IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 55 – 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

NIM bos_inst on client hangs at ‘Awaiting client connection’ or boot kernel panic.

Environment & Reproduction

Mismatched SPOT/lpp_source levels or stale /etc/bootptab on NIM master.

Root Cause Analysis

NIM resources at wrong TL/SP for client architecture or broken NFS exports.

Quick Triage

Run lsnim -l and check /var/adm/ras/nimlog on master.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Use nim -o check -a debug=yes spot1 and showmount -e from client.

Solution – Primary Fix

Re-create SPOT with nim -o check spot1 -F, refresh bootptab, retry.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use alt_disk_install or mksysb tape if NIM remains broken.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Client boots to login prompt and oslevel -s matches target.

Rollback Plan

Restore previous SPOT/lpp_source from saved NIM definitions.

Prevention & Hardening

Keep NIM master one TL ahead of clients and snapshot before changes.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

TFTP timeout, bootp errors, SPOT validation failures.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.3.

View all aix-7.3 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM NIM administration and troubleshooting guide.