policy then it may overwrite reusable records prior to obsoleting them in the RMAN metadata. Therfor it is recommended that the CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME should set to a higher value than the retention policy.
Formula
CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME = retention period + level 0 backup interval + 1
For e.g.
e.q. level 0 backup once a week with retention policy of a recovery windows of 14 days then in this
case the CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME should be 14+7+1=22
<quote>
RMAN> show retention policy
2> ;
RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
SQL> show parameter control_file_record_keep_time
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     7
SQL>
SQL> alter system set control_file_record_keep_time=1
2 /
System altered.
SQL> show parameter control_file_record_keep_time
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     1
RMAN> configure retention policy to redundancy 3
2> ;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 3;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
RMAN> show retention policy
2> ;
RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 3;
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=126 devtype=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T185951_3N5T2RTX_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:01:17
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639169270_3N5T598C_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T190313_3N5T94SG_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:01:22
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639169477_3N5TCPVW_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T190500_3N5TDGC9_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:55
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639169556_3N5TG65X_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
Report of obsolete backups and copies
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Archive Log          30     19-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_19\O1_MF_1_1_3N35QQX7_.ARC
Archive Log          31     19-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_19\O1_MF_1_2_3N39LR86_.ARC
Archive Log          32     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_3_3N4RZBXV_.ARC
Archive Log          33     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_4_3N4W8SLF_.ARC
Archive Log          34     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_5_3N4Y1CN7_.ARC
Archive Log          35     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_6_3N4Z6LGF_.ARC
Archive Log          36     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_7_3N53S4XK_.ARC
Archive Log          37     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_8_3N57XHYB_.ARC
Archive Log          38     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_9_3N5C52D8_.ARC
Archive Log          39     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_10_3N5C83YB_.ARC
Archive Log          40     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_11_3N5K9J2Z_.ARC
Archive Log          41     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_12_3N5MMXHO_.ARC
Archive Log          42     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_13_3N5N566W_.ARC
Archive Log          43     20-NOV-07          C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC
\ORC\ARCHIVELOG\2007_11_20\O1_MF_1_14_3N5RVB4G_.ARC
RMAN>
Now i just delete alls backup and increase the control_file_record_keep_time 7 which will be more then retention policy redundancy 3
RMAN> list backup
2> ;
List of Backup Sets
===================
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
6       Full    512M       DISK        00:01:10     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 6   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T185951
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T185951_3N5T2RTX_.BKP
List of Datafiles in backup set 6
File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time Name
1       Full 478504     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01
.DBF
2       Full 478504     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS0
1.DBF
3       Full 478504     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01
.DBF
4       Full 478504     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.
DBF
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
7       Full    2M         DISK        00:00:04     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 7   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T190110
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169270_3N5T598C_.BKP
Controlfile Included: Ckp SCN: 478975       Ckp time: 20-NOV-07
SPFILE Included: Modification time: 20-NOV-07
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
8       Full    513M       DISK        00:01:15     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 8   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T190313
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190313_3N5T94SG_.BKP
List of Datafiles in backup set 8
File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time Name
1       Full 480265     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01
.DBF
2       Full 480265     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS0
1.DBF
3       Full 480265     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01
