IBM AIX 7.3 – Common Problem 217 – 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

crontab jobs do not run and /var/adm/cron/log shows syntax or environment errors.

Environment & Reproduction

Custom crontab edits with non-standard fields, PATH issues, or missing shebang.

crontab -l
tail /var/adm/cron/log
lssrc -s cron

Root Cause Analysis

Crontab entry has malformed fields, references missing binaries, or lacks PATH context.

Quick Triage

Identify the failing job and check cron daemon status.

lssrc -s cron
tail /var/adm/cron/log
crontab -l | head

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Run the script manually with cron’s typical environment.

env -i /bin/ksh -c '/scripts/job.sh'
ls -la /scripts/job.sh
file /scripts/job.sh

Solution – Primary Fix

Correct the crontab entry, add full paths, and reinstall the user crontab.

crontab -e
chmod +x /scripts/job.sh
tail /var/adm/cron/log

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use the at command or smitty cron for scheduling assistance and validation.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

cron log records job runs and outputs appear at expected times.

tail /var/adm/cron/log
ls -la /tmp/jobout
lssrc -s cron

Rollback Plan

Restore the previous crontab backup if the new entry causes side effects.

crontab cron.bak
crontab -l
lssrc -s cron

Prevention & Hardening

Store crontabs in version control and validate with a syntax check before install.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to skulker job failures, accounting issues, and logrotate misses.

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 cron and at command reference.