Comments on: backup database keep forever logs

By: Vladimir Barac

Vladimir Barac — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:52:46 +0000

I hope somebody will visit this page again.

Oracle 10.2.0.4, standard edition. It seems it is not possible to keep backupsets that contain archived logs?

RMAN> change backup tag KEEP_ME_PLEASE keep forever nologs;

using channel ORA_DISK_1
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of KEEP command at 10/26/2008 19:21:04
RMAN-06530: CHANGE … KEEP not supported for backup set which contains archive logs

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:58:49 +0000

@Philip,

I am fairly certain you need to be using a recovery catalog to use KEEP FOREVER. I’ve read it in Oracle documentation, but cannot find it at the moment.

By: Philip Douglass

Philip Douglass — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:49:30 +0000

There must be something magical at the site you did this, because it most definitely does not work for me on 10.2.0.3 either:

$rman target / nocatalog

Recovery Manager: Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production on Tue Aug 5 21:37:22 2008

Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database: ORASID (DBID=204994610)
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

RMAN>  backup archivelog all tag KEEP_ME_PLEASE;

Starting backup at 05-AUG-08
current log archived
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=1023 devtype=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_2
channel ORA_DISK_2: sid=1064 devtype=DISK
skipping archive log file /FRA/archivelog/2008_06_18/o1_mf_1_1378_y8JAYjEt_.arc; already backed up 1 time(s)
[...snipped...]
skipping archive log file /FRA/archivelog/2008_08_05/o1_mf_1_1411_z4nRigt3_.arc; already backed up 1 time(s)
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting compressed archive log backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=1412 recid=1399 stamp=661988258
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 05-AUG-08
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 05-AUG-08
piece handle=/FRA/backupset/2008_08_05/o1_mf_annnn_KEEP_ME_PLEASE_z4nhfQSB_.bkp tag=KEEP_ME_PLEASE comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
Finished backup at 05-AUG-08

Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 05-AUG-08
piece handle=/FRA/autobackup/2008_08_05/o1_mf_s_661988261_z4nhkEYn_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 05-AUG-08

RMAN> change backup tag KEEP_ME_PLEASE keep forever nologs;

using channel ORA_DISK_1
using channel ORA_DISK_2
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of KEEP command at 08/05/2008 21:37:58
RMAN-06530: CHANGE ... KEEP not supported for backup set which contains archive logs

RMAN> delete backup tag KEEP_ME_PLEASE;

using channel ORA_DISK_1
using channel ORA_DISK_2

List of Backup Pieces
BP Key  BS Key  Pc# Cp# Status      Device Type Piece Name
------- ------- --- --- ----------- ----------- ----------
71      71      1   1   AVAILABLE   DISK        /FRA/backupset/2008_08_05/o1_mf_annnn_KEEP_ME_PLEASE_z4nhfQSB_.bkp

Do you really want to delete the above objects (enter YES or NO)? yes
deleted backup piece
backup piece handle=/FRA/backupset/2008_08_05/o1_mf_annnn_KEEP_ME_PLEASE_z4nhfQSB_.bkp recid=71 stamp=661988260
Deleted 1 objects

RMAN> quit

Recovery Manager complete.

My brief trip to the Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide seems to indicate that the only way to accomplish this is from the consistent mount state: Keeping a Long-Term Backup: Example

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:32:22 +0000

NLS_DATE_FORMAT=’YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS’

either OS variable or registry entry depending on your os

By: Ghyslain

Ghyslain — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:55:20 +0000

Starting backup at 13.04.2007 13:58:04
How do you get RMAN to include the time ? (like you have)
I only get the date in “Starting backup at 13.04.2007″ !…

Thank you,

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:04:45 +0000

Sorry, I do not know how to change the tag

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:22:46 +0000

No, I meant for a backup that is already completed. Backups run nightly, and sometimes the next day, the proj mgr wants to keep the previous nights backup and rename it.

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:08:02 +0000

backup database tag BKUP_06132007_KEEP_30

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:50:10 +0000

Another quick question as I can’t find the answer. Anyway to change the actual tag name of the backup? I.E. change TAG20070613T000231 to something like BKUP_06132007_KEEP_30?

By: Laurent Schneider

Laurent Schneider — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:12:48 +0000

something like

restore database until sequence 14 thread 1
recover database until sequence 14 thread 1

where 13 is your highest saved redo log.

should work