IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 153 – 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

A non-rootvg volume group will not vary on after a hdisk failure. Applications depending on its filesystems are offline and a forced vary-on is being considered.

Environment & Reproduction

Affects mirrored VGs where one or more PVs are missing or marked removed.

lsvg -p datavg
oslevel -s
uname -a

Root Cause Analysis

AIX LVM enforces a quorum of available VGDA copies; when fewer than half are reachable the VG refuses to come online unless quorum is disabled or forced.

Quick Triage

Identify missing disks, confirm mirror state, and decide whether forced vary-on is acceptable.

lsvg -p datavg

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Capture deeper evidence to isolate the failure path.

lsvg -p datavg
lspv
lquerypv -h /dev/hdisk5
errpt -a -j FE9E9357 | head
lsvg datavg

Solution – Primary Fix

Apply the proven primary fix in a controlled change window.

varyonvg -f datavg
syncvg -v datavg
chvg -Qn datavg
mount -a

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use these alternatives when the primary fix is blocked by environmental constraints.

exportvg datavg
importvg -y datavg hdisk6
varyonvg datavg

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Confirm the system meets acceptance criteria after the change.

lsvg datavg
lsvg -l datavg
df -g
lsmpio -l hdisk6

Rollback Plan

Revert cleanly if regressions appear during validation.

varyoffvg datavg
chvg -Qy datavg
varyonvg datavg

Prevention & Hardening

Reduce recurrence with monitoring and preventive tuning.

mirrorvg -S datavg
lsvg -p datavg
chvg -an datavg

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to MPIO path loss, SAN zoning errors, and stale VGDA from interrupted importvg.

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 LVM concepts, varyonvg and chvg man pages, IBM Redbooks LVM section.