IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 201 – 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

ODM database is corrupt; lslpp, lsdev, installp queries fail with 0518-xxx errors.

Environment & Reproduction

After abrupt shutdowns, failed installp, or disk pressure on /etc/objrepos.

lslpp -l
lsdev -C
odmget -q name=hdisk0 CuDv

Root Cause Analysis

ODM stanzas in /etc/objrepos, /usr/lib/objrepos or /usr/share/lib/objrepos are missing or corrupt.

Quick Triage

Check filesystem health and ODM integrity quickly.

df -k /
ls -la /etc/objrepos
lppchk -v

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Run lppchk and inspect ODM stanzas to find the failing class.

lppchk -v 2>&1 | head
odmget CuDv | head
errpt | head

Solution – Primary Fix

Rebuild ODM from a recent mksysb or savevg copy, then verify with lppchk.

cp -p /etc/objrepos/* /etc/objrepos.bak/
restore -xqf /backup/mksysb ./etc/objrepos
lppchk -v

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use installp -ac and inuclean to repair partial installs, or restore individual ODM classes with odmadd.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

ODM queries return clean output and installp operations succeed.

lppchk -v
lslpp -l bos.rte
installp -s

Rollback Plan

Restore the pre-change ODM backup if fileset state becomes inconsistent.

cp -p /etc/objrepos.bak/* /etc/objrepos/
bosboot -a
shutdown -Fr

Prevention & Hardening

Take mksysb backups before installp and keep /etc/objrepos on a healthy rootvg disk.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to bosboot failures, lppchk warnings, and failed installp commits.

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 AIX 7.3 documentation on ODM and installp troubleshooting.