IBM AIX 7.1 – Common Problem 218 – 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

mksysb restore fails with bos_inst errors or restwpar-like media issues.

Environment & Reproduction

Restoring via NIM or local tape/USB with mismatched architecture or filesets.

lsmksysb -lf /backup/mksysb.img
nim -o bos_inst -a source=mksysb client01
errpt | head

Root Cause Analysis

Backup image is incomplete, from a different architecture, or NIM resources are wrong.

Quick Triage

Inspect the image manifest and target architecture.

lsmksysb -lf /backup/mksysb.img
bootinfo -p
lsnim -l mksysb_res

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Validate NIM mksysb resource and spot resource type.

lsnim -l mksysb_res
lsnim -l spot_res
nim -o lslpp -a lpp_source=lpp01 client01

Solution – Primary Fix

Recreate matching SPOT and mksysb resources, then restart the bos_inst operation.

nim -o remove mksysb_res
nim -o define -t mksysb -a server=master -a location=/backup/mksysb.img mksysb_res
nim -o bos_inst client01

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Restore manually using restbyname on a maintenance-booted system and rebuild boot.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Client boots from restored mksysb to login banner with expected oslevel.

oslevel -s
lsvg rootvg
lssrc -a | head

Rollback Plan

Reset the NIM client and fall back to a previous mksysb image if restore is unstable.

nim -o reset -a force=yes client01
nim -o bos_inst -a source=mksysb -a mksysb=old_res client01
oslevel -s

Prevention & Hardening

Validate mksysb after creation with lsmksysb and keep paired SPOT/lpp_source up to date.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to bosboot failures, NIM master errors, and rootvg integrity issues.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.1.

View all aix-7.1 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

IBM AIX 7.2 backup and recovery documentation.