Oracle 10g XE: rman shows all datafiles need backup after successful full backup

Question

I'm having a problem with Oracle 10g XE, version 10.2.0.1 running on openSuSE 11.2. RMAN is showing that all datafiles need to be backed up, even after a successful full backup:

RMAN> report need backup;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 2
Report of files with less than 2 redundant backups
File #bkps Name
---- ----- -----------------------------------------------------
1    0     /usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/system.dbf
2    0     /usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/undo.dbf
3    0     /usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/sysaux.dbf
4    0     /usr/lib/oracle/xe/oradata/XE/users.dbf
5    0     /oracle/XE/oradata/XE/datafile01.dbf
6    0     /oracle/XE/oradata/XE/index01.dbf

RMAN> list backup summary;

List of Backups
===============
Key     TY LV S Device Type Completion Time #Pieces #Copies Compressed Tag
------- -- -- - ----------- --------------- ------- ------- ---------- ---
1671    B  F  A DISK        26-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121226T010015
1674    B  A  A DISK        26-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121226T011359
1676    B  F  A DISK        27-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121227T010018
1679    B  A  A DISK        27-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121227T011434
1687    B  F  A DISK        28-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121228T010021
1689    B  F  A DISK        28-DEC-12       1       1       NO         TAG20121228T011355
1690    B  A  A DISK        28-DEC-12       1       1       YES        TAG20121228T011408
1691    B  F  A DISK        28-DEC-12       1       1       NO         TAG20121228T011506

RMAN parameters are as follows:

RMAN> show all;

RMAN configuration parameters are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/dbs/snapcf_XE.f'; # default

The database is functional; however, RMAN will not automatically delete backups older than the retention policy (2 days). I have to manually delete old backups every day in order to avoid running out of disk space.

In summary, the problems are as follows:

RMAN shows all datafiles need to be backed up, even after a successful full backup.
RMAN will not automatically delete backups older than the retention policy.

It is not clear to me if #2 is a symptom, or a separate problem.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I was able to solve this problem by recreating the control file: — ajchace

kubanczyk kubanczyk · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-15T20:46:31

The issue with #bkps=0 seems weird, good for you that you've sorted it out.

RMAN does not delete backups automatically. As you schedule backups, you should as well schedule this RMAN command:

DELETE NOPROMPT OBSOLETE;

If you don't delete archivelog immediately after they are backed up (delete input), you should handle it too.

DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL COMPLETED BEFORE 'SYSDATE-3';

And you should be informed about RMAN files that "disappeared" from the media (i.e. someone moved/removed them on OS level, but left the RMAN metadata):

LIST EXPIRED;

Oracle 10g XE: rman shows all datafiles need backup after successful full backup

1 Answers