Cleanup of old Oracle Backup Files

[mbotticelli]

We are running Oracle 8.1.7 on a Windows 2000 server and we have been backing it up with TSM. We are trying to remove the old backups since there is no automated expiration of the files, but when we tried the RMAN deletion steps, we get no feedback from the screen nor entries in the server activity log, yet when we queried the backup for the node, it appears that they were removed. However the occupancy amount has not changed and aI have run expiration on the server since the action.
We also ran this on a Oracle 9i installation and the files did remove and we did recover the space on the tapes.

Has anyone gone through this with a Oracle 8.1.7 client and encountered the same results and can offer any suggestions on if I am doing something wrong or missing something.

Thanks

 

[sgabriel62]

Insure your TSM client variable of "allow delete backups" is enabled. And have your Oracle DBA enable crosscheck. Lastly - this verison still uses tdposync - so you can also get your Oracle DBA to execute this command as well since he/she knows the instanace and password sequence.

Hope this helps

 

[BBB]

Occupancy from 'q occ' or 'q auditocc' didn't change? What are the settings for the copygroups for this node? ie 'q copy <domain> active'

Is the backup you deleted listed under "select * from backups where node_name='YOUR_TDP_NODENAME' ?

 

[dhaue]

When you run the RMAN delete correctly, it simply marks the objects as INACTIVE_VERSION on the TSM side. You will not see a reduction in occupancy until after expiration processing runs (the next day?). This assumes, of course, that you have versions set to 0 for the TDPO client and allow client delete as noted already.

We've seen many ways that the DBA's can incorrectly remove sessions/records from the RMAN side forcing the use of TDPOSYNC. If this is necessary, the TDPOSYNC will be the process that marks them as INACTIVE_VERSION.

 

[mbotticelli]

To all who responded. I will review these items with my DBA as they are all good suggestions and hopefully we can solve the mystery. I will let you know what we discover so it can be shared to others. Thanks

 

[mbotticelli]

Here are some of the answers

Allow delete backups is and was enabled

q occ and q auditocc both show about 22 Tb of data

q copy ORACLE_DOMAIN Active. results below:

Policy Policy Mgmt Copy Versions Versions Retain Retain
Domain Set Name Class Group Data Data Extra Only
Name Name Name Exists Deleted Versions Version
--------- --------- --------- --------- -------- -------- -------- -------
ORACLE_D- ACTIVE ORACLE_L- STANDARD 30 1 30 60
OMAIN OGS
ORACLE_D- ACTIVE STANDARD STANDARD 1 0 0 0
OMAIN

select * from backups only shows 4 objects left so something is not right.

Also expiration process on server was run after the deletion attempt and we saw no change.

DBA and RMAN and TDPOSYNC questions will have to wait until tomorrow after I consult my DBA.
22 TB of backup data that cross LTO Gen1 tapes is alot of tapes!!

 

[BBB]

Does the q occ show all backup data or some archive data as well?
Maybe look in archives as well, select * from archives where node='....' ?

Was it a full run of expiration? If expiration was previously run with a duration set, or a cancel expiration run, it will re-start from where it left off which means it may not have processed this node again.

 

[aopole]

RMAN is configured correctly ?
Check retention policy in RMAN "show retention policy", then run in RMAN "delete noprompt obsolete" and finally run "expire inventory" in TSM.
I had the same problem because i don't run "delete noprompt obsolete" in RMAN.

 

[mbotticelli]

to all,

Here is an update. The data has not changed.

I checked expiration and it did complete successfully however in scanning all the nodes that it examined, I did not see the one in question. So I don't know what that is about.

Some of the options suggested on the RMAN side are not available in 8.1.7 but they are in 9i. For instance you can specify retention configuration.

We are running the crosscheck again as was suggested but this takes along time so we will see if this helps.

 

[deereins]

Similiar problem with oracle 9i.

I saw the suggestion for the Oracle DBA to run TDPOSYNC. How do I tell him to do that?

 

[deereins]

When is TDPOSYNC used ?

I suspect that the RMAN and TSM databases may be out of sync. The DBA's do a crosscheck, so would TDPOSYNC be needed?