IBM AIX 7.2 – Common Problem 237 – 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, or rlogin connections refused and lssrc -s inetd shows inoperative.

Environment & Reproduction

Happens after a bad /etc/inetd.conf edit, missing binary, or services file corruption.

Root Cause Analysis

inetd cannot parse its configuration or fork the requested service binary.

Quick Triage

Run lssrc -s inetd and grep telnet /etc/inetd.conf to inspect state and config.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Use refresh -s inetd and check /var/adm/syslog for inetd parse errors.

Solution – Primary Fix

Fix the offending line in /etc/inetd.conf and refresh -s inetd to reload.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Alternatively startsrc -s inetd after stopsrc -s inetd if refresh fails.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

lssrc -s inetd shows active and target services accept connections again.

Rollback Plan

Restore /etc/inetd.conf from backup and refresh -s inetd to revert.

Prevention & Hardening

Disable unused services and put inetd.conf under config management.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to xinetd-like wrappers, securetcpip, and PAM module failures.

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

IBM AIX 7.2 inetd configuration and SRC documentation.