IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 125 – 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

Legacy admin scripts fail after disabling rsh/rcp.

Environment & Reproduction

Hardening replaced inetd-based r-services with openssh-only.

Root Cause Analysis

Scripts still call rcp/rsh which are now absent or blocked.

Quick Triage

Run grep -E ‘rsh|rcp’ on /usr/local/bin and cron entries.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Confirm rsh status via inetadm or /etc/inetd.conf comments.

Solution – Primary Fix

Replace calls with ssh/scp using key-based auth and known_hosts.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Temporarily re-enable rsh via inetd refresh for an outage window.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Scripts complete and audit shows no r-services traffic.

Rollback Plan

Roll back hardening on that node if scripts cannot be updated.

Prevention & Hardening

Add a CI check to forbid rsh/rcp in committed scripts.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Pairs with SSH host key rotation issues post-migration.

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: openssh for AIX, inetd.