Delete RMAN Backups

There are many ways to delete RMAN backups and as a DBA you must know the different ways so that you can keep RMAN and OS disk space clean.

• Delete All Backups

• Delete Archivelog Backup

• Delete Backup Tab

• Delete Expired Backups

• Delete Obsolete Backups

• Delete Archivelog While Backup

Delete All Backups

To delete all the backups for the target database, use below command

RMAN> DELETE BACKUP;

The above command will prompt you to confirm the deletion. In case you are sure to delete the backups and want to skip the confirmation prompt then use below command

RMAN> DELETE NOPROMPT BACKUP;

Delete Archivelog Backup

To delete archivelog files from disk (NOT BACKUP), use below commands

RMAN> DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL;
RMAN> DELETE ARCHIVELOG UNTIL SEQUENCE 300;
RMAN> DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL COMPLETED BEFORE ‘sysdate-1’;
RMAN> DELETE ARCHIVELOG ALL BACKED UP 2 TIMES to disk;

To delete archivelog files from the RMAN backups (NOT DISK), use below commands

RMAN> DELETE BACKUP OF ARCHIVELOG ALL;
RMAN> DELETE BACKUP OF ARCHIVELOG ALL COMPLETED BEFORE 'SYSDATE-7';

Delete Backup Tag

If you triggered a backup and want to delete it completely, you can specify the backup tag and rman will delete all the backup files associated with tag

RMAN> DELETE BACKUP TAG <tag>;

Delete Expired Backups

First run RMAN CROSSCHECK command and then use below command to delete all the expired backups

RMAN> CROSSCHECK BACKUP;
RMAN> DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP;
RMAN> DELETE EXPIRED ARCHIVELOG ALL;

Delete Obsolete Backups

You can run REPORT OBSOLETE command to see all the rman backups that are no longer required for database recovery. Use below command to delete all the RMAN obsolete backups

RMAN> DELETE OBSOLETE;

Delete Archivelog While Backup

You can use DELETE INPUT clause to delete files while taking RMAN backups

RMAN> BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL DELETE INPUT;
RMAN> BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL FROM SEQUENCE 1200 DELETE ALL INPUT;