Originally posted by Axr2

Para 2 - Why would the crosscheck expire backups that you'd directly backed up to tape?! Sounds bizzare. Also, it appears to contradict what you just said in the current post - that "TSM still does not expire backups"??
TSM will not expire the backup with a crosscheck. What happens is that you do the cross check on Unix, and it can't "See" the backups since they are on tape. Therefore it marks them 'Expired' in RMAN. So they are still on tape, but RMAN doesn't like them. According to the documentation this should work with a media manager, but it didn't work with with TSM 2.1 (I think the versions went 2.1, 2.2, 5.1). It may work with newer versions... I haven't been willing to test it on my 5.1 server. I'd just recommend you test it on a NON-production database before you base any policy on it!


Originally posted by Axr2

Para 3 - What do mean by "backup files"? Individual files or backup pieces? Btw, how did you know or verify that the deleted stuff still existed on tape afterwards?
I meant backup pieces... but to TSM, they are just files. To verfify that files exist/or are deleted, enter
Code:
show versions NODE_NAME *
from the server administration page (command line). As far as seeing what tapes are released, you should ask your TSM admin. He/she can tell you. Quite frankly, you shouldn't worry about what tapes are available... just that your backups are are available.

In case you rman catalog and TSM get out of sync - you can use the tdposync command (from unix) to sync them up. I haven't needed to use it yet, though.

Originally posted by Axr2

I'm interested in knowing how you maintain different retentions of your daily backups, monthly backups and yearly backups. Also, retentions of your archivelog files.
I only work for a single company, and we have a pretty set backup policy. 30 days back.. that's it. So, I really don't have to deal with the different retention policies.. sorry!

Here are a couple other basic commands that might be helpful in querying TSM (all from the TSM System Administration screen)

To show what other background processes are running:
q process

Shows what's on a volume:
q v VOLUME#

Show Filesize:
select distinct node_name,file_name,file_size from contents where node_name='NODE_NAME' order by file_name

Good Luck