Re: RMAN leaving orphaned backup files in FRA

From: Rich J <rich242j_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2020 09:21:03 -0500
Message-ID: <CAANsBX1LR8Z54VYuBP4tR5yzAEKxDFP6-JCHOTsR7688LSOrYw_at_mail.gmail.com>



Hey Leng,

I think you may be onto something here, but I need to do some testing. It could definitely explain what I'm seeing with the two databases that have orphaned backup files, but I can't wrap my head around why the other database has none. The unaffected database is smaller than the affected ones -- 8GB of data files versus 75GB and 865GB. I feel like I should already know the answer to this question, but what would the size of the database have to do with exceeding control_file_record_keep_time?

I feel the documents on MOS about control_file_record_keep_time are misleading. They state that the value should be greater than the RMAN retention policy recovery window. In my case it definitely is, but the recovery window of 1 day is a misleading metric as the level-0 backups are weekly.

Also, the parameter is dynamic, so why is it necessary to restart?

I hadn't tried to catalog the files, since their ages are weeks or months old and somewhat random, although always on a Sunday -- the same as the level-0 incrementals.

Thanks much!
Rich

On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 7:30 PM Leng Burgess <lkaing_at_gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Rich,
>
> If you’re not using a recovery catalog, you should ensure the
> control_file_record_keep_time is large enough to contain all your backup
> records. I notice that retention policy is set to 1 day but if you have a
> large database this may still exceed the control_file_record_keep_time.
>
> Unfortunately this requires a db restart.
>
> As a test, try cataloging these backups - do they get cataloged or are you
> getting an error?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Leng.
>
>
> > On 26 Mar 2020, at 8:50 am, Rich J <rich242j_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hey all,
> >
> > In 19.6 on OL7.7, I have RMAN's retention policy set to 1 day. I run
> weekly incremental level-0 backups, a daily incremental level-1, and
> archived logs every 15 minutes. I'm not using a catalog (just
> controlfile). No data guard or other replication (yet). Single
> destination for archive logs.
> >
> > Upon noticing that the FRA is getting more full without a lot of data
> being added, I see that multiple databases with same setup as above appear
> to have orphaned files. These are backup files that RMAN no longer has
> cataloged, but has not deleted them from the OS. I also have one database
> whose obsolete backups appear to be deleted correctly. The one that's
> deleted correctly only has archive log backups every hour (not sure why
> that would matter). FRA size is set to 10x the amount of space currently
> in use (these are future production instances).
> >
> > I've seen this happen occasionally in the past, which makes me think I
> have something setup incorrectly. But I'm having difficulty determining
> what that might be since at least one of the database is deleting correctly.
> >
> > Thoughts on how to troubleshoot this?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Rich
>
>

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Received on Thu Mar 26 2020 - 15:21:03 CET

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