If you want to delete the archives of 1 LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST using rman command and want to keep the archive logs from other LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_[n] for some other purpose, then use DELETE LIKE-clause in RMAN.
This way you can maintain the archives in one location and keep the same copy of the archives in another location. Consider the below example:
1. You have 2 archive destinations to keep the archive logs.
/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2 /u01/app/oracle/test/arch2
SQL> show parameter log_archive_dest NAME TYPE VALUE ------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ log_archive_dest_2 string location=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2 log_archive_dest_5 string location=/u01/app/oracle/test/arch
2. All the archives are on the above two locations.
$ ls -ltr /u01/app/oracle/test/arch/* total 248 -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 212480 Mar 14 13:26 1_32_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_33_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_35_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 3584 Mar 14 13:26 1_34_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_36_776337487.dbf
$ ls -lrt /u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/* -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 212480 Mar 14 13:26 1_32_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_33_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_35_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 3584 Mar 14 13:26 1_34_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_36_776337487.dbf
3. Now backup the archived redologs from ‘/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2’ and delete them afterwards, but do not delete the archives from the other location : ‘/u01/app/oracle/test/arch’. Example command:
RMAN> backup archivelog like '/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2%' delete input;"
Output:
Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.2.0 - Production on Wed Mar 14 13:30:30 2012 Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. connected to target database: ORCL (DBID=859136735) RMAN> backup archivelog like '/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2%' delete input; Starting backup at 14-MAR-2012 13:31:50 using target database control file instead of recovery catalog allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1 channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=18 device type=DISK channel ORA_DISK_1: starting archived log backup set channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying archived log(s) in backup set input archived log thread=1 sequence=23 RECID=32 STAMP=777885413 input archived log thread=1 sequence=24 RECID=33 STAMP=777885414 input archived log thread=1 sequence=25 RECID=35 STAMP=777885416 input archived log thread=1 sequence=26 RECID=34 STAMP=777885416 input archived log thread=1 sequence=27 RECID=36 STAMP=777907018 channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 14-MAR-2012 13:31:54 channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 14-MAR-2012 13:32:59 piece handle=/u01/app/oracle/fast_recovery_area/TEST2/backupset/2012_03_14/o1_mf_annnn_TAG20120314T133152_7p0n3ldh_.bkp tag=TAG20120314T133152 comment=NONE channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:01:05 channel ORA_DISK_1: deleting archived log(s) archived log file name=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/1_32_776337487.dbf RECID=41 STAMP=777907585 archived log file name=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/1_33_776337487.dbf RECID=43 STAMP=777907587 archived log file name=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/1_34_776337487.dbf RECID=45 STAMP=777907588 archived log file name=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/1_35_776337487.dbf RECID=47 STAMP=777907588 archived log file name=/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/1_36_776337487.dbf RECID=49 STAMP=777907589 Finished backup at 14-MAR-2012 13:33:00 Recovery Manager complete.
4. RMAN deleted the files in “/u01/app/oracle/arch/test2” and not in “/u01/app/oracle/test/arch”. You can verify the result as shown below.
$ ls -lrt /u01/app/oracle/arch/test2/* total 0
$ ls -lrt /u01/app/oracle/test/arch/* total 248 -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 212480 Mar 14 13:26 1_32_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_33_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_35_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 3584 Mar 14 13:26 1_34_776337487.dbf -rw-r----- 1 oracle oinstall 1024 Mar 14 13:26 1_36_776337487.dbf