IBM AIX 7.2 – Common Problem 017 – Diagnosis and Fix

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

telnet/ftp connections refused and lssrc reports inetd inoperative.

Environment & Reproduction

IBM AIX 7.2 LPAR exhibiting inetd / xinetd dependent service issues under standard PowerVM workloads.

lssrc -s inetd
cat /etc/inetd.conf

Root Cause Analysis

inetd subsystem dies after editing inetd.conf with bad syntax.

Quick Triage

Confirm scope with errpt, recent changes, and subsystem state via lssrc.

errpt | grep -i inetd
tcpdump -i en0 port 23

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Validate /etc/inetd.conf syntax and watch refresh behaviour.

inetexp
refresh -s inetd

Solution – Primary Fix

Correct inetd.conf entry and restart subsystem.

vi /etc/inetd.conf
refresh -s inetd
lssrc -s inetd

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Migrate to native SSH/SFTP and disable telnet/ftp lines.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Confirm subsystem returns to RUNNING state and errpt shows no new entries.

lssrc -s inetd
netstat -an | grep LISTEN

Rollback Plan

Restore prior configuration from mksysb or alt_disk_install clone if the fix regresses.

cp /etc/inetd.conf.bak /etc/inetd.conf
refresh -s inetd

Prevention & Hardening

Encode the fix in NIM customisation scripts and monitor via topas/nmon.

smit chinet  # disable insecure services by default

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

inetd hangs; AIX_AUDIT TCPIP entries

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.2.

View all aix-7.2 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

AIX Commands Reference Volume 3