With regard to deletion:

Here are some feedbacks to AXR2's suggestion:

RMAN> allocate channel for maintenance type disk;

RMAN-03022: compiling command: allocate
RMAN-03023: executing command: allocate
RMAN-08030: allocated channel: delete
RMAN-08500: channel delete: sid=48 devtype=DISK

RMAN> crosscheck backup completed before '18-MAY-2004 00:00:00';

RMAN-03022: compiling command: XCHECK
RMAN-03023: executing command: XCHECK

RMAN> list backup device type 'disk';

RMAN-03022: compiling command: list
RMAN-03025: performing implicit partial resync of recovery catalog
RMAN-03023: executing command: partial resync
RMAN-08003: starting partial resync of recovery catalog
RMAN-08005: partial resync complete

List of Backup Sets
Key Recid Stamp LV Set Stamp Set Count Completion Time
------- ---------- ---------- -- ---------- ---------- ----------------------
509 1 526408349 0 526408338 2 17-MAY-2004 16:32:29

List of Backup Pieces
Key Pc# Cp# Status Completion Time Piece Name
------- --- --- ----------- ---------------------- ------------------------
536 1 1 UNAVAILABLE 17-MAY-2004 16:32:29 /backup/WEBTIME_bkup/df_WEBTIME_t526408338_s2_p1_lv0_disk

List of Datafiles Included
File Name LV Type Ckp SCN Ckp Time
---- ------------------------------------- -- ---- ---------- -------------
2 /db04/oradata/webtime/rbs.dbf 0 Full 3721716 17-MAY-2004 16:32:18
5 /db01/oradata/webtime/tools.dbf 0 Full 3721716 17-MAY-2004 16:32:18


RMAN> delete expired backup completed before '18-MAY-2004 00:00:00';

RMAN-03022: compiling command: delete expired
RMAN-03023: executing command: delete expired

RMAN> list backup device type 'disk';

RMAN-03022: compiling command: list

List of Backup Sets
Key Recid Stamp LV Set Stamp Set Count Completion Time
------- ---------- ---------- -- ---------- ---------- ----------------------
509 1 526408349 0 526408338 2 17-MAY-2004 16:32:29

List of Backup Pieces
Key Pc# Cp# Status Completion Time Piece Name
------- --- --- ----------- ---------------------- ------------------------
536 1 1 UNAVAILABLE 17-MAY-2004 16:32:29 /backup/WEBTIME_bkup/df_WEBTIME_t526408338_s2_p1_lv0_disk

List of Datafiles Included
File Name LV Type Ckp SCN Ckp Time
---- ------------------------------------- -- ---- ---------- -------------
2 /db04/oradata/webtime/rbs.dbf 0 Full 3721716 17-MAY-2004 16:32:18
5 /db01/oradata/webtime/tools.dbf 0 Full 3721716 17-MAY-2004 16:32:18
Coming to pando's thoughts: The reason why I did not put the set until clause was that I want to run this validation after every level 0 backup. The successful completion of this script would give some confidence the backups are at a restorable point without needing any manual intervention on the recovery scripts.

I'm more intersted in know what could be holding those log sequence information. This database gets incrementally backed on a daily basis and the archive backups three times a day.

Something I'm missing in this puzzle to get some sense of of.

Thanx.
Sam