DELETE

Syntax

Text description of the illustration delete.gif

Purpose

To delete physical backups and copies as well as do the following:

• Update their records in the target control file to status DELETED
• Remove their records from the recovery catalog (if you use a catalog)

By default, DELETE displays a list of the files and prompts you for confirmation before deleting any file in the list, unless you are running a command file.

If you specify the EXPIRED option, then DELETE only removes files marked EXPIRED, that is, "not found," by the CROSSCHECK command. Use the LIST command or query the recovery catalog views to determine which backups or copies are expired.

If you specify the OBSOLETE option, then DELETE removes files considered OBSOLETE, that is, "not needed," by the retention policy or because it is orphaned. Specify a retention policy by using CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY or the REDUNDANCY and RECOVERY WINDOW options on the DELETE command.

The repository record for an object can sometimes fail to reflect the physical status of the object. For example, you back up a log to disk and then use an operating system utility to delete the object. If you do not run the CROSSCHECK command to update the repository, and if you then run DELETE against the object, then the repository shows that the object is AVAILABLE while the object is in fact missing. The following table indicates the behavior of DELETE in such situations.

Repository Status	Physical Status	Behavior of DELETE Command
AVAILABLE	Not found on media	Does not delete the object and reports the list of mismatched objects at the end of the job. RMAN does not update the repository status.
EXPIRED	Found on media	Does not delete the object and reports the list of mismatched objects at the end of the job. RMAN does not update the repository status.
UNAVAILABLE	Any	Removes repository record and deletes object if it exists. All I/O errors are ignored.
FORCE	Any	Deletes file if it exists, ignoring any I/O errors, and removes repository records. RMAN displays the number of objects deleted at the end of the job.

Restrictions and Usage Notes

• The target instance must be started.
• A maintenance channel is not required when DELETE is used with a file that is disk-only (that is, an ARCHIVELOG, DATAFILECOPY, CONTROLFILECOPY). Otherwise, you must use a manual or automatic maintenance channel.

  If you use DELETE on files that are not disk-only, and if you have objects created on device types that are not configured for automatic channels, then run manual maintenance commands on these channels. For example, if you created a backup using an sbt channel, but have only a DISK channel automatically configured, you must manually allocate an sbt channel for DELETE.

Keywords and Parameters

Syntax Element	Description
FORCE	Deletes specified files (whether or not they exist on the media) and removes repository records. RMAN ignores any I/O errors for the deleted objects. RMAN displays the number of deleted objects at the end of the job.
NOPROMPT	Deletes specified files without first listing the files or prompting for confirmation. The DELETE NOPROMPT command still displays each item as it is deleted. By default, DELETE displays files and then prompts for confirmation. If the user confirms, then RMAN shows each item as it is deleted. If you are running commands from a command file, then NOPROMPT is the default.
EXPIRED	Removes only files whose status in the repository is EXPIRED. RMAN marks backups and copies as expired when you run a CROSSCHECK command and the files are absent or inaccessible. To determine which files are expired, run a LIST EXPIRED command. Note: Beginning in Oracle9i, RMAN's default behavior is to prompt for confirmation when you run DELETE EXPIRED. In prior releases, RMAN did not prompt.
BACKUP	Deletes backup sets, backup pieces, and proxy copies. By default, RMAN deletes backups of the whole database. Specify the EXPIRED option to remove only backups that are marked EXPIRED in the repository. The KEY column of the LIST output indicates the primary key usable in the CHANGE and DELETE commands.
COPY	Deletes datafile copies, archived redo logs, and image copies of archived redo logs. By default, DELETE ... COPY removes copies of all files in the database. Specify the EXPIRED option to remove only copies that are marked EXPIRED in the repository.
OF listObjList	restricts the list of objects operated on to the object type specified in the listObjList clause. See "listObjList". If you do not specify an object, CHANGE defaults to all copies.
maintQualifier	restricts the command based on the specified options (see "maintQualifier"). Note: listObjList and maintQualifier are valid options on both the BACKUP and COPY commands.
archivelogRecordSpecifier	Deletes the specified archived redo logs. See Also: "archivelogRecordSpecifier"
recordSpec	Specifies the object that you are deleting. See Also: "recordSpec"
DEVICE TYPE deviceSpecifier	allocates automatic channels for the specified device type only (see "deviceSpecifier"). This option is valid only if you have configured channels and have not manually allocated channels. For example, if you configure disk and tape channels, and run DELETE ... DEVICE TYPE DISK, then RMAN allocates only disk channels.
OBSOLETE	Deletes backups and datafile copies recorded in the RMAN repository that are obsolete, that is, no longer needed. In addition to obsolete datafile backups, RMAN deletes obsolete archived logs and archived log backups. RMAN determines which backups and copies of datafiles are no longer needed, which in turn determines when logs (and backups of logs) are no longer needed. RMAN considers the creation of a datafile is as a backup when deciding which logs to keep. RMAN first uses the options that you specify with obsOperandList to determine what is obsolete. If you do not specify options in obsOperandList, then RMAN uses the options specified in CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY.
obsOperandList	Specifies the criteria for determining which backups and copies are obsolete. See Also: "obsOperandList"
DEVICE TYPE deviceSpecifier	Restricts the deletion to obsolete backups and copies created on the specified device type only. See Also: "deviceSpecifier"

Examples

Deleting Expired Backups: Example

The following example uses a configured sbt channel to check the media manager for expired backups of the tablespace users that are more than one month old and removes their catalog records:

CROSSCHECK BACKUP OF TABLESPACE users 
  DEVICE TYPE sbt COMPLETED BEFORE 'SYSDATE-31';
DELETE NOPROMPT EXPIRED BACKUP OF TABLESPACE users 
  DEVICE TYPE sbt COMPLETED BEFORE 'SYSDATE-31';

Deleting Obsolete Backups: Example

The following example deletes backups and copies that are not needed to recover the database to a random point within the last week. RMAN also deletes archived redo logs that are no longer needed:

DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE RECOVERY WINDOW OF 7 DAYS;

Deleting Files That Have Already Been Backed Up: Example

The following example deletes backups and copies (including archived redo logs) that have already been backed up at least twice to tape:

DELETE NOPROMPT BACKUP BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DEVICE TYPE sbt;
DELETE NOPROMPT COPY BACKED UP 2 TIMES TO DEVICE TYPE sbt;

Forcing the Deletion of a Backup Set: Example

The following example attempts to delete the backup set copy with tag weekly_bkup:

DELETE NOPROMPT BACKUPSET TAG weekly_bkup;

However, RMAN displays a warning because the repository shows the backup set as available, but the object is not actually available on the media:

RMAN-06207: WARNING: 1 objects could not be deleted for SBT_TAPE channel(s) due
RMAN-06208:          to mismatched status.  Use CROSSCHECK command to fix status
List of Mismatched objects
==========================
  Object Type   Filename/Handle
--------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Backup Piece    0id270ud_1_1

The following command forces RMAN to delete the backup:

DELETE FORCE NOPROMPT BACKUPSET TAG weekly_bkup;