.DBF
4       Full 480265     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.
DBF
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
9       Full    2M         DISK        00:00:02     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 9   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T190437
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169477_3N5TCPVW_.BKP
Controlfile Included: Ckp SCN: 480346       Ckp time: 20-NOV-07
SPFILE Included: Modification time: 20-NOV-07
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
10      Full    513M       DISK        00:00:52     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 10   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T190500
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190500_3N5TDGC9_.BKP
List of Datafiles in backup set 10
File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time Name
1       Full 480415     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01
.DBF
2       Full 480415     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS0
1.DBF
3       Full 480415     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01
.DBF
4       Full 480415     20-NOV-07 C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.
DBF
BS Key Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
11      Full    2M         DISK        00:00:02     20-NOV-07
        BP Key: 11   Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20071120T190556
        Piece Name: C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169556_3N5TG65X_.BKP
Controlfile Included: Ckp SCN: 480449       Ckp time: 20-NOV-07
SPFILE Included: Modification time: 20-NOV-07
RMAN> delete backup
2> ;
using channel ORA_DISK_1
List of Backup Pieces
BP Key BS Key Pc# Cp# Status      Device Type Piece Name
6       6       1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T185951_3N5T2RTX_.BKP
7       7       1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S_639169270_3N5T598C_.BKP
8       8       1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190313_3N5T94SG_.BKP
9       9       1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S_639169477_3N5TCPVW_.BKP
10      10      1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190500_3N5TDGC9_.BKP
11      11      1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\OR
C\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S_639169556_3N5TG65X_.BKP
Do you really want to delete the above objects (enter YES or NO)? yes
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T185951_3N5T2RTX_.BKP recid=6 stamp=639169192
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169270_3N5T598C_.BKP recid=7 stamp=639169273
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190313_3N5T94SG_.BKP recid=8 stamp=639169396
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169477_3N5TCPVW_.BKP recid=9 stamp=639169478
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O
1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20071120T190500_3N5TDGC9_.BKP recid=10 stamp=639169502
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\
O1_MF_S_639169556_3N5TG65X_.BKP recid=11 stamp=639169558
Deleted 6 objects
RMAN> delete archivelog all
2> ;
released channel: ORA_DISK_1
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=126 devtype=DISK
specification does not match any archive log in the recovery catalog
RMAN> list backup
2> ;
RMAN> show retention policy
2> ;
RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 3;
SQL> show parameter control_file_record_keep_time
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     1
SQL> alter system set control_file_record_keep_time=7
2 /
System altered.
SQL> show parameter control_file_record_keep_time
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     7
SQL>
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T191412_3N5TXRSG_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:01:15
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639170131_3N5V03YT_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T191655_3N5V2S20_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:45
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639170261_3N5V462Z_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 20-NOV-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
input datafile fno=00001 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSTEM01.DBF
input datafile fno=00003 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\SYSAUX01.DBF
input datafile fno=00002 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\UNDOTBS01.DBF
input datafile fno=00004 name=C:\ORACLE10G\ORACLE\ORADATA\ORC\ORC\USERS01.DBF
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\BACKUPSET\2007_11_20\O1_MF_NN
NDF_TAG20071120T191836_3N5V5X20_.BKP comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:45
Finished backup at 20-NOV-07
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
piece handle=C:\ORACLE\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORC\ORC\AUTOBACKUP\2007_11_20\O1_MF_S
_639170362_3N5V7C1K_.BKP comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 20-NOV-07
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 3
no obsolete backups foundnothing obsolete it means control_file_record_keep_time will not affect backups unless it will be less then or equal
to retention policy.
Note : Please agree or disagree with me may be i would be wrong
Khurram

