IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 120 – 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

LDAP users cannot log in; local root works fine.

Environment & Reproduction

secldapclntd not running or wrong /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg.

Root Cause Analysis

AIX delegates auth to secldapclntd which may be stopped.

Quick Triage

Run lssrc -s secldapclntd and tail /var/log/ldap.log.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Test bind with ldapsearch -h server -D dn -w pw -b base.

Solution – Primary Fix

Restart with start-secldapclntd; refresh users with restart-secldapclntd.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Switch user to compat in /etc/security/user as workaround.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

LDAP users authenticate; lsuser -R LDAP user returns data.

Rollback Plan

Revert to files-only auth via chsec if LDAP unrecoverable.

Prevention & Hardening

Add LDAP healthcheck to nmon/topas custom panel.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Pairs with NIS to LDAP migration glitches.

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 Docs: LDAP client for AIX.