IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 208 – 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

NIM operations fail with 0042-001 or NFS communication errors from the master.

Environment & Reproduction

After firewall, route, or NFS service changes between master and clients.

lsnim
nim -o lslpp -a lpp_source=lpp_71 standalone_client
showmount -e nimsrv

Root Cause Analysis

nimsh, NFS, or rsh ports between NIM master and client are blocked or mis-configured.

Quick Triage

Validate name resolution, /etc/niminfo, and NFS exports.

host nimsrv
cat /etc/niminfo
showmount -e nimsrv

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Inspect nimesis, nimsh, and NFS services on master and client.

lssrc -ls nimesis
lssrc -s nimsh
rpcinfo -p nimsrv

Solution – Primary Fix

Restart NIM services, refresh client config, and verify NFS exports.

stopsrc -s nimesis && startsrc -s nimesis
nim -o reset -a force=yes client01
exportfs -av

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Switch the client to nimsh push or use alt_disk_migration with local media as a workaround.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

NIM operations complete and lsnim -l client01 shows expected state.

lsnim -l client01
nim -o lslpp client01
showmount -e nimsrv

Rollback Plan

Reset the client and reinstate previous niminfo if changes caused regression.

nim -o reset -a force=yes client01
cp niminfo.bak /etc/niminfo
nimclient -p

Prevention & Hardening

Document NIM ports, use nimsh, and monitor nimesis with errpt.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to NFS stale handles, mksysb restore failures, and bos_inst hangs.

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 NIM operations and configuration guide.