RMAN Configuration Demystified: A Practical Deep Dive for DBAs – Part 3

RMAN Configuration Demystified: A Practical Deep Dive for DBAs – Part 3

LIST Commands:-

Command Description LIST BACKUP OF DATABASE; Lists all backup sets (full, incremental, archivelogs) related to the entire database. LIST COPY OF DATAFILE 1, 2; Lists image copies of datafiles 1 and 2. These are exact file copies, not in backup set format. LIST BACKUP OF ARCHIVELOG FROM SEQUENCE 10; Shows archive log backups starting from sequence 10 onward. LIST BACKUPSET OF DATAFILE 1; Lists backup sets that include datafile 1. LIST BACKUP; Shows all backup sets and image copies in the RMAN catalog/control file. LIST COPY; Lists all image copies (of datafiles, control files, etc.). LIST ARCHIVELOG ALL; Lists all archived redo logs known to RMAN (including backed-up or not). LIST RESTORE POINT <Restore_point_name>; Lists a specific restore points details. Useful for point-in-time recovery. LIST RESTORE POINT ALL; Lists all restore points in database. LIST EXPIRED BACKUP; Lists expired backups (files not found on disk, marked expired by RMAN). LIST BACKUP SUMMARY; Provides a summary view (high-level) of backup sets — size, date, device type, etc. LIST BACKUPSET TAG 'weekly_full_db_backup'; Lists backup sets with a specific tag (e.g., full weekly backups). LIST BACKUPSET 213; Displays information about backupset with ID 213. LIST COPY OF DATAFILE 2 COMPLETED BETWEEN '10-DEC-2024' AND '17-DEC-2024'; Shows image copies of datafile 2 completed within a date range. LIST BACKUP OF DATAFILE 1; Lists backups that include only datafile 1.

REPORT Commands:-

Command	Description
REPORT OBSOLETE;	Lists backups that are no longer needed according to current retention policy (can be deleted).
REPORT SCHEMA;	Displays the current database schema as seen by RMAN (tablespaces, datafiles).
REPORT NEED BACKUP;	Shows files that need a backup based on the retention policy.
REPORT NEED BACKUP RECOVERY WINDOW OF 2 DAYS DATABASE DEVICE TYPE SBT;	Reports files that need a backup to satisfy a 2-day recovery window for tape.
REPORT NEED BACKUP DEVICE TYPE DISK;	Same as above, but for disk-based backups.
REPORT NEED BACKUP TABLESPACE USERS DEVICE TYPE SBT;	Shows if tablespace USERS needs backup on tape.
REPORT OBSOLETE RECOVERY WINDOW OF 3 DAYS;	Lists backups that fall outside a 3-day recovery window — can be purged.
REPORT OBSOLETE REDUNDANCY 1;	Lists backups that exceed a redundancy of 1 copy, meaning you can safely delete extras.

CROSSCHECK Commands:-

Command	Description
CROSSCHECK BACKUP DEVICE TYPE DISK;	Checks all disk-based backups to ensure the files still exist on disk.
CROSSCHECK BACKUP DEVICE TYPE SBT;	Checks tape-based (SBT) backups for availability.
CROSSCHECK BACKUP;	Validates all backups: backup sets, image copies, proxy copies — regardless of device type.
CROSSCHECK COPY OF DATABASE;	Validates all image copies of the entire database (datafiles, controlfiles, etc.).
CROSSCHECK BACKUPSET 1338, 1339, 1340;	Checks specific backup sets by ID numbers.
CROSSCHECK BACKUPPIECE TAG nightly_backup;	Checks all backup pieces that were tagged with nightly_backup.
CROSSCHECK BACKUP OF ARCHIVELOG ALL SPFILE;	Verifies backups of all archivelogs and SPFILEs.
CROSSCHECK CONTROLFILECOPY '/tmp/control01.ctl';	Checks the availability of a control file copy at a specific location.

DELETE Commands:-

Command Description DELETE BACKUPPIECE 101; Deletes the specific backup piece with ID 101 from disk or tape. DELETE CONTROLFILECOPY '/tmp/control01.ctl'; Deletes a control file copy located at /tmp/control01.ctl. DELETE NOPROMPT ARCHIVELOG UNTIL SEQUENCE 300; Deletes all archived redo logs up to sequence 299, without prompting for confirmation. Useful for space management. DELETE BACKUP TAG 'before_upgrade'; Deletes all backups (sets or copies) with the tag before_upgrade. Helpful in identifying backups made for specific events. DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL BACKED UP 3 TIMES TO SBT; Deletes all archived logs that have been successfully backed up 3 times to tape (SBT). Ensures recoverability is retained before deletion. DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP; Deletes all expired backups (files that were marked as EXPIRED after a CROSSCHECK operation). DELETE OBSOLETE; Deletes all backups (datafile, archivelog, controlfile, etc.) no longer needed according to the configured retention policy (either redundancy or recovery window).