You use RMAN to take regular backups for your database. Examine the RMAN commands: RMAN> CROSSCHECK BACKUP; RMAN>DELETE EXPITED BACKUP; Which statement is true?

The correct answer is B. All metadata, for backups and archived redo log files that are recorded in the repository but do not. See the full explanation below for the reasoning.

Question

You use RMAN to take regular backups for your database. Examine the RMAN commands: RMAN> CROSSCHECK BACKUP; RMAN>DELETE EXPITED BACKUP; Which statement is true?

Options

AAll backups and archived redo log files that are not required for the recovery are deleted and the
BAll metadata, for backups and archived redo log files that are recorded in the repository but do not
CAll backups that have exceeded the age set by the RMAN retention policy are deleted.
DAll metadata pertaining to backups and archived redo log files that have exceeded the age set by

How the community answered

(38 responses)

A
8% (3)
B
71% (27)
C
16% (6)
D
5% (2)

Community Discussion

Otieno M.Feb 13, 2026

The answer is B, and the reason comes down to understanding what EXPIRED actually means in RMAN's world. CROSSCHECK BACKUP does not delete anything, it just goes out to disk or tape and verifies whether each backup piece recorded in the repository actually exists at its expected location, and anything it cannot find gets stamped EXPIRED in the repository. DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP then removes those repository records for pieces RMAN could not locate physically, which means there are no actual files being deleted because the files were already gone before you ran either command. People confuse EXPIRED with OBSOLETE all the time on this exam: OBSOLETE means a backup still exists but falls outside your retention policy, while EXPIRED means the repository says it should be there but it physically is not. Options A, C, and D describe behavior that belongs to DELETE OBSOLETE, not DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP.

Samuel O.Feb 5, 2026

I'll be honest, I almost clicked C because "expired" sounds like it has to do with age or retention, which tripped me up. But then I remembered that CROSSCHECK just syncs the repository against what physically exists on disk or tape, and DELETE EXPIRED only removes the catalog metadata for backups that CROSSCHECK marked as missing, not anything related to retention policy age.

Mei-Ling H.Feb 24, 2026

I picked D first because it said "metadata" which felt right, then I caught the phrase "exceeded the age set by" and realized that describes OBSOLETE backups, not EXPIRED ones. EXPIRED means CROSSCHECK could not physically find the backup piece, so DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP just cleans the repository record for something already missing, which is exactly what B says.

Carlos M.Feb 27, 2026

Has to be D, because CROSSCHECK just syncs the repository against what physically exists on disk or tape, it does not delete anything based on recoverability, so DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP then only removes the metadata for records that RMAN marked expired, which ties directly to age via the retention policy, not to whether a file is needed for recovery.

-1

Mei-Ling H.Feb 28, 2026

Carlos, the key is that EXPIRED and OBSOLETE mean two different things in RMAN: EXPIRED means the file could not be found on disk or tape after CROSSCHECK runs, while OBSOLETE means the backup is no longer needed to meet the retention policy, so DELETE OBSOLETE is what actually removes backups based on recoverability, which makes B correct. DELETE EXPIRED BACKUP only cleans up catalog records for files that are already physically missing, not for files that fall outside the retention window.

Full 1Z0-063 Practice