Parameter "set-force-delete"

Description

The deletion of the backups files after the retention time by RMAN is not reliable, most times a lot of files is left in the repository. Over time these lost files accumulate and need a lot of storage space. With this parameter set, the Veeam Plugin for RMAN deletes these files after the given number of days without further checks and ensures the housekeeping.

Set the value for this parameter some days higher than the retention set in RMAN. Otherwise you will delete backup files which are still active in the RMAN catalog and RMAN is not aware of the deletion.

Syntax

The parameter for the deletion of the files is not set with the config wizard. You have to set it with the following command:

Linux

OracleRMANConfigTool --set-force-delete

hostname:/opt/veeam/VeeamPluginforOracleRMAN # ./OracleRMANConfigTool --set-force-delete

Garbage collector automatically deletes backup files older than the specified number of days. Make sure the number of days value exceeds your retention policy. To disable this functionality, set the number of days to 0. Enter the number of days to delete backups after, between 7 and 999 [0]: 45

Windows

OracleRMANConfigTool.exe --set-force-delete

C:\Program Files\Veeam\VeeamPluginforOracleRMAN\OracleRMANConfigTool.exe --set-force-delete

Garbage collector automatically deletes backup files older than the specified number of days. Make sure the number of days value exceeds your retention policy. To disable this functionality, set the number of days to 0. Enter the number of days to delete backups after, between 7 and 999 [0]: 45

You will see a message in the job log if backup files are deleted. In this example the set-force-delete parameter is set to 100.

Job Log with message that 2 backup files older than 100 days were deleted.

Recommendation

Use this parameter to avoid orphaned RMAN backup files in your Veeam repositories as the deletion by RMAN after the retention time is not reliable.

Check the current value

CLI

You can check the current value with the same command. The current value is shown at the end of the output between the square brackets (in this case [45]). When you press Enter without setting a new value the current value is kept.

OracleRMANConfigTool --set-force-delete 
hostname:/opt/veeam/VeeamPluginforOracleRMAN # ./OracleRMANConfigTool --set-force-delete 
Garbage collector automatically deletes backup files older than the specified 
number of days. Make sure the number of days value exceeds your retention policy. 
To disable this functionality, set the number of days to 0. Enter the 
number of days to delete backups after, between 7 and 999 [45]:

Config File

The second possibility to check the current value is to look at the plugin config file /opt/veeam/VeeamPluginforOracleRMAN> more veeam_config.xml See the second last line in this file.

user1:/opt/veeam/VeeamPluginforOracleRMAN> more veeam_config.xml
<Config>
    <CAVerificationParameters />
    <AdditionalCertificatePaths />
    <ProxyConfig />
    <VBRConnectionParams vbrHostName="VBR_Host" vbrPort="10002" vbrUser="VBR_User" vbrDomain="" vbrPassword="HszgedfnKJigbhbso==" />
    <Certificate />
    <BackupForRestoreParams />
    <AgentParams compression="NoCompression" />
    <RepositoryParams parallelism="8">
        <Repository repositoryName="Backup Repository RMAN" repositoryID="81d07767a-0f46-4d5b-af88-b4ca216e9e47" />
    </RepositoryParams>
    <PluginParameters backupExpiredTimeDays="45" />
</Config>

Additional Information

Description of the parameter in the Veeam help center

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/plugins/force_delete_rman.html?zoom_highlight=set-force-delete&ver=120