IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 156 – 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

After an interrupted update, lslpp shows filesets in BROKEN state. Subsequent updates refuse to proceed and security fixes cannot be applied.

Environment & Reproduction

Triggered by power loss, full /usr, or signal during installp -acgX runs.

lslpp -l | grep -i broken
oslevel -s
uname -a

Root Cause Analysis

Cause is partial commit of filesets where the ODM lpp_history entries are inconsistent with on-disk inventory.

Quick Triage

List broken filesets and ensure free space before recovery.

lslpp -l | grep -i broken

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Capture deeper evidence to isolate the failure path.

lslpp -l | grep -i broken
lppchk -v
lppchk -c
df -g /usr
odmget -q 'state=4' product

Solution – Primary Fix

Apply the proven primary fix in a controlled change window.

installp -C
lppchk -v
installp -acgX -d /dev/cd0 all
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice

Solution – Alternative Approaches

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

alt_disk_install -B -C hdisk1
multibos -Xac
emgr -l

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Confirm the system meets acceptance criteria after the change.

lslpp -l | grep -i broken | wc -l
lppchk -v
oslevel -s

Rollback Plan

Revert cleanly if regressions appear during validation.

alt_disk_install -X hdisk1
bootlist -m normal hdisk0
bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice

Prevention & Hardening

Reduce recurrence with monitoring and preventive tuning.

suma -x -a Action=Preview
geninstall -L | wc -l
emgr -l

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to TL/SP mismatch, missing requisites, and DSM repository inconsistencies.

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 Installation and Migration, installp and lppchk man pages.