🟠 High   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 20 May 2026
Affected versions: IBM AIX 7.3

📖 ~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

LDAP users cannot log in even though local users work.

Environment & Reproduction

After secldapclntd or /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg changes.

lssrc -s secldapclntd
ls-secldapclntd
lsuser -R LDAP user1

Root Cause Analysis

secldapclntd daemon is down, ldap.cfg references wrong host, or TLS certificates are invalid.

Quick Triage

Check the daemon and ldap.cfg basics.

lssrc -s secldapclntd
grep ldapservers /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg
ls-secldapclntd

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Test bind manually and inspect logs.

ls-secldapclntd
ldapsearch -h ldap.host -D binddn -w pass -b base
tail /var/adm/secldapclntd.log
Illustrative mockup for aix-7.3 — terminal_or_shell
Checking secldapclntd on AIX — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Correct ldap.cfg, restart secldapclntd, and reload user caches.

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chsec -f /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg -s server -a ldap1.host
restart-secldapclntd
lsuser -R LDAP user1
Illustrative mockup for aix-7.3 — log_or_config
Restarting secldapclntd after ldap.cfg fix — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Switch authentication to compat mode for local accounts during ldap repair window.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

LDAP users log in and lsuser returns expected attributes.

ssh user1@host
lsuser -R LDAP user1
ls-secldapclntd

Rollback Plan

Restore previous ldap.cfg if new servers introduce regressions.

cp -p ldap.cfg.bak /etc/security/ldap/ldap.cfg
restart-secldapclntd
ls-secldapclntd

Prevention & Hardening

Maintain multiple LDAP peers, monitor secldapclntd, and rotate TLS certs.

Related to PAM failures, sshd issues, and Kerberos ticket failures.

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 LDAP client administration documentation.

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