Why are my RMAN backup files still around?

Question

Environment:
Oracle 11.2.0.3 EE on Solaris 64-bit
Good Morning (at least it's morning here at the moment),
I have a test database that I currently have set up to do an Incremental Level 0 backup every morning at about 03:00.
I also do an 'archivelog backup all' every 4 hours during the day.
My archivelog deletion policy is 'backed up 2 times'.
I have RMAN set up with a recovery window of 8 days (SHOW ALL - seen below).
I have several RMAN files dated 11 days ago.
Question: Why are these files still around?
RMAN> show all;
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name APSMDMP2 are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVERY WINDOW OF 8 DAYS;
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION ON;
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK;
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F';
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO COMPRESSED BACKUPSET PARALLELISM 3;
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1;
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1;
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK MAXPIECESIZE 5 G;
CONFIGURE CHANNEL 1 DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT   '/rman/APSMDMP2/APSMDMP2_%T_%t_%s_%p';
CONFIGURE CHANNEL 2 DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT   '/rman/APSMDMP2/APSMDMP2_%T_%t_%s_%p';
CONFIGURE CHANNEL 3 DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT   '/rman/APSMDMP2/APSMDMP2_%T_%t_%s_%p';
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED;
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF;
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128';
CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR LOAD TRUE;
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DISK;
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/u01/app/oracle/product/11203/db_1/dbs/snapcf_APSMDMP2.f';I do have several entries in V$ARCHIVED_LOG with a BACKUP_COUNT = 1 but they are all dated 21 days ago and have a DELETED status as seen here:
SEQUENCE# ARC APPLIED   DEL S CTIME                         BACKUP_COUNT
      4625 YES NO        YES D 09-oct-2012 13:21:09                     1
      4626 YES NO        YES D 09-oct-2012 13:21:48                     1
      4627 YES NO        YES D 09-oct-2012 13:22:23                     1
      4628 YES NO        YES D 09-oct-2012 13:22:50                     1I am able to see the contents of the RMAN files but I don't see anything that would cause them not to be deleted during the RMAN runs. Here is an example of one of the files:
BS Key  Type LV Size       Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
6493    Incr 0  22.75G     DISK        01:35:54     2012-10-19:04:36:13
        BP Key: 6493   Status: AVAILABLE  Compressed: YES  Tag: FULL_DAILY
        Piece Name: /rman/APSMDMP2/APSMDMP2_20121019_797050819_6508_1
  List of Datafiles in backup set 6493
  File LV Type Ckp SCN    Ckp Time            Name
  2    0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/sysaux01.dbf
  4    0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/users01.dbf
  5    0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u01/oradata/APSMDMP2/data_process_dt01_01.dbf
  9    0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/gmx_src_dt01_01.dbf
  10   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/gmx_src_ix01_01.dbf
  12   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/adm_data_ix01_01.dbf
  13   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/patrol01_01.dbf
  16   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u07/oradata/APSMDMP2/becosp_base_data_01.dbf
  18   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u07/oradata/APSMDMP2/becosp_base_data_02.dbf
  27   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u06/oradata/APSMDMP2/data_process_dt01_03.dbf
  30   0  Incr 564035766  2012-10-19:03:00:19 /u05/oradata/APSMDMP2/adm_data_dt01_02.dbfI do use the 'DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE' after each database and archivelog backup. Here is my Incremental Level 0 command file:
backup incremental level 0 cumulative database tag 'full_db';
backup archivelog all not backed up 2 times tag 'full_arch';
DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE;I know I can remove the files manually and resync everything with a CROSSCHECK but I was trying to figure out why it happened in the first place.
Any suggestions are most welcome.
Please let me know if more information is needed.
Thanks very much!!
-gary

Answer 1

garywicke wrote:
Michael,
I read Ed's thread and I understand about the timing of the Full (Incr Lvl 0) and the incrementals.
In my case I'm not doing any incrementals (Incr Lvl 1) of the database, just Incr Lvl 0 every day. I do the archivelog backups during the day to keep the /arch mount point under control.
So, if I have Incremental Level 0 backups on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, ..... With an 8 day recovery window I shouldn't need the ones from the 19th or 20th at a minimum and possibly the 21st depending on when the math is done. Right?
Am I missing something?
*************** NEWS FLASH ******************
Whoops!!! Egg on my face! I just checked back in my email logs of the backups and now recall there were some disk space issues around that time that caused the backups to fail and it just so happens that the backups on the 20th, 21st and 22nd all failed.
I should learn to trust RMAN more. It is obviously smarter than me!! :-)
Sorry for the red flags. I'll do my homework more completely next time.
Not a problem. We've all been there, done that.
I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck on something, run out of ideas on my own research and thrown a question to the forum, and no sooner to I hit the 'send' button that a light goes on and I quickly get my own answer.
At least I understand the recovery window scenario better.
Thanks very much for the help and I'll see you the next time.
Have a great day!
-gary