Question re RMAN


I am trying to verify my understanding of an aspect of RMAN and am
hoping someone can confirm my understanding or correct me if I am
misunderstanding. The questions refer to using the controlfile rather
than a catalog (although I believe the situation is the same for most
statements when using a catalog). I am using RMAN backing up directly to
disk and then during a later window backing up to tape.

The crosscheck command lists backup pieces as 'EXPIRED' if they are not
available, so those pieces removed after being backed up to tape will
appear as 'EXPIRED'. If I were to restore them to the backup location on
disk a crosscheck command would again show them as available, is that

Even if a backup piece is available, if it is older than the
CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME RMAN would not be able to restore the
database using that backup piece. Is that correct?

If I were to issue an RMAN delete expired backup command the information
would be removed from the control file and, even if the backup piece
were available on disk, RMAN would not be able to use it to perform a
restore. Is that correct.

I understand it is possible to add this information back to the
controlfile but unfortunately I don't have a system I can use to play
with this so any help is appreciated.


Bill Wagman
Univ. of California at Davis
IET Campus Data Center
(530) 754-6208


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