Sorry for alls readers after a long practical observation at my own database server i came across that my observation was wrong and absurd in this first post, the above observation is not due to control_file_record_keep_time ,its due to something obvious which i am going to share you guys here.
RMAN> show retention policy
2> ;
RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> list backup
2> ;
RMAN>AS documentation says
"Besides affecting datafile and control file backups, the retention policy affects archived logs and archived log backups.
First, RMAN decides which datafile and control file backups are obsolete. Then, RMAN considers as obsolete all archived
log backups that are older than the oldest datafile or control file backup that must be retained."
Now i connect to SQL and create two big table for filling the redo log file and then get it archived.Please
consider it here that i am getting archived before any taking backup i.e backup database in order to make
archive older then the oldest datafile.
SQL> show parameter control_file_record_keep_time
NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
control_file_record_keep_time        integer     7
SQL> create table a1 as select * from all_objects
2 /
Table created.
SQL> create table a2 as select * from all_objects
2 /
Table created.
C:\>dir C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17
03/17/2008 03:44 PM    <DIR>          .
03/17/2008 03:44 PM    <DIR>          ..
03/17/2008 03:44 PM         9,750,528 O1_MF_1_15_3XWLVK6T_.ARC
               1 File(s)      9,750,528 bytes
               2 Dir(s) 62,714,875,904 bytes free
Now i take backup
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 17-MAR-08
using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
no obsolete backups found
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 17-MAR-08
using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
Report of obsolete backups and copies
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Archive Log          402    17-MAR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17\O1_MF_1_15_3XWLVK6T_.ARCYou can see the obsolete archived files which is the older then the oldest file which has been obsolete.It also
does'nt make sense to keep the archived log files which is older then the oldest file cause it will no longer
be useful for recovery process.
now back to pavillion
RMAN> delete obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
using channel ORA_DISK_1
Deleting the following obsolete backups and copies:
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Archive Log          402    17-MAR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17\O1_MF_1_15_3XWLVK6T_.ARC
Do you really want to delete the above objects (enter YES or NO)? yes
deleted archive log
archive log filename=C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELO
G\2008_03_17\O1_MF_1_15_3XWLVK6T_.ARC recid=402 stamp=649611842
Deleted 1 objects
RMAN> delete backup
2> ;
using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN> list backup
2> ;
C:\>dir C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_
03_17
03/17/2008 03:59 PM    <DIR>          .
03/17/2008 03:59 PM    <DIR>          ..
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               2 Dir(s) 62,724,440,064 bytes freenow this time what i did i created the archived log files after first backup in order to not to make it older
then the oldest datafile backup.
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 17-MAR-08
using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
no obsolete backups foundnow i come to at SQL and make redo log file filled by creating 2 big tables in order to get it archived
SQL> create table a3 as select * from all_objects
2 /
Table created.
SQL> create table a4 as select * from all_objects
2 /
Table created.
C:\>dir C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17
Volume in drive C is khurram
Volume Serial Number is F49D-FF2B
Directory of C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\flash_recovery_area\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_
03_17
03/17/2008 04:09 PM    <DIR>          .
03/17/2008 04:09 PM    <DIR>          ..
03/17/2008 04:09 PM         9,751,552 O1_MF_1_16_3XWNCGRS_.ARC
               1 File(s)      9,751,552 bytes
               2 Dir(s) 62,563,205,120 bytes free
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
Starting backup at 17-MAR-08
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting compressed full datafile backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
no obsolete backups foundYou can see no archived logs get obsolete yet cause the archivelog O1_MF_1_16_3XWNCGRS_.ARC
is not older then oldest datafile backup.
But this archivelog file will get obsolete if its beyond the retention policy,lest see how ,just take one more
backup ,as i have already taken two time backup and the moment i go to take third backup it will cross ours
retetnion policy from the period of 2.
RMAN> backup database
2> ;
RMAN> report obsolete
2> ;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
Report of obsolete backups and copies
Type                 Key    Completion Time    Filename/Handle
Backup Set           240    17-MAR-08
Backup Piece       231    17-MAR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL\BACKUPSET\2008_03_17\O1_MF_NNNDF_TAG20080317T160604_3XWN4WTB_.B
KP
Backup Set           241    17-MAR-08
Backup Piece       232    17-MAR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL\BACKUPSET\2008_03_17\O1_MF_NCSNF_TAG20080317T160604_3XWN6Z95_.B
KP
Archive Log          403    17-MAR-08          C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.1.0\FLASH_RE
COVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2008_03_17\O1_MF_1_16_3XWNCGRS_.ARCKhurram

RMAN retention policy - backup spfile and then redundancy = 5 removes it.

I have a database that is Oracle Standard Edition and it is version 9.2.0.6.
The spfile has not changed since November, 2005. A list backup does not show an spfile backup with a tag of "hot_database_spfile_backup_full". I took a close look at the RMAN script log and was shocked to discover that the spfile backup from the current day is being deleted. Is that because of the redundancy = 5? I'm trying to figure out why a backup piece from the current day is being deleted?
Examples follow.
The script deletes obsolete with redundancy = 5, however, I believe the intent was to keep 25 days because one of the configure clauses is set to a recovery window of 25 days. I realize that the redundancy overrides the configure retention policy command. I can fix the script and remove the redundancy = 5.
In the RMAN run statement, I first resync the catalog, backup the spfile, a full backup of the database including current controlfile plus archive log (delete input), resync catalog, switch logfile, and backup any additional archive logs. The backup looks fine.
Then, I allocate a channel for maintenance type sbt. The script then has a "delete noprompt expired backup;" a "delete noprompt obsolete redundancy = 5;" and finally, a crosscheck;
example of backup piece that is later deleted:
Starting backup at 07/18/2006 20:00:14
channel t1: starting full datafile backupset
channel t1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset
including current SPFILE in backupset
channel t1: starting piece 1 at 07/18/2006 20:00:14
channel t1: finished piece 1 at 07/18/2006 20:00:15
piece handle=P*****_2338_1_596145614_FULL comment=API Version 2.0,MMS Version 5.2.0.0
channel t1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:01
Finished backup at 07/18/2006 20:00:15
deletion:
Deleting the following obsolete backups and copies:
Type Key Completion Time Filename/Handle
<other lines deleted>
Backup Set 27453 07/18/2006 20:00:14
Backup Piece 27454 07/18/2006 20:00:14
P*****_2338_1_596145614_FULL
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=P*****_2338_1_596145614_FULL recid=2039 stamp=596145614
Deleted 12 objects
Why is a backup piece created on 7/18 being deleted in the maintenance step?
Thanks in advance!

In the next step in the script, the controlfile and spfile are backed up:
backup
full
skip inaccessible
tag hot_database_backup_full
format '%d_%s_%p_%t_FULL'
(Database
include current controlfile)
Plus Archivelog delete input;
Even though my backup script is redundant by backing up the spfile twice, when I list the backup of the spfile, I would have expected to find 5 backups with a tag of hot_database_spfile_backup_full and 5 with a tag of hot_database_backup_full. That is not the case. I only find spfiles with a tag of hot_database_backup_full. i am still perplexed by RMAN.
I will modify my script - remove the backup of the spfile, and crosscheck before the delete commands. I will also remove the redundancy = 5. The intent is to keep 25 days of backups.
Thanks for your comments

When Retention policy is set as REDUNDANCY

DB version: 10.2.0.4
Just trying to understand the concept of Redundancy.
If i set my Retention Policy set to REDUNDANCY like
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 4;and all the backup files are stored in one location like '/u04/rmanbkp/' then multiple copies (4 of them) of the same datafile with different names (unique names generated using U% setting) will be created here. Right?
The next day all these datafile copies will be obsolete. Right?
Recovery Window retention policy is more widely used than Redundancy . Right?

on the 5th day,the first (out of 4 copies) copy of backup becomes obseleteprovided that you do exactly one backup every day. If you do 6 backups a day -- e.g. every 4 hours -- you'd be obsoleting a backup less than 24 hours old !
So, if you are DBA new to a site, ask first "how many backups we do, what is the RETENTION Policy" ?
Hemant K Chitale

Sharepoint List Retention Policy based on Modified Date

How do I implement a Sharepoint List Retention Policy that deletes list items that haven't been modified in X days?
I've tried to create a retention policy in Sharepoint, but I only get the option to base the policy on:
Created Date
Declared Record
I need the policy to be based on Modified Date, a standard date field that appears against all lists & document libraries. Is there a configuration change I can make to cause Modified Date to appear in the list of available fields on the Retention Policy
dialog window?
Thanks.

Veda, thanks but I'm not really a hardcore C# coder.
We found more elegant solution was to create a List View which returns all records that should be deleted, based on our own custom deletion criteria, and then create an very simple SSIS Package in Visual Studio using the
Sharepoint Connectors for SSIS to delete all Sharepoint List Items returned from that List View. The Sharepoint Destination Connector has a delete operation.
This worked for us and didn't require any coding.

Retention Policy and report/delete obsolete

The database is Oracle 9i on Solaris 8 Platform.
The backup of datafiles and archivelog files use tape and run every night.
The backups should be held for two weeks therefore using RMAN retention policy with REPORT / DELETE OBSOLETE will be the apropiate method. Unfortunatelly somehow none of the two methods of retention policy RECOVERY WINDOW or REDUNDANCY don't seem to work. The big question is WHY?
I configured the retention policy using:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 7
Then ALLOCATE CHANNEL FOR MAINTENANCE DEVICE TYPE sbt;
I ran CROSSCHECK BACKUP with a correct output and then REPORT OBSOLETE. The report displays all existing backups - (SYSDATE-2)!
If using RECOVERY WINDOW OF 7 DAYS then the obsolete report displays the list of backups - (SYSDATE-1).
Somehow whatever number I use (7/9/5)in any of the retention policy the result is identical with the one above!

Really I do not know if there is a limitation regarding that aspect if you take the backups in tapes directly. I have implanted and I have seen it function well when backups are store directly in disk.
Find out here if that is a limitation.
Recovery Manager Quick Reference Contents / Search / / PDF
Recovery Manager Reference Contents / Search / Index / PDF
Recovery Manager User's Guide Contents / Search / Index / PDF
http://otn.oracle.com/pls/db92/db92.docindex?remark=homepage
Joel P�rez

Retention policy configuration

Hi, I need some clarification regarding the two configuration parameter of retention policy, so please help me regarding this , I am giving my view about both the configuration
1 . CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 3;
Explanation => This configuration ensure that there can be the maximum of three backup of copies of a data file and control file, we we take the backup for our database/ datafile/ control file for the 4th times, then our previous backup which was taken for the first time will be not be in used, it become obsolete...
suppose on the above configuration , the first backup will be obsolete after taking the database/datafile/controlfile
backup for fourth time...when we take the backup for 5th time, the process will goes as previous , the second backup that was taken earlier will become obsolete..
2.CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVER WINDOW OF 5 DAYS;
Explanation = > This configuration deals basically with the time based..here the main concept is that the backup will be there of period basis. The recovery window is a period of time that begins with the current time and extend backward in time to the period of recoverability is the earliest time.
Here, the backup that was taken early will remain there unless and until the specified days does not met..
on the above configuration the backup will remain and can be in use that was taken from last five days
suppose. today is 08/11/2010, and the back up is taken then the backup can be recovered form 04th of nov..
Please show me the right path regarding my view and clear up my concept if I am wrong....
Thanks in advance

Hi,
Welcome to forums.. !!
1 . CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 3;
Explanation => This configuration ensure that there can be the maximum of three backup of copies of a data file and control file, we we take the backup for our database/ datafile/ control file for the 4th times, then our previous backup which was taken for the first time will be not be in used, it become obsolete...
suppose on the above configuration , the first backup will be obsolete after taking the database/datafile/controlfile
backup for fourth time...when we take the backup for 5th time, the process will goes as previous , the second backup that was taken earlier will become obsolete..
2.CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVER WINDOW OF 5 DAYS;
Explanation = > This configuration deals basically with the time based..here the main concept is that the backup will be there of period basis. The recovery window is a period of time that begins with the current time and extend backward in time to the period of recoverability is the earliest time.
Here, the backup that was taken early will remain there unless and until the specified days does not met..
on the above configuration the backup will remain and can be in use that was taken from last five days
suppose. today is 08/11/2010, and the back up is taken then the backup can be recovered form 04th of nov..Your understanding is correct. some times if the backups will not become obsolete, under the recovery window, when it needs for recovery.
- Pavan Kumar N

Retention Policy to delete both backup sets and archivelogs automatically

I configured the Recovery Window-Based Retention Policy for my database for the window=14 days. I also set up a crontab to do a full backup every Monday. So say in a month, there will be 30 archive logs and 4 full DB backup sets.
Now that I understand if the FRA gets filled up, older archive logs that are not needed for the 14 days recoverable window will be automatically deleted. My questions is what happen to the old backup sets? Will they get deleted automatically too if there is no space left in FRA? Or I need to use "DELETE OBSOLETE" to delete them?
Thanks.

One of the advantages of the FRA is, in case of space pressure obsolete objects (obsolete due to the defined retention policy) are deleted automatically. That's true for backups and archivelogs. The objects are NOT deleted automatically after the retention policy expires, but only when additional space is needed. That does not mean you don't have to care about FRA space consumption. You may have unusual amounts of archivelogs, additional backups and flashback logs (if flashback database is configured), which fill up the FRA.
Werner

Retention policy vs. Archivelog deletion policy

Environment:
Oracle EE 11.2.0.3 on Solaris 10.5
Which policy takes precedence?
My Retention Policy is set to 'Recovery window of 8 days' and my Archivelog deletion policy is set to 'backed up 2 times to disk'.
My DAILY full backup happens at 03:00am and uses the following commands:
backup incremental level 0 cumulative database tag 'full_daily' plus archivelog tag 'full_daily';
DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE;I also have an archivelog backup that runs every 4 hours at 02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00 and 22:00 and looks like this:
backup archivelog all tag '&1';
delete noprompt ARCHIVELOG UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-8';With the archivelog backup running every 4 hours the logs are getting backed up to disk the required 2 times very quickly. Much sooner than 8 days! :-)
I have a problem where the archivelog backup that runs immediately AFTER the full database backup fails due to not being able to find some older archivelog files.
In looking at V$ARCHIVED_LOG the files were dated (COMPLETION_DATE) just outside the 8 day retention window but they had a status of 'A' (Archived) instead of the 'D' (Deleted) I was expecting. When I ran a 'Crosscheck archivelog all' it changed the statuses to 'D' and the next archivelog backup ran successfully.
What am I missing?
Should I change the archivelog deletion policy to something else? If so, what and why (just trying to understand!) ?
I am not using an FRA and have controlfile autobackup turned on.
Please let me know if you need more information. I have been scouring the docs and the 11g RMAN Oracle Press book but haven't found the trick yet!
Thanks for any assistance!
-gary

Hemant K Chitale wrote:
The Retention Policy applies to Backups. It does not apply to ArchiveLogs.
The ArchiveLog Deletion Policy applies to ArchiveLogs. It does not apply to Backups.
Since you have 2 copies of ArchiveLogs in the backups and these are retained for 8 days, a "delete noprompt ARCHIVELOG UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-8';" is overkill. Why retain 8 days of archivelogs on disk if there are 2 copies already backed up ?
Does your full backup that begins at 3am complete before 6am ? If it goes beyond 6am, it will be deleting some files after 6am but the "backup archivelog all" at 6am will expect some archivelogs (8 days old) to be present.
Hemant K Chitale
RMAN> CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '/oracle/oracle/.Autobackup_CTRL/%F.ctl_bkp';
Starting backup at 22-MAY-12
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00001 name=/oracle/oracle/oradata/orcl/system01.dbf
output file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/datafile/o1_mf_system_7vpg432v_.dbf tag=TAG20120522T122602 RECID=1 STAMP=783951999
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:46
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00002 name=/oracle/oracle/oradata/orcl/sysaux01.dbf
output file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/datafile/o1_mf_sysaux_7vpg5l1n_.dbf tag=TAG20120522T122602 RECID=2 STAMP=783952038
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:35
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00003 name=/oracle/oracle/oradata/orcl/undotbs01.dbf
output file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/datafile/o1_mf_undotbs1_7vpg6ms0_.dbf tag=TAG20120522T122602 RECID=3 STAMP=783952046
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00004 name=/oracle/oracle/oradata/orcl/users01.dbf
output file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/datafile/o1_mf_users_7vpg6ptn_.dbf tag=TAG20120522T122602 RECID=4 STAMP=783952047
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
Finished backup at 22-MAY-12
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 22-MAY-12
piece handle=/oracle/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/dbs/controlfile_c-1309370544-20120522-02 comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 22-MAY-12
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
RMAN-08132: WARNING: cannot update recovery area reclaimable file list
old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F';
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '/oracle/oracle/.Autobackup_CTRL/%F.ctl_bkp';
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
RMAN> delete noprompt ARCHIVELOG UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-8';
released channel: ORA_DISK_1
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=196 device type=DISK
RMAN-08138: WARNING: archived log not deleted - must create more backups
archived log file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_04_28/o1_mf_1_2_7sq8tf5p_.arc thread=1 sequence=2
RMAN-08138: WARNING: archived log not deleted - must create more backups
archived log file name=/oracle/oracle/flash_recovery_area/ORCL/archivelog/2012_05_22/o1_mf_1_3_7vpdcjjm_.arc thread=1 sequence=3
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
RMAN-08132: WARNING: cannot update recovery area reclaimable file list
RMAN> having problem with Archivelog backup.

Enforcing Retention Policy